Twitter Frees

Read this story few days back about James Buck, the US student who got out of the Egyptian prison after his solitary tweet activated his strong US network! Read the story here...

I had never really understood the social utility of twitter. And therefore had stayed away from what I felt was a micro-blogging wasteful effort!

But this incident and a few others have finally made me realise that twitter is awesomely useful.

1. It's like slicing and opening up my brain to the world. And similarly sharing the thoughts of hundreds of people...

2. Twitter is still an attention-killer but the social utility over-rides all negatives I feel.

3. Twitter isn't the wisdom of any crowd; it can be the wisdom of a carefully-selected crowd. This and other nice thoughts on why twitter isn't such a waste of time by Sheila Scarborough here.

Late in the day but I am getting it:-)

The Pie of Obsession

So much of the news print is wasted on such predictable stuff! It sucks!

Thank God it's Friday...Off to Karjat tomorrow morning:-)

Think Something New

Shoppers Stop has changed it's logo under a campaign called 'Start Something New'. It has a heard-it-somewhere-before ringtone. I think thoughts like - Start Something New work better in action than in image. So will reserve judgement till the next store visit.

I find the new Ray & Keshavan logo quite bland and sans character...In fact I like the older logo. Maybe they should have asked all their customers before changing the logo. And the gold/ platinum card customers could have had veto rights...LOL

You can read the story at afaqs here...

Monday + Meraj + Mission + Marketing

As I opened my inbox, there was yet another of those weekly mails that Meraj sends me. Some link to his post or some article on NYT. This time it was the story of James Harley - the marketing evangelist at struggling Ford who was a star at Toyota.

Ford - the brand is special to me as well. I started my career servicing it in Chennai. I was the happy owner of an Ikon till last April! And among the brand logos that I admire, I love the blue oval:-)

You can read the entire story here...

It's the best piece of copy/ the best story I read in a long time. Maybe it's good PR. Maybe, its well crafted corporate spiel. But it is still a story of a man's courage, values, belief, rooting for a cause in the market-place.

And what a coincidence Meraj, just last night I was reading about James efforts and the website Ford BoldMoves...

Marketing needn't be full of B.S or hype or all marketers needed be liars(as Seth Godin insists). Marketing and communication can be intense and meaningful. And evangelised like James Farley is doing for Ford. The new CEO could actually be the CMO!!

The story also reminds me of Robyn Putter( the creative head of WPP) exhorting us all at the Bates Cambodia conference last year of putting our energies behind aBig Ideal and not just about a Big Idea!

Sunday, Taglines and Virtual Worlds

Yet again I am in Delhi on a Sunday! Got an early morning client presentation tomorrow...Missed taking Neo to the Juhu beach and bandstand!! Waiting for breakfast...

A while back had written a post on the 'diminishing return on taglines'. I had largely meant those of the 'xyz de variety - hila de, pila de, ghumaa de!

Here's an article on adage.com in support of the enduring power of tag-lines. Have a read here...

A good article by Reuben Steiger of Second Life on 'Merging the Real and Virtual Worlds' again on adage.com here...

Reubens insights peppered with my own...

- Virtual worlds are a significant and fast growing market.
Okay in India, it might take a longer time because of bandwidth issues but we need to be mentally prepared for the virtual world to export our brand thinking when bandwidth sorts out...

- Virtual worlds are a subset of social media, which accounts for 30% of consumer internet activity in the US according to Comscore.
As I mentioned in my last post, in India the media participants are largely fence-sitters around social media. A layer of virtual world is perhaps too much change, too fast:-)

I think it's time to start a digital media adoption and first steps consultancy under Tribal...Must speak to my colleague Leroy on this!!

- Virtual worlds turn the web into a "place," allowing users to connect face-to-face in real time.

- Early data suggest that levels of brand engagement in virtual worlds are extremely high. Millions of Us has conducted some 60 engagements in virtual worlds for clients with engagement per user ranging from 2 to 24 hours.

- There are 550 million users of social networks and as users begin to put virtual "rooms" on their pages, the game will change significantly.
Agree, as I flipped through the A G Lafley and Ram Charan book, Game Changer on the flight to Dilli yesterday, was wondering on similar lines. Though, nobody has the idea of how exactly the real and virtual worlds will collide, mash up in the next 18-24 months, what is undeniably true is that the game will have further changed for brands, marketers, analog and digital agencies alike!!

Four toast, some tea and a badly made omelette has arrived:-)...Enjoy!

MySpace is Full. What About Yours?

So, finally MySpace sets up shop in India. Read the story at DNA here,!

Methinks, they are a bit too late. Orkut and Facebook have the first mover advantage. Mahesh of Pinstorm had this to say...

- MySpace in India has to establish itself in a territory where Orkut is the king with over 8 million users —that’s about one-third of all Indian youth online — a greater share than even Star Plus has of this demographic on TV.

- Too many of us are on too many networks — and it’s too much incremental trouble to get on to another network for very little incremental benefit.

Agree with you on that one Mahesh!

- No Indian social network has yet gained any significant advertiser confidence. Of the Rs 600 crore spent online in India last year that Pinstorm tracks, barely 1-2% went to social networks.

Well on this one, I feel Indian media mostly doesn't understand social networks.
To understand it, you got to do/be social not just understand/ know social and behave like big media/ big company!! We are still a heavily hierarchical company-media-network.

With my limited exposure, I find that media(print and magazine)in the West are trying hard to integrate the 2-way social aspect into their medium but in India it's largely lip-service or a blind eye.

Generally speaking, the Indian mediascape and clients are sitting at the periphery of social media, lusting at ways and means to monetise social media w/o realising what it is.

Thoughts like conversation, engagement, influence, participation fade in the back-drop of shouts of monetising the eyeballs, ROI and advertising potential and reach of the social media...

Coming back to MySpace - well myspace is full. Am happy with LinkedIn and Facebook!! But as a platform for musical bands, I think MySpace has a great positioning! One more grand threat to music companies!!

Great Indian Brand : Chandamama

Was returning from a client meet few days back when I noticed Chandamama on the pavement! Brought back childhood yaadein - Slouched on the bed and reading vikram aur betaal:-)

Picked it up for Neo. He was happy for precisely 5 seconds and then tossed it aside. Must read a story to him one of these days!!

Chandamama is turning 60 and digital. Check out this iconic Indian brand's web-site here...

You may wish to read a related story on HT here...

At retirement age, the once-fading title is poised to reinvent itself with an upgraded Web presence featuring interactive games and puzzles, downloadable wallpapers for cellphones and programmes on Worldspace radio!!

As a book, Chandamama has seen a revival too, going up to four lakh readers from 1.3 lakh in six months. To toast it, a 96-page comic book will hit the stands every four months from April 21.

