Tag: Sanjeev Kotnala

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

Are there books caged in your bookshelves. Are there books that you will never read or refer again?

I fail to understand why booklovers cage books when they can UNCAGE BOOKS so that others could also enjoy reading pleasure.

By keeping books displayed like trophies in graveyards called bookshelves, we do not do justice to their potential.

Many professionals like doctors and lawyers are in perpetual learning mode. They have books that they need to refer with high frequency. New theories, processes and continued learning necessitate the need for recent publications. Keeping such books of regular use is absolutely essential.

 

WHY CAGE BOOKS WHEN YOU CAN SHARE THEM?

I urge you to UNCAGE BOOKS you no longer need. I am doing so this week.

Give them to people who want to read them. They could be your friends, relatives, neighbours or even juniors. Or some library will take them.

Extend the life of these books. Help them realise their real potential. I am asking you to share and surrender not resell. Let the person who wants it to pick it up from you. You could be extra generous. You could send it using the Indian Postal department services. They have encouraging rates for printed material including books and periodicals.

Go ahead personalise this sharing with a message. Ask the recipient to be a part of this chain. Ask them to un-cage the books they no longer need. And if nothing else, after reading, UNCAGE THE BOOK they received from you.

May be you will inspire them to keep the BOOKS BURIAL GROUND least populated.

Then go ahead and buy more books to read. Fill that haunting empty space in your bookshelves. Or ask friends if they want to un-cage their books.

 

MY FOURTH YEAR OF UNCAGING BOOKS.  

In the first year, the sheer act of picking the books to UNCAGE was emotionally draining. These were the books that I had enjoyed reading and displayed as my collection. They are the reflection of my choice and preference. Some of the books actually moved stations with me.

The second year was more comfortable. And now, it is a lot more satisfying. I look forward to this time of the year. As an annual ritual UNCAGE BOOKS.

Till now I have UNCAGED 220 books in the last three years. This year another 22 books are being UnCaged. This is in addition to some two years of National geographic and Traveller, which has already found a new home with a friend of mine.

I agree the toughest part is selecting the books you want to UNCAGE. I encourage you to keep the books you think you will refer, are your treasure of knowledge or have some emotional value attached to them. They have a utility. They are not dead.

Rest is easy.

I use social media to the advantage. I am like every other year posting pictures of 22 books I am uncaging this year. It’s on Facebook, Instagram and my blog. My experience shows that it takes not more than a day or two to be claimed by new readers. I even send then by Indian Post to readers who request them from outstation. So send me your choice and address in the comment box or send me a tweet on my tweet handle S_kotnala. I UNCAGE books of first-come-first-served basis.

Someone picks it for the office library, few pick for own reading. Trust me out there are readers with a vast appetite for reading across genre. I found readers even for books by Chetan Bhagat and Sobha De.

Sometimes, I have left books tucked in nicely in the seat pockets of aircraft. I leave the book with a cheeky note for the next passenger who may find it.

Come to think of it. You could be starting a chain reaction. A movement that is worthy of being a part of.

Move on, share the books, un-cage them from their graveyard.

 

A SILLY BUT PRACTICAL IDEA.

What if IAA India Chapter ot the Advertising Club of India, participates and encourages this sharing of knowledge. All they have to do is to make a table available at the next event, where people can bring the books they want to UnCage and leave it there. They can also pick any of the books already deposited others. Simple but sounds silly.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

Suddenly the unwelcome realisation has hit us. Social media is buzzing with it. Traditional media finally have found time for it. The malice of sexual harassment is beyond what we would like to imagine or believe.

#MeToo is gaining ground in India.

We see a start of #MeToo movement in India. Tanushree has finally once again voiced her experience. There are reports of named and unnamed women coming forward to corroborate or share their experiences.  There is no surprise at the depth and width of this malice.

In the list of predators, we have judges, people of repute, comedians, directors, authors, editors and colleagues across the profession. It seems to cut across every profession. As per 2017 data reported in Mint, there is a rise in the number of companies in the BSE 100 universe reporting sexual harassment data over the years

#MeToo finds support and silence.

Very few like Hansal Mehta, Farhan Akhtar, Kangana Ranaut, Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor and Pooja Bhatt have come out in support. Many names that the citizens of the country look up to and who find the time and a point-of-view for smallest of the things have remained silent.

People understand the problem. They are willing to take the subject further. There seems to be no hesitation in their raising the voicing. But the expectation from the power and influence circle remains unfulfilled.

#MeToo volcanic eruption is waiting to happen.

The can of worms in the political space is yet to be opened.  I will not be surprised if no #MeToo voices are not heard. There is a definitive case of inaction, silence and inherent acceptance of it as Hota Hai. It is a price many victims have accepted, and many have changed their career course.

Can Advertising Industry be untouched by # MeToo.

The advertising industry has been at the forefront of creating awareness and action against this malice.  The industry has worked with the brands and messages. They have a strong body ASCI setting the agenda. Yet, a lack of #MeToo echo from here merely suggests that the victim has not been able to find enough courage and confidence in the ecosystem.

