Category: @agencies
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Two kinds of ‘busy’
Busy as in ‘busy with work that adds up’. Work that improves with every failure. Busy doing epic shit. Busy BUILDING something. Busy learning and growing. Busy as in ‘busy ensuring that the blame doesn’t land on me’. Busy as in busy playing a role (e.g. of a knowledgeable strategist who can wax eloquent on […]
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No PPT Decembers.
Pavlov’s dog was conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell. It is not natural for dogs to associate sound of a bell with food.But it can be CONDITIONED to do so. ___ Similarly, its not natural for humans to make PPTs when confronted with an interesting problem to solve. But it seems so […]
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Good places -> Good routines -> Good work.
Routines have a certain magical quality.In my experience, good routines create a virtuous spiral – good routines increase efficiency, work quality and satisfaction with work. You feel in-control, you manage relationships well enough and manage to have fun while getting shit done. The secret to forming these routines isn’t in our ‘will power’ or whatever […]
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Slow down to break the stride of bullshit surfers
Surfing Notions Is candy no longer an impulse purchase? Is the world still on the ‘liberal progressive’ journey? Will Amazon/ Facebook ‘surely’ cede control to regulators? Will they fight misinformation honestly? From the trivial to the profound, I find myself in the midst of rushed debates where beautiful questions are raised and then summarily decapitated […]
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Moving through time
We can count on time to move ahead regardless of anyone or anything. No one can petition, cajole, bribe time into moving differently. Yet, that doesn’t mean people won’t try. For us corporate stooges, time is defined by the rhythm of deadlines and weekends. And as such, some of us work towards those deadlines and […]
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Sponges and Rocks
Sponges absorb. Rocks don’t. Increasingly I feel that the advertising agencies are populated with rocks while all the smart sponges who absorb knowledge, references, culture are going to start-ups, consultancies and so on – the new capital makers. I see fairly young creative teams who churn out the same old ‘manifestos’ characterised by 2000’s era […]
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Advertising bros have a big problem: low self-respect
Yes. Self -respect, not self-esteem. They hold themselves in high enough esteem. Many of them could be rightly called out for their arrogance or over-confidence. It is not an issue of self-image as much as it is about an internal moral framework. I am specifically talking about the way the client-agency relationship is deteriorating and […]
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Shifting to Colombo, Sri Lanka?
I am an Indian, living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And I would have done a few things differently had I known a few things about Colombo before I came here. So here’s a heads-up for future expats heading to the wonder island. The summary If you are a savvy business person and looking for new […]
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The feedback loop
There is one definitive characteristic that separates the competent from the mediocre; the practice of giving, seeking and acting upon constructive feedback. I was fortunate enough to get good bosses early on in my career who were kind and thoughtful with their feedback. I learnt a great deal from them. One of the most valuable […]
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Effie Awards propagating wilful ignorance?
The incentive is structured against comprehensiveness Effie awards are fairly important awards in Advertising. They are about ‘effectiveness’ – They recognize campaigns that have been effective in achieving their stated goals. So far so good. We have won it, a lot of planners I know have won it. It is an essential career milestone for […]
Truth About Branding 