30 must have qualities for marketers

Tips every social media professional should have from Social Samosa! Or things you should have to be a good professional.

Dog psyche

Any dog fans in here on my reading list?

I am sure you would love this even if you weren't and probably you would understand dog psyche a lot more.

Confessions of 30 naughty dogs.

Lessons in parenting

The most important contribution you can do to your family is being there. Find a home closer to your workplace/school and skip time wasted in travelling. Found this wonderful image from Alison Astair.

No one bothers if you earned a lot while missing your family. Unless you are Sachin who can spend more time with his family now, you should prioritize. You can't

Beautiful mind

Prejudice? Never again

There was a blind gentleman who I was once asked to be a scribe for,
in 2005. He was writing the CAT exam, which is a very tough exam. I was
sceptical. It’s difficult enough to crack without being blind. Shiva
walked in, glasses on and stick in hand — typical, I thought. And then
he literally blitzed through the entire exam. If he didn’t score 100 per
 cent in the math section, it was because I wasn’t reading the questions
 fast enough. He broke my every perception of him.
Later, at the canteen, even though it was politically incorrect, I
asked him what it was like to be blind. Didn’t he feel deprived? Shiva
finished his and took me outside. We walked, with my left 
hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, he switched to my right; halfway down
the road, he stopped, asked me to find a soft pebble, walk ten steps
away and turn to face him. “Drop the stone,” he instructed. “Ok, now
pick it up.” We did this thrice and by now, people had gathered. Then
Shiva said, “Throw it at me.”

I refused. But Shiva was adamant. So I finally threw it, and a few
seconds later, Shiva put out his hand. The stone hit his hand, and he
caught it on second bounce. He later explained, “While walking together,
 I judged you to be about 5 feet 7. I switched to your right and found
out, by the pressure of your hand on my shoulder, your right hand was
not your dominant hand. By the echo of the stone when you dropped it, I
could roughly make out its weight. We were at a uniform distance. Simple
 physics told me, in around 8-9 seconds, it should fall on my right.”
Shiva continued, “The problem with people like you, Sukumar, is that you
 sometimes see darkness even in light. We have to see light even in
darkness. So next time you think your thoughts might prejudice yourself
into judgment think that for every disability you have, you might have
some supreme ability.”
Since that incident, I’ve never discriminated someone for the way
they looked on the outside. The mind is like a parachute. It only works
when it’s open. Keep an open mind because you may find inspiration in
the people you least expect it from.
- See more at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/wknd/wknd_article.asp?xfile=/data/wkndtopstoriesnew/2013/March/wkndtopstoriesnew_March13.xml#sthash.chVbLw8J.dpufPrejudice? Never again

There was a blind gentleman who I was once asked to be a scribe for,
in 2005. He was writing the CAT exam, which is a very tough exam. I was
sceptical. It’s difficult enough to crack without being blind. Shiva
walked in, glasses on and stick in hand — typical, I thought. And then
he literally blitzed through the entire exam. If he didn’t score 100 per
 cent in the math section, it was because I wasn’t reading the questions
 fast enough. He broke my every perception of him.
Later, at the canteen, even though it was politically incorrect, I
asked him what it was like to be blind. Didn’t he feel deprived? Shiva
finished his and took me outside. We walked, with my left 
hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, he switched to my right; halfway down
the road, he stopped, asked me to find a soft pebble, walk ten steps
away and turn to face him. “Drop the stone,” he instructed. “Ok, now
pick it up.” We did this thrice and by now, people had gathered. Then
Shiva said, “Throw it at me.”

I refused. But Shiva was adamant. So I finally threw it, and a few
seconds later, Shiva put out his hand. The stone hit his hand, and he
caught it on second bounce. He later explained, “While walking together,
 I judged you to be about 5 feet 7. I switched to your right and found
out, by the pressure of your hand on my shoulder, your right hand was
not your dominant hand. By the echo of the stone when you dropped it, I
could roughly make out its weight. We were at a uniform distance. Simple
 physics told me, in around 8-9 seconds, it should fall on my right.”
Shiva continued, “The problem with people like you, Sukumar, is that you
 sometimes see darkness even in light. We have to see light even in
darkness. So next time you think your thoughts might prejudice yourself
into judgment think that for every disability you have, you might have
some supreme ability.”
Since that incident, I’ve never discriminated someone for the way
they looked on the outside. The mind is like a parachute. It only works
when it’s open. Keep an open mind because you may find inspiration in
the people you least expect it from.
- See more at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/wknd/wknd_article.asp?xfile=/data/wkndtopstoriesnew/2013/March/wkndtopstoriesnew_March13.xml#sthash.chVbLw8J.dpuf

JLT

Two things decide the progress in life... The way u behave when u have nothing in hand and the way, when you have everything in hand. Don't miss either.