Sunday Snapshot

Skipped the morning treadmill, lazed around longer...The Sunday Indian Express is getting better. If only they cud make their weekday paper a little more lively, would once again switch to IE as my first newspaper.

Read the story on Mangesh Hadawale - the marathi film-maker, whose debut film Tingya is the toast of the festival circuit and headed for Cannes this summer. For a farmer’s son and a one-man theatre troupe—this is just the beginning. Check the full story here.

Another good read was the 'Beautiful world of the back-bencher' by Manu Joseph in the Sunday TOI.

Caught up with Shekhar Kapur's interview on the Director's Cut on Zoom TV. Kabir Bedi is atrocious as a chat show host!! Shekhar as always was brilliant. Managed to capture a few stray thots...

- "Once the camera rolls, there is no difference between Hollywood and Bollywood for me as a director. Getting to that point is different".

- "I resent the idea of the studio system which is a collective over-seeing of what essentially is a highly individualistic style of creativity!"

- "I am not a professional film-maker. I would like to call myself a professional NOTHING. Okay a professional explorer!"

- "At 24, I took a decision to drop career from my life".

- "New media bahut democratic media hai. What it means is somebody from Dharavi with an idea and a cheap handycam can get to show-case his/ her film at Cannes over the established movie icons!"

Perhaps he gets new media better than most people in our business...

Took Neo to the Imax dome for a lovely film on Dolphins. Father son competed on the Pepsi and Popcorn:-)

The Grandest Brief : Make India's Children Creative & Innovative

Read this piece on the National Innovation Foundation's efforts to ensure that the creativity within the child prospers with time and not vanishes! Read the article on www.livemint.com here!

Main pointers from the article:

- The initiative is called Ignite '08 NIF wants to instill confidence in children and help them grow as citizens who do not live with unsolved problems, but find their own unique solutions to the problems.

- Anil Gupta, executive vice-chairperson of the National Innovation Foundation and a professor at IIM, Ahmedabad speaks of the four segments of the Ignite '08 campaign.

- The first being creative and innovative solutions developed by the children. Every student would be motivated to try and develop original solutions to various problems around them during the summer vacation.

They can also submit ideas if they have not been able to convert them into physical projects. The NIF will give financial and mentoring support to complete the projects.

- The second segment consists of children identifying the problems and inefficiencies in everyday life. For instance, the cooking gas gets exhausted without any advance warning. Why couldn’t there be an indicator telling in advance how long the gas will last? They will submit these problems with possible solutions.

- The third segment is the rich traditional knowledge of India related to health, child care, women’s problems, clothes, cosmetics, haircare, construction, food processing, etc. There is an erosion in new generation’s knowledge in these areas because of lack of connectivity between grandparents and grandchildren. We will encourage children to document such knowledge.

- Finally, it’s not enough to be creative. We have to learn to appreciate others’ creativity and innovativeness. Students have to scout for the innovations and outstanding attempts to solve problems, even if unsuccessful, in the neighbourhood. It does not matter whether the innovator is educated or a school dropout.

What a laudable grand effort by the government and NIF!! Check out the nif web-site here...

Goafest - Bajate Raho!!

There was a huge ruckus created in the Indian advertisingscape over an article by afaqs Sreekant Khandekar on wednesday. Read the 'Rant Against Scam' article here. You may want to read my last year's post on Goafest here...

Had scrbbled some lines on the flight back from Goa...Sreekant's rant inspired me to complete the 'tukbandi'. Here it is!!

Goafest - Bajate Raho

Teen hazaar se jyada delegate, pachason agency
Last year se jyada thi excitement ki frequency

Mausam tha great, arrangement super-fine,
Daaru was flowing, one only missed good wine!

Zoom party thi hot, so was the rain dance
Youngistaan mein 40+ bhi le rahe the chance!

Hoodi baba, Balki ka is baar bhi tha kehna
Goafest se humme door hi hai rehna!

Joshiji ka convincing nahin tha bahana
Jhooth bolne ka ab nahi raha zamana!

Entry nahin thi to scam hi kartey
Sab ne jam ke kiya, aap kyun the dartey!

Last year ka scam king Rediffusion raha peechey
Lagta hai midland book-store ne budget kiya neeche!

Is baar Burnett ne jeeta scam king ka khitaab
Lintas ke client ki chura li poori kitaab!

Jury ne mil kar Ogilvy ki kheechi taang
Pandeyji ne 3rd umpire se ki appeal ki maang!

Wahi puraane chehre, mostly puraani sound byte
Logo ko chhota karo, reduce font ki height!

Goafest hoga har baar goa mein, CM ne diya vaada
Lagta hai chadhai thi do peg jara jyada!

Ek aur beeta saal, ek aur Goafest
Mind mat karna doston, this was half in jest:-)

(P.S. The picture you see on top is that of Goafest 2007 and not 2008.)

Power of Sub-titles

I had to write about this.

Girirajsingh Natubha studied up to Class 2 in Jamnagar. All his life he struggled to read simple words. A few years ago, however, he found to his surprise that he had begun to read.

It happened quite amazingly after he began watching Chitrageet, a Gujarati television programme of film songs, which had subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

Since he knew many of the songs, he could anticipate the next word. When it appeared he would read it unconsciously and sing along, karaoke style. Soon he found he was able to recognise words in the bazaar and before long he was reading headlines in the newspaper.

A brainchild of Dr Brij Kothari, a social entrepreneur and an IIM Ahmedabad professor(now at Cornell), 'Same Language Subtitling' is a simple but powerful idea which is proven to improve literacy among adults and children.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Dr. Kothari won the $250,000 global innovation prize from the World Bank, which he has used to pay for the cost of subtitling.

For the past five years, every Sunday morning, 15 crore persons have watched Chitrahaar and Rangoli with subtitles. A Nielsen-ORG study, conducted in 2002 and 2007 to assess the impact of subtitling, showed that only 25% school children could read a simple paragraph in Hindi after five years of schooling.

However, this jumped to 56% if they were also exposed to subtitling for 30 minutes a week on Rangoli. Equally dramatic results were found among adults.

Is there a way to micro-fund Dr. Kothari and his efforts. And not just in money. Imagine, all the Internet connected people, the active user base of 20mn volunteered to sub-title the TV content for a literacy movement in India!
Far better than mere burning candles to support causes!

Could Infosys, Wipro, or some company volunteer their computing capacity to help in this endeavour. What better way if some of us can help all of us!

Dr. Kothari gets the Grand Prix for his big idea!! How do we help such social entrepreneurs guys?

Spoof-istaan Meri Jaan

Finally a Sprite spoof on the stupid Pepsi TVC. Youngistan shud now be offically buried...LOL

Goafest - Day One

After a sleepy morning punctuated by a long breakfast, we huddled into a bus for the ad village at the Cavelossim beach!

