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Evolving for times of Crises
Covid-19 has knocked the wind out of the global machine that humanity lives in. It has shattered our illusions of stability, our belief in global capitalism (about time), our hopes of certain growth forever. It is not just a pandemic. It is a huge question mark that stands tall in front of humanity. What’s the […]
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Markets & Corona virus
This post is not about brands or advertising. I had recently started investing. And the complete equity portfolio now is in deep red. I wasn’t smart enough to exit early on. Now the question for me is – should i absorb losses and exit (fearing recession) or should i stay on with the assumption that […]
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The very real Digital/ Mainline divide
Advertising business is a messy beast. The mess is a function of different medias it caters to – TV, Print, Digital, OOH… These medias are fundamentally very different1. The way it is consumed – TV – passive, lean back, long formPrint – scan, quick, purposive, linearDigital – exploratory, non-linear, lean in, active… 2. The way […]
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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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Future of Creativity: Convivial Creations & Collaborative Commons
“Man is born to inquire and create, and when a man or a child chooses to inquire or create out of his own free choice then he becomes in his own terms an artist rather than a tool of production or a well-trained parrot.” Wilhelm von Humboldt (Chomsky, 1970) Creativity is a fundamental feature of the […]
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Four Principles for Building Brands in the Climate Change Epoch.
How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. Greta Thunberg How dare we? Even as ecosystems collapse, climate change exacerbates refugee crisis and our survival becomes more and more precarious, we continue to go on with our business as usual. We tell ourselves that it’s someone else’s job. […]
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Perils of specialism
In the age of specialism, everyone’s an expert. And when everyone’s an expert, no one listens to others. And when no one listens to others, the human collective cannot work together consciously. It can only work together through the specialist narrow systems of incentives and capital. Narrow systems of incentives are a recipe for disaster. […]
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The end of Monoculture and what that means for agencies
Flying over Kuala Lumpur, one can see huge expanse of palm trees, beautifully arranged in rows and columns. Fly over Thailand and you would see similar geometry playing out with rubber trees. The human sense of geometry imposed on nature, seen from the human invented vantage of flight. It’s wondrous and beautiful and awe inspiring. […]
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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 […]