Keep your mask on

[If you feel the tone of this post is strong, skip the last para]

I am sure you would have faced this. You spend time together, talk and do things together and after a point think you know the other person in and out. Usually after this point your confidence and trust on the other person has reached such a state that small aberrations would skip being noticed and even if they are, they wouldn't matter much to you. But you think you know someone until you find out things that scare you. Some people are so good at acting, tricking and cheating that if there is a doctoral certification, they would be eligible for honorary bestowing. Ever heard of wolf in sheepskin? Well there are too many phonies in sheepskin around and I hate that.

Does this mean I am asking you to doubt everyone and everything? The answer would be no, a firm NO. But shouldn't you be careful? You can act most of the time but somewhere your real attitude would come out and you are busted. You can't fool all the people all the time. The best thing is to stay what you are. If you hate it so much, think of how you could change. Pretending as someone else and showing off a false attitude wouldn't help you for long. There would be temporary gains and fun but the aftermath is usually worse.

How would you handle this? Especially when you see the actual colors of someone you trust come out before you? Depends on how important the other person is for you and how long you could cope with that. How would I handle this? Hmmm... lemme see... There would never even be a question of the person being important or not, close or not. Better keep your mask on or be far away. Really really far away.

Pic

Valentine's day: Love and loyalty

Love is one such wonderful feeling that is easy to fall into but hard to survive. The initial sheen wears off in sometime and you are left with the kernel, the hard fact that tells you what you bought. It is very important to be as lovable or at least try to be as much and win over once the sheen is off. Especially as the case here is something not to be changed. Rants come up, behaviour and responses change, patience is thinner and understanding is more complex and it is here that the actual kernel is out. If a person or couple succeeds in remaining as faithful and lovable even in this stage, then there is a chance of being together for the rest of their life. To set these thoughts to a brand, being able to please me after I wear off all your pre-purchase promises and advertising is critical for my satisfaction and loyalty.

Brands should try and tell me( read the consumer) what is real and what is not, what they promise and what they can't and set realistic assumptions. You can fool me once to buy, may be a second time but my loyalty in buying your product would have nothing to do with the initial appeal(which happens pre-purchase) and everything to do with how I feel post-purchase. Reassuring the consumer that the decision taken was wise and that is the best is very important. Brands that take note of this are the ones that have repeat purchases and loyal customers, most importantly happy ones.

You know how to build and sustain a good relationship? Then you go to be good at this. Happy Valentine's day!

The anti style

Who occupies most of the screen time in movies? Who has a better life in stories? Who has the best gadgets, latest technology, genius mind, extra-ordinary capacity to bear pain, heights of creativity, great looking women, lots of wealth? Yes I am speaking about the anti hero. He has everything that you would kill for. He is young, has a great body and what not!

From a marketing aspect it pays to count on the villain to endorse your product too. For a simple reason that the villain is looked at carefully and his I-don't-give-a-damn attitude makes you love him. Most of the merchandise is targeted at this. Swatch uses this strategy well.

Pradipta K Mohapatra explains...

The new range is dedicated to the 21 James Bond films already released and the one yet to be released. The first one is dedicated to ‘Dr. No’, the 21st dedicated to ‘Casino Royale’ and the 22nd dedicated to the yet-to-be-released Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’. Every Swatch carries the distinctive style representing a particular villain.

The ‘007 Villain Collection’ was launched worldwide on 9th September and are also available in the seven exclusive Swatch outlets in India. Swatch lovers, it is your turn to get a strap piece of James Bond on your wrists!

The advantages of using the anti style?

• Its considerably cheap
• Its easy to get a villain than a hero
• Breaks the clutter
• Attitude
• Its cool

Lets see if this works in India. I think it would.

The 30 second test

Here is a test to see if the person is disciplined or not. It might work for you as well.

Look at all the people standing at the red signal. You will find that some people going bersek and crossing the red light. Now I have a question. Were you taught to wait at th ered signal or not? If yes and you know and still croos it what would I undertand about your discpline? It is understood that none of these prople are the heroes or 007s who have a world to save.

So next time you feel like crossing a signal ask yourself this : Are you mature enough? Grown up? Sane? Disciplined? Trustworthy?