I never remembered to take pics of the venue:-( Awesome arrangements guys! Goafest ver 3.0 is even better than the last two editions. Hats off to the AAAI and the team that has pulled it off!

Was looking forward to the talk by Jon Wilkins of Naked. (Sorry guys can't upload the seminar pics, haven't yet loaded the software on my new laptop:-(

Naked Notes(not in any particular order or importance)...
1. Communication media is a lot about language and behaviour today. The voice is extremely important.

In India, only a handful of clients and agencies are fanatically obsessive about the brand voice/ consistency. Hutch was a great example. Vodaphone still has a mixed identity/ voice!

2. Jon talked of the Australopithecus Media Man- this guy is separated from the entire creative process(Oh I think I know quite a few of them:-)
- he/she is focussed on implementation(manzil ka ishaara lagey raho!!)
- gets his orgasms from 'pure number crunching' however irrelevant they might be
3. With the gradual and now exponential erosion of advertising power, advertising cannot be a lead discipline anymore.

4. The next evolutionary stage is the 'Neanderthal Media Man'
- this guy is an active activation partner
- he/she is also a partner in the creative process
(John showed an amazing Case Study on the 118 helpline number. Can read the details on afaqs here
- he believes in amplification through localization
- and deeper engagement(shared the hilarious and hugely effective Vindaloo case study. Tried to find the video on youtube in vain. Satish - help!

5. And finally at the fore-front of evolution is the 'Modern Media Man'. Yet to be born in India- my guess!
- this guy is a total brand communication thinker. Actually he/she may not be a media person at all.
- steeped into IMC- not as a word on power-point but into his DNA and thinking.
- believes into and roots for a core creative idea, not a media buyer, seller or implementation guy.
Jon shared a case study of a chai brand - Adventures in a cup(what a lovely idea)

Actually we will have to soon get back to a stage of the media rolled into the creative process, rolled into a department, perhaps rolled into one person era!

This whole new media game is about a brand theatre. Maybe finally the director in the job titles - Media Director, Account Director, Planning Director will have to mirror the skills and talent of a 'film director'!

- this new guy is all about 'integration thinking'
- focussed on the marketing task and not merely the communication task, through the correct channels

Loved his ingredient list for the House of Naked
a. The Warriors - the talented folks who will make the brand theatre happen
b. The Freaks - diverse talent pool
c. Dr. Zhivago - no vested interests
d. Talent Soup - mix em up, mash em up
e. Out-source everything but the thinking
f. Measure Everything. Clients pay great dollars for this.

Well, pretty much the stuff I ranted at my last agency to do in the digital space!!

Thanks Jon, we need more pirates like you at the cusp of the media and creative industries...

Saw the cyber, DM, print and TV work! To my disappointment, print continued to be scam infested. TV, thanks in large measure to Ogilvy had great stuff!

Will share the Scott Goodson notes in another post. In the evening there was a great party organised by Zoom! Food, booze, more booze...zzzz.

Goafest - Day Zero

For me and a bunch of 'newly acquired' colleagues, day zero(from late afternoon)was largely about beer, singing SD Burman songs and a not-so-bad Dainik Bhaskar party at Blueberrys...

The coming together of Abbys and the Goafest is a great beginning. Now if we have managed to lower the scam quotient of the awards, it wud be sone pe suhaga! But maybe I said it too early and maybe I am too naive in believing a change will happen soon.

Check out the conclave speaker notes if you haven't- 1. Agencies need to be active partners in brand building!

and 2. Agencies Not Bringing Value to the Table Why do we(ad agencies) berate ourselves so much!!!

Looking forward to an early morning splash in the pool:-)

Agency Planners vs Brand Consultants

Some days back, a planner friend mailed me this old post by Richard Huntington on agencies vs brand consultancies. You can read it here...

Got me thinking. My two pence on this issue.

I agree with Richard and my friend that agency planners short-change themselves. Rather agencies short change their planners. And there are a whole host of reasons for the short-change!

1. In life we don't get what we deserve. We get what we negotiate. And the agencies(many of us) are lousy negotiators when it comes to pricing our thinking and solutions.

Agency thinking is like web 2.0 services. Mostly for FREE!! LOL

Historically, the price tag on planner thinking has been Rs.0!!! And that explains why we are often not taken that seriously.

2. Specialists vs Generalists. The specialists almost always get taken more seriously and paid better - be it doctors, engineers or lawyers. Our biggest asset actually works against us. Because we give a breadth of solutions to an ever bigger array of communication/ business problems at an ever faster rate, planners become extreme generalists. And therefore never paid that much or taken that seriously.

3. Process over Solution. Many agencies have s simplistic triangle model for a brand solution. Little rigour, little research( for lack of time or money or both). So, even though our solutions may actually work better, and we may be far faster, we get paid lesser.

Money for process, solutions for free:-)

4. Analysis vs Creativity. Historically, the clients and our society has paid greater emphasis on analysis. Analytical skills were/ are still sought after. Creativity was restricted to smaller circles! Where we lose out to the brand consultants is that we are perceived less analytical and more creative in our approach than them. Therefore smaller fee cheques!

5. Investments vs Milking. The little that I know of brand consultants, they invest their monies in their tools, in learning upgrades, in building case studies. Here again, agencies(most) are far less committed. They are far more engaged in juicing the few good planners they have than in investing in the department. In the knowledge economy, learning is a capital investment.

and finally 6. Unbundle. Agency planners can get paid more if we unbundle ourselves from the agency creatives. Well, the danger is that we may end up being more brand consultants than planners but if we can manage the decoupling without losing our creative edge, I think we can up our thinking fees!!

Maybe this topic needs a re-visit sometime soon!

The Week That Was

If I had any notions that I would travel less in the new job, they got blown away in week 1 itself. With trips to Delhi and Chennai(actually the lovely beach at Mahabalipuram) looks like 2008 would be a near repeat of '07!!

The week-end itself was most memorable for some blue-sky chats with a close friend on 'new business ventures' in the 'hospitality space'...Something to really look forward to in '08...

Saw Rajat Kapoor's Mithya. Quite enjoyable. Ranbir Sheorey is very good. Though, I found Naseer Saheb & Vinay Pathak wasted in smallish roles. But Naseer was enjoying himself as the flashy gangster with snake-skin shoes and red glares!!

Read a nice write-up on the return of Chitrangada Singh by Nisha Susan in Tehelka(please subscribe to this mag if you haven't). You can catch up on this story here!

And finally Hal Riney, the maverick ad legend passed away earlier last week at 75. Check out Jeff Goodby's finely written piece as he reminisces about his mentor's friendship, complicated nature and 'The Moment' at adage.com here. Another write-up on the creative giant here...