Sooner or later the voices will emerge. And at that stage, the stance and the action will speak for itself. How the industry decides to act will define how the behaviour gets modified. Meanwhile, it is time to look within and if there had been a lapse, acknowledge it.

No More Sorry

‘We are Sorry’, ‘We failed to address it’ are stupid shields of excuse.  AIB and Phantom Films is a classic example of this behaviour. Let, the corporate know that this is the time for them to come out in the open. If there are cases where their inaction and silence been overtly or covertly encouraging such behaviour or discouraging the victim. They must be transparent about it, now. The public will no longer accept a corporate waking up with apologies when they are exposed. #MeTooGuiltyOfSilence

Think of the affected party, the women. In work environment, she is forced to believe there is no escaping the jokes and conversations with sexual overtones. Many women create a shield of known people around themselves and stay away from such situations. It’s constraining, but it is their way to survive in the system. Most decide not to raise an objection or report it. This is seen as a covert approval of actions and encouragement.

It is not that every act can and should be seen as sexual harassment. I personally think that some of the situations reported are trivialising the issue.  It is definitely sexual harassment if an objection is raised, feeling of discomfort is communicated or felt, if the predator fails to understand what does ‘No’ means and the action continues. Sexual harassment is not only physical. It can be verbal abuse or plain intimidation.

Stop Blaming The Victim.

In Indian situations and even the global environment, there is somewhat of chalta hai, it happens attitude. Everyone tries to see fault with the woman. They try to find the action or inaction of her that would/could/should have instigated and encouraged the man. There is victimisation of the victim. It ensures victim failing to muster the courage to report it to relevant bodies or in worst-case scenario the file an FIR with the police.

Unfortunately, the predator roams free. He gets an additional chip on his shoulder and confidence to mark the next victim.

If people cannot raise voice to stop and questions behaviour of the predator, how can they assume and expect the victim to have the courage to raise the alarm?

Sexual Harassment Is Not Always About Sex And Exploitation.

It is more about power and control. Gender inequality in power, freedom, pay and expectations creates an environment where it flourishes. It is not a question of Hollywood, Bollywood, MNCs or Indian Companies. Marketing, Advertising, Media and research. It is a myth that it is more prevalent in places where people work long hours in close proximity and/or where the gender divide is vast.

You Must Be Blind And Deaf Not To Seen or Heard a #MeToo incident.

#MeToo has shown us how common sexual harassment in the workplace is. No profession from films, sports, politics, medicine or even teaching is left untouched. It is logical to assume that there exist a considerable number of predators. And by inference, there are far too many who by inaction and silence encourages this behaviour.  Sexual harassment feeds on this inaction.

It brings me back to my agenda, a one-on-one discussion with men.  I here address men, however, trust me a lot many women may find themselves to be equally guilty of the act.

The change needs to happen within the society and primarily within the males. We need to be the example to next generation of male population so that they learn from our behaviour. Currently, it is not exemplary. And it’s not a joke when someone says ‘Beto ko padhao, Beto ko samjahao’.

Are You Man Enough To Say #MeTooGuiltyOfsilence Or #MeTooGuiltyOfInAction.

Do you have the guts to acknowledge your fault? In case you have consciously and unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly supported or indulged in what could be considered now a sexually inappropriate behaviour in the workplace In case you have in the past covertly, overtly through your actions, inaction or silence failed to address apparent sexual harassment.

Then tweet with me. #MeTooGuiltyOfSilence or #MeTooGuiltyOfInAction and then take a pledge not to ever remain silent or through inaction give covert support to Sexual harassment.

Lucky One Can say #NotMe

In case you can cross your heart and with all honesty seriously and sincerely believe and conclude that you have never been a part of sexual harassment, exploitation or indirect encouragement of it, Tweet #NotMe. This is a serious evaluation. Use #NotMe if and only if you have never even closed your eyes and walked away from the scene because of inherent threat, chalta hai, harmless or ‘does-not-affect-me’ behaviour.

There is nothing wrong in ‘Men will be Men’ till it is not making someone consciously uncomfortable. It is neither a license nor a constraint or an excuse to laugh at.

Hopefully, we all are man enough to know, what constitutes an inappropriate behaviour that makes women uncomfortable in the workplace. So, question yourself. Have you ever knowingly or unknowingly contributed towards creating an environment that accepts and suggests attitudes and behaviours around sexuality?

Has your behaviour or silence helped propagate sexual harassment at the workplace? Then tweet #MeTooGuiltyOfSilence  or #MeTooGuiltyOfInAction or else tweet #NotMe

 

Share #MeTooGuiltyOfSilence or #MeTooGuiltyOfInAction or #NotMe after evaluating the behaviour

:: A behaviour that you know could be termed sexual harassment.

:: Have shared explicit sexual jokes in the presence of women without intent to make her feel uncomfortable but knew it was almost crossing the line.

