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Wk 12-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes and thoughts from Week 12, 2025

Here are notes from week 12 of 2025.

I am in Delhi. And unlike other Delhi trips, I was mostly homebound. I didn’t step out as much as I do on other trips. I did meet a few people. I went for a walk with Kunal. And then some. But more or less I was home.

Oh, and I took easy this week. I didnt invest too much time or effort in trying to meet people. I have this new found policy – I will match the effort you make to be around me. In case I REALLY need you, want you etc, I will make extra effort. But more often than not I’ve realised that I don’t need to go out of my way. For example, this person – I call her THE ABSOLUTE BEST hire for C4E that we will never be able to hire – I’ve been trying to meet her for 6 months. And each time I am in Delhi, she’s one of the first people I text. And each time, something or the other happens at her end and we dont meet. This time, I decided to not bother. I know my loss but ek nahi to koi aur sahi. I can’t spend my life waiting for one person to show up. And thus I am gonna choose people who choose me. Simple.

PS: Am I wrong? PLEASE do let me know.

And with that rant, moving onto the review.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by? And the next week!

I was to work on the 2025 plan and Book 2.

I didnt make any progress on either. No, I didnt not think about them – just that the laziness of being in Delhi and lot of action on the work front had the better of me.

And no, I am not giving up on either. I will revisit these at some time. Book 2 is easy. Thanks to Bri and Claude, I am ok on that. I spend enough time talking about it, thinking about it that I am confident that it would happen this year. I wanted to push the first draft by end of Mar. That may still happen if I can find time once I am back in Bom. If not that, then by 15th April for sure.

On the 2025 plan, I am not so confident. But I will make it happen eventually.

Moving on…

☑️ What did I get done this week?

I will give a one-line report on things I got done on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health – I was home for the large part of the week. And that means I ate home cooked food. I still feel bloated and I get sleepy right after I eat but at least my sleep is better. Once I am back in Mumbai (on Monday), I will work towards building my kitchen. I am also gonna invest in health (gym etc). I wrote about it last week. I just need to action it. So yay!
I will give myself a 0 on this.

Meru – Regular work. Some products are close to seeing the MVP ready stage. We are moving with hiring. And some more action.
I will give myself a 0 on this.

C4E – Nothing much. Actually -1 on this. Reasons beyond this blog.
So -1

Brand SG – Nothing on this either.
Again, -1.

People – I loved the people I met while I was in Delhi. Plus thanks to Meru, I am meeting more people.
So, +1 on this.

Book 2 – Didnt write as much but I did move the needle.
However, I will give myself a 0.

Shauk – Nothing on this. The list of open projects is long – Madhushala, Aakanksha, Network School (:(), Poker, Optimist Manifesto and many many more.
Another -1

So the overall score is -3 for this week.
Trends from the pevious weeks: -2, -1

The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.
Added this to my tracker too.

📊 The tracker from the last weeks

Here’s the tracker.

I love all the green on sleep hours and recovery.

I think the two of these things are good because I am eating better. Even though I am walking less than average, I am still ok. Guess its the food.

The other highlight is that I am unable to track money when I am home. Even though, this Delhi trip I stepped out far less than I would normally do, I did spend money and yet I didnt track it.

My emotions have been suprisingly in check. For all the hatred that I give to delhi, I am amazed that the things I track are actually, on track!

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.
Not too many. I told ya that whne I am in Delhi, my productivity goes for a toss.

Do lemme know which one you thought was the best.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

Not too many. Just one. Even though I have nothing, I dont want to remove this section.

The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. Here.
Self promotion – Wrote this. Also, updated the contact page.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ Ayush (from Notice)
Met Ayush. He’s the founder of Notice. He’s 24 and WHAT A GUY! I wish I had his brains and talent at that age. I want to do something with him. I dont know what. But parking it here.

B/ SoG 2025
I met a few bright people while I was in Delhi. I plan to bind them in a group or something. And I want to call it SoG 2025.

Unlike other SoG cohorts, I am trying this one to have “older” folks (people who are ~25) and push each of those to make 10X than what they make right now. For example, if I could help Ayush scale Notice 10X? Assuming, he’d want to work with me.

To be honest, I am little out of my depth here but what’s the point of life if we don’t try?

This is in continuation to what I wrote last week about how I want to spend my time and money here.

Coming back.

I made a post on twitter / linkedin asking people to nominate themselves. I’ve got a few replies. Let’s see what I do with it.

Oh, and if you are reading this and you have folks to recommend, please lemme know. I really can make a LOT of difference to lives of people.

C/ What did you get done in last week?
Since the Elon tweet and now with Meru, I am learning an incredible lesson. That things need to move week on week. And they need to be tangible. And we need to be high-agency AF.

And thus I am implementing this across my life. And I will implement this across all the things I do. If you are not high-agency, I dont want you around me. Simple.

D/ Ek Aur Panna
I decided to write off one more friend from my life. I wont talk more about it here but I am unable to operate when I am not treated with kindness. And this is when I’ve invested time, energy and effort into helping you build you life. Pavithra taught my recently that I shouldnt look at things in terms of a transaction but I dont want to be in rooms where I am not respected.

I will choose to be kind, polite, supportive and all that but if you cant treat me well, you could be whoever, I am out.