Funnily, while re-arranging the stuff(physical, emotional, transactional) of my life to fit into a new job, the blog plays the role of that stable repository of thoughts and feelings that's contiguous. A placeholder that knows no boundaries of WPP or Omnicom...LOL

This week - Goah!!

C.I.D - Co-creation, Integration and Digital

Hey guys, have just moved to Mudra Marketing Services. Will be handling strategic thinking for their digital agency - Tribal DDB, the OOH group called Prime Group, the promotions and events company Kidstuff, Mudra Health and Lifestyle and the DM agency Rapp Collins!

It's gong to be somewhat different. Hopefully more co-creation, more integration, and more digital(C.I.D)!!

And hopefully as a planner an equal daily dose of action shoes and thinking hats:-)

Indiadrant will have a more digital flavour to its raves and rants in the next few months...

Digital Media - Banyan Tree

The world's biggest agency groups are battling to expand their presence in Asia's fast-growing digital industry. After a series of big-money deals and big-name hirings, who is leading the pack?

Check out the complete story on DigitalMedia website here...

Lin-storm : the new digital model!

Among the first signs of a formal analog and digital media company courtship(to my knowledge) is the tie-up between Lintas Media Group and digital agency Pinstorm.

Linstorm will offer a pay-for-performance model for digital platforms like the internet and mobile phones. This will mean that the client will pay for the advertising only if the campaign meets pre-determined targets which could be in terms of the number of clicks, impressions or conversions.

You can read the complete story here.

Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm, had this to say- “The idea is to bring the share of digital in the total Indian advertising scene to the tipping point of 7% from its current levels of 3-4%.”

The Linstorm model would be interesting to watch for the nascent digital advertising market in India!!

ActiveAds

A while ago while browsing through a WIRED issue had come across a Canon/Nikon ad(sorry can't remember which brand exactly). It was an example of what I term as an ActiveAd.

It had no fancy art, no tag-line, no hyped brand promise, just an equation of DIY features, some benefits and a link to know more about the product. Many tech brands I have observed follow this format of an ActiveAd.

Maybe we could follow the lead in FMCG, durables and other categories as well!

So what makes an ActiveAd.
1. Obviously it will lead the reader/ browser to some action.
a. Goto www.checkoutthisstuff.com
or b. Try the product demo at physicalspace.com or virtualreality.com
or c. Cut this ad and get 10%off at physicalstore.com

2. ActiveAds can do without taglines...They show the product, they talk about the benefits. They excite you about the technology without geek-speak!

3. Information is more/ equally important than the brand 'image' art/ layout. Don't keep on repeating the headline. Behave like a retail environment. Tell me more about the product ingredients, the underlying technology, the benefits, the sourcing story, the environment stand of the company, the packaging stories, etc. Throw me a new nugget/ factoid instead of irritating me with the same baseline...

4. Active ads allow participation. Our current TVCs are not active. They are passive bombardments on our senses. But with a little bit of imagination and digitisation, all advertising forms can be made more active!

and 5. ActiveAds aim more at behaviour change rather than worry about awareness and recall scores only.

These are still WIP thots. We should aim at making all the ads more active! It's better ROI.

If you come across any blog posts, articles around this subject, please lemme know!

Happy Holi...Maybe no more posts till Monday!

Time-Poverty : Jame Raho!!

Got an early morning mail from Jo who now works for the Henley Centre Headlight Vision(the WPP global trends and insights company).

Anyways, few clicks later I was reading this post by Josh Hunt on the HCHLV site on time-poor consumers! Read the post here...

Marketers/ advertisers often lament about consumer time-poverty but the fact is most often clients and agencies are equally time-poor. Of course this is largely a case of self-infliction.

We have a chk-list in our minds and we want to tick-them off asap! Whither listening, whither deep probing, whither better questions:-)

Kas Ke Joota Kas Ke Belt, Khons Ke Andar Apni Shirt
Research Ki Chali Sawaari, Planners Pe Bhaari Zimmedari

Haath Mein Brief Man Mein Dum, Insight Nikaalke Rahenge Hum
Har Eyeball Se Takrayenge, Tas Se Mus Na Honge Hum

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho, Boss Ka Ishaara Jame Raho
Planning Ka Naara Jame Raho, Clients Ka Ishaara Jame Raho

Ye Sote Bhee Hain Attention, Power-point Ki Hai Tension
Mehnat Inko Pyari Hai, Process Bilkul Sarkaari Hai

Ye Research Par Hi Jeete Hain, Ye Insight Saare Peete Hain
Deadline Pe Sote Deadline Pe Khate, Taan Ke Seena Badhte Jate

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho...

(Sincere apologies for bastardising TZP lyrics...But hey it's UGC and I can surely get a reprieve and a laugh:-)

Unilever : Digital Khiladi No.1

Unilever is the Adage Digital Marketer of the year(2007). You can read the article here...

Post-its for personal archives...

-None of Unilever's campaigns was purely a digital campaign. Each was woven inextricably with other media and marketing tactics, such as TV spots, PR, content integration and shopper marketing.

- Digital is today a critical part of the storytelling for our brands - says Rob Master, the North American Media Director.

- The key to the digital efforts is what Rob calls "superdistribution," the idea of getting web programs, most often video, picked up by other media - most often for free.

- Reverse Repurposing : We used to repurpose things from television for the internet. Now the ideas we have are so rich and creative ... we're able to feed that into all these other channels from digital.

- A 30-second ad is a story we pull together for consumers on TV. Digital is an extension of that storytelling in typically longer format. And the richness of the stories we can tell is a very important part of the strategy!

Are Advertising & the Web Disjoint Sets?

There is this excellent article on Adage.com about - Advertising and the Internet. Check it out here...

Notes to myself peppered with stray thots!

- When you look at how the media and marketing business packages the Internet - as just more space to be bought and sold -- you have to worry that the history of mass media is just trying to repeat itself.

And what an utter waste of time, money and effort that would be. It's so very easy to escape banner ads and the ilk on the web. Am a fairly heavy user of the net and I have developed advanced screening faculties for every kind of conventional ad. On the other hand, when a marketer succeeds in engaging me through content or 'value-added-ads', I not just consume it but help seed it in my limited way!

-Rarely a fortnight goes by without some new bullish forecast for ad growth that works to stoke digital exuberance within media owners that often drowns out critical thinking about the medium itself.

Am yet to hear a conversation on digital/ internet advertising among mainstream ad folks in India. It just doesn't exist for them!! In fact an exuberant NCD of a large agency was quoted in DNA saying who needs digital? While the size of internet ad might be puny in India, the learning ground for the next level of messaging/ marketing/ communication has to be the web...

-Here's the issue: The internet is too often viewed as inventory, as a place where brands pay for the privilege of being adjacent to content, like prime-time TV and glossy magazines relics of the pre-blog days when getting into the media game actually required infrastructure and distribution.

The presumed power of that adjacency has provided the groundwork for the media industry for decades and long ago calcified into an auspicious economic reality the big media companies are trying to take with it to the digital future. For the media seller, ads and ad revenue might be all that's left.

- The marketer, once at the mercy of a locked-up media landscape, can now be a player in it.

- "The big difference is that marketers are in the same competitive set as media owners," said Matt Freeman, CEO of Tribal DDB. He cites Pepsi, one of Tribal's clients, as an example of a company that could be a giant media player if it wanted.

It doesn't want to because the big traffic it gets at its corporate websites has nothing to do with how it's valued. But the twist on media and marketing convention is clear.

"Before there was an investor and a recipient of that investment. I think today you have much more of a triangulation where marketers can invest directly in going to consumers, obviating the need for media owners. They are not necessarily the client of owners and, in some cases, they are their competitors."

- In other words, marketers can build website that do cool, useful stuff. There are any number of marketers, from Amazon to Papa John's, working to monetize their corporate websites traffic by selling ads there, but that, of course, is only the most mundane way. Better examples include Johnson & Johnson and its BabyCenter, a deep repository of information about raising a newborn that's a clear competitor to Bonnier or Meredith, the publishers of Parenting and Parents magazines respectively.

Nike Plus, whose sharp interface connects runners all over the world, is a real threat to any traditional media owners who wants to engage with that running population.

- Although Mr. Freeman often sounds like he's borrowing from the lexicon of PR, his idea of "earned media" or "earned engagement" isn't the same as landing a client brand in the New York Times. It's a more varied concept that encompasses everything from branded applications and services like the Nike-Plus program to videos passed along through sharing sites. These programs, now exceptions, could actually work to redefine advertising.

- "People have to think about advertising differently," said Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Schematic, the interactive agency recently purchased by WPP Group. "Advertising is becoming not just about messaging but providing value to customers. Functionality has often not been the role of advertising."

I have been arguing with some of the brightest ad agency copy-writers. Think beyond 'taglines'. Think about usefulness. Make your ads 'active'. Give more information about the brand. When we repeat the messages, the consumer filters them all.

- For marketers and agencies it's a sea-change in how you do your business. "It's easy for clients and agencies to think about banners and email because buying banners is like buying outdoor and email is like direct," said Mr. Kaufman of ad agency Schematic. "That is very different than nurturing the community of your customers, providing great content or executing transactions."

- Web designer Jakob Nielsen adds -'The basic point about the web is that it is not an advertising medium. The web is not a selling medium;it is a buying medium. It is user controlled, so the user controls, the user experiences.'

Just Tag It!!

Was having coffee with my Slovenian friend, Alen on mobile, digital and other stuff! When he showed me the Tagit barcode. I have known about this company(Ranjan apparently has some stake in it:-) for some time now...But have never seen anybody use it...

Check out the demo video on the tagit site here...

-Tagit offers marketers a way to establish interactive relationships with their consumers. Adlabs is a client!

-Simple, low-cost solutions to businesses for inventory or asset tracking, identity verification and data management.

-Useful applications for government services, such as security access control, personal or vehicle identification and information dissemination

-When a display screen was added to the first mobile phone, a new media was created. The additions of a camera and Internet access have created a whole new way of interaction with the physical world.

Mobiquity(Mobile + Ubiquity) is here...We must know how to Tagit to our brands and communication in innovative ways!! Need another coffee with Alen session.

Prose is for Lazy People

Read this very absorbing interview of Prasoon Joshi in Tehelka. Am becoming a big fan of both Tehelka and Joshi Saheb!! You can read the interview here

Thot post-its from the same...

1. We don’t choose ideas. Ideas choose us. We can’t grab a thought. A thought grabs us. You have to be receptive, ready to receive thoughts.

2. In Rang de Basanti there was no place for the song, “Lukka chuppi.” The scene is a son’s funeral and his mother experiencing a terrible loss. Rahman and I used the idea of a mother and son playing hide-and-seek. The sad reality is the son is hidden forever.

3. If there’s a particular word that doesn’t fit the tune, I tell him: No, I need this word. It’s important. It’s like a paperweight, if you remove it, everything will fly away!

It is rather crass of me to compare poetry with presentation/ power-point. But for a recent pitch, we were adamant on 'one' word. And it did make all the difference. We won the business. 30 slides, 40 units of creative all hinged on that 'one' word...Okay that was an unseemly detour.

4. The finest creativity is when you draw a dot and yet everyone can see the circle. If you allow the listeners to participate, they will complete the thought.

5. "I like writing songs featured in the background. What is happening in the mind of the character, but he’s unable to express."

6. It’s important to understand the overall context and then forget it. The mind has absorbed the essential. If you continue to refer to the lead-in situation, you start to mirror it, whereas your song must add another dimension to the narrative.

7. How does poetry express thought better than prose? Through its economy. Take this example: Navak andaz jidhar deeda-e jana honge/ Neem bismil kai honge kai bajan honge (Wherever the eyes of my beloved fall/ Some are wounded, others slain).

The idea is so precise. If you had to explain this in prose, you would have to write an entire page. And prose allows less participation.

8. Why do you think prose is more loved? Because prose is for lazy people. Poetry is for people with a fertile imagination.

Poetry is like a buffet. You must serve yourself because the meal will not be served at your table. It’s a pity we have mostly lost the passion for poetry.

Joshi Saheb, you make me want to read poetry in my attention-deficit, time crunched corporate life...And pick up the threads of the long buried dream(under the debris of trivial pursuits) of learning Urdu all over again!

Divorced from News TV!

A couple of months back, I divorced TV News...I couldn't take it any more!! I ended this relationship of many years...

I knew News as important, relevant, informative, timely...With a sense of purpose and perspective.

But the TRP happy, eye-ball hungry, entertainment-saturated, retarded news with dollops of tantric treacle, crime concoctions, horoscope horrors, XXX sex scandals. irrelevant, inane trivia garnished with gore & a messianic gumption finally weathered my patience and passivity!

So, I dumped Star News, CNN IBN, NDTV 24X7, Times Now and their ilk... These brands and their corporate owners have collectively reduced News to a market driven commodity! So, please chase your trapped eye-balls. Get their attention for free even as they pay a hefty price!!

But I want to pay for my News. I can afford it. Am willing to pay for quality. Am willing to pay for information. Am willing to pay to stay sane...I don't want your dumb feeds for free...

I know I am a minority. And have little idea of the size of this minority!! But my gut says there is a growing demand in the market for premium News TV. Or even a weekly Newstrack like DVD. Or maybe news clips on my cell, or youtube. Or video RSS feeds. The platform is not that important anymore...News is.

I think, I am one among a small breed of people in India who can be classified as 'News TV Divorcee'! LOL. Are you too?

