in vacant or in pensive mood

Any form of performance art is tough. You need to get on stage every time and be the best you can be. As stand up comedians often say - you are only as good as your previous show. There's a percent of skill and a ton of practice involved in this art form. It's only those who grow every day that reach the greater and uncharted heights. Some are great performers, but aren't as knowledgeable of the art form. They are not as technically adept of their form. Their experience has exposed them to certain wisdom but they aren't learning and putting new things to practice. People don't just remember great talent - people also appreciate the knowledge one has and one's inhibition to distribute it to anyone willing to learn.  They operate from a plane of high confidence - about themselves, their know-how and their skill. They aren't insecure and that oozes in their attitude and behavior. They are great teachers - not because they want to teach - but they because they c

Here's a few things you may have heard often if trying to post videos on Facebook Have the brand logo within the first 5 seconds Shoot with mobile in mind (vertical) Have clearly visible subtitles The video should be mute compatible (since videos play on mute by default For better effectiveness - keep the video to within 240 seconds (4 minutes)  These are the general guidelines for video uploads on Facebook There are far sharper guidelines based on your communication objective, which we don't need to get into. But this isn't a Facebook video masterclass. It's a post that made me laugh at the irony of these guidelines. In the past few years - I've been in many meetings with the client where they have had a representative from Facebook who almost preached on how ads should be "Made for Facebook". They cautioned us that long format ads will not work (90 seconds itself seemed long to them) They told us to shoot it keeping the Facebook specs in mind to ensure b

Ad films are meant to be highly engaging. Created to make people lean in and and avoid that skip button or resist the temptation of thumb scrolling to the next video on Facebook or Instagram that most often - automatically play. Agencies hire creative talent that understand the power of human emotions and can create films that make ads memorable, and brands recognizable - and most importantly - are able to tell amazing stories in less than 90 seconds.  Storytelling is an art. We've consumed so many great stories that have an amazing cast, a beautiful and engaging script, a highly reputed director, music that play to the beats of our heart - matching tempo to the emotion conveyed, peaking at the right times, and so many other smaller yet significant intricate things that come together to make us feel something.  There are millions of such amazing campaigns where all of this can be easily demonstrated.  But how often have we seen a film that does all that with just typography and sou

As individuals - fear shuts our mouth from saying the truth.  It may be risk aversion or other factors kicking in - but to say out loud what scares you - especially when you know in your heart that what you have to say is true - turns larvae to caterpillars to butterflies and lead them to their demise all in an instant in your stomach and can fuck your brain up. While most often - silence may seem the unsaid norm - there's great benefit in embracing that fear and speaking one's heart. Fear is a powerful primal emotion that's rarely used to do good. There's an interesting parallel to this phenomenon within stand up. In a podcast with SnG Comedy - Vir Das spoke about the writing arc of stand up comedians Stage 1 - Comedians start writing about things they think is funny Stage 2 - Playing to the crowd and mixing it up with what they think is funny and what they know the audience thinks is funny Stage 3 - They start writing and talking about personal things - beliefs, opini

We assume that we have a lot to teach kids. Reality is that they learn 90% of the things themselves - and the 10% comes from what we tell and teach them. We have a lot to learn from them instead. One such thing is the art of persuasion.  And they have some really compelling lesson for media strategists, agencies and marketers. Kids have 2 ways to get their way. The first is the irritating power of pester.  They eat into your skin and sink deep into the vicissitudes of your rational mind and push your possible patience to a threshold limit until you give up. They nag you, ask you the same question again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again.... until you cave. Ýou'd do anything to shut them up from further embarassing yourself in the environment and to, most importantly - get them off your back, your skin, your now throbbing head. The other way they ask for something is in their ever sweet, high potent cuteness and purposeful innocence. They know you can't resist

There is a scene in Karate Kid (2010), where Xiao Dre sees a lady practising her mives in front of a snake and he thinks she is copying the movement of the snake. Jackie Chan, who hears this responds by saying that it is the snake that is copying her, and goes on to demonstrate it by showing reflections on water being still and slightly disturbed. He says that when the the lady is like the still water and the snake her reflection. Have you ever noticed your mood fluctuations with your kids? Why do we lose our temper on them on certain really small things and some times, let them get away with some big mistakes with a warning? It really depends on our mood doesnt it? And kids I feel can sense it.  We react to them depending on our mood. If we are happy, we let things go by while we play with them. When we are disturbed and worried, it reflects in the way we react to their behaviour, and even a small act can set us off. They are the still water, reflecting our state of mind. If we too ar

I may be wrong about it but on the little I've read about the changes being implemented in the education sector under NEp seems yo be on the surface a good step.  It is giving kids under 6 years a holistic educational approach and not focussing solely on subjects. Theres focus on multilinguism, albeit in state prefered languages as opposed to foreign languages.  MPhil is being scrapped to 4 years bachelors with research experience. It's definitely not a new system, may be German, French or even US. But implementation in my opinion is getting it closer to our education system at SAICE. Surely never same, but a good attempt overall I dont see negatives in my first viewing. The UG programs have multiple entry and exits, which is a key word if they live by that. Hopefully anyone with any background can now apply for a certificate or advanced diploma course on their preferred subjects.  Also, a focus on coding, computers with AI and ML, robotics et al is given which should benefit u

