​Australia has a relationship with meat that runs deep - be it the backyard barbie, a sausage sizzle or a slab of steak. That’s why I was surprised, on my latest visit, to see a slew of “meatless meat” brands in the meat section of the local supermarket. 

A quick read on the internet suggested that a revolution could well be under way; over 12% of Aussies have primarily vegetarian diets, local set ups like the Alternative Meat Co. and Soul Fresh are registering strong growth in supermarkets and even the founder of Hungry Jacks -Burger King in Australia- has gotten onto the gravy train, betting big on plant-based meats.  

Of course, ‘meatless meat’ is the big story globally in 2019, with Beyond Meat valued at a bordering-on-ludicrous $8billion.  These products are designed to target meat eaters rather than vegans and vegetarians and such valuations are based on a large-scale shift to plant-based or cell-based meat - ‘grown not bred’.  

“The art of cinema consists in arousing desire, to play with desire. But at the same time keeping it at a safe distance, domesticating it, rendering it palpable, ” says noted cultural theorist Slavoj Zizek in his documentary  ‘A pervert’s guide to cinema’ - a provocative take on the relationship between cinema and our individual and  collective psyche.

Like cinema, the art of branding too can do (does?) the same thing. 

I recently heard  an interview with  Prof. Stew Friedman (who runs a course on Total Leadership at Wharton and has authored a book by the same name)  where he talks about  the 4 important dimensions of people’s life experiences - Self, Home, Work and Community. He says that people measure their success across these 4 domains, and seek harmony  between them.

While he uses these as pillars as part of his Leadership building program, I found myself using this framework as a starting point for thinking about positioning options for a new brand.

Traditionally, one’s success was measured  in terms of work achievements, and about how well one looked after family and home.  But today,  people are also paying far more attention to their private self on the one hand,  and  on the other, to their role in society at large

This frame could also be a useful way of thinking about brand positioning - e.g., does your brand work towards enhancing a personal sense of self-worth?  Is its job to help in performing one’s family duties  better ?  Or does it make one more effective at work?  Or does it help you be a better citizen?

For example, a travel brand could consider itself as an aide to self-discovery; Or be about creating deeper bonds with family and friends; Or promise to make work-travel more efficient or pleasurable;. Or be rooted in the deep benefits it brings to local communities and cultures. Maybe a travel company could look at an range of brand offerings positioned to serve different roles in people's lives

Thinking in these terms, what positioning options could open up for a new brand of soap? Or an insurance brand? Or a new brand offering a new social media platform?

(You can hear this interview at  https://www.playtopotential.com/audio/431  - those interested will also find  an array of thought provoking conversations  between Deepak Jayaram and an array business leaders at playtopotential.com)

Very recently, I attended a remembrance meeting in the memory of Pradipta Mohapatra (PKM) - a corporate leader, top executