Visual appeal

Being always on the lookout for stunning and appealing design, I was happy with this link, thanks to PSFK.

Posh & Persil

Stumbled across this quote while trawling the net.

“Right from the beginning, I said I wanted to be more famous than Persil Automatic.”
Victoria Beckham, Learning to Fly, The Autobiography

Strange that the young Posh should aspire to gain the kind of fame that is associated with UK’s largest selling washing powder instead of aspiring to be like any other famous singer. Maybe, at a very young age, Posh understood that a famous brand is as good as a famous celebrity.

Recent read

Been reading ‘The Culture Code’ by Clotaire Rapaille, a Frenchman who professes to be more American than the Americans themselves.

He is a psychoanalyst who has decided to use the world of business as a testing ground for his theory that each nation has a specific culture code – i.e. behaviour determined by the country’s history and myths. While the template is interesting, it is hard to stomach certain broad generalizations that he makes in his book.

Also, when he unabashedly takes credit for the success of the Chrysler PT Cruiser (once the code was discovered, boom, the car took off or words to that effect), one begins to don the hat of skpticism. One part of me wants to believe that what he says is profound. The other part says he is a quack.

What I learnt from blogging

In my third attempt at blogging (quite the longest at close to two months), here is what I have learnt -
1. It is better to write a paragraph than wait to write the one big thing. Do lots of small things and not one big thing
2. It has forced me to notice things around me. The pressure to write a couple of lines everyday makes me look around for stuff to write
3. Discipline - Have never been one for it, but have substantially improved over the last two months

These, I think are lessons for all aspiring bloggers who may or may not choose to comment on mundane things like brands and communication.

A question with no immediate answer in sight

With some many FM radio stations being launched, how does one create a distinct identity for a product, the interaction with which is only aural?

Are you a vegetarian?

A couple of weeks back, I was leafing through a menu at a vegetarian Italian restaurant. A bit of trivia on the inside flap - the word vegetarian has nothing to do with vegetables (at least that's what I thought until then). The word vegetarian comes from the Latin word vegetus, meaning 'whole, sound, fresh, or lively'.

Maybe it's just me getting excited knowing this bit of trivia.

Of cages and jungles

It has been said that if you want to observe animals, one should head towards the jungles. The tiger in the cage is akin to the traditional focus group with the animal highly conscious and pacing around tensely. The other one is the observation study. The more and more focus groups I attend, the more I am convinced that 'insights' does not dwell in abundance there. And the few observation studies say a lot more. Think we need more of the latter!