Summary: 

Communications professional with 2 decades’ experience in creating, building and managing perceptions of brands across agency and client environments.

Experience spanning corporate communications, public relations, marketing communications, investor relations, digital/social media marketing and employee communication for B2B (technology) and B2C brands.

Winner of gold at Socialathon India 2015, gold at Emvie 2015 (Best media innovation - social media) and bronze at DMA Asia Echo Award 2015 (Interactive - Creative use of data).

Guest lecturer at Tata Management Training Centre's Leadership Development Program for IAS Officers and Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru – Advanced Digital Marketing and Digital Marketing for CMOs

Award-winning blogger, across 2 areas of interest - professional blog, since 2008 (communications/marketing - http://www.beastoftraal.com) and music blog, since 2005 (http://www.milliblog.com). 

Frequent columnist in leading publications, on the intersection of corporate communications, social media and advertising/marketing. Samples:
- How to build a socially relevant brand | ET BrandEquity http://bit.ly/2NuutnP 
- From 'Log kya kahenge?' to 'Log kya keh rahe hain' | ET BrandEquity 
- http://bit.ly/2u0jydn 
- Amazon-Swara Bhaskar Issue: An Analysis | afaqs! http://bit.ly/2qTF9ll 
- How to avoid social media self-destruction | The Economic Times http://bit.ly/2MuxvrD

Frequent speaker and panelist in leading events to talk on and discuss perspectives on communications, branding and social media.


Karthik Srinivasan

Fantastic set of hardworking ads for Ather that showcase specific features in the most fun, entertaining (and hence memorable) ways! Take the 'reverse' ad. Instead of showing the feature in a matter-of-fact, practical way (which Ather had done earlier when this feature was launched), it frames the feature as a fun device to delight a child. And the parent indulges, using the feature in the most unusual way. 

The 'skid control' ad was my favorite. It's rooted in a specific milieu (KL registered vehicle) and seems functional enough till the 25th second. Observe what happens then 😆 That... is an excellent demonstration of how good the product is at least claim-wise.

The 'auto hold' ad is a bit functional, showing two people for comparison (one has Ather, and hence 'auto hold'; the other doesn't, and hence, keeps slipping). But the demonstration feels real and relatable at least. Not fun, but still hardworking.

The 'send location' seemed like the weakest among the four, to me. It's relatable, no doubt, but someone who craves for a specific kind of food, in present times, is more likely to order it and get it within 10-20 minutes than move out of the house to eat it at the store. Still, it's not improbable and Ather could perhaps rationalize it as the vehicle being such fun to ride, offering such great mileage/range, that people would rather take the vehicle for a spin than ordering that food through an app for home delivery :)

All four ads play back-to-back.

Good work by Ather's in-house creative team!

#advertising #marketing #creativity

Communications strategy consultant. Connect with me for corporate workshops on personal branding. Ex-Ogilvy, ex-Flipkart, ex-Edelman. No paid posts - my words are not for sale.

When I was reading Devina Mehra's Mint write-up last week, I couldn't help observe how Indian advertising mirrors this pattern almost perfectly.

The core of the write-up is this: Women’s competence is celebrated only when it is unpaid, invisible, or emotionally framed. The moment it becomes economic, authoritative, or powerful, it is masculinised.

In advertising, women are "naturally caring", "instinctively good at home management", "born multitaskers" or "emotionally intelligent" - women's capability framed as biological grace, not earned expertise.

Women’s labour is also romanticised when it’s unpaid. Cooking as love, cleaning as care or emotional management as duty... while the labour disappears into emotion. In short, a woman doesn’t work - she "does it for her family".

Women’s products are positioned as maintenance, not empowerment. So fairness creams are for 'acceptance', deodorants are for 'concealment', sanitary napkins are for 'silence' ("no stains, no embarrassment"), detergents are for 'approval'. The advertising for these products don’t expand power, but 'help' women maintain social acceptability.

The article talks also about women being expected to regulate emotions, manage relationships, remember schedules, and hold families together - and Indian advertising has institutionalised this! Classic ad tropes include a mother noticing silence at dinner, wife sensing husband’s stress, daughter managing everyone’s moods. 

Devina's article describes society, while advertising aestheticises it. It doesn’t just reflect the pattern - it makes it desirable. It turns inequality into 'warmth', 'nostalgia', 'sanskaar', or 'Indian values'. This is far more powerful than policy or tradition alone because it moves from 'women should do this' to 'this is what love looks like'. 

Things are changing so very slowly that a mutual funds brand ad that shows women offering financial advice in male voice (to make a solid point) stands out like 'Man bites dog'. Even progressive Indian advertising often stays within safe boundaries. Women are shown as - strong but still beautiful, independent but still nurturing, or ambitious but not threatening. 

#advertising #marketing #gender

A worthy sequel to the terrific first ad from May 2024 (see: https://lnkd.in/gZfsASVd)! The sequential logic is solid: if everyone's already into the product, let's look at what's coming in the way of people consuming it and exaggerate that aspect. That line of thought helps set the confounding mystery of bizarre things happening for the first 20 seconds. And then, bam... you get it 😂

Excellent continuation of their work by the agency Enormous.

#advertising #marketing #creativity

I had long forgotten about 'Feeding India' that I used to notice on Zomato. I remember it as an 'opt-out' feature in the final bill's line items and this caused quite a number of people to complain vocally on social media (rightly so - it should be opt-in, not opt-out) sometime ago. Zomato explained it as being added once a user chooses it (opts for it) the first time. So, subsequent bills will have this as opt-out, with a small 'remove' link next to it (which I'd argue is a dark pattern).

What would have been a considerably better method is to introduce the scale,  scope, and impact of Feeding India contributions via Eternal companies like Zomato, Blinkit, and District, and then let people consciously choose that donation (or customize/increase the amount, an option now available) depending on how much they trust the company.

And that introduction to scale and scope is being done by this new ad beautifully (conceived in-house). In multiple languages, at that! The tone of the ad film is all (pre-'Hustle') Zomato - the focus is sharply on food and love for food. 

After watching the ad, I tried the 'Feeding India' search on the Zomato app (see in my comment, below) - this is a very nice touch to add a personalized interactive element to the advertising effort, and got a result that felt underwhelming to me, though our food orders have reduced drastically in recent times (preferring home-made food more and more, resorting to outside food very occasionally). 

I also checked Eternal's last 3 annual reports for updates on the program. Under the ESG update in the latest annual report, it says, 'Through its Daily Feeding Program, Feeding India provides nutritious meals daily to over 100,000 children in under-served communities, reaching more than 1,000 educational centres across 160+ cities. FI served 36 million meals in FY25 and more than 200 million meals overall since inception".

I realized that I had not opted for this donation in my billing, and after watching this ad, I just might consciously opt in.

#advertising #marketing #ESG

Excellent ad for Republic Day, though this is from a couple of months before Coronavirus swept through India in the first wave, in 2020. The series of questions posed by the young boy that the mother is unable to answer, and the one question she does have a point of view on says so much us as people. The Hindu used to make such ads, evoking our sense of questioning those who seem to be in control, but over time, they have stopped asking us to ask questions. For this brand (behind this ad, you would realize it when you see the ad fully anyway), this seems like an unlikely message though if you consider its target audience, it makes perfect sense.

So, this Republic Day (too), continue to relentlessly pose questions that are deemed inconvenient and uncomfortable to those in power. Particularly questions that contradict and puncture the narrative of those in power. That's one way to force accountability because voting (and elections) are not the only form of enforcing accountability. There is something called ongoing accountability too. 

This ad was made in-house, incidentally.

#advertising #marketing #creativity #republicday

This is really interesting and a good illustration of the outsized influence of brand perception in the automotive sector where engineering parity (which happens between the companies under rebadging) takes a backseat to emotional pull (which happens in the minds of consumers)! 

Both companies are largely selling the same set of cars under different badges, but Toyota is capturing more of the value. Invicto Vs. Hycross comparison, in particular, is a telling example: while there's a long waiting list for the latter, the former sold only about 4,000 units and is available immediately despite being the same car... but under Maruti!

This is also textbook case of how brand equity can work against a partnership. Toyota put its badge on Maruti Suzuki cars and gained massively (3.1% to 7.8% market share), while Maruti Suzuki lost ground (49.9% to 40.2%). Toyota essentially got high-volume cars without the massive R&D investment, while Maruti inadvertently created its own competition.

#brand #branding #marketing

"Don't live like this"? The person who found time to cook couldn't find time to clean utensils after cooking? Or, is the cook from another service who wouldn't clean vessels after cooking, leaving it for a follow-up service to do the clean-up? 

Earlier, ads may have spoken about time-poverty to sell the service. As in, "Leave the chores to us". Now, it almost feels like Snabbit is scolding you, and offers a transactional service as solution :) Leftover plates and grime visually cue carelessness or apathy usually, not "I'm overwhelmed and need help". 

But, this is a road-side ad. Regardless of Bengaluru's slow-moving traffic, road-side ads need to sell one thing fast, and one thing only. From that sense, showing dirty, unwashed utensils is the fastest way to dramatize the need. 

A decade ago, dishwash bars may have shown us that someone in the house (who is not a house help) "save time" by using their brand which cleans well, fast. Such ads conclude that if you use their brand, you complete a chore fast and spend more time on what you really want to do (like with the family).

Now, Snabbit throws everything *and* the kitchen sink out of your way to offer it's service.

#advertising #marketing

Shots fired, most definitely! Pepsi's teaser for Super Bowl LX directly shows a Coca-Cola can alongside a Pepsi can and features an animal that has been associated with Coca-Cola for over 30 years - a Polar Bear! The blind test is associated with Pepsi since the 1970s when Pepsi started ads using this 'Pepsi Challenge'.

And the actual ad, which will be launched during the Super Bowl game on February 8, 2026, is directed by Taika Waititi! 

The question is, what is Coca-Cola planning to do about this frontal assault on the biggest advertising night in the US? Will Coca-Cola do something before, during, or after Pepsi releases its final ad? 

Option 1 - Before: Since the teaser is already out, Coca-Cola has a clear runway of 12 days to ambush Pepsi, if they wanted to. 

Option 2 - During: Or, they could go head-to-head and release something online to tackle Pepsi's ad as it releases during the game. 

Option 3 - After: The third option is to see what the Pepsi ad is all about and then calmy respond with a counter, a week later.

All three options would generate insane amount of attention and chatter anyway because people love the cola-wars.

Option 4 - Do nothing.

I'm in 'Team Before'. 

The teaser has a direction that seems mildly predictable - Pepsi Challenge, 'How many people prefer Pepsi in blind taste tests?' as a question, Polar Bear (blind-folded) = something that seems like what we would end up seeing. They are obviously not going to say that more people prefer Coca-Cola. Or they could say that Polar Bears continue to prefer Coca-Cola in blind taste tests, but actual people prefer Pepsi, which could be the sly twist in the 'surprise' the ad is referring to :) 

Can Coca-Cola plan a pre-Pepsi-ad ambush with this information? 

We will wait and watch! :)

#advertising #marketing #creativity #colawars

Being 'authentic' online, in the name of personal branding, is not what you think! Here's what being 'authentic' online actually means, in just 10 points.

1. Personal branding online is not real life in motion. It’s a curated performance, built from real experiences but shared selectively and thoughtfully. 

2. "Being authentic on social media" doesn’t mean showing your entire life. It means choosing what to reveal, intentionally.

3. Selective sharing is not dishonesty. It’s how humans naturally communicate in public spaces.

4. What you post is influenced by the fact that your audience includes strangers, not just friends or peers.

5. Posting online is similar to speaking on a stage. You prepare your thoughts, refine your words, and think about how they’ll land.

6. A polished or thoughtful online presence doesn’t make you fake. It means you care about clarity and impact.

7. Your online self and real-world self don’t need to be identical — they need to be aligned.

8. Share insecurities publicly only if you'd shout them on a busy road—social media is a crowded highway, not intimate friend circles.

9. Oversharing is not a prerequisite for authenticity. Context matters more than emotional exposure.

10. True authenticity shows up when people meet you offline and recognize the same values, behaviour, and intent they saw online.

---

Longer post with context, analogies (everyday home clothing vs. festival clothing), and more: https://lnkd.in/gZcbrhDQ

#personalbrand #personalbranding

Advertising headlines that seem like continuation of one another!!

#advertising #copywriting

Maggi turned a packaging mistake into a product feature? 🤭

Life imitating art? Was Closeup's Diamond Attraction variant inspired by that F.R.I.E.N.D.S episode? 😅

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