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The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption at the Interesting New York Unconference

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

I’ll be speaking about my off consumption experiment at the Interesting New York unconference on September 13.

It’s basically a cool unconference where people talk about interesting things they are doing, or things they are really passionate about.

The Interesting unconference is the brainchild of Russel Davies and his colleagues at the Open Intelligence Agency. The previous Interesting events have been held at Sydney, Amsterdam and London. The New York event is being hosted by David Nottoli and it was because of Jinal Shah’s thoughtfulness that I came to know of it.

The list of previous speakers at Interesting unconferences includes some very smart people and Grant McCracken is one of the speakers at Interesting New York. Grant McCracken is one of my favorite thinkers about culture and marketing and I can’t tell you how excited I am about finally getting to meet him.

If you are in New York on September 13, I would strongly urge you to join us at the unconference. You can follow Interesting New York on Twitter or register for it on Facebook.

Also filed in Culture, Events | Tagged David Nottoli, Grant-McCracken, Interesting New York, Jinal Shah, Russel Davies, Unconference | Permalink | Comments (6)

Subscribe to My Book: The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

Quick Summary: Subscribe to ‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’, my year-long blog-as-a-book experiment in why we choose to consume, or not.

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‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ is my year-long blog-as-a-book experiment in why we choose to consume, or not.

Here is the equivalent of a book blurb –

Why would a twenty-something, single, eligible, IIM-educated, upwardly mobile marketer on the corporate fast-track in India’s business capital decide to go ‘off consumption’ for a year?

Will a year off consumption, not buying anything that isn’t a necessity, leave him ill-equipped to handle life and work in Mumbai?

Or, will it leave him with invaluable insights into what drives us to consume, or not, into the nature of consumption, into human nature itself?

– and here is the story so far –

We derive our identity (and our happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the meaning we create. These four elements are arranged in a “hierarchy of identities” that is not only different for each one of us, but also changes for each one of us over time.

Also filed in 30 by 30, How To Be Remarkable | Tagged Book, Experiment, Off-Consumption, The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yours Truly Profiled in Mid-Day Story on How Online and Offline Relationships Have Merged

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Quick Summary: I was recently profiled in Indian daily Mid-Day for a story on how online and offline relationships have merged for young people in India.

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I was recently profiled in a Mid Day story on how online and offline relationships have merged for some of us.

Ever since I started blogging three years back, my blog has been at the core of my social life. I have met some of the most fascinating people I know through my blog, or, in the last year, through Twitter. Some of my closest friends, including my last three girlfriends, are bloggers and some of my most important professional connections were made online.

The other day, I was talking to my girlfriend about how the center of gravity of my social life has further shifted online since I started my off-consumption experiment.

“Sometimes, I ask myself: what would I have done without my blog this year?”, I said.

“The question you should ask yourself is: who would you have been without your blog?”, she reminded me gently.

Also filed in Personal Development, Press | Tagged Keith Ferrazi, Media, Mid-Day, Networking, Never Eat Alone, Newspaper, Off-Consumption, Social Media, Twitter | Permalink | Comments (4)

How to be Remarkable? Own an Ideasliver!

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Quick Summary: Here’s my answer to the quintessential personal branding question — “how to be remarkable?” — own an ideasliver!

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An “ideasliver” is an idea that is so narrow that it is invisible to everyone but you, but so deep that it can change the world.

Every “next big thing” starts as an “ideasliver” — the web, web 2.0, blogging, micro-blogging, social networking, rss, crowdsourcing — name it.

I have one or two ideaslivers of my own. Social Media Outsourcing may be one. The idea that “the social web is not flat” may be another.

Here are my first thoughts on the idea of an ideasliver in a presentation. Do read, comment, download and forward.

| View | Upload your own

Also filed in How To Be Remarkable, Ideasliver | Tagged Idea, Ideasliver, Presentation, Remarkable | Permalink | Comments (6)

Yours Truly Quoted in Deccan Chronicle’s Story on Online Advertising in India

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Quick Summary: I was quoted recently in Indian newspaper Deccan Chronicle’s story on online advertising in India.

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I was quoted recently in a Deccan Chronicle story on online advertising in India, along with advertising legends Alyque Padamsee and Piyush Pandey and fellow blogger Chandrachoodan.

Basically, we all agreed that online advertising will become the core of the Indian marketers’ marketing budget in the next few years. I also pointed out that the internet works best when marketers use it to reach one person at a time. So, search advertising for generating leads and social media initiatives for building community engagement are both great, but not plain-vanilla banner ads.

Deccan Chronicle's Story on Online Advertising in India

Here is the complete text of the story –

Consumer Caught in the Net
Online or web advertising is the next big thing in the sphere of advertising
Ashlin Mathew
Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Online pie is getting bigger and better. Of course with almost every youngster choosing to buy tickets or shop online or even home in on the optimum brand through the Internet, even conservatives are willing to put their thumb into it.

Also filed in Internet, Marketing, Press, Social Media | Tagged Alyque Padamsee, Deccan Chronicle, India, Online-Advertising, Piyush Pandey, Search Advertising, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Unthinkable Future of Marketing

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Quick Summary: Read my list of the ten unthinkable futures of marketing, scenarios that seem too far-fetched to be true today, but may seem obvious in retrospect tomorrow.

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Yes you read it right. This is not a post about the future of marketing. This is a post about the ten unthinkable futures of marketing.

Unthinkable futures are probabilities we tend to dismiss without thinking, scenarios that seem too far-fetched to be true today, but may seem obvious in retrospect tomorrow.

Inspired by the unthinkable futures game between Kevin Kelly and Brian Eno from fifteen years back, here’s my own list of the ten unthinkable futures of marketing —

1. No products will have price tags anymore. People will pick up products from the mall, or order them online and have them delivered home, and pay only what they want to pay.

(Update: I was aware of the numerous examples of authors and musicians giving away their books and music for free, but I discovered two examples of restaurants giving away food for free, and allowing the patrons to decide what they want to pay for it.)

Also filed in Marketing, Trendspotting | Tagged Brand, Brian Eno, Free, Kevin Kelly, Marketing, Meme, New Marketing, Tribe, Unthinkable Futures | Permalink | Comments (19)

Yours Truly Quoted in Indian Newspaper DNA’s Story on Blogging as a Change Agent

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Quick Summary: I was quoted yesterday in Indian newspaper DNA in a story on whether blogging in India is mature enough to act as a change agent.

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I was quoted copiously in Indian daily DNA in a story on whether blogging in India is mature enough to act as a change agent.

A good approach to answer this question is to compare social media usage in India with social media usage in China –

Social media usage in Metro India and Metro China is driven by very different consumer behavior. In Metro China, Creators, Critics and Joiners all play an important role, whereas in India, Joiners are the predominant drivers of social media usage.

Social media usage in India and China also have significant differences in terms of the topics that drive conversation. Richard Edelman has written an interesting introduction to the Chinese blogosphere –

Social media in China has two constant themes: the rich/poor divide and nationalism… The best Chinese bloggers are… incredibly impressive, committed to change, convinced that they were part of a new China where individual expression and frank speaking will win.

Also filed in Desi Blogging, Flat or Not, Press, Social Media | Tagged Activism, Authenticity, Blogging, Blogosphere, Blogs, Brands, Chinese Blogosphere, Daily News and Analysis, DNA, Indian Blogosphere, Interview, Newspaper, Reputation, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (4)

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