Mobile Talk 1 : Rajesh Jain

Read a decent interview of Rajesh Jain, the man who almost single handedly brought on the dotcom boom to India after selling off his Internet venture, IndiaWorld.com, to Satyam for Rs 499 crore in 1999, on agencyfaqs.com!

Nuggets from the same...

1. Other than email, classifieds, trading and ticketing, not much has happened there. What I think of as the N3 web – Now, New, Near Web – hasn’t really happened. Part of the problem is that access is mainly from cyber cafes, so the Internet has not become a part of people’s lives.

2. There are two aspects to the Internet – the PC and the mobile. PC-based access is very much around the 'reference web'.

The mobile has the opportunity to be the primary mode of access and interaction for the 'incremental web'.

So, I can use the mobile to find directions and similar day to day activities. There are life's 'empty moments' and life's ‘know now’ moments. When you are waiting for someone, for example, you are in an empty moment and you can use your mobile to check stock quotes or text someone. In the ‘know now’ moments, you want to know something immediately instead of going and searching on the web. Now, if you can overlay mobile services with permission, you can give consumers only the information they want.

3. I think in the next few years, when you mention the Internet, it will primarily mean the mobile Internet.

4. Just like on the Internet, the search box has become the starting point for user interaction and monetisation of the web, my belief is that on the mobile phone, it’s going to be the SMS subscription with a brand of your choice.

So, if there’s a special promotion at the mall in the neighbourhood, you want to know. It's called 'invertising' – advertising that consumers invite into their lives. This is a marketer’s dream (come true). For example, if you buy a new Nokia phone, you can get free updates from them about the features of the phone and about upgrading to a new model

5. Why not enough innovations in the mobile industry? Because something has worked very well in the industry... because ringtones, wallpapers, Bollywood, cricket, etc., have become a Rs 4,000 crore industry, where users are spending on consuming this content, we are not looking beyond.

6. SMS subscription is the best way to provide bite-sized content.

7. As we think of roads, airports and power, we need to start thinking of the digital environment as core infrastructure for this country. I think there is no reason why we cannot have state of the art innovation in services here in India. That's going to spur entrepreneurship and will create the next set of large companies in India. Once we make that happen, it’s better for advertisers, marketers and businesses.

Absolut Disappointment

The Ad Club Bombay's, year end ritualistic Ad Review today was a dampener! At 900 bucks, one expected more bang!

You can read a reportage of the evening on afaqs here...

Sonal started well with all the panache of a great showman/presenter, but all he did was run a reel of the best Indian TVCs(his selection) in 2007 peppered with some firang commercials, which were at least 1-3 years old! All Ads, Little Review!

Kishore Biyani, the other speaker of the day, never delivered a speech or his trademark insights separately, but chatted with Sonal moderated by Anuradha Sengupta of CNBC. Regular stuff recycled at low decibel...

Xerox, the main sponsors comically(at least I thought so) decided to thrust a printer at Alyque(for life time achievement)!!! Imagine Alyque's ordeal when after spending some 5 decades in advertising, all he gets is a bloody PRINTER(yikes)...

Who would want to achieve anything in advertising henceforth...LOL

At least the food was decent and the bar was open through-out the evening! The Taj Lands End lawns were a perfect setting for some fireworks...but alas it took 4 Patiala pegs of Absolut + company of old rogue friends to get over the review or the lack of it...

Think Hatke. Think Widgets

Am trying to learn a little more about widgets and then maybe write an article on the subject - How brands and marketers can use them. Are there some examples of Indian brands using widgets?

Widgets are mini-Web applications that are downloaded onto a desktop or transported into personal Web pages, blogs or social-network profiles. For users, they are a source of constantly updated information, from weather and sports scores to personal photos, which can eliminate the need to visit multiple Web sites.

Stumbled upon these links while I was in google-yahoo mode!

1. This is a 2006 post on OpenGardens blog. It's about how advertisers/ marketers/ brands can use widgets?

2. Then there was this piece on imediaconnection.com - The what, who, why, how and wow of widgets.

3. And then there was this article - Marketers Wend Widgets Into Interactive Tactics at brandweek.com

Okay going back to my learning mode...

Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

Pepsico delivers another advertising dud. The new 7UP commercial, BBDO's opening shot is quite a let down. You can view the TVC on youtube here...

Though, I like the Bheja Fry. 7Up Try tag-line, found the plot bland and straight from the 80's! Countless fizz and non-fizz brands have done similar stuff to death...Don't know why they couldn't get a smarter rendition...

The little that I know of youth brands...
1. 38 trying to be 18 won't work.
2. Cool and dumb don't bed together!
3. Recycling works well for the environment, not for ads.

4. We live in an age where 80% of the brands are young. So, the really young@heart brands must lead the conversation. Through new stories, fresh insights(a la Sprite), new technology...Or simply a great(expensive) execution like the 2cr Thums Up fillum!!

But, maybe BBDO deserves the benefit of doubt. It's their maiden over.
So, Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

The Joy and Despair of Flying

Disclaimer: I like/okay love XYZ Airways. Last year I made 83 trips...I am their platinum card member...And the free air miles financed my Kerala trip in December:-)

So this rant against their public address system(and many other airlines) is just one peeve among the many joys!!

Hey guys, do something about it...The more I hear, the more I hate!!

Sample this(of course hugely contrived and exaggerated for effect:-)

1.This is your captain speaking from the cock-pit.
Oh great I thought you were making out in the loo...

2. Whether you are in business class or economy, I have pleasure in announcing that all of you are flying to Mumbai. Window, middle, aisle seats. All of you guys...
Thank you so much captain! I was waiting for that re-assurance from you!!!

3. It's a pleasure having you on-board.(Actually in a 2 hour flight this message often comes after 90minutes of flight...LOL

4. The temperature outside is -38.673 deg Celsius. This is 2.456 degrees less than normal. Mind it!!

3. But we have somehow managed to maintain the temperature inside the cabin at an annoyingly high 26 degrees...Since we love playing with the temperature knob. And pushing down our otherwise high consumer satisfaction scores!

4. We are now flying over the lovely city of Jaipur. If you manage to strain your neck 254 degrees from the aisle seat, you will still not be able to see anything...It's just a practical joke we play on the aisle seat passengers!!

5. The aircraft is flying at 854km/hr. But we will still be late by 55 minutes. Please ponder over this meaningless statistic. We get joy at throwing random numbers at people.

6. As per the current report from the control-room, we are number 12 in the Mumbai air-traffic-queue. But you know the fickle minded, twice-divorced air-traffic controller...By the time we approach Mumbai, he may put us at number 21!! So, don't take any of these announcements at face value...

7. I hope you followed my delayed, mostly irrelevant information read from a script outsourced by the legendary Rapidex guys and delivered in our trade-mark English which only frequent flyers can understand or so we think...

