Kiran Bedi: How I remade one of India's toughest prisons

Secret to Greatness

Success comes from Arrogance,

But Greatness comes from Humility !

~ Marco Pierre White

I belong to you

I belong to you Lord.

#SundayWorship

Monday Blues: Believe you can fly

And you will!

Monday Blues: ME Time

Once in a while take some time out and spend with yourself. Everyone needs some ME Time. 

Time to reflect.
Time to think. 
Time to gather yourself. 
Time to restructure your thoughts. 
Time to restart. 
Time to rest. 
Time to plan. 
Time to grow. 
Time to stop the chaos.

Grow, like there is no tomorrow.

Lay Me Down - Chris Tomlin

Connecting with the young

Teenage psyche is confusing - both to children and their parents. Pocket money is never enough and usually under appreciated. Now this is a crazy time for both sections and if there is a solution then it meets both, would we appreciate it? 

Communicating this can be done in any way but Lowe Lintas came up with a good ad and made this enjoyable. Most of the kids can relate to this easily but the best part is that the parents relate to this too. 

The best communication is one that connects with the target audience easily and this is brilliant as it kills both the birds. I am adding this to the list of Best Ads 2014 for the simplicity and funny way of communication. What do you think?

It All Starts: Ra, ra, ra, ra, Rishi

Once in a while there comes a marketer who decides to think otherwise and make a brilliant ad and here is one such example. One of the best ads for 2014 till now and it comes from the house of Nestle for Nescafe. Bringing the stand up gig to address a communication problem and showing the human side of the solution and connecting conversations is brilliant. The ad is titled, 'It all starts' and is simply ruling the social media space.

A brilliant communication is one where the cause or communication problem takes the center-stage while the brand moves to the background. This is special as it takes the cake of communication strategies as it is simple and Rishi makes you fall in love with him. Though he has to joke his way past the rent collecting landlord who gives him time to pay in installments, Rishi, in the Nescafe ad, walks away with 10 lakh hits on youtube and many shares on Facebook, Twitter... Amazing strategy and I am floored. 

iPhone 6 is here

The wait is over.
iPhone 6 is getting launched. 
Apple's website says something exciting is on the way in the next 24 hours and GSM Arena has the specs listed. 

Here is what I want to see in my iPhone 6.

1. Better display: I want to see something between 4s and 5s. What? Are you giving me 4.7 inches? Thank you! How about a stronger glass, Apple?
2. Better front cam: I know you are dishing out 13mp/16mp cam with better flash, I hope you are adding a good quality front cam too for my selfies. How about a 5mp/8mp? Hey btw, can you integrate both the cams so I can take combined shots? Also a better photo editing software?
3. Better storage: How about ridiculous space without a lot of cost associated with it? How about 128GB/512GB? I don't want to keep deleting, storing my images, songs, files all the time. And a cloud based storage?
4. Faster processor: Surprise me! Give me your best.
5. Longer battery life: How about 3 days backup? I don't mind paying for this.
6. Affordable: Give me all this but don't don't kill me with the cost!

Are you ready yet?

Monday Blues: Choose happiness

This Monday, choose to be happy. 

Do things that would make you happy, joyful. 

Ignore things and people that would irritate you. 

Take up things that are pending and finish them. 

De-clutter. 

Choose to perform.

Choose to excel.

Choose to spend time with your family. 

Choose happiness, every time.

Lessons from Virat Kohli

Virat is angry. 
Virat is young.
Virat is a genius.

When you are talented, blessed with opportunities and are severely clinically examined for every move and are always in the limelight like Virat, I think it is fair enough to be carried away and sometimes be yourself. When Virat gets angry, I understand he can be upset. I see many negative comments about him getting angry and irritated when he is given out and there are always many such occasions in Cricket. It is a game after all and we all know how unfair it can be sometimes. But to let out the anger and show disapproval and behave in a childish mood is being questioned. I beg to differ. I am glad Virat gets angry, I am glad Virat is showing it.

Why do we equate Virat with Sachin and behave as if he has to follow the little master? Let Virat be himself - angry, passionate, challenging, aggressive and expressive. We love him for his knocks, passion and for being himself. Be yourself, be brave, be expressive and be natural. Let people like or dislike you for what you are. Focus on improving, changing for better and moving forward.

Pic is from here.

5 things you marketers shouldn't do on Social Media

The popular belief is that marketers are lairs and sell you stuff you don't need! Marketing has become a profession where everything you do or say is looked at cynically. So it is important to be careful about what you do and avoid mistakes. Here are five mistakes you should avoid when marketing on social media.

1. Avoid partial branding - Give as much information as you can and keep it simple and easy to find out and verify
2. Avoid one-way conversations - Don't just say or be preachy. Start a conversation, a discussion
3. Don't spam - Limit your conversations, posts, updates so I won't feel you are spamming me
4. Be Human - I like your brand and would love to like your personality. Don't just be bland, neutral, have some beliefs and embrace them passionately
5. Stick to the brand - Don't get carried away with the response you are getting and sell me things I don't want. Stick to your brand, don't divert the message. As a consumer, I don't like mixed messages

Want to add some more? Comment!

Tell me about me

Every great marketing plan that worked, worked because it spoke about me and me alone. Not about how your product was created after great research and how it is going to be great in future. It worked because it might do something for me - fulfil a need, provides comfort, make a change that I want to and so on. 

If you are a marketer, come to me with a campaign that aims at making me realize what I value, win me over with a story of how I am great (Perfumes, apparel, fashion...), why my beliefs are true (Baby products, investment options, real estate, etc.) and why my fanatic apprehensions are true (Termites, insurance, cavities in teeth and so on) and it might work most of the time.

If you are a buyer, see through the message and see if it actually is useful for you and see if I am being honest and then decide on the buy. I am a marketer, your job is to make my job tougher :)