Also, I need to think – if I am the one who’s writing off people at this speed, will I ever have friends and family left when I am old?

Also, if you are reading this, is this my Ego at play? Help please!

E/ Home
I have made a decision that each month I will come home for a week.

It will mess with work and health and money and all that but I will. In fact, I will book tickets in advance (I cant book them right now – haath thoda tang hai) but I will book these. Till I have enough money to get my parents to move to Mumbai.

F/ Founder Brand
Met this young founder who thinks that building a founder brand will sell his products. I had to tell him to not ape others blindly. While founder brand is an important thing, it can’t be THE only thing! May be I will record a podcast on this. CC AK. Idea for the next episode.

G/ The head in the ass behaviour of someone I respect
Again, related to D above, yet another gent seems to have gotten so big that he’s got his head up his backside. This one is from MDI and is a self-appointed leader of a random group. I dont know what happens to people when they grow big!

Also, my decision on D above, is it because I have my head in my ass?

H/ SG Helps on Marketing
Thanks to this tweet, a couple of people filled in the form. And I spoke to one of those. And again, I was blown by the talent of that person. I think I have stumbled on to something interesting with it. Must find a way to scale it.

I / Dubai
I seem to have trained the algo on Insta on Dubai.

And I know that at least for the foreseeable future, Dubai is not happening. So I need to retrain my algo. Having said that, I want C to continue to focus on building C4E to be a borderless business (even though the world we live in seems to closing with each passing day). Dunno what she wants. I will not push her and let things take their course.

J/ C4E…
…is closing the year with a flat line compared to last year (no growth, no degrowth) in terms of topline and profits.

Not a good news. I was supposed to do 40 crores of topline this year. TBH, we would have been 2X last year if not for the bad last few months.

Again, on this, I want Chandni to write an annual report for all our stakeholders. Again, her wish if she wants to.

K/ Workshop on Taste.
Manas would’ve taken the workshop on Saturday. I was unable to attend (cos am in Delhi). Hope people would have had fun!

To be honest, I am not sure if I like that I am missing all these bombs that we are planting at C4E. I do these becuase I like to do things but if I am not there, then what? But I jknow that I need to focus on buliding Meru to be able to have more.

Sigh!

L/ Other things that I want to capture but I may not spill too many words…

Lesson on tipping from HT. I will ensure that I will tip EACH place I am at. I know I dont have enough but I will ensure that whatever I have gets distributed well.
Wall of Portfolios is an incredible idea that I wish I had built! I will reach out to each person on that wall and try to make friends.
Booked a wrong flight. I typically don’t make mistakes with these things but I did. And thus this needs to be captured.
Worked from a McD for three days last week. My soul is crying. 😀
Had Wai Wai Sadako at Yeti. Loved it. Been in love with it since I went to EBC.
Met friends from childhood – Monu, Kunal. I wish I could live around them. But life has happened. I was reading something that says more than 95% people still live in / around the same pincode where they were born!

🧠 Reminders from last week

I am adding this section. To capture things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.

Here are things from the past weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

Health
- Kitchen setup
- Gym membership
C4E
- C4E Base
- Design
- Borderless agency / Upwork
Shauk / Personal
- Poker
- Better dressed SG
- Use of money / time
- Love
- Demand more from life

In case you know me, lemme know if I have missed something.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Survive.

No large, deep thoughts. Just plain old being.

In the previous weeks, it’s been Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—

Ok!
This is it for the week gone by. Late by a day. But it’s here. Yay!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

PPS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11

Untitled – 27/28 Jun 2024

As always, I dont know what to write but I feel like sharing. I started writing it on the 27th but I was unable to finish it. Continuing today.

Let’s go.

1/ Money

I am close to the month’s end. And that means I have started to get jittery about money. I need to pay my people. While it is a feeling of bliss to pay people who choose to work with me, often it adds to random chaos in my head.

This time it will be especially stressful as we haven’t been paid by all the clients (and of course that shouldn’t matter to others) but I have to pay folks on time. And I am at the end of my credit line. So I dont know what to do.

Let’s see. I’ve learnt that life often finds a way. I am sure it would find this time around too.

2/ Marketer’s Responsibility

~~Yesterday~~ day before I was dinnering with some friends and we were seeing music from Moosewala and Gurdas Mann and Rabbi Shergill and the likes. I lamented that the music made by these people was to push a narrative (I dont have an opinion if they were right or wrong), educate, inform and all that. My generation grew up on that. I wouldn’t know about Bilquis Bano unless I heard it in a Rabbi song. Indian Ocean back in the day made me curious about Rewa even though they didn’t talk about its significance. More recently, listening to Moosewala made me aware of Sec 295.

Compare it to what people are listening to today.

The top 10 tracks in India today include the likes of Jhumka Gira Re, O Maahi (I dont even know what this is), Sajni and more.

Nothing wrong with these.
Each must be a fascinating piece of art.
But are they stirring my soul?
Are they making me think deeper as a human?

No, I am not sure.

So that’s it.

PS: I know I am cherry-picking a few tracks to make a case – both from my time and from the time of today. And there may be musicians and artists in this day and age who are making people aware but it’s not reaching me.

Now, extrapolate this to communication and marketing.