(We at XYZ airways have collectively failed the 'Lagey Raho' speech improvement programme...But Hum Honge Kaamyaab Ek Din...)

Finally the last of these messages put you to deep sleep despite the insidious 'temperature knob playing tactic!!!

I don't know who looks after the public address systems of most airlines...But they are uniformly crappy and banal...

For all brands, specially the service brands, the last mile customer-exchange/ conversation/monologue is quite important...

No, I wouldn't ever change my airlines because of this. I have far too many reward points to take care off:-)
But there are no diminishing returns for a service brand for being interesting, witty, human and sensible even at 45000ft up in the sky when the temperature outside is -38.679 deg Celsius...LOL

Random Note - Why Write, Just Type!

These days the only time I wield the pen is to sign cheques!!

I had quite a lousy hand-writing which affected quite a few grades in school and college! In fact, I am surprised how I ever passed some of my engineering papers. By the time I finished scribbling on the last ream of paper, it was illegible to even me!!

Anyways am happy, I don't have to wield the pen any more. On MS Word, finally I have caught up with some of my more calligraphically gifted school friends:-)

Hopefully, in another couple of years, with speech recognition software getting better, my slow typing speed will also cease to be a handicap...

Maybe finally the thinking > typing > writing...

I wonder of what use are the hand-writing sessions that my 4 year old son Neo under-takes...He will learn wriitng only to never use it in later life...Why don't schools teach typing instead. Make it compulsory...

And why don't we teach better thinking tools in schools. We need better thinkers in larger numbers today, far more than guys with great hand-writing....

Joshi Saheb, Mudra and Dumbistaan2

I am a double amateur when it comes to appreciating music! But the songs of Taare Zameen Par and in particular the lyrics by Prasoon Joshi have been a constant earworm* for me this month!

The Filmfare award to him for best lyrics(for Maa)is well deserved. Though my favourite is 'Kholo kholo darwaze...' A matter of pride for the advertising industry...Congratulations Joshi Saheb! I am your admirer...(no I don't want a job in McCann planning...LOL)

Away from the glitz of Bollywood, Mudra won an award for Continuous Innovation and HR Strategy at Work by the World HRD Congress! Though it's a little difficult to tell from the HRD's pedestrian web-site and the India-centricity of the awards(in 2006)how global they really are!

But for an industry never really known for it's HR friendliness forget HR innovation this is good news! I hope others get inspired.

And finally I had to reproduce this e-mail sent by a friend of mine(inhabitant of youngistaan)...

hey (insert my name)....finally caught it on youtube...i watched it...n then i watched it again thinkin that maybe i'm slow n maybe i missed the point in the ad....but this defintely is one of the crappier ads SRK has done and lil ranbir is getting quite a reputation for behaving nonsensical...deepika looks way better in anythin else that i've seen her in...she looks like just another girl in this ad...all she hadta do was stand n look pretty but cudnt manage that here...they shud've gotten the same make up artist they used in OSO!!!! lines are drab...idea is moronic...acting is so-so...actually everything about this ad is crap...also read the interview by XYZ of JWT...XYZ may be able to sell the interview to a few weak minds but definitely won't sell any pepsi with this strategy...this calls for a change of agency, people!!!!

Hey guys...I didn't make that up:-)

*Earworms is a term for a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes "stuck" in a person's "head" or repeats against one's will within one's mind...Check wikipedia for more details here

Dil Peechha Karta Hai Dil Ka....

Watch the video here!
Tere ishq mein apni manzil ka...thus goes the new viral video from SimplyMarry.com! Watch it here on FireandIce.co.in

Simple, clean, hummable track with cute animation - dil karta hai forward karene ka... Ab yeh 'Youngistaan Hai Meri Jaan!'

The Feminisation of the Internet

Meraj forwarded me this link from NYT. Thanks Meraj, somehow it feels you still work for me(and that too without pay..LOL). It's an article of how more girls than boys are creating content on/for the web!!

Come to think of it there are more and more women creating content on the web or are more conversant with technology in India as well. The other thing is many of the content-creating guys have a strong feminine side to them(including you Meraj and me:-)

Some key points from the article...
1. Among the youngest Internet users, the cyberpioneers of the moment are digitally effusive teenage girls.

2. A study published in December by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that among Web users ages 12 to 17, significantly more girls than boys blog (35% of girls compared with 20% of boys) and create or work on their own Web pages (32 % of girls compared with 22% of boys).

3. Girls also eclipse boys when it comes to building or working on Web sites for other people and creating profiles on social networking sites (70 percent of girls 15 to 17 have one, versus 57 percent of boys 15 to 17). Video posting was the sole area in which boys outdid girls: boys are almost twice as likely as girls to post video files.

4. A Pew study published in 2005 also found that teenage girls were the primary content creators — but the gender gap for blogging, in particular, has widened. The findings have implications beyond blogging, according to Pew, because bloggers are “much more likely to engage in other content-creating activities than nonblogging teens".

It's interesting. The idea that the gender of the world wide web might be changing over time...Mental Bookmark.

Picture Source : www.jupiterimages.com

The Danger of Getting Dooced!!

Came across this word - Dooced at the Urban Dictionary

dooced : Getting fired because of something that you wrote in your blog.

"Blogger Heather B. Armstrong coined the phrase in 2002, after she was fired from her Web design job for writing about work and colleagues on her blog, Dooce.com" (Source: Yahoo.com)

Last October, Delta Air Lines flight attendant Ellen Simonetti was fired, she said, for what her supervisor called a misuse of uniform. Simonetti had posted on her personal blog, Queen of Sky (now called Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant), pictures of herself, in her uniform, on an empty plane. Her blog also contained thinly veiled work stories.
(Yahoo! News)

Thank God for low internet usage and lower blog readership in India!! LOL
Picture Source : www.blogwriteforceos.com

Youngistaan - Quite Dumbistaan

Saw the new Pepsi film on air. It's been talked about in ET and agencyfaqs

I found it quite dumbistaan. Though, my wife says am too old to evaluate 'youngistaan':-(

SRK is wasted and frankly as Deepika's bade bhaiyya, in the immediate aftermath of the sizzling pairing with her in Om Shanti Om is a bit off-putting!!

Ranbir looks stupid as always! But maybe, it's just me and my blogistaan that thinks like this...

And yes, one more thing! For a brand that's so Youngistaan and all that, it forgot to upload the TVC on either agencyfaqs or youtube-istaan!! LOL

The Great Pink Stink

This day, last year had written this post.
It's Valentine's again & pink is haunting like a ghost!

Roses & hearts & Archies are back with a vengeance.
Painting malls, pubs, skylines, all the Bandra fence!

Raju Srivastava on Radio, was good in cameo parts.
Annoying as hell he is as the new ambassador of hearts!

Diamond talk is the new topic of the week/day.
As if they are unripe Alphonsoes sold in May!

