Dive deep into business, brand and strategy.
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Dentsu’s Chairman on “The Big Game Mentality”
Some time ago, I had the opportunity to sit across the table, at a conference, with a man who turned around a 3 million company (Rediff DY&R) into a 100 million powerhouse, almost overnight. Sporting a ponytail, and alive with experience, Mr. Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Dentsu Advertising (the biggest agency in the world — holds…
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Is India the worst for digital nomads?
According to 70 nomads on NomadList, India is probably one of the worst places to work scoring poorly on almost all categories. Internet, gays and women have it so bad you can’t help but cringe. Quartz chimes in. This is fucking insane! Having lived and worked in Chandigarh, New Delhi, Mumbai and New York I…
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The Tesla of Online Airline Ticket Booking is Virgin
The notorious flag glooming over most airline ticketing portals is hanging on a price pole. Commissions are held back like a receding hairline. I’d rather shave it than wax nostalgic sporting a comb over. Hemmed on that flag are the letters “FUCK” in big bold letters, underlined, enclosed in a starburst, catching a welfare fluff.…
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How I got my first job in advertising (Third and final part)
Read part one and two first. While I stood in one corner of the room, by the balcony, overlooking Thane, my friend lay lazy in bed. We were brainstorming ideas to get me a foot in the door at an advertising agency. He was hosting me for the weekend while I was in-between places. He worked…
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How I got my first job in advertising (Part two)
Read part one first. Before the one bedroom hall kitchen there was a room. Not just any room. It was a classroom at the end of a hallway on the third floor of a school. Yeah, thats right. You heard me right. The room was divided into three parts, appropriated with a bed without sheets,…
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How I got my first job in advertising (Part one)
The bell to our one bedroom hall kitchen rang. We were expecting burgers and fries from McDonald’s this afternoon. But, this wasn’t your regular delivery. There was a catch. My roommate and me were jobless and broke as fuck. No advertising agency was willing to hire virgin copywriters. I was told repeatedly that I lacked…
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Assumptions, eating pizza and startups
There we were, at the end of a long day, huddled together at a pizza place, debating the intentions of “circular-pizza-sliced-perforations” on the top of a pizza box. Let’s quickly add context to “we” here. There’s the founder, the designer and I. Back to that evening. “It’s meant to keep the pizza fresh,” prompted the…
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What’s the Indian rope trick have in common with picking up girls?
For many years, people from across the world have travelled to Indian shores to witness a fakir climb miraculously his way up a rope that disappears into the thin sky above. Only to reappear minutes later from behind the crowd to everyone’s shock and loud applause. Indian men, ever since, have developed a natural knack for…
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Trip to the dentist
A few days ago I found myself lying down on a rather swanky chair in a dentist’s office. Nope, it wasn’t a root canal but a perspective client seeking some brand restructuring. In these, first-off meetings I like the getting-to-know-the-client-better by stepping into my nosey 12-year-old self with 21 questions routine. To your surprise, the…
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The Indian Platter
I’ve just knocked the socks of the hottest looking female on the planet for the 100th time. We lay there, arms crossed, looking into each other’s eye with content. But, only I’m not. I’d be a douche if I said something. Truth is, I got bored. Rather quickly. Too quick for even my own good.…
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Match Tickets
There I was, a chilled beer in hand, on the edge of my seat, watching the match between India and Australia. Despite my bleak knowledge and interest for the game, the cricket fever had gotten the best of me. An adrenaline rush ensued once Yuvraj hit the ball down the boundary towards victory. It sure…
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Water cooler at the gym
For the past month, I’ve been dodging social media in all its forms, which includes selling the iPhone. You could call it cognitive therapy for the overdosed in media exile. During this limbo, with time to spare, I took to bodybuilding solemnly. Like most gyms, mine is littered with 40-inch plasmas, which usually play HBO or…
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