Which was the last campaign (not just an ad) you saw that made you take note of what’s happening around us? Which piece of communication from a brand last stirred your soul into doing more? Which brand has taken a solid stand that you believe the world needs? No, I am not talking about token activism by brands around Mother’s Day, Pride Month et al.

I can think of Share The Load as a campaign that made at least me aware of how certain kinds of work have been gendered. For my life, I can’t think of any other campaign at this time.

I know that as marketers we ought to think only about selling our wares better. But we have the blessings of a marketing budget. And that’s an opportunity to push the narrative needed by the times! I believe we have a FAR larger responsibility than we imagine (of selling only our wares) and I see fewer and fewer people even thinking about things. Especially in this day and age when one smart-alec piece of communication is on-purpose designed to “go viral”. I mean look at the latest piece from Tanishq. I wish they had dug deeper.

Anyhow.

So, while I am appreciative of the great art and craft and thought used by these brands in their communication, as a marketer, I am disappointed that we are not building conversations and communication pieces that nudge the culture.

Phew.
Rant over.

3/ Fitness

I dont know why I am unable to work on my fitness. I just dont have the discipline. And I will change that from today. This is the millionth time that I have promised myself and the world that I would work on my fitness. Let’s see if I can manage.

I plan to start with some yoga. I dont know how to carve time in the morning. I dont have time during the day. And at nights I am too tired. Old age, you see. But I will find time. Maybe I will wake up super early – like at 4:30. And then get some work done before 7 AM and then do it? I don’t know. I will see. May be I will NOT travel for the next few days and then see if I am able to get a schedule in.

I will also change my diet from today. I ate Suraj Lama Momos for like 100th time last night. No, they are not that good. Just that they deliver super fast. Like in 10 mins. Faster than instamart.

I will go on a lo-carb, high-protein diet. I will try for a few days. If I can’t sustain, I will find myself a cook. So that.

4/ Baarish

Yesterday it rained. And it poured. And it was windy. And it was relentless. And I was in it. At the C4E Sunset Club. And it was fabulous. Oh, while I was in the rain, I was on a call. And I loved each minute that I was there.

I wish there were more rains and more opportunities to get wet and more ways to enjoy it. I wish I lived in a house that was near the beach so that I could go there more often. I wish the monsoon was not a two month phenomenon. I wish I have less and less places to be so that I could be at the Sunset Club, under the rains.

Bas itna hi.

5/ Action

The last night I was talking to an acquaintance. She asked me how I was. And I gave my usual answer. Here’s a screenshot from the conversation.

Let’s park this as A. I will come back to this.

Last night (while getting drenched in the rain), at the C4E Growth Session, I encouraged each person at C4E to list their values. I also tried to list my values. I’ve done this a million times but I thought I would do it again.

Here’s a list. Let’s call this B.

Now, when I marry A and B, I realise that life has become monotonous. There is no action, no movement, no fun.

I may say that I’ve become stoic (after all, I am stressed that I dont have the money to pay my people, I can be sad that I dont have a romantic partner, I could be fucked in the head about my inability to steer C4E in the way I want to and many more things). Or I may accept that I’ve become lazy and dependent on others for things. Funnily, in my life, I was never this. I was always atamnirbhar. I was always the go-getter. Always the kind to do things by myself. And if the events of the last few months are anything to go by, I need to operate from the place where I am all alone. Everyone leaves. It’s not if. It’s when.

Saw this couplet by Faraz on Instagram and I was amazed that some poets can capture emotions so well. This is EXACTLY how I feel on most days. He says,

बुझी नज़र तो करिश्मे भी रोज़ो शब के गये
के अब तलक नही पलटे हैं लोग कब के गये

करेगा कौन तेरी बेवफ़ाइयों का गिला
यही है रस्मे ज़माना तो हम भी अब के गये

मगर किसी ने हमे हमसफ़र नही जाना
ये और बात के हम साथ साथ सब के गये

अब आये हो तो यहाँ क्या है देखने के लिये
ये शहर कब से है वीरां वो लोग कब के गये

गिरफ़्ता दिल थे मगर हौसला नही हारा
गिरफ़्ता दिल हैं मगर हौसले भी अब के गये

तुम अपनी शम्ऐ-तमन्ना को रो रहे हो “फ़राज़”
इन आँधियों मे तो प्यारे चिराग सब के गये
Faraz

The couplet in bold and underline is what caught my attention the most.

So that.

Coming back.

Maybe I need to be a lot more hands-on.
Maybe I need to be a lot more particular.
Maybe I need to push myself more.

I dont know the answer.

Let’s see.

Chalo, work beckons. Enough for the day.

The Need-Barrier-Solution-Release Quartet of Marketing

Each marketing problem can easily be broken into 4 simple questions that you can answer to arrive at the solution to even the most challenging problems.

Today’s day 6. I missed yesterday. I tried but there was a social obligation that I couldn’t get out of. So, let’s go.

So marketing to women is a tough one for me. Multiple reasons. Lemme talk about one of those. That I am a man. And that means at a deeper, personal level I dont understand women. I may read a lot, I may consume a lot of literature, I may do deep research, I may create a panel of women to talk to, I may do whatever. My experience and understanding will remain superficial at best. One of my writing teachers told me that while writing unless I feel like the person living that emotion, I will never do justice to what am writing. The same probably goes for marketing. Till I can feel the need-barrier-solution-release journey in my bones, I will never be able to do justice.

