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Fundamentals of Branding by Aristotle

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I’ve this habit of re-reading books - classics in fiction/novels, etc; or books on fundamentals when it comes to business/marketing/management. The wonderful thing about re-reading such ‘classics’ are that you will unearth something new or you’ll start looking at the known things in a different perspective, because the context might have changed since the last time you read. One of the recent books I revisited was the JWT Planning Cycle Fundamentals (?) By Stephen King - The 70’s printed bible for all strategists and planners in advertising & communication agencies. While the Stephen King book would have laid the fundamentals of modern day planning when it comes to branding, I think the seed for this thought was sown around 4th century B.C by the great Greek philosopher, Aristotle. I came to know about the similarities while reading a Harvard Business Review article on Aristotle and the art of persuasion. In his treatise, Rhetoric, Aristotle, goes on to give an overview and then de

Data & Faustian Behaviour

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I’ll never get tired of saying this - writing is tough but getting into the mood to write is tougher, and what to write is toughest. Today, after a long time, I’ve decided to address the tough, tougher, and toughest. I’ve been working on a lot of data related stuff the past few months. I can safely assume basis the data analysis, that Mr. X from Company A is interested in Product/Solution M & N. Also, looking at the frequency, recency, and additional time spent on the website, I think Mr. X from Company A is looking to buy this or similar solution at the earliest. Superimpose this data with data from other sources, I can closely guess his potential budget, the competitors he is reviewing, etc. This made me wonder, why do people like Mr. X (and I too) leave our digital footprint around, some times unknowingly but mostly knowingly.   I keep coming across tons of articles about data privacy and how easily we share personal data or how easily there is inter-portability of personal dat

Things I learned during the lockdown

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Well, everyone has their own experience and realisations during the 2020 lockdown. I have mine too. They are basic stuff. Hopefully they are useful too. Your hair does not grow as fast or as bad as you think There is more your home needs than what you want Your kids are way smarter than you think There is more junk in your house than you realise Washing hands frequently is actually a good habit - pandemic or not Don’t overwater your plants You can live without your morning newspaper It takes 3 months to build a routine Don’t let the kitchen sink pile up The songs in your iPod/tapes/CDs/LPs are far better than the songs in any streaming playlist.  You needn’t stop smiling just because you are wearing a mask. Life still goes on Cheers! Santosh