:: Have used no-objection for such explicit jokes as a future license to engage in such behaviour.

:: Ogled at cleavages and other body area making them uncomfortable.

:: Remained silent knowing of sexual harassment.

:: Have suggested/hinted/recommended sexual favours as an offer/solution to any issue/problem?

:: Used position and power to feel, kiss, brush, press, caress, touch, dance or hold women against her wishes.

:: Used or encouraged the use women body to close the sale or a deal.

:: Suggested/commented on women character without any evidence.

 

Be honest in your thinking and intent. Share #MeTooGuiltyOfSilence or #MeTooGuiltyOfInAction or #NotMe after evaluating your behaviour.

 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

It is still taking me time. I am slowly getting there with help from Juggernaut. The Kindle-wielding population may not see what is exciting about this. It is just another app.

I never liked reading books digitally. Some how I miss the feeling that comes with holding a book on hand. There is something unreal about the experience.

I love flipping through the pages. I take notes on the margins. I freely underline statements and even complete paragraphs I wish to read again. The smell of fresh sheets is intoxicating. And there is a different kind of pleasure when you doze off with an open book on your chest. Reason enough to delay my introduction to digital books.

I hate the idea of a library on the device. I fear I will end up not reading any. I will be confused and spoilt for choice. I can start any book whenever I want. On top of it, I will carry one more device. It was a definite no-no.

My failed experiment and experience.

I downloaded Kindle for Mac. It remained another program in the background. I filled it with books I planned to read. There were always other critical jobs prioritised on the Mac. It was a bad experiment. I was anyway not comfortable reading more than a few pages on the screen. However, I was not going to give up without first-hand experience.

Then Juggernaut happened to me.

I was searching for a publisher for my novel ‘Chimera of Lansdowne’. Someone suggested I should check out Juggernaut. The deal did not work out, but somewhere I ended up downloading the app.

It is like many other book-reading apps. You build your bookshelf, pick-choose and buy from their ever-growing collection of books. The books are available offline and online for reading. The books are reasonably priced. Some of them are even available for free. Many books allow you to read a few sample chapters before you decide to buy them.

Juggernaut, yet another book-reading app!

All is good. Still, my first reaction was no different. Just another app!

The experience was positive and promising. The big question was, will it be able to make me shift to digital book-reading?

I have read many books on Juggernaut.

‘The Crazy untold story of Bollywood’s bad boy- Sanjay Dutt’ by Yaseer Usman was interesting enough. So, I ended up also reading ‘Rekha the untold story’. It was in Juggernaut that I read ‘A century is not enough’ by Saurav Ganguly and  ‘Goodman to Tycoon- the untold story of Baba Ramdev’ by Priyanka Pathak Narain before it got banned. Recently, I completed ‘Half the night is gone’ by Amitabha Bagchi and ‘Murder at the temple’ by Madhumita Bhattacharya.   It seems I am getting there.

‘The Mahabharata Murders’ by Arnab Ray is downloaded for the next flight.

 

Juggernaut the Serialised Novel experiment.

I was introduced to the concept of a serialised novel in Juggernaut with ‘Hush a bye baby’ by Deepanjana Pal. One chapter released at a time.  They were short and crisp. I could read them in no time. It had a lovely narrative with a strong storyline.  It kept you guessing. You were hooked in a different experience.  I knew I was going to fall in love with it.

Content is finally the king-queen-joker and the whole pack. Serialising exciting content can help inculcate reading habit in the new generation.

Think about it. What if, Harry Potter released one chapter on a day?

If you failed to read it on time, the chapters would magically disappear from your screen, forever. No, there is nothing like that at Juggernaut.

 

The Budding Writers Nursery in Juggernaut.

The best part in Juggernaut is the writer’s section. Here the authors share their creative expressions, be it a novel, story or even poems. Most of these are available for free to the registered users.

I find it exciting. Everyone has some story to share.

I fell in love with short stories. My Juggernaut experience is exceptional. They are short stories by not-so-well-known or emerging authors across a broad spectrum of subjects, situations and genres. Wow, you have to read them to experience it.

I download these stories for an offline experience. I read them whenever I want. They are short enough, and it does not take long to finish them. Best part, there is no ‘what next’ question.

Most of them are fairly decent.  Few worth mentioning are ‘The leopard of Bageshwar’ by Arun Fulara, ‘Ratified Murder’ by Cuni Popi,  ‘I don’t need any shoes’ by Saurav Somani, ‘The killer in the room’ by Stuti Changle, ‘One night in Mumbai’ by Indira Bisht,  and  ‘The window seat’ by Anita Chatterjee.

The best of the lot and I recommend reading them were  ‘The Blouse’ by Perumal Murugan (The plot sounded similar to something I read a long time back- but so what), Kannagi’s Anklets’ by Anita Sivakumaran, and  ‘Arun Mathur Hindu Nahi Hai’ by Chirag Tulsiani.