In fact, this need-barrier-solution-release is what I can sum whole of marketing in. Lemme talk about each. From the lens of women.

A/ Need. Aka Want.

I know these two are different but for argument’s sake and to keep things simple, let’s assume these are one and I will use these interchangeably. So there is this need that the woman wants a solution to. The need could be any of the following – look good (for whatever reason / occasion – wedding, date, family function, every day etc), take care of the family (nutrition, health, budgets, holidays, etc), manage her career better (navigate politics, balance work-family, provide for the family, etc), fly despite all the shackles imposed by Indian culture and more.

Often the woman is clear about her need. She may not be able to express it in words but deep down, she knows what she needs / wants. And to fulfil that, she starts to look for solutions. Often in the shape of products, services, etc.

To make this easier to explain, let’s take Renu for example.

Renu is 35, a fictional aam-aurat from a regular tier-1 city in North India, a tier-2 locality and middle-middle class. She got married at 26 and has a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. The husband works at a bank as a manager. She doesn’t work apart from managing the house and wants to give the best to her family, especially the “raja beta”. She doesn’t even know that her managing the house qualifies as work. And since she’s a typical Indian, she is a maximiser and wants more value from each rupee she spends.

PS: I will use Renu as a recurring archetype in these posts. Over time I will create more archetypes that can encapsulate about 80% of women in India.

B/ Back to Renu. And Barriers.

Now Renu’s want of “giving the best” could take numerous shapes – education, nutrition, clothes, experiences, extra-curricular classes, comfort and all that. And she has a limited budget and limited understanding. Her barriers are money and knowledge. The money bit, she can’t solve for. And she knows it. She may want to work at some point but knows that it may not work out. The knowledge bit, she knows she can figure.

So Renu would probably go around seeking knowledge. She would read magazines, talk to elders, connect with others that have given a good life to their children, ask neighbours, look up content on her WhatsApp (shes not gonna do any deep research), experiment with a few things and then probably invest a large chunk of money and time and attention into the son’s life.

C/ Solutions.

As a marketer, you have two potential paths from hereon. Two potential approaches to the solution.

One. Peddle your wares. Make a quick buck and move on. Of course, spend money on acquiring Renu as a customer (CAC) and hope like hell that she spends a lot over a long period (LTV).

Two. You decide to help Renu solve this information barrier (and not just sell a solution). Your CAC is spent on educating, knowing very well that she may pick a competitor once she’s aware. You expert LTV to come to you as an outcome of the newer Renus that you would be able to acquire as a result of the salience that you would have built, thanks to your attempts at helping Renu bridge the knowledge gap.

D/ Release.

Once Renu what to do for her child, and she actually does it, she would pause and catch her breath. Before she jumps head first into the next need. Which may or may not be for her child. But she would carry the experience of this one loop with her. Each time she goes through this loop and she interacts with others (people, brands, influencers etc etc) she would “train” herself into doing better the next time she goes thru this loop.

And as a marketer, your job is to walk alongside her, if not just ahead of her where you pave the road that she would walk on!

So that!

Think about all the brands you love. At each opportunity, they would take the second route where they solve for one of the barriers and not just “sell”. And that ladies and gents is the idea for the day. And the post for the day.

PS: I am not sure if this is helpful to anyone. However, it did make me sit down and think about things. If you are reading this, please do tell me how do I make these posts better for you. And hopefully, over the next few days, I will find things that make sense.

Index: 90-90-1 Project. Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (missed), 6

Pink Tax in India

Brands and businesses often impose an additional, discriminatory “Pink Tax” on women. In this piece, I explore it in more detail.

It’s 6:30 PM. I was supposed to write this in the morning but I woke up late, dived head-first into the day and still reeling from all the work. I will no longer stay in bed beyond 7 AM. I have been waking up without alarm last few days but I will start using it now. I can NOT miss this 90-90-1, especially now that I found out that I want to write about and learn about marketing to women.

So, today’s post is about Pink Tax.

What is Pink Tax?

In simple words, it’s the extra money that women need to pay for products that are apparently tailor-made for them.

For example, shaving razors. Multiple women told me (see the disclaimer at the end of this post) that a women’s razor is at least 20% extra (than a man’s) even though it functions the same. The makers do the smart thing of doing communication around it that justifies the inflated price. In the case of the razors, apparently, they say that the blade and the rubber thingy in between the blades are coated with Aloe Vera that keeps the skin of the user safe. They also say that the design of the razors “glides” smoother on the curvy skin. They added a roller to make the functioning better.

I mean wow!
To me, all these are mere gimmicks to charge more.

Other categories where I am told this pink tax exists in India are garments (the same tee-shirt for women is about 10% more expensive (as per pop research I did), travel (multiple women told me that they get fleeced more), jewellery (simple things like rings are gram-for-gram more expensive for women), healthcare (contraceptives, condoms etc), personal care products (does) and more.

The pink tax is valid if the products and services rendered require additional effort. For example, a haircut. In general, women tend to have longer hair and thus the person working on hair for women will probably need to make additional effort. And thus the additional compensation makes sense.

But for categories like razors, garments, health products and others, I think it sucks that the pink tax exists.

So, why does the pink tax exist?

To be honest, I couldn’t think of any specific reason apart from corporate greed. From whatever I know the products are not really different from what they make for male audiences. To “expand” their offering and create newer markets, businesses create these ~~products~~ gimmicks and try and charge more. And of course, they would justify the same by throwing information, justification and a combination of some of Cialdini’s principles of influence at us!

Anyhow.

So pink tax exists and there is no denying it. Just that a lot of people aren’t aware of it. And for women as consumers, better awareness will translate into more value for money.

While writing about this post, I realised that there seems to be a lack of content and literature about the pink tax in India. Apart from one post on Mint, an article on Outlook, a BusinessLine piece by a professor of marketing from IIM Amritsar talking about research her students did and a Logical Indian piece, I couldn’t find anything worthwhile. The piece by the professor is worth reading, in case you want some data.

I wanted to research more and learn more but I am not sure what more to read. If you have access to some work on this space, please do point me to it. I am beginning to think that the pink tax may not even exist in India and this could be a mere anecdotal theory that has got more wind than it deserves or merits.

Guess this is about it. See you tomorrow.

PS: This was a painfully short post and a disappointing piece of text. When I come back tomorrow morning (for sure) to write, I hope I have something substantive to contribute.

PPS: For this post, I leaned onto what I already knew about marketing, what I found via desk research and what members of the #SoG told me in one of our #janHitMeJaari sessions. All errors are mine and please help me fix those.

PPPS: As I write these over the next 3 months or so, I plan to share early drafts with some people. If you want to get those, give me feedback before I publish, lemme me know and I will add you to a WA group. Lol, I love these groups ;P

Index: 90-90-1 Project. Day 1, 2, 3, 4

Marketing to Women in 2023

How in 2023 brands need to take a stand and do more than mere communication. Specifically for cohorts like women!

Today’s day 3 of the 90-90-1. In case you don’t know about this, you may read this post to get a sense of what C and I are trying to do. The last two days were spent trying to build a habit of clearing the calendar and not doing anything else but writing. At some point in time (hopefully today), I want to start talking about marketing. After all, that’s what I decided yesterday.

The times we live in are, well, interesting. The world around us is changing faster than you can blink and it’s still the same. We now have self-driving cars, chatGPT and LK-99. And yet we have countries divided over religion and race and color and all that. As a marketer, the job has never been more exciting. Or tougher. People no longer hide behind veils and mumble disapprovals. They now assert their individuality and talk about things that don’t fit into their value system. And when they do that, they are louder than the loudest cheer of fans in a stadium and more articulate than the politicians at the altar. And they spread their ideas with a distribution that brands are envious of.

So, conventional wisdom would say, tread carefully.

And this is where I sort of disagree.

Why tread carefully? As a brand, while you are out there to make a profit and create shareholder value, you have the obligation to lead the charge and herald people into the new. You need to play the role of an instigator, a politician, a pastor, a provocateur, a pop star, a painter. As the brand (and you as the brand manager, the custodian of the brand) you need to take stands. And have what it takes to face the music. Or the cacophony.

Truth be told, many brands have tried this and may I say, bowed down. Tanishq had to take down one of their ads and issue a public apology when they took a brave stand of showcasing an ad featuring an interfaith couple. If you are curious, you may see it here (on a politician’s Twitter handle). Yesterday, Aditi showed #teamSoG an ad by Nike where they took the brave decision of featuring an athlete that apparently had disrespected America’s national anthem. I can’t imagine that happening in India. Staying with Nike and what’s happening around us, I found this beautiful message where they are imploring us to Not Do It! Isn’t this the exact responsibility brand custodians have?

We need brands and businesses to take such stands in India and talk about what’s happening around us. There have been some starts. Future Generali (disclaimer – I had featured their CMO on a podcast) has been taking bold bets. One of their campaigns celebrated same-sex relationships and they did so in as loud a manner as they could for that small cohort – hoarding at one of the most popular junctions in Mumbai at least. I am not sure if they did it at other places too. Axis Bank did Dil Se Open. Kotak has been the harbinger of creating communication that showcases our diversity as a nation. While there are starts, we need things to go mainstream and we need more businesses and brands to take a stand. But then, that would require you to have some spine. No?

As a passive participant in the communication industry, all I can do is stay hopeful that someday the eyes would open up. And with each thing that I work on, I can push things a bit, if not a lot.

Lemme give an example.

Women.

As a cohort. As a consumer set. As the “niche” that every brand wants to be pally with. Each brand I work on, without an exception, – from hotels to financial services to healthcare to travel to everything else wants to be the new best friend to women. And it’s not surprising to see why. Almost 48.4% of India is women. Less than 20% are engaged in “active, meaningful, paid work” outside the farm and casual labour space. And I am not even counting women that are part of the unorganized economy and the ones that “work” at home.

Even if I consider the ones in active work, more and more women are choosing to take control. Of how they live, work, think, operate and spend their money. And of their families. And have an influence over the money of their friends and relatives and neighbors. Women now assert their opinions and voices and dictate where their wallets open up.

While brands understand this trend, they are failing to do the right thing.

