- for adding my blog to the "all the planners" list. 

I have finally started photoblogging. Actually, still looking for a good template and a free hosting platform for it. I was curious how people edit templates on blogger to create simple photoblogs.

I hope I figure that out soon. Till then keep a tab at my album on the picasa webpage, linked on this blog. 

Insight = Truth

Honestly, it has been a long time since I read a book. And thanks to Mansi for gifting me one. I don’t read much. I think I must have read around 10 books till date. I regret not reading more.

I just finished reading “The Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby and it was a treat. It is a lightly written, funny tale of four eccentric people trying to commit suicide. What amused me the most was the way they approached death. These four people, at the boulevard of failure, realize their life has nothing to offer to them. They decide to end their misery by jumping off the roof of what is called ‘the toppers house’, a suicide joint, on a new year’s night.

As the night unfolds, they argue and fight over things, and find themselves down on the street, the long way down – the stairs. This happens again a couple times, and one day they experience death through their eyes. They find themselves on the roof with a man who is ready to push himself down, and he does. They saw truth. They saw how cruel death was. Until then they hadn’t realized what they were up to and decided they weren’t ready for it.

Often times we think we can do something, or we are doing something that’s right. If only we could see someone else doing it right, we realize we were wrong. However hard you try to think of solution to a problem, you would probably end up with something that might not be the right one. This is even so true for us as strategic planners in advertising. To approach a problem or an issue you need to live life like the person who has the problem. Do as he would do to solve it. That’s when you find the truth, the reality, more often what we call – an insight.

Steve Jobs Speech

i truly admire him!

Doctor's Handwriting

I was in 3rd grade when I first heard of this term. I don’t know how popular this term has been around the world, but it was a common mention in schools in India to illustrate ‘bad handwriting’. My mom used to make me practice cursive writing for hours together, just so that I would not be one of the ‘bad doctors’. I guess all those days of practice made sense to me at the age of 12, when I won the ‘Handwriting competition’ in school. It still remains one of my greatest of achievements. ;)

Coming to the point, Physician Handwriting has become so illegible lately that the State of Washington has made cursive illegal. Beat that. Any prescription that isn’t hand printed, typed or electronically generated can’t be filled. (SeattlePI.NWSource.com 6.21.06)

This time is the right time.

Just bought a new Olympus EVOLT E300 Digital SLR camera.

I have always loved photography. Call it passion or craze; it has always been in me to appreciate great photography. There also was a time when I said to myself that if there is anything I would do besides what I am doing, it would be photography. Somehow, things didn’t work out the first time. I played around with a point and shoot film camera at first, experimented with black and white in a very amateurish way. Read more and more about how I could improve. Finally ended up a chance to use a Nikon SLR(35mm) camera through a professor who was kind enough to let us students use her camera for a project. I was in awe of what that black box could do.

My father has always been a motivator. He has always encouraged me to do what I feel good about. I wanted to learn violin when I was 11, and at 18 it was photography. I went on to own a Nikon FM10 (thank you dad), and soon enough realized how expensive it was to get all those films printed. As a student, living with your parents in Mumbai, I found it hard to cope up with the expense. I almost quit.

The other day, I was reading an excerpt from “The Art of the start” by Guy Kawasaki. He lays down five great ideas to start things, particularly a new business. And I thought how true it was in my case. Especially about having a meaning to something that you start. This made me realize that I was missing something. I was missing a good ‘start’. The ‘start’ that I had earlier lacked meaning, substance and quality. I never got going with it.

But this time, I followed my gut and decided not to look back. It was an event that was waiting to happen in my life. I just realigned the timeline.

Urban Spam

This video created by PSFK is a collection of a series of ambient media examples, which they term as Urban Spam. A great deal of truth in this phrase, but the reality is that most of it is fun and people do like to see weird and fun stuff around while walking to their office, home or even grocery stores.

Video-casting

Anteprima is an italian fashion house, which features a full screen video of their fall-winter 2006-07 collection on their website. Check it out on their video section.

Word of Mouth

The starting point for a conscious Word of Mouth campaign initiative is essentially the internal team at the organization. This is an article via the blog customerevangelists which highlights on a few tips for initiating WOM internally in an organization.


How to evangelize word of mouth marketing internally

From the WOMMA blog, Kira Wampler, senior marketing manager for Intuit, shares her tips on how she garnered support for word of mouth marketing programs internally:

Tip #1. Identify mavens, connectors and sales peopleNetwork like crazy. Invite to lunch anyone who has even remotely had anything to do with WOM. Kira identified a crew she called Intuit WOMmers who ended up being a sort of internal support group for the company's WOM initiatives.

Tip #2. Give them a homeInitial meetings were one-to-one, but of course, WOM is about many-to-many conversations. If your goal is to rapidly expand and gain traction for WOM throughout the company, the word must spread. Kira organized optional monthly sessions, a WOM wiki, and a WOM distribution list.

