Sini's Life

The morning reads and coffee kept Sini going

For whom do you write?

I am not a regular writer but I am a regular reader. Yet I can't easily think of the next best thing to write. I am  mostly caught in the dilemma which is the name of this post, "For whom do you write?". I am frequently guided by my brain and that has never helped anyone in liberal arts or the fine.

My brain says this blog post needs to be positioned for a specific genre or niche set of readers. Else, there is no way to gain readers. This is so well-thought through by my experienced marketing brain. Yet my noble heart says that this blog was meant to be my path to express and give meaning to my love for books and stories. Both my heart and brain fight for a while and the brain comes out triumphant. What a pity!

I wish I could make the brain understand that it needs to support my heart as no great read has ever come out of a brain. It is always the pourings of a heart that strikes another and hence gains love from readers.

Dear Brain,

Why don't you rest once in a while. Why don't you think a little less, judge lesser and let me rule, once in a while. Science praises you not the arts. Let me lead sometimes! I have all the right to live and win.

Yours Beloved
Heart

So, then I can only wish that once in a while from now on I will pour from my heart because I write for the reader as well as my heart. Who do you write for?

Story-telling without words ~ The Artist

A daring act. Telling a story with minimal words. When the entire world of directors are using technology, colour, dialogues to tell their story in films. Michel Hazanavicius has done the unthinkable. He has gone back in time and created a no-dialogue movie in black & white. What a perfect story he has told. He has achieved to keep his audience hooked for nearly 2 hours and grabbed all the coveted awards.

An incredible way to capture & express joy, tears & emotions. Its the history and love-story mixed well and presented well. 

It is not a movie meant for everyone but certainly meant for the ones who like stories being told in a different way. I loved it!

I'm Addicted

The latest buzz in social media is about the image sharing site called Pinterest. Every one is using it and talking about it. Its a board where users can like and share the image which other users have liked or post a new image. Its addictive for users and an excellent tool for showcasing one's business specially if your business can be represented in images e.g. food, fashion, architecture. It is directing huge amount of traffic to sites whose images are pinned and repinned hence become the most popular pins in the site.

Just when we thought sharing on Facebook or Flickr is cool Pinterest has taken sharing to the next level of fun. For that matter this site has made sharing within the site and from outside far more easier than any of its predecessors in the social media space. A "Pin It" button on your browser makes it easy to share any image of liking and comes along with signing up with the site rather than a separate app. What more I just discovered that video sharing and e-commerce is integrated within the site. So as you browse through and like something you can also order some in. Not sure if its available for all the countries but am sure as it spreads and becomes popular more and more companies will jump in the gun and embrace Pin-commerce (just coined the term for fun:))

I have certainly got addicted to it and I hear many others say the same. It is a pool of images connecting people who like the same kind of art or food or clothing. I am sure some people must be networking over this platform as they comment over the same image and realize the similar likings whether they are in America or Africa. As many bloggers and social media experts swear and bet that this is the next best thing to FB and Twitter; I place +1 to those comments simply because this is refreshing and am loving it!

Ethics in digital marketing

Long time no posts and finally I have a topic which is of paramount interest to me. Back in my MBA we had to submit a thesis on the last few months and guess what was the topic of my thesis. Ethics in Marketing. Almost 4 years down the line now as a hands down digital marketeer I have a heated discussion with some of my colleagues on what should be the best practices in digital marketing in terms of ethics.

Where did the discussion start? At creating virtual ids for corporate brands. Yes, a lot of well-known, top-class & well-trusted brands create virtual personas online and blog, FB, Tweet etc online. These virtual personas act as influencers in the industry to which that the brand belongs. Lets say for example there is a brand ABC in the mobile industry. They might create some 10 virtual personas whose id will be created in FB, Twitter and some blogging sites and some marketing firm/team will update all these 10 or so ids with information mostly related to the mobile industry, technology, social media etc etc. In due time may be 3 of the personas will get a prominent number of followers and the persona will be established in the industry as an expert. Subtly the brand will then push their messaging across these followers and try and establish a trust in the industry. I don't know for sure if any of the influencers in my life are such virtual personas or if any company as of yet has successfully implemented this strategy but I know intentions are there.

Product innovation (Levi's)

I might be a marketeer but I am not a strong believer of advertising. There, I said it. But the recent levi's curve id ad has made me think otherwise. It has appealed to me and to may be thousands and millions of other women like never before. I have been watching it on television for last few months and still every time its played during those commercial breaks I just can't prevent myself from listening to the song and watching the video.

The Art of Choosing - A Book Review

I picked up this book called "The Art of Choosing" by Sheena Iyenger hoping to get greater insight into the minds of the consumers I much yearn to address as a marketeer. I wanted to understand if I could influence the choices of buyers. Well, the book has gone far more deeper than just about the choice of a consumer & dealt with the entire psychology of every choice that we make in life. It has brought forward the fact that much as we think that choices are made by us, we also are eventually made by them. What we choose to accept eventually turns around and shapes our lives and that choice is influenced by factors like culture, society, multitude of choices etc.