In the next few lines, I will make a few statements about what women want. From the vantage point of being a man. Not to mansplain but to learn more. If I am wrong, which I probably would be, PLEASE help me correct.

So, coming back to women and brands, I refuse to see why or how brands create products or communication. I mean, no woman wants a pen that comes in a pink body but writes in blue. Most women don’t really care about “whiter” intimate body parts. No woman wants to “have a happy period”.

What women probably want is equality (not special treatment). They probably want marketers to have a deeper understanding of challenges specific to them. Women probably want solutions to the problems they face as individuals – if that solution is pink or blue or black or whatever, it’s cool. Brands need to arrive at solutions first and then think of colors. Brands need to take a stand and not amplify the already deep-seated biases against women. I mean why would a brand create communication about how a woman eats last and whatever is left after her entire family has eaten? Rather, why can’t we have more pieces of work that encourage everyone to Share The Load?

So that.

I know my understanding and knowledge of these issues is flawed. I know that I don’t understand women. I know I need to do better if I want to make a dent. And that is what I would try and work on over the next few days.

While I am on the journey to do so, come help me! Tell me when I go wrong. Point me at resources that allow me to learn. Share things that I can read. You know where to reach me!

Over and out.

PS: As I write these over the next 3 months or so, I plan to share early drafts with some people. If you want to get those, give me feedback before I publish, lemme me know and I will add you to a WA group. Lol, I love these groups ;P

Index: 90-90-1 Project. Day 1, 2, 3

Why take the 90-90-1 challenge?

Why would I take the 90-90-1 Challenge? What do I hope to get out of this?

So, why would I take 90-90-1?

For the uninitiated, today is day 2 of the 90-90-1 that Chandni and I are onto. My first post is here. This is the second. While yesterday I talked about marketing, today I want to talk about why I am taking this challenge in the first place.

In the challenge, she and I have chosen one thing to work on for 90 minutes first thing in the morning for the next 90 days. In my case, it’s my personal brand and I will use the instrument of writing to work on it. I could have chosen to make videos, create podcasts, doodle, talk, think, daydream but I think like most things, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone – so build my personal brand and work on my writing muscle. Like other times I have taken challenges, I dont have a daily word-count goal. I merely want to work on it for 90 days and I want to create a visible body of work (not just a stream of thoughts).

Lemme also talk about why I am taking this challenge and what I hope to achieve out of this.

A. I suck at consistency.
This could be a good way to beat that. Apparently, habits take 21 days to form (or may be 66). If I can do something for 90 days, each day, without rest, I hope I am able to build the muscle that allows me to do the large things that I want to do.

B. Do more with whatever time I have left
I am realising that at 40, I am beyond my useful age and if I still have to make that dent, I need to be able to work harder than others and longer than others.

While life is not a zero-sum game, life definitely is a race. You can choose to make it a rat race. Or you can choose to make it one where you are inspired by ones you can see running to their own music and pace. Someone’s going fast, someone’s going slow, someone’s in circles, someone is merely on a treadmill.

You look at these people and you take inspiration from these people and sing your song. In my case, the song is of someone that’s out to make a dent. Whatever that dent is. While I dont know what that dent is, SoG looks like it. And to be able to be that inspirational father figure of sorts, I need to be better than most men these young kids would have seen. And within that closed circle, I may not be able to fix things (the way I dress, the hair I have, the shakal I have), but I am sure I can fix others (like, having a body of work that precedes my reputation)

C. The C4E Village
As the C4E village grows larger, as one of the early members of the settlement, I am aware of the responsibility on my shoulders. I need to be the provider till others mature and start looking beyond themselves and to the village.

Right now, most of the villagers think of themselves first and then of the village. I am hopeful that a time will come when the collective, the village will become larger than the self. Till that time, I need to make sacrifices and provide. I can’t just go buy those airpods that I know I can afford but I dont want them because I can use that money to hire one more person. I can’t go live in a fancy house because the rent I pay could be used to pay for dinner at a C4E Table. And so on and so forth. And to be able to do all of this, I need to be someone that attracts work. And that will happen once I am a magnet of sorts that attracts potential clients, large deliverables, and money!

D. The SG Personal Brand
Now the personal brand is one of those things that I can’t seem to put my finger on. On one side, I know it all. I even wrote a long piece about it that apparently a lot of people find useful. And on the other, I am unable to build it for myself. I think I know the answer to why I haven’t been able to build it. Three reasons actually.

I refuse to accept a niche. Most personal brands are built at the intersection of niches. I am a man with a wide range of interests and I refuse to get siloed into one. And this has caused me a lot of anguish.
I refuse to create click-bait-y content. The lesser said about this, the better.
I am not consistent. This I am hoping to fix over the next 90 days. 89 now. 88 tomorrow.

So personal brand.

Lemme talk more about it and see if I can make a decision today. If I can, it would be awesome. Read on to find out more.

So, what do I want to be known for?

If I were to make a list from the top of my head, I would say the following (and these are probably in order because this is the order in which these phrases came to my head)…

Poker
Writing
Films
Travel
Young People
Longevity
Brands
Marketing
Writing (I know this is a repeat but I dont want to stop)
Inspiring people
Life coaching (lol)
Investing
Teaching

Wait.

That’s it?

