Around 2004, we won the advertising business of a new ready-made apparel brand to be launched by a very large Indian company. Our agency had suggested a space around ‘confidence’. The client very rightly asked us to come back with a sharper, more compelling narrative on confidence. As the planner, I started engaging with the...

Interesting how studying for ‘consumer insights’ often results in understanding ourselves. Did you know that we humans have a ‘negativity bias’? It means we not only overemphasize what’s bad around us, but also take what is good very quickly for granted after a short window of gratitude. Notice how quickly, the resort that felt breathtaking...

Yesterday MS Dhoni made 18 runs and the social media went delirious with happiness. If like me, you’ve been a die-hard Dhoni fan, you were probably part of this euphoric crowd. But there’s something interesting that this response tells us. The belief, that our superstar of yesteryears is still a match winner he used to...

I must have been 4-5 years when I saw Abhimaan, hardly understanding much (mom being a movie buff, I saw many movies with her, completely clueless as to what was happening in the story!). It’s a fascinating story of male ego fragility in dealing with women’s success in professional fields. Couple of decades later, with...

15-year-old nephew posted on social media – ‘Been waiting for 41 years for this bronze!’ went a tweet on India’s Olympics hockey win. ‘Bigger than all 3 cricket World Cups !’ Gushed Gautam Gambhir. Is it the revival of India’s love with hockey? Sadly – no. But, it is interesting to understand our excitement around...