Dr. Mallaya launched a vodka coloured PINK.
Cars, condoms, caviar marketing - all blushing in sync!

Raj Saheb, if you are feeling out of work.
North Indians ko chhodiye, focus on these jerk(s)!

Akhha India is threatened by love-virus PINK.
Somebody please help harpic this new urban stink!

Tip: Buy your roses tomorrow, it's not a big deal.
Your Valentine will be livid, but you will get a great deal!!

Happy Valentine's Day:-)

What do the advertisers get in exchange4media?

Well above is the screen grap of exchange4media...Since there is hardly any content on this page, I have never really bothered to look at any of the ads...

I think the scientific term for this is inattentive blindness:-)

Dainik Jagran, Vanita, Radio One, Radio Dhamaal, Big FM, Dainik Bhaskar, Jagran Solutions, Sahara One, Radio Mirchi, Outlook - that's some 10 brands trying to get my in-attention...LOL

Clutter is as bad in virtual real estate as in the real world!

I feel it's the worst designed media web-site...But maybe exchange4media has high-resolution retinal scan to measure effectiveness and eyeball-enthusiasm:-)

Biztech2.0 - New Kid on the Block

Few days ago, exchange4media reported the launch of Biztech2TV. You can read the write-up here...

- It's a Web18 venture. BiztechTV gives TV-style programming on the Internet!

- Biztech2.0 promises incisive, crisp and business-centered content, offering business technology decision makers never-before-seen videos(their claim), in addition to News, Features, Interviews, Reviews, Case Studies, White Papers and more.

Of course with the f***ed up broadband access I have through the reliance data card, it was impossible to download any video!!

This looks like a media magazine meets youtube meets TV meets reportage.... Hope they live up to the promise/ hype!

Brand Blogs - Hat Na Re

Read this write-up in DNAindia on branded cartoon characters.

- Mumbai-based Phonethics is one firm which is tapping into the new opportunity. It has developed around 20 characters and is licensing them to various brands. (But my 7 min minute google-n-yahoo searches couldn't get me the web-site). Help!

- Sometime back, when Sony introduced Chaalbaz No.1, it used Mian Fekoo, a character based on a street poet, from Phonethics. Content in the form of videos, experiences and ideas were then posted on a blog, where nearly 25,000 hits were generated.

- Other characters include Farmao Jaan, Mr. Madhuri and Bhakt Harvakt. All of them have certain unique traits and mannerisms. Phonethics is now planning to create around 150 such characters!! Must say, they look and sound quite kewl!

- Phonethics clients include Tata Motors, Sony Entertainment Television and Nokia. Nokia is also planning to have a similar strategy for the launch of N82 and has roped in the company to design a character!

I feel these characters are important to mainstream digital platforms and offerings. Used well, they can demystify technology.

Technology brands need to hand-hold the consumers (early and late majority) and educate them a lot. And these characters can help do that!

Tera Kya Hoga Johnny

Was reading Sudhir Mishra's post on the making of 'Khoya Khoya Chand'. You can read it on passionforcinema.com

Tucked at the bottom is this small reference to his forthcoming movie - 'Tera Kya Hoga Johnny' - a film about three people who wonder what’s going to happen to Johnny, this little street kid who sells coffee on the road.

He wonders what’s going to happen to them. They are all going haywire.

It’s about Bombay now. It’s also interesting to capture this transitory phase in Bombay. How it’s changing. The whole city is changing, in terms of architecture, the spaces. How they are being occupied by one kind of thing – malls, offices, commercial complexes.

The city is being taken over and in this transitory phase there’s this little kid who sells coffee.

Some time back, I had had similar thots on/about Bandra. How the quiet, quaint bylanes have been taken over by the builder lobby. Small cottages being razed to make way for ugly(mostly), glass-n-chrome highrises!

Steel over sensibility, aggressive architecture over aesthetics, business clamour over creative calm...Tujhe Kya Ho Gaya Bandra:-(

The Size of Thoughts

I had/have a book by this name. By Nicholson Baker - a contemporary American novelist, whose writings focus on minute inspection of the narrator's stream of thought.

Baker is difficult to follow. Past attempts have been bouncers. But I love this phrase - the size of thoughts...

So, I decided to compile 10 Size of Thoughts Thots:-)

1. Very often, my immediate pressing work requires very small sized thoughts. Nano thoughts. Sometimes, no thoughts at all.

2. If we are satisfied with mid-sized thoughts, that's all we will ever have!

3. The company we keep, affects the size of our thoughts. Some people, organisations just shrink the size of your thoughts! Stay away from them...

4. Children have a habit of why-chaining(aisa kyun hota hai) everything! Their constant company can increase both the size and the shape of one's thoughts!

5. One person can change the size of thoughts of a country, an industry - Gandhi, Ratan Tata!

6. The more we stay with a problem, the more the size of our thoughts increase!

7. In advertising, who has the thought/ or sometimes the department of thought determines the size of thought:-)

8. Has constant blogging increased the size of my thoughts?! Decreased the size of my thoughts?

9. Do you only wonder about the size of thoughts related to work? What about the size of thoughts outside of work? For a social cause, any cause...

10. Have you noticed how News TV is squeezing the size of our thoughts?

I don't know whether it's making much sense...But I enjoyed the shape of these thots if not their size:-)

Mobiquity

Just put the finishing touches to my paper for Atticus this year.

Called Mobiquity = Mobile + Ubiquity, it's an attempt to look at the near future impact of the ubiquitous mobile phone!

Zillion thanks to Reshma, who did the quali research for the same & co-wrote it...

We looked at the device, the interface, mobile through an emerging market lens as well as the techno-social impact of the phone!

This surely ranks amongst the coolest research work I/ we did in a long time!

Will soon write a column to share the findings in the public domain!!

Digital is Unevenly Distributed...

On Monday, Jan 21st, Tribal DDB Worldwide became the first Digital Shop/ agency/ global digital brain to Win the Ad Age Global Agency Network of the Year!!

Big Congrats to them!!

This marks the first time in history that a digital company has won this honour!

You can check the full story here

Maybe, things will change from a 30sec obsession to more digital solutions in India as well...

Although, have you ever heard a Balki, Piyush, Pops, Chax, Aggie, etc. talk about the internet, new media, digital, UGC...I haven't! LOL

Prasoon might be an exception. He did talk about Second Life in a ET/ DNA article last year...

The digital lead is already being taken by the likes of Tribal DDB, Webchutney, PC Webwise, Pinstorm, Quasar, Creative Avenues, etc.

Later WPP, IPG and Omnicom companies will buy them at fat sums:-)( Quasar was lapped up by WPP Digital a short while ago)

At the moment, digital is unevenly distributed - the thinking, the creatives, the planners, the urgency, the talent and the CEO priority...