I thought there would be more! Most of my thoughts seem to be swirling in these zones only. I had imagined my life is more diverse than this. Lol. Rude shock in the morning.

Anyhow.

So, if I were to use the Ikigai thingy to evaluate and pinpoint what Id like to work on, I would have to make a chart. Lemme make it. But wait. Before that, I made a chart a few years ago. Lemme share that.

Funny that from there on, not a lot has changed. In fact, nothing has changed! Talk of people not evolving. Sigh.

Ok, we shall not beat ourselves about it.

Coming back to personal brand and the 90-90-1 thingy, I will get back to the reasons I listed above and marry those with things I want to stand for. I am looking at an intersection of the following…

the need of running the kitchen at C4E
the want of making a dent
the things I want to be known for that allows the two of the above.

To me, the answer seems clear like the day – that I need to write about marketing over the next 90 88 days.

While the way you market and where your audience hangs out has changed (see my piece from yesterday), a few fundamental things haven’t changed. People are still people and we are all an outcome of millions of years of evolution. There is no way that would change in a few hundred years of modern-day life. And thus I continue to believe that they want to survive and procreate. And thus the basics of marketing before the world became digital will continue to stay relevant. With a few changes. Such as…

The newer delivery vehicles that digital has unleashed (always-on, all the time, connected despite physical distances)
The evolving habits, cultures, opinions, mindsets of digital-first people
The physiological shift in the way people live and think and behave and operate because of how digital meddles with our brains (more loneliness, more screens, more need of “me” time, more individuality, more of more!)
The neverending hedonic treadmill that the entire world seems to be riding on, all the time

And I think this lens of traditional marketing in a world in flux is an interesting lens to be writing on. Just that I need to sharpen the niche. Maybe write about just a discipline. Or a cohort. Or a line of products. Or for a certain TG.

I may not be able to decide today. Hopefully, we will do so as we go along. Over the next few days, I will find a lens within marketing that allows me to take a unique position per se. You have any ideas?

So that’s for the day.

Over and out!

PPS: I realise that this has become a subconscious stream of thoughts that Julia Cameron often talks about. I love such coincidences!

Index: 90-90-1 Project. Day 1, 2

What’s a Marketers’s Job?

If you are a marketer, what’s your primary job? And what do you do about it?

A few days ago, one of the SoG members asked me, what’s your primary job as a marketer. At that time I would have replied with some mambo-jumbo to wiggle out of a tough conversation but now that I think about it, the question is more perplexing than I had assumed it to be. I honestly don’t have an answer. What I do have is some plausible alternatives. And I will present those to you and seek answers from you.

So, as a marketer, what’s your primary job?

Here are a few alternatives. You choose.

A. Act as the agent for the client and help them sell more. You know, by building compelling campaigns that inform the world about your client, crafting lines that nudge the fence-sitters, using design as a tool to stir emotions and sell that damn thing that the client wants to be sold.

B. Be brave. Be bold. Fan fire to ideas that shift cultures, shape narratives, and spark revolutions. Your client may not want to be a part of these narratives but you try to hide these in plain sight.

C. Use marketing as an excuse to earn a living from what you enjoy doing – writing, designing, daydreaming (aka brand planning), telling stories, and meeting people. Good work, awards, and sales is a byproduct.

D. None of the above

E. All of the above

While I wait for your answers, while writing this, my reason for being a marketer dawned on me. Lemme give a background and talk about it.

So, my love for marketing probably started when I saw that dude hit the ball out of the park on the last ball of the match and see his woman rejoice like there’s no tomorrow. The love became stronger when a simple piece of communication made me crave for Jalebis like Bablu did when Ramu Kaka talked about em. It got amplified when I saw some kids scrounging around to get their retiring headmaster a suit piece as a farewell gift. And there are many more such stories that made me want to tell stories like that.

Back then, I was naive. And even though I’ve been at it for more than 18 years now, I remain a student and I continue to marvel at pieces of communication with a gaping mouth, bated breath and nervous excitement.

Just that, the pieces that I take inspiration from have changed. The kind of things I want to put my name to has changed. While I enjoy seeing work by Cred and Ixigo and Fevicol and others, I am moved more by things like Farmers by Ram. Or Real Beauty by Dove. Or in India, by organizations like The Whole Truth and AMFI (disclaimer: I do some work for them via a client).

These are the companies and communication pieces that go beyond short-term sales goals to long-term narrative building that inspires people at large to live a better life. These pieces require long-term thinking and slow, painful execution on a day-to-day basis without losing sight of the goalpost.

No, I am not implying that we become climate-warriors, tree-huggers, veganism-paddlers, equality-champions and all that. Rather, as marketers, we need to shift how people live their lives. I mean look at Nike. It’s not a shoe company. It’s an attempt to get people at large to get fitter. Each piece of communication from them inspires me to push harder at being an everyday athlete (I just coined that phrase ;)). Look at Dumb Ways To Die. It made me look left and right and then left again while crossing the roads (trams and trains and metros are still new to me)

Truth be told, a lot of these could be dismissed as tokenism and dash-washing (insert your favourite color here). A lot of these may sound irrelevant in the thumb-twaddling world full of people with tinier attention spans than hummingbirds, each hooked onto social networks proliferated by content marketers, search engines gamed by growth hackers running “marketing experiments” and more. After all, these days CAC, LTV, ROAS and such acronyms are more important. Engagement trumps brand salience. Sales is more important than your raison d’etre. And thus, marketing as a profession has been reduced to copy written by chatGPT, designs by fivers and debates around the sizes of the logos on Instagram posts.

