In the old days when I was still a cub copywriter in the advertising industry in India – which is around 35-40 years ago – the prevailing marketing wisdom was that the consumer or customer is the one who makes the biggest decisions on brands. “Customer is King” was always heard at meetings, in conference… Continue reading Have Consumers Changed the Way They Make Brand Decisions?
In my previous blog post, I had written about airlines as world connectors, providing an important economic and cultural link between countries and their people. And in it, I tried to create and recommend a new brand strategy for British Airways, already an image-builder for Britain as well as a world connector. I had envisaged… Continue reading Airlines as Image-Builders of Countries
We think of airlines as transportation, and also in the context of tourism, but rarely as providers of international connectivity, as vital as telecommunications and the internet. And even more rarely do we think of them as performing an important economic function, not even in today’s globalized and highly connected world. They are critical not… Continue reading Airlines as Connectors of the World
We have all seen many businesses scale up and grow in their early years and become market leaders. That is to say they acquire the largest market share in the industry. That continues for a few years, or perhaps even decades, until they hit some kind of roadblock. The roadblock could be of many kinds,… Continue reading How Market Leaders Can Sustain Growth Against New Headwinds
Suddenly about two months ago, social media, including LinkedIn was full of posts about the promise and potential of ChatGPT, the generative AI platform from OpenAI. Most of the excitement stemmed from the fact that Microsoft was in talks to acquire OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT, for an undisclosed sum. It is reported that… Continue reading Writing Under the Sword of ChatGPT
My last blog post on brands was about brands that possess revival power and how to spot these wizard brands in your company’s brand portfolio. In that context, I had shared my thoughts and ideas on how Passport Scotch Whisky from Pernod Ricard can tweak its brand strategy and along with a new brand campaign,… Continue reading How a Brand Can Revitalise a Company
We should have seen it coming. The economic slowdown, after a couple of terribly volatile years, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the first year of the Covid pandemic prompted strict lockdowns in many countries adversely impacting the services part of the economy, manufacturing chugged along, even if a little slowly. Thanks to that, international… Continue reading How Advertising Agencies and Brands Should Negotiate 2023
Sometime in 2019, I had written a blog post about brands ageing well and in it I had lamented the fact that every brand wants to chase millennials and Gen Z, whether it makes sense for the brand or not. Therefore, every brand also wants to always be young, hip, cool and trendy, whether it… Continue reading How Can Brands Grow Without Growing Old?
As with everything to do with the pandemic, there is a pre- and a post-. And so it might be, with the advertising and media landscape, though how much of it is enduring, we still can’t tell. At the start of the Covid pandemic in, well, … it seems like it’s been with us so… Continue reading Reimagining the Media Landscape After the Pandemic
Recently, I wrote on my blog that I had ordered a copy of Michael E Porter’s book, Competitive Advantage along with Peter Drucker’s Practice of Management. I have written about the first, though not as a book review because it wouldn’t have been fair to Drucker. As far as Michael Porter’s book is concerned, I… Continue reading Brands and Competitive Advantage
Peripatetic Perch 