How Popular Car Brands Can Maintain Their Edge

Since I have written about luxury car brands – Jaguar, Land Rover, JLR corporate brand and Porsche - on my blog before, I thought I’d turn my attention to mass-market popular car brands this time. Mass market and premium cars ought to constitute the most crowded of car segments in any country, I would reckon.… Continue reading How Popular Car Brands Can Maintain Their Edge

Pernod Ricard and Seagram: Reconsidering the Brand Relationship

Sometime during the Covid-19 pandemic – not a great time for wining and dining, or travel and socialising – I had put my thoughts down on a corporate brand strategy for Pernod Ricard, the world’s No. 2 wines and spirits company. I wrote and shared this on my blog along with corporate campaigns for the… Continue reading Pernod Ricard and Seagram: Reconsidering the Brand Relationship

Lilliput Land Big on Message, Short on Meaning

Having read Rama Bijapurkar’s first book, We Are Like This Only way back in 2007-08 in Delhi, I was looking forward to reading this new book of hers called Lilliput Land: How Small is Driving India’s Mega Consumption Story. In her first book, she delves into why foreign companies find Indian consumers hard to fathom… Continue reading Lilliput Land Big on Message, Short on Meaning

Does India Need Public Sector Enterprises?

While the title of this article might shock many of you, this is clearly not my intention. The idea, rather, is to assess the state of India’s state sector in the economy over the past many decades and see how they are faring as well as how many are still required in today’s business and… Continue reading Does India Need Public Sector Enterprises?

In Advertising vs Subscription Debate, Many Losers

It’s been at least a couple of decades that we have been hearing about the falling circulation and readership of print publications in India and around the world. We know it is largely due to the arrival of the digital medium, and for many of the initial years, digital publications were free to read. Unfortunately,… Continue reading In Advertising vs Subscription Debate, Many Losers

Why 2024 Ought to Be the Year of Rightsizing Luxury

A small bit of news during Q3 2023 corporate earnings struck me as curious. That luxury goods sales were slowing down. And not merely because of China’s economic slowdown, but luxury sales even in the US were reported to be lacklustre. If anything, China was still the saving grace. And it’s not just LVMH; Kering… Continue reading Why 2024 Ought to Be the Year of Rightsizing Luxury

How Should Advertising Agencies Be Remunerated?

It’s 20 years since I last worked at an advertising agency, that being RK Swamy/BBDO India in their Chennai office. As if that mistake was not enough, I made the blunder of then joining a PR firm in Delhi, Perfect Relations, in 2006. I was always a copywriter in advertising throughout my long career in… Continue reading How Should Advertising Agencies Be Remunerated?

The Three ‘I’s to Watch in the Global Economy

What? There are no 'I's in the global economy, of course. Well, the year has begun with corporate earnings and once again it’s time to turn our attention to these to see what they seem to be telling us about the health of the economy. India’s, and the world’s. From the corporate earnings announced, they… Continue reading The Three ‘I’s to Watch in the Global Economy

Four New Blog Videos to Start 2024

Hello readers. In the New Year of 2024 that has just begun, I have four new blog videos to share with you. Videos that I made on the various dimensions of my blog that has just gone into its sixth year! These are the nuanced analysis that goes beyond news, nuanced and well-considered viewpoints on… Continue reading Four New Blog Videos to Start 2024

How Livable Are Our Cities in India?

As most of India was celebrating the festive season last year, Cyclone Michaung hit South India and wreaked havoc in parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh inundating the city of Chennai once again. TV news reports were full of the levels of flooding in the city, where streets had turned into rivers and the… Continue reading How Livable Are Our Cities in India?