What we’ve lost in this proliferation of this new crop of marketers is the ability to be like poets and politicians and artists and writers and revolutionaries to fan fires to ideas that shift cultures, shape narratives, spark revolutions. Think about it. Which woman woke up and said that I want a pen that writes in blue ink but is encased in a pink body (a pen company makes this product)? Which young person wants to start their day with a shower in a deodorant that smells like chocolate (we all know the deodorant company)?

On the other hand, each parent wants their child to get a car that is safer. What if the marketer could tell that parent that apart from safety, the car also offers zero emission that is well, better!

Yeah yeah, I know that this may not be a marketer’s job to build a car that runs on water. Or electricity. Or air. But it’s the marketer’s job for sure to plant the seed about eco-first cars in the minds of people. And subsequently, make people want and ask for and force car makers to make cars that offer not just safety but greener alternatives.

And that, ladies and gents, is the post for the day.

Lemme know what you think is the job of the marketer per you.

Originally posted here.

Index: 90-90-1 Project. Day 1

The Marketing Connect Meetups

If you are a marketer in India, here’s a networking opportunity that you can NOT miss. Come meet other marketers like you with this curated, 1v1, networking opportunity.

Lemme tell you a secret.

I am a podcast host. Really.

I am.

In fact, I am the host of The Marketing Connect Podcast where in the first season, I have spoken to some of the finest marketers in the country. Via these conversations, I try to learn from their journeys and what it takes to succeed in the day and age that we live in! I am not sure if that has helped the listeners but I have learned a lot. Just that I hate my voice and thus I have not really marketed the marketing podcast. Well, the mystery of life 😀

So, one of the reasons I started this podcast, was to meet interesting people.

My thesis was that if I wrote into seniors from the industry and asked for a meeting, they may or may not respond to me. But if I told them that I have a podcast, they would respond faster / better.

And they did!

I was able to reach marketers from more than 15 companies like Pidilite, Burger King, Eros, Magicbricks, FBB, and more. Each interaction was for good two-three hours and I could ask them questions about their lives, career trajectory, mistakes, learnings, and more. I don’t think I would’ve ever been able to get into such candid chats with people if it were not on a podcast.

Of course, the downside is that each conversation required hours and hours of prep (research on the guest, editing, and general operational things).

Ok. Wait. Lemme digress for a bit…

Hello, Lunchclub.ai

I recently got introduced to this website, lunchclub where they match me with “interesting” professionals and invite us to get into 1v1, quick, short video calls with each other. Think of speed “dating” for professional conversations.

In the last 2 weeks, I have had 3-4 calls and the quality of people I’ve met has been superb. Most of these people I met were like me – explorers, tinkerers, generalists, Jacks (and Janes) of all trades, and others of the ilk. And since these calls are 1 on 1, I could open up about things that I would probably not on a public chat.

So, it works well.

And it is quite similar to podcasting – just that the people I meet are strangers (so there is that excitement and tentativeness when I meet them) and there is no background research required (so, I need to invest less time).

This is when the light bulb went off in my head!

Hello, Marketing Connect Meetups!

So, what if I marry the podcast (that I hate to market) and some tenets from lunchclub (that I love)? And create a matchmaking opportunity for marketers?

To attend these meetups, you have to be a marketer. You could be on the client-side or the agency-side. Or you could be a freelance consultant (like me). But you have to be in the marketing space!

So, Marketing Connect Meetups is an opportunity to meet other marketers!

Sounds cool?

Here’s how this would work. Simple steps.

I invite you to fill this Google Form. And no, I will NOT spam you.
Once you’ve filled in, each weekend, I will curate matches (manually!!) and make introductions. I will send emails to you guys and invite you to meet each other.
You guys then move me to BCC and plan and schedule a meet / call.
What happens post that call? Well, up to you. May be you’d work together, maybe you’d pick brains, maybe you’d teach others something that you. are passionate about! The possibilities are endless.
Give me feedback! Simple!

Simple. Right?

Oh, here are some ground rules.

Safety first! Like any other matchmaking platform, we would get all sorts of people and it would be tough to filter the kind of people we’d get. So, please do stay safe. Although these meetups are planned in a professional setting and we have the Linkedin handles of each attendee, you never know.
Respect trumps everything. Respect is not just about how you speak to people but also about how you conduct yourself, and how you respect the other person. For example, if you have set up a particular time for the call, you better show up on time! I hope you get the drift.

And here are some disclaimers.

I am merely giving you an opportunity to meet others that you would other. Please do know that I can not control how these meetings would turn out for you.
This is an experiment. I don’t know how this would pan out but I would love to have this become a way to meet new people.

In the end, I don’t know if this will work or not. Or if this will appeal to other marketers. But I do think that this “variation” of lunchclub is worth giving a shot. It is yet another itch that I want to scratch.

And here I am, with it. Lemme know what you think.

Oh, and this is part of the 30 posts in 30 days project. This was Day 4. Other posts are at 3010, 3110, 0111.