No, you don’t get it right every time. Few stories leave you with undernourished reading experience. However, you should appreciate these works by new authors. ‘The remains from Last year’, and  ‘The Seer’  by Shinoj Dings. ‘My boss got fired’ by Ritesh, ‘My Lyfe Misspelt’ by Ranjani Rangarajan, ‘The boys I forgot to kiss’ by Dipu, and ‘The case of Universal prisoner of war ‘ by Roopal Kewalya.

Distraction Galore At Juggernaut.

There are enough distractions at Juggernaut. Under the genre erotica, there are stories and chapters best read alone. I ended up checking out Sunny Leone franchise as an author. I read ‘Dancer’, ‘7E’ and a few others. They are not worth the charge. I was expecting a lot more.

In the same genre I read ‘An erotic massage’ by Rati Banerjee, ‘The Hot Housewives’ by Malini White, ‘The ultimate fantasy’ and ‘My Friend’s hot mom’ by Khushbu, ‘Cuffed by the cop’ by Shevlin Sebastian, ‘Swipe right for the boss’ by Sanjana Chowhan, ‘Boss is always right’, and few other excellent erotica short stories. They are fun to read one at a time.

Now with SEC 377 gone, stories in this arena will most likely get a new flavour.

 

My JUGGERNAUT, My RULES.

So, I am hooked to Juggernaut. However, I use the app under an SOP that helps me. I read books on the First-in-first-out basis. I do not read more than one book at a time. Simple, I don’t think I can parallel-process storylines. I try keeping the number of unread books on the app under three.  Till now I have read more than 35 books on Juggernaut within a short span of time. The only issue, these are mostly non-serious reading.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

In the last four years, IAA India Chapter has emerged as one of two most active industry bodies. It has some outstanding inclusive work to its credit. Each of the initiatives stands out for its intent and execution.

“The Gutenberg – A Book on Case Studies in Print Advertising” aims to make a statement that print surely works for many categories. The idea that germinated during a brainstorming session took the form of a book in nine months with 24 print-centric case studies, and 14 interesting articles is one such initiative. There were 2000 copies oriented.

I sincerely appreciate the effort and the intent behind it.  I am  biased as I failed to launch a similar initiative when I was with  Dainik Bhaskar.        Though the group did work on an  initiative like  MOSAIC- a collection of best of Print in India’ for few editions.

I know the problems such projects face. The quality filters one start with, slowly become constraining. Political neutrality and egos come into consideration. The concept gets tweaked, and plans were redrawn to accommodate new thinking. However, one can’t fault the intent.

The book “The Gutenberg Galaxy’ focuses on the print media. Many young marketers and myopic media planners enamoured with screens of different sizes have prematurely written off and buried it many times. It not only survives but also thrives with growth in circulation and readership.

Fortunately, in media, life is never binary. It’s never an either-or situation.  Traditional media along with new media will continue to grow for a long time. The technology change spurring the growth in digital will also affect the traditional media not necessarily in a negative way.

Print media has enough power to deliver beyond expectations. What it lacks is the existence of enough willing minds to see it in a new perspective. It needs collective thinking. If media agencies and the marketers involve print owners and custodians in the creative process, they will have brilliant results to show. Trust the media owners are waiting for such opportunities.

‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ is wrongly tagged as a collector’s item, a  coffee table book! May be, if it was conceptualised as a reference  book, the format and perhaps the content would have been curated  differently. However, I am not complaining.

I appreciate IAA presenting cases of ‘Strategic use of print media as the leading media vehicle’. The team has made a serious attempt to push marketers, solution providers, creative and media agencies to re-evaluate their understanding of the medium.

Print suffers from a collective apathy of creative teams. It stopped being glamorous, exciting and buzzy. When the slide started, media owners failed to recognise the enormity of the situation. They refused to see it as their problem.

Forget the encouraging talk and statements made in the book. Today, the print industry stares at an exploding negative spiral triggered by ineffective print advertising.  It inevitably has been downgraded to sales, discount and offers. No one sees the potential and it possibly contributing to the brand building process.

Print industry needs to come together and collaborate. They need to see the future, not as my brand vs other brands but print as a media. The noticeable absence of large turnout of print media owners and professionals at the launch of Gutenberg Galaxy demonstrates it.

…………………

Does ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ represent the ultimate?

‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ does not represent the best of print. There is some serious flaw in the process of collecting, curating and selecting of the featured case.

Each of the 14 articles by media, marketing and creative dons are interesting and appealing. They are what the audience seek, strong personal views. However, something is missing. May be I have far higher expectations from authored articles in a collector’s item.

Article after article you get to read familiar thoughts. There are no surprises. The immediacy factor, focussed localised readership, high topical value, minimalism, smacking content, leverage print, the best medium for the call for action and content integration. Growing circulation on the back of increasing literacy. If you get a chance, do read ‘This is the one story’ by Santosh Padhi featured on pages 52 and 53.