Tip #3. Offer relevant and desirable informationPeople need information in order to spread the word. After learning that the hottest internal WOM topics were measurement, internal support, and best practices, Kira pre-populated a wiki on those topics. She also built a special "evangelist presentation" and asked WOMmers if they'd be interested in seeing the presentation first so they could provide feedback and feel engaged.

Tip #4. Evangelize like crazyWhile Kira started with highly engaged groups, she also wanted to influence the larger Intuit population. She created another presentation that focused on key trends in society that are making WOM critical, plus a series of best practices examples which she customized depending on the audience.

Tip #5. Dive in and participateBe willing and available to serve as a consultant or as part of the conversation between other teams and within other teams. She helps teams see "low-hanging fruit" that they can begin testing without investing large amounts of money and time.

Thinking beyond the normal.

Often a topic like risk management is associated with bulks of reading and references. This interactive 3D website done by Fallon for Travelers, gives an opportunity to risk managers to test their knowledge of safety, security and maintenance issues in relation to home or small business.

TAG Field Testing

http://www.consideryourselfwarned.com/

Being the closest competition to AXE doesn't seem to deter them from doing what axe has been doing since years. I wish there was more to this brand than just being a mirror to AXE. Sad.

apartment

Black Friday II

After almost 13 years, Mumbai is forced to revisit the horrors of its past once again. A series of bomb blasts along the western railway route in almost 8 different locations shattered the citizens of the city once again. This time, it was the lifeline of the Mumbai city, its suburban railway transportation system. The railway network of Mumbai carries around 6 million passengers daily and the commuter traffic is at its peak during the evening rush hours, and that’s where it hit the most. The count is still on to figure out the number of casualties.

In the wake of all this, a former chief of Research and Analysis wing, Vikram Sood says, “TV channels should stop showing dead bodies because it generates fear." He also goes on to say that incidents like 9/11 were covered by the American media without showing blood and death. He fears that the State will be under question for its irresponsibility and poor reaction speed. The truth of the matter is that the media is flooded with visuals where injured bodies are being taken on rickshaws and passenger cars, instead of a well equipped ambulance. Rescue workers are no where in frame.

Is it justified to hide the truth? If the truth is dirty, so be it. The state needs to face it. Let this be a wake up call for the administration. A city like Mumbai, with dreams of making Shanghai a history, always finds itself in shatters when a disaster like this happens. The reality is that terrorist attacks like these are not predictable, but the casualties could be managed better.

JET BLACK

With the airline industry typically associated with different shades of Blue, Jetflyer, a Japaneese airline has put a damper on this trend. Reaching new heights of innovation, the airline codes itself with the color Black. The airline is adorned with black in the exterior and plush black leather seats in the interior, giving it a classy new contemporary look and feel.

A Creative Client

With CP+B resigning the $30 million Mini account(September 2005), the Mini USA chief Jim McDowell called for an agency review. This article discusses a few assignments that the shortlisted agencies went through for the pitch. Not very often would you find a client so creative.

Read the article here. (Business Week, dated: Feb 2006)

Shrunk!

Located in Hamburgh-Germany, the “Miniatur Wunderland” is a concept gallery showcasing some of the finest ‘little worlds’ you can ever see. This photograph is taken by Sam Javanrouh.

Same difference

It's interesting how the same concept can be applied over 3 different (or more) products. A strange coincidence, maybe! But issues like these are all over the place.

via:Coloribus

Know the Codes

Came accross this free downloadable excerpt from Clotaire Rapaille's book called the 7 Secrets of Marketing in a multi-cultural world.

It is an interesting read for people who care to or realize how important it is to read diversity in different markets while advertising and marketing. Great examples from his previous experiences working with brands like Jeep Wrangler, Ritz-Carlton and Nestle makes this worth a read .

Foodtop

Need space? Look around!
One more to the list; this one from an Agency in Brazil for Itautec computers, accentuates the importance of looking at new creative spaces for advertising.

via:Coloribus

Trust me not!

This interesting article on Adage mentions that an ASIS's study found insiders are often involved in intellectual theft and breaching as much as 69% of the time. It is ironic that each of these employees have, willingly or not, signed a sheet of paper which prohibits them from doing so.

More so, there has been much ado about ‘Ethics in Advertising’, where it is a fact that many of the planners pose as a ‘hi-I-am-just-curious-why-you-buy-this-brand’ friend to the consumer. Where is the line drawn? Or is there one?

Finally...

It’s been donkey's years since the thought of creating a blog crossed my mind, and I did. Barely successful with two posts, I found myself fighting for time and more importantly, the inspiration to keep going. Then came a summer filled with moments of blogging; I now find my self addicted to this sphere.