[First published in The Economic Times Brand Equity, April 2024] In the year 2005, Andrew Fischer, then a 20-year old web designer and product photographer went viral across all media, globally. This was a time when viral had not become mainstream. Fischer offered his forehead for advertising on eBay to the highest bidder. A snoring…
(First published in October 2016) Times Internet has been on a spree of signing up partnerships to bring in international digital media titles to India. One would assume that we now get these sites with content relevant to India with their international production standards and design sensibilities. But unfortunately no. Let’s for a moment keep…
(First published in September 2016, in Maxus/WPP internal publications) The dynamic tension between two conflicting states and the need for an ideal balance is often considered a requirement for a system to move forward. For instance, the tension between change and stability; freedom and order; and innovation and efficiency and so on. So what do…
(First published in 2016) Since the advent of steam engine in 1781, every year, the futurists have tried predicting the Digital Trends for the next year. Though, it was later, in the year 2000, when VC funds started funding agencies and digital companies that are named after founder’s cats and dogs, this trend of predicting…
Google recently said that it is investing on creative side of the business and will also work closely with the creative advertising agencies. It is merely validating the belief that in digital it is a thin line between creative and media. Modern gadgets are now bringing together communication, entertainment consumption and utility applications together making…
Shahrukh Khan says ‘Wish Karo. Dish Karo’ in Dish TV commercial.Dish TV really wishes. I recently heard that Sharukh Khan uses Tata Sky DTH at his home. So much for the credibility and impact of celebrity endorsements. A leading snacks brand recently seems to have decided that their employees should stay healthy. So in addition…
Much has been written about ‘The Attention Economy’. I heard about this term only a couple of months back. While I haven’t understood all the philosophical moorings behind this term, the fact that money is spent all the time to get people’s attention and there is a whole economy behind that is simply baffling. When…
Yahoo India is in the middle of a controversy over plagiarism of contents. Some contents published by Yahoo Malayalam were a straight lift from a blog. Bloggers are up in arms. Reportedly, Yahoo has washed its hands citing that the content was provided by its content partner, Webdunia.com. Blogs protesting against Yahoo are aplenty. (In a thank you…