An essential element that rightly gets repeated attention is the trustworthiness, believability and creditability of the media. Internally, we all know how much of it has been eroded in recent times. It is in the best interest of media owners to collectively address the issue, or there will be nothing left to fight for.

The over-dependence on advertising with stagnant cover price is an issue. It gets amplified when the reader fails to find rich engaging exclusive content. There are extra pages filled with not-so-relevant articles and news items tainted with biased, and skewed thinking is yet another problem. It adds to an unnatural pressure on the sales team and decreases the publication capability to say ‘No’ to unreasonable demands from advertisers and agencies.

Moreover, the print industry has been sticking to the old approach to spaceselling. The print owners have been least innovative in pricing strategies. They still expect an annual rate hike in a scenario where the marketers perceive decreasing effectiveness and returns for their investment. They have built around themselves the complex, confusing grid of non-transparent revenue models and differential pricing. Maybe they should seriously pay attention to what Sam Balsara wrote in his article published in the book (also carried on MxMIndia on September 24).

………………………….

Observations on ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’.

If one is serious about the initiative and wants to showcase the brilliant use of print, one must be a lot more ruthless in the filters used to select the content.

It is interesting to note the range of brand featured in the case studies. Agriculture: Mahindra Agri. Automobile: Tata Motors featured thrice with Nexon, Zest and Tiago. Banking: BOB, IDBI and SBI. Clothing: S.O.I.E and  Fuel. Confectionary: Mondelez. CSR:  Greenpeace Durables. Ion Exchange. Education: NPAT. FMCG: HUL featured thrice: Comfort, Dove and Rin. Media:- Two examples of ‘Star Sports’ with a very similar approach and Times Group Mobile: Huawei. Paints: Asian Paints. Real Estate: Kanakia. Others: Technical drying Services and Western Railways.

The Gutenberg team acknowledges there are many more cases that could have been a part of it. It is the first edition, and anyway, all could not have been accommodated. I am told that the project team reached out across the industry and followed it for six months without any bias. The filter used was the case must have a story to share!

More interesting is the list of participating agencies. Congratulations to Cornerstone Communication, Deadline Advertising, FCB Ulka (two works), Goldmine Advertising, Inter Publicity (two examples), Madison, McCann Worldgroup, Mindshare (five cases), Motivator, Ratan Batra, Ronak & Thinkers, Sai Advertising, Taproot, Starcom and Ventures Advertising.  I don’t think I have to stress the point.

The articles by Ajay Kakar, Amar Jaleel,  Anupriya Acharya, Ashish Bhasin, Chandra P Dhobal, Lakshmi Narasimhan, Karthi Marshan, Nandini Dias, Ravindra Pai, Shashi Sinha, Santosh Padhy, S Narshiman and  Vikram Sakhuja are interesting. They appear in the same alphabetical order (interspersed with cases) in the book.

There is no link between the articles and the cases. It affects the experience.  However, what I miss most is lack of articles by an important stakeholder in the print ecosystem: the clients.

……………………………………………..

‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ future.

I am informed that the next edition is planned for 2020. I think print needs such initiatives to be annual.

I hope whenever it comes out. It will be far richer, invasive and inclusive with global cases too. I hope it becomes Industry reference. For that to happen, the team must rethink format, content and distribution.

‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ purpose that needs minor fine-tuning. The project team must be ruthlessly quality conscious in what finally makes to the next edition.

The real success is when the marketers ask their agencies, why their work failed to make to ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’.  Otherwise, we all know, what happens of coffee table books.

 

 

Sanjeev Kotnala is a senior management and strategy consultant and educator. The views here are personal

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

It is such a simple thought that it is too complicated to understand. Life is never about the past. It is about new chapters that you will add to define your story. It is about dreams and ambitions being more significant than the memories and the experiences you carry.

Every event has a start. Some travellers find the way and reach their destination; some fail to move and some anchor themselves to the comfort of current realities. The choice exists for everyone. A few lucky ones make a decision and then the impact.

To make the future big, you must lift the anchor of memories, regrets and past. Steal leanings from the past and bury the rest.  The earlier results may not define the future possibilities.

Some people have a different problem. Their success starts defining their newly acquired fear. They are complacent with templates and expect the same key to work with all the locks in their life. We know it is foolish to assume.

Success or failure is just a probability. You can’t go forward looking in the rear-view mirror. You can’t work with the fear of failure and think, what if it failed. Question yourself and think, what if that succeeds.

People talk of burning the bridges; I ask you to forget your past. Just latch on the learning’s and nothing else.

Try finding relationships that free you from the burdens and fear of your past. That gives you the perfect balance of co-existence and interdependence.

There is no way you can escape and run away from the present and future possibilities. There is no point fighting realities. You can’t deny them. You must believe ‘best is yet to come’ and give your 100% to the task.

Your attitude defines your reaction to a situation. Circumstances are blamed for the approach. And the blame game starts. It’s always easy to blame them and the constraints you operate in.

If you look back on your life, your behaviour and experiences were defining your attitude. You have allowed them to over-ride your instinct. A new SOP gets formed.

