Benne

Author: benne-chef

  • SXSW, World Economic Forum for the Creative Soul

    SXSW, World Economic Forum for the Creative Soul

    Bringing South by South West on the same plane as the World Economic Forum might sound outlandish but it is not. I urge you to hold your horses before you close this tab based on a conclusion that you jumped on to.

    Attending SXSW was on my bucket list for long and I had the opportunity to immerse in the experience at SXSW 2017. Having been at WEF 2016, the similarities, in different proportions, were stark (no Game of Thrones reference), to say the least. SXSW has, over the years, moved on from being a music festival to being a festival to celebrate the coming together of creativity and technology, providing a keyhole view of the things to come in the marketing, experiential, services and product spaces. I touch upon five aspects of why SXSW is the WEF for the creative soul.

    Future

    While WEF is the LinkedIn for the global strategy-makers, running major global corporations and governments, SXSW brings a different flavor to the people calling Austin home for a week or more. The movers and shakers at SXSW are the brightest minds in the marketing, technology, thinking and music fraternities. These people are creators. They create experiences that touch the lives of the millions across the globe. They deliberate and discuss about how they can build a world that’s better for those on the planet right now and those who will inhabit the planet later. The WEF participants have a similar thought process but it’s driven way too much through an ‘agenda’. SXSW gives you direction, without setting an agenda.

    The human race requires collective wisdom of creators, thinkers and executors. Your view of mixed reality enabling accessible education to the underprivileged can be amplified by several factors when you interact with those who have been working on similar solutions in different parts of the world. That’s just one example. Imagine what can be achieved across the seven different tracks that play out at SXSW!

    Business

    The reality of existence is that an idea or a solution must make business sense. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it should rake in the green bucks; it must align to corporate goals envisaged by the largest and the smallest organizations in the world. The black-tie events at WEF give way to casual spaces taken over for the duration of the festival by some of the biggest names in the respective industries. SXSW gives a major platform to organizations to show the latest in what they have to offer to enable more enriching and better lives for the humans at large. While SXSW is known for some amazing after-work parties, the business aspect is alive and kicking wherever you see.

  • Miffed Telecom Execs Protest Spike in House Rent

    Miffed Telecom Execs Protest Spike in House Rent

    Delhi, Bangalore: Telecom executives from the largest private telecom operator in India were a miffed and angry lot after receiving information from their respective landlords that their respective house rent has been increased by 16 times of what it was earlier. What stoked the fire in their outbursts was the fact that the landlords across the country targeted only those working with the said telecom operator and that the landlords did not call up, text or send a mail with the forced (not proposed) change in rent. The executives, under the banner of, Tel Air Exec Demand Forum, aired their anguish over this issue.

    A copy of the notice put up on a Tumblr by the Association of Tel Air Exec Landlords is available to us as an exclusive. Yes, content on Tumblr is freely available for anyone to quote but we were the first ones to get it to you. There goes neutrality!

  • Hello world!

    Hello world!

    Top-of-the-line has a promising and positive ring to it, doesn’t it? You’ve been top-of-the-bunch, top-of-the-class and top-of-the-world, at times and rightly so. So, does top-of-the-pile have a positive ring too? Debatable. It depends on the context. Let me take you through top-of-the-pile marketing. It will be fun. [I will stop hyphenating the phrase in the copy as it’s just damn time consuming, bear with me.]

    Top-of-the Pile

    My wife has a persistent grudge, among many others, against me. I always pick the t-shirt that lies on the top of the pile in my cupboard, to wear at home. The formal shirts that I wear to work also face the same fate. I am sure my colleagues think that I have just those five button-down shirts that I wear to office, including on Fridays as I have started to appear akin to the Humpty of the Dumpty kinds in t-shirts, I have been told.

    My wife does take pains to shuffle the pile of shirts in my cupboard and I end up wearing a new set of shirts for some time till they start complaining about the routine that they’ve been put through. They actually don’t shout that out but they would have, if they had a voice. I think they turn scratchy in an attempt to convey their displeasure. But that’s beyond the point.

    The point is that we all like to pick shirts from the top of the pile because:

    1. It’s an easy task to perform

    2. The results are predictable

    3. It’s a comfortable approach

    4. It saves time as we’re perpetually in a hurry

    5. We’ve not been told that we look bad in those shirts

    Sounds familiar? Read on.

    Top-of-the-Pile Marketing

    Top of the pile marketing is just like picking out that shirt from the top of the pile of shirts. It’s easy, it gives predictable results, marketers are comfortable with that approach, its success has been proven time and again and no one has told the marketers that the results are bad.