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I was invited by ISB&M, a marketing and communication school, to speak with the incoming batch at their Pune campus. I decided to weave a story around some of my past tweets and use them as prompts for my talk. Sharing the presentation with you…enjoy, don’t take things too seriously; and if you do decide to take them seriously, know that the views are strictly my personal opinion 
Do wait for the presentation to load fully – see that your speakers are turned on.
ISB&M, Pune on Prezi
I wrote this after a long day at work as a note on my phone. Found it amusing, thought may resonate with some others too. Here it is – An Ode to Social Media
An age of distractions and disdain has come to be our generation’s bane.
You are called a cynic who can only whine,
If you “unfollow” the principle of, I scratch your back and you mine.
Humility is buried 100ft in the land,
For the ‘just’ cause of nurturing the ‘personal brand’.
You are a success from the word go,
If you, yourself, say so!
Just like your mother who labours to maintain her cups and pans
You got to show devotion to your followers and fans.
To be at the centre of attention requires no inspiration from a muse
All it takes is a potshot and the fine art of hurling abuse
Lest o reader you think I am all bitter
or you judge my writing to be a piece of litter
Let me confess what is a sign of our common weakness to fritter and this poem’s final hook -
Both of us can’t do without Twitter or Facebook!
If you are an entrepreneur, you might be able to relate to this slide-show. Let me know what you think
I just finished reading Inebriation by Gaurav and was reminded of my second only attempt at writing in verse – the one before this was in school, I remember. Dug this out from my blog Verbum that I used to write before I launched Blogworks.
This was June 2006. I had just quit my job and was planning to go the entrepreneur route – captures the mood
Good fun
It’s good fun, I tell you
On a journey,
once again.
Oh, why? you say.
Simple;
Because, I must.
Because,
you ought to stretch,
to grow taller.
Drop a few leaves,
to earn a new burst.
Trust me,
I done this before.
Go try,
I tell you. It’s good fun!
xx
Yes, I am a school boy still when it comes to writing a poem, if this can be called one .
“Mango Shake Idhar Hai, Aapkaa Dhyaan Kidhar Hai?” teased at least two of the near identical carts I passed by yesterday, driving back from the C.A.’s office. I asked my driver to reverse the vehicle and clicked these pictures. There were four of these carts – 3 parked next to each other and 1 just a bit away – in all their kitsch glory, tempting summer hit pedestrians.
Makes me think why can’t the friendly neighborhood kirana stones similarly come together under a common brand, to meet the threat posed by organised retail? Each keeps their sales and profits, but contributes to a common marketing pool and wears the same colours/ brand and sources together.
Any examples of something like this from India. In a way, Amul (or any other cooperative) is exactly that, no?
Agreed my Sundays aren’t complete without Vir Sanghvi’s Rude Food in Brunch with HT (pure magic, his food writings), but I pretty much stopped reading his (mostly) political commentary in the same paper, ages ago. As if that was not enough, this morning he fell from favour further, after I read his Pursuits in Mint is morning, “Forget the critics, my vote goes to Tintin” he says. Now that’s sacrilege, by Jupiter (or Jove, whatever you prefer you call him).
That Tintin is for the pretentious, is established from the word go. What else would you call a comic that expects us to know that it is pronounced “Tantan” and not Tintin? Very clever. But then, I must confess, I only read one of ‘those’ and that too…partly.
I am clearly an Astérix person – been one since I was 10, when Juhi gifted me a copy 
.
I have since accompanied the gang on most of their adventures and witnessed first hand:
They call at weird hours, with the weirdest offerings; they leave us frustrated, angry and guilty (for having yelled at them); in-fact they leave us amazed that we continue to do business with them despite all the ongoing harassment. That top guys of these companies actually walk the streets without getting man handled is proof that we are firm believers in the principle of non-violence – land of Mahatma Gandhi, indeed .
As a marketer is never ceases to amaze me that these companies, their marketing/ communication advisors never seem to worry about the adverse impact on their brand reputation?
I have sometimes wondered if any of them ever considered using a voluntary “No tele-harassment policy”, as not just a case of good brand citizenship, but as a differentiated brand promise! Is there a critical mass of consumers who would support a brand on that promise? I would have loved to try with a client in one of the key culprit segments – multinational banks (and their credit card/ insurance divisions); telecom companies; hospitality- Foolish thought? What do you think?
Too late for that to work as a differentiator, for the Do Not Call Registry has already arrived, promising relief for the harassed consumer.
“In a way it will be good for everyone,” they say: Consumer gets the needed relief; tele-marketing companies might see higher conversions (particularly in urban markets) with remaining prospects; some might shift focus to semi-urban in pursuit of newer markets, but cost per call will definitely increase, owing to higher investments in connectivity and related equipment etc. Consolidation is likely.
Coming back to the calls…sometimes the predominant sentiment of ‘simple’ irritation can shift to a sadist and wicked desire to ‘give it back!’ This was an interesting one – I was initially baffled at hearing from a rather sophisticated gentleman, attempting to sell me high-end investment advisory on behalf of a rather exclusive multinational bank – based on my ‘profile’, he claimed – I could almost see his expression change when I asked him if based on the said ‘profile’ they could offer me a business loan to fund my new venture. He promised to have his colleague call back. No, I didn’t wait for the call .
Please DON’T try this at home though!! Chanced upon at a Facebook friend’s profile.
It’s been long since I took such a detour here…
If you love horses and equestrian sport, then I have no doubt that you will really enjoy this dressage video. If however, you haven’t had an opportunity to see such action yet, then not just do I hope you like it but I do hope you fall in love too – with horses that is.
Enjoy.