It’s vital that we are ruthlessly unsatisfied with ourselves. Don’t expect or tolerate mediocrity. Have faith and confidence in your potential and ability to deliver. Ask the best for yourself and the whole universe will start helping you to achieve it. The ‘Secret’ works.

Having clarity of goal and a purpose in life always helps. It brings efficiency to your actions and efforts. The future target in sight is more than a lighthouse in the sea; it is the force that makes you run. It is what makes you get up and act. Rediscovering yourself, again and again, is a necessity. And as you are primarily biased, you will need the help of mentors, friends or coach to guide your effort in this endeavour.

To reap the benefit of success, get rid of people, process and environment holding you back. That is chaining you to today and past. That does not allow you to seek your dreams.  And trust me, the most critical barrier is you. You hold yourself back with the baggage of earlier choices, experience and expectations.

At every stage, believe in self and have the confidence that your best performance is still due. You are a work-in-process. And that is as the truth.

Be anchor-free. Be free of past and its success or failure. Be sure of the future and yourself. The best is yet to come.

Some of the learnings from ‘Rediscover Yourself’ workshop, held at Cottage Nirvana, Mukhteshwar, Uttarakhand between August 31 and September 3, 2018.

 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

The Kerala floods have been a nightmare and a warning in many ways. As the water recedes and rebuilding starts, it’s time for each one of us to collectively support and help Kerala. #DibbaLautaao is a simple communication from Zee to do whatever’s possible.

I love it for its simplicity. It beautifully uses the tradition of filing a container before returning it to the owner.  Moreover, it leverages a powerful regional connect connection of banana chips.

Here the thought ‘Extraordinary Together’ is a perfect match but somehow think that it could have been better if the last frame of branding was not there on your face or differently treated for the subject.

The Three-way Three-Day Weekend.

It was bound to happen. The opportunity was always there. Metro citizens and corporate workers are taking more number of shorter breaks with friends. The idea of extending the weekend to three-four days by taking leave is a regular practice.

An extra day can add so much fun to the weekend, more so if the ‘d’ is naughty silent in ‘Let’s have a Three-day’. It’s all in the mind what the three friends are referring to. Anything is possible between consenting adults. ‘Hotel Tonight’ is not responsible for the possibilities. The app is more known for last-minute hotel bookings. Unfortunately, it currently does not cover hotels in India but promises that they are getting there.

Milton Kuch Naya Soochte Hain

Milton has been a household name in India as a brand of household products from bottles, tiffin, and plug-heat-tiffin. A few of their products are really innovative. I remember the plug-and-heat tiffin, oil-separating pickle jar, insulated plastic tiffin and easy-to-close airtight containers.

I frankly expect a lot more from the brand Milton.  ‘Kahan Ka Piya’ is seriously a disappointment. Is this a representation of ‘Kuch Naya Sochte Hain’?

Travel and the flask is an active link. Experience and travel too are strongly linked. Then there is the capability of the thermosteel flask to retain the temperature of the fluid up to 24 hours. Layer that with the saying ‘Ghat Ghat Ka Paani Piya’ referring to have travelled and experienced a lot. However, the end result ‘Kahan Ka Piya’ is neither refreshing nor Nai Sooch.

It is a montage of travel shots, supported by uninspiring melodious lyrics and music. This music reminds one of MP Tourism advertisement!  There are frequent shots of the thermosteel flask in use. Must appreciate someone laboriously trying to integrate it with a story seamlessly. A story that simply does not exist. Milton, Kuch Naya Soocho.

 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

Yesterday, we celebrated the 72nd Independence Day.  On the occasion, I am sharing a review of   ‘SPONGE: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients’ by Ambi Parameswaran.

I was thinking, how different the country could be if all of us behaved like the sponge.  If like Ambi, we too could reflect on our mistakes and learn through our experiences. Maybe our collective efforts could initiate a new movement.

‘Becoming a sponge while interacting with a wise customer is something that can transform life. Absorb the words of wisdom. Learn from their behaviour. Look beyond what is obvious. And like the colourful sponge inhabiting the ocean floors, you too will red yourself of impurities and get enough nutrients for you to develop into a better leader’– Ambi Parameswaran in the introduction of his book ‘Sponge’.

I read his book ‘Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles’ and loved it.  Ordering ‘Sponge’ was an involuntary reaction to the release announcement. There are two reasons for me taking the time to read. One I follow FIFO method in sequencing the books I read. Two, the format of ‘Sponge’ allowed me to read it in parts.

I enjoyed reading ‘SPONGE: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients’. I loved the stories and anecdotes. The anecdotes were brilliant. We all will find our favourites.

No one is complaining, but for me, the book references supporting Ambi’s experience and observations broke my rhythm. I felt I would have enjoyed the book more without validation of learning’s from some published theoretical frameworks.

I would have wanted Ambi to do better justice to the stories and spend a bit more time in developing each of them. They are too summarised. They finish before you warm up. I am not cribbing. As no-where, you lose on any details.