  Often we have seen things in one way and we stumble upon some video or a quote or something that takes us into a rabbit hole into the topic we have been observing on a myopic lens and we come out of that rabbit hole - richer, wiser and see it from a completely different lens. Everything we know, hear and understand can have different interpretations. Much like the speed of light - it all depends on the frame of the observer. I've viewed the Kerala Boat Festivals as a great feat of human strength and unity and an iconic celebration that is a cultural magnet and a badge of pride for Kerala. And then - I chanced upon this video -  It's a completely new way of seeing the whole boat racing act. It's seen from a musician's eye - that is keen to see patterns, rhythm and dare I say a tinge of philosophy. It's the ability to look at music - this intangible art form but seeing something so concrete that you cannot unsee it ever. The larger idea of unity - the essence of uni

If only people around us were as loving, caring, aware and quick to help everyday and to everyone like they are when they inform people on the bikes that the stand is down - the world would be a better place

I keep wondering how come we are so comfortable buying things we know we will use less so often but so defiant in buying things we know we don't need but don't mind using? I've bought a lot of things like shoes and gadgets that I used probably used just a couple of times - even household stuff like Araldite and sandpaper etc. I know I bought them for an instant need but have kept it with me until they rot. But the other day - I bought a utensil that I thought we wanted but it wasn't what the right size and I felt bad that I wasted the money - but then - I thought - it's a good vessel of a medium size that I could use afterall. Yet - that sunken feeling of a purchase not done right didn't quite go away. I felt I had wasted money - which in reality - wasn't.

Just wondering that this is probably the best time for voodoo to collaborate with acupuncture to enable easy globally accessible social distancing safe treatment ever :) 

When I struck by nature’s light Everything enchanted me Be it a moonlit summer’s night Or a naked poplar tree. I saw an ant that worked all day On the dirty dusty sod, Spend some precious time to pray To the invisible God!

Dear Kobe, Like many others, i came to know of the news on my way back from Pondy to Bangalore. The journey was bad, the news made it worse. I reached home at 430 and was consuming the news and processing it all. For an hour, i was in disbelief. I was hoping for a scam report and your magical emergence. Then,  the stage of disbelief left and i swallowed the reality and tossed and turned for hours instead of catching some sleep. I was in a shocked stage and for the first time in my life, was i having a lump in my throat in telling a colleague about your sudden demise and accident.  I never felt that with anyone else.  The loss of my mother is the only other death that tears me up. Yours was second. Frankly,  i didn't know you well enough growing up. I was a huge MJ fan as any pre 90's kid. I understood his airness only later on,  but the naive and heartfelt admiration existed even then. I fell in love with sports but more focused in basketball a little later in my school

This pandemic we are living in is making me question many things. While the more pressing ones are our behaviour around basic health and hygiene, the more concerning ones are our ability to open wallets safely and get back to the normal we once lived. We are washing our hands more, leaving the tap on for longer i'm sure. But it made me look back at an old dettol ad that made me realise that Bunty wasn't dumb, nor was his soap slow. He was doing it right all along. 10 seconds of handwash isn't too long. We just feel the need to rush in and out of our dining table to do more timepass, nothing very earth shattering that couldn't make us clean our hands for a tad longer.  In the ad, we see Bunty cleaning his hands saying " dhote jao dhote jao" and whilst he is washing, many of his colleagues finish washing their hands. His friend who sees him doing this asks him if his soap is slow that he is having to wash his hands for so long.  It's funny that we were all t

Deja vu is a feeling of experiencing something that you have had before.  Vuja de is the feeling of doing something multiple times but experiencing something all new allbtogether that you never saw or experienced before. Cats are training us by making baby noises so that we can feed them

A couple of days ago - One+ announced its change in identity. That sounds huge right? The idea of identity change itself seems like a massive exercise. The name suggests a new look altogher. When we hear these words - we visualize someone who has completely changed his appearances to look different to avail a new passport right? At least - that's what I see. But in the advertising world - the word is bigger than the reality. In the case of humans - the need for that change is far more crucial. The new identity gives someone a new lease of life - to be somebody new. All the links to the past are erased. But for brands - there's a huge legacy that needs to be taken forward. Thing is - consumers have invested a lot of their time and money to like something about the brand. And they remember their relationship through the logo of the brand. Which is why design houses that create logos need to keep something alive of the brand and can't really change too much. Whic

Televisions everywhere must be smirking away with the new found importance that marketeers have put on the digital media. All new "trends" talk about the death of TV and print. But reality is that in both developed and developing markets - this is going to take a much longer time than is predicted. For starters - penetration of television in India for example is at 98%. You read that right. 98%. The penetration of smartphones is less than 40%. Hence the constant scope of growth and opportunities. We are a fucked up country. We look at everything from our high standards and fail to see that all the audience we have in mind (the upwardly mobile, affluent, digitally savvy Indian) is less than 5% of the total population. It's the population that is currently paying taxes for the entire nation. Coming back - it started with I assume readership. Then radio, then television, and now digital and mobile. Fact is - it took these technologies decades to get to where they a

I've seen this whole brand personification evolve in a way that first got me very interested and now - curious along with a dash of skepticism, sprinkled with a lot of ARE YOU SERIOUS? Brands started of as just an emblem or a mark to becoming actual people and it's been happening for a while now. We've infused life into these abstract things and it's this intrinsic human quest to make everything about itself that has led to brands being people. I started off in advertising knowing that every brand is a living being that has a life of its own. A birth and childhood time, a mature and more experiential time and then, an older and time of wisdom. But I barely saw that happening. Most brands are looking for, like us humans, for that elixir of life, that keeps them young forever. The amrut. Only - there are no gods churning it out but desperate brand managers and advertising professionals who work like unprofessional doctors trying to medicate a brand into living on fo