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In 2007, Drew Mclellan and Gavin Heaton brought together 100 of the world’s best marketing thinkers to create the first ‘Age of Conversation’ collaborative book; I wrote a chapter in it, titled ‘Create Conversations, Not Clutter’. In 2008, Drew and Gavin did an encore with 237 authors and created The Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t People Get It?; I wrote a chapter in it titled ‘The Case for Social Media Outsourcing’. Now, Drew and Gavin are gunning for 300 authors for ‘The Age of Conversation 3’ and I am writing a chapter once more (see posts by Drew and Gavin).

The approach remains the same as the previous editions. Each author will submit one 400 word article under one of ten section topics –  Read More

1. Conversational Branding
2. Influence
3. Getting to Work
4. Corporate Conversations
5. Measurement
6. In the Boardroom
7. Pitching Social Media
8. Innovation and Execution
9. Identities, Friends and Trusted Strangers
10. Conversation at the Coalface

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.

‘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.  Read More

Quick Summary: Read my interview with Rohit Bhargava, author of the new marketing book ‘Personality Not Included’.

I had earlier promised you that I’ll post an interview with Rohit Bhargava, author of the new marketing book ‘Personality Not Included’.

The interview is part of Rohit’s innovative blogger interview program to promote the book –

If you send me five questions that you want to know about the book or personality, I’ll write you a response on Friday that you can publish on your blog. I will link to all the posted interviews on Friday.

On Monday, I’ll be running a competition on my blog to let readers vote on the Best Interview. The winner will get a signed copy of my book and a gift certificate for $100 from Amazon.

Rohit has spent the last two days doing 57 virtual blogger interviews; that’s 285 questions!

I’m in Rohit’s shortlist of twelve best interviews; now I need your help in the voting.  Read More

Quick Summary: Be a part of social media history: buy the one-of-a-kind ‘The Age of Conversation’ collaborative book on Amazon today and the proceeds will go to Variety, the children’s charity.

‘The Age of Conversation’ Collaborative Book

‘The Age of Conversation’ is a one-of-a-kind collaborative book conceived by Drew Mclellan and Gavin Heaton –

- 100 authors. We’re a few but need more.
- The overriding topic is “The Age of Conversation” — where you take it is up to you.
- The items are short – one 8.5″ x 11″ page — it can be words, diagrams, photos (again up to you) If it is words – about 400, give or take a couple.
- We write it quickly and get it out there. We publish electronically.
- We make it available online for a small fee and we donate 100% of the proceeds to Variety — the children’s charity.

Over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators responded to their call, resulting in a unique one-of-a-kind project, which first became an e-book, then a self-published book on Lulu, and now a potential best-seller on Amazon.  Read More

Quick Summary: Check out ‘Personality Not Included’ a new book by one of my favorite marketing bloggers Rohit Bhargava.

I just finished reading the introduction (download PDF here) of Rohit Bhargava’s new book ‘Personality Not Included’ and it totally rocks!

The basic premise of Rohit’s book is that personality is the key element defining what a brand stands for and the story it tells to its customers.

Personality is the unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about.

…

Personality is not just about what you stand for, but how you choose to communicate it. It is also the way to reconnect your customers, partners, employees, and influencers to the soul of your brand in the new social media era.

…

Personality is the macro trend. The three hottest topics in business today are how to do more with social media, using word-of-mouth marketing, and interacting more authentically with customers. Personality is the theme that incorporates all of these topics.  Read More

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

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 (no eating out, no going out for movies or music or plays, no television or newspapers, no shopping except for necessities) 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?

‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ is a blog in which I document my year off consumption. It is also a book-in-progress, in search of a publisher with a multi-million dollar advance.

Do spend an hour reading it, do subscribe to it, and don’t forget to tell me that you absolutely adore it.

I have written about Seth Godin’s soon-to-be-released book ‘The Dip’ before and I have also been following The Dip Blog with utmost fascination. Here are some of my favorite pieces from The Dip Blog –

Seven reasons you might fail to become the best in the world –

- You run out of time (and quit).
- You run out of money (and quit).
- You get scared (and quit).
- You’re not serious about it (and quit).
- You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
- You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
- You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

Even worse than quitting in the first six cases: not quitting. Settling. Sticking with it but not succeeding.

On hyper-competition –  Read More