I loved him naming characters in successful adventures. However, I am not hugely surprised that he decided not to call the characters if the experience were not right, proper or in case they went wrong. I felt a bit cheated by this vagueness. It diluted the impressions for me.

The book, a light reading, but delivers big time. It is a perfect plug for active listening, reflection and learning. You can pick and start with any chapter and pace your reading. Serious readers are welcome to check the books referred in the chapters and just for records lengthen their ‘to-read’ list. It is at times interesting for a reader, to see if you can reflect and distil some other learning from the same incident.

Most of the book, in many ways, ends up celebrating the famed glorious years of advertising. Some of us have been fortunate to be in the industry when the relationship was of partners in Brand building and not a vendor. They had conviction in their team and efforts. The fee was enough to hire and retain talents. The teams were willing to back their work and understanding, instead of trying to read the clients mind.  They were willing to learn from the client. The  loyalties were first to the Brand, Agency and then the client.  Ambi has been able to capture them well. Most of them are the goody-goodly-good type of episodes. I fear the gentleman Ambi is, he will never share the juicy bits.

The book has me nodding in agreement at lot many places. One of them is there on page 27. I quote. “I think if we see more and more ex-service people in the Indian start-up and corporate world we might see some fresh churning of concepts and strategies. …Getting them into operational positions can provide Indian corporates a great new window into how to work and how to get work done”.

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SPONGE- Leadership Lessons I learnt From My Clients. Ambi Parameswaran. Westlandbooks. INR 350. Pages 180

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

The Advertising Club calendar added D-Code, the digital review to its two existing properties Media Review and Creative Review in its annual schedule of events. It may be a late addition. However, the new format Ad Club adapted for D-Code was worth the wait.

 

WE ARE GETTING THERE

In the last two years, one must acknowledge that the functions planning, relevance and execution has much improved across the active bodies like The Advertising Club, AAAI and IAA. It takes much fun out of reviewing.

 

No, we did not start on time, and all the speakers did not adhere to time limits.  Some players did not use the time allotted, and that is as much of a crime as exceeding the allotted time.

 

No the third umpire and the timekeeper (Vikram Sakuja) was not ruthless enough in cutting the speakers who went overboard. I could sense his desire to stick to timelines and the hesitation at times in deciding to interrupt the speaker. However, then he had to play with the performance and sense the crowd interest. The onus of sticking to time rests with the speakers.

 

We started at 6:15pm, with the invite reading 5:30 onwards. If we cannot manage some sort of timeline adherence, people will start treating the ‘Onwards’ on the invite as a ‘plus one-hour’ indicator.  The early networking with the bar open made the wait a lot easier.

 

11 SPEAKER, 22 CASES, 33 LEARNING.

The format was excellent. 11 speakers* 10 minutes each. The presenters shared one of their successful Digital Intervention. It allowed a decent plug-in of their brand. They then shared another successful digital intervention that was not their doing. I do understand the dilemma speakers would have gone through while selecting the other digital intervention and presenting it with grace and respect they deserved. Additionally, each speaker shared three tips or learnings that have been working for them.

 

MY TAKE-OUTS

POINT 1.  Don’t throw away what you have learnt from traditional marketing practices. Don’t trust anyone who says they know everything about digital. POINT-II. Be more meaningful, don’t live in an ‘Industry bubble’.

POINT-III. Content should be opinionated, extreme (pro or anti).

POINT-IV.  Listen to what the consumer is saying in real time. Look for truth in humour and humour in the truth. Merge tech with ground-level consumer insights.

POINT-V.  Have a start-up mindset. Ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t allowed to make a film. Challenge the establishment. Always stay in Beta mode.

POINT-VI.  Invest in the right mar-tech tools, talent and partnerships.”

Always read the comments under your content/on social media.”

 

DON’T LISTEN TO NAYSAYERS.

I must compliment the organising team on the selection of the speakers.

We will always have people commenting on what was excellent and what was terrible. What they liked? What they did not like? What kicked them? Who was a bore?

When anyone from the audience tries analysing the selection of speakers (including me), organisers, please ignore them and keep the good work. One will never be able to satisfy everyone, as the selection of speakers and their delivery is purely subjective.

Someone may not have liked Anupriya Acharya’s detailed presentation or Rahul Johri rambling. It does not make their contribution any less. Tanmay Bhatt’s presentation floored most of the audience.  He is a stage presenter who knows a trick or two and has a licence to present in a way most corporates would not be able to do.

 

THE FOLLOW-UP.

The list of presenters is already up at the Ad Club site. It will be a good idea if these case studies and links are available on the site. In fact, these in any way represent the best India has to offer, so a compilation as an e-book will not be out of place.

 

NET RESULT. GREAT FORMAT. ENHANCED EXPECTATIONS.

The format is excellent and the ultimate winner. Most of the audience had at least a few examples and learning’s that made them think. May be it’s time that Ad Club revisits and does a clinical rethink on the Media Review and Creative Review formats. You have raised our expectations, and we know you will once again surprise us by making the reviews that more relevant and impactful.

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* INAUGURAL D-CODE SPEAKER LIST.  This list is subjective. It is in the order of impact they made on me and hence debatable on many counts. Arun Iyer. Siddharth Banerjee, Ajit Mohan. Juhi Kalia. Tanmay Bhat.  Sapna Chadha. Sam Singh. Anuradha Aggarwal. Anupriya Acharya. Mohit Kapoor. Rahul Johri.

 

Senior marketing and strategy consultant and educator, Sanjeev Kotnala writes weekly on MxMIndia at ‘Kotmartial’. The views here are personal. ‘Kotmartial’ appears every Wednesday, but to a tech glitch (or miss!), this column didn’t appear yesterday.

 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

I remember the moment. It was late at night.  I was returning from the IAA Leadership Awards. I had just popped in another chewing gum when I opened the winner envelope I have been holding tight.

The 23rd winner.

Ok, let me correct it. At IAA Leadership Awards last Friday, fourteen leaders were identified across categories and given the ‘North Star of Industry’ award. There were seven ‘IAA Person of the Year’ awards for exemplary iconic, inspiring work in their category. Mr Sam Balsara was inducted into IAA Hall of Fame. That makes it 22 awards. I was the last winner, the 23rd winner.

I won the prize, not an award. It was for an online quiz. It seems I was the lucky one who had answered three tough questions from a leading newsmedia group.

So, why share it.

I must share the incident for two reasons. One, it was after a long time I was on stage receiving an award. Yes, I know it was just for an online quiz. Two, I thought I must share with many who gave me those envious looks about what I won. People must not get the wrong impression.

How it all started.

As usual, I was on time for the event. However, that is not the story.

I was moving through the narrow pre-function area when an ever-smiling IAA India President Ramesh Narayan caught hold of me. He introduced me to a lady from this news media group. She shared a secret with me. I had won the ‘Quiz’. She told me how happy and relaxed she was to see me. They were not sure if I was going to be present to collect the prize.

Wow, it was good news. I was getting something for reading an event mailer, noticing the quiz and answering a few simple questions.

 

However, that is not the story.

Not surprisingly, it was not a secret. People at IAA and this newsmedia group knew. Some of them congratulated me for the win.

I have always been envious of people winning such prizes at the event. The prizes usually are generous for such a contest. Typically, they are about a fully-paid-treated-like-a-royalty vacation to one of the destination in the newspaper territory or a smartphone or an I-pad or substantial cash.

It was an auspicious day. Guru Purnima.

The moment

The event was a tightly packed session. Kubra Sait, the Cuckoo of Sacred Games and the host of the evening was right about it. I was feeling good.

Midway through the event, I felt the bio-pressure. However, I held on. What if the organisers decide to announce the prize while I was away? I was not willing to lose the opportunity.

So I held on till the talented violinist came on stage. I knew this was the window I could use I made a quick exit, and I was back before she changed the song. I enthusiastically clapped for her and myself; the prize was safe and secure.

The seven Leadership awards were given, and Cuckoo hinted it was all over. I could see the crowd slowly getting off from their seat. I thought my day was ruined. Have they made a mistake? Were Ramesh Narayan and the lady from the newsmedia group joking?

Suddenly I hear Kubra Sait calling my name. The quiz winner was announced. I proudly cut through the crowd, climbed five steps to fame and received my prize.

I was given an envelope. It was too thin to have anything significant unless it was a cheque. The cameras flashed while I stood at the centre of the stage.  I heard the presenter tell me. It was a Crossword voucher or vouchers. I read many books, so the Crossword vouchers were okay. Many congratulated me on my win, and I smiled back.

The Discovery

It was half an hour into my ride back home, when I finally decided to check my prize. I opened it with soft hands, and then I saw it. It was a 1000-rupee crossword voucher. I thought maybe I was missing a zero. I checked for more vouchers. There were none. I had been on stage basking in the glory of winning a 1000-rupee crossword voucher!

Saali Saab Uttar Gayi!

It looked like I have answered a contest on FM radio. The situation was such that I was not sure if I should laugh at myself or complement the brand team at the news media group.

I am sure. Only the marketing team at the newsmedia group knew what prize I got. They were happy the winner was in the crowd. The winner was delighted having won something. The other invitees congratulated me, but, they never knew what he won. The brand got the mileage it wanted and I the 1000 rupee Crossword Voucher.

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Remembering my many Gurus in advertising, marketing and communication on Guru Purnima.  I have learnt by directly working with them, reading their books, hearing discussions on their approach and work. Quite a few are my colleagues, and my juniors have also taught me finer nuances unintentionally too.  So did the team from the newsmedia group. Happy Guru Purnima.

 

Sanjeev Kotnala is a senior marketing and strategy consultant. He is also an educator. He writes for MxMIndia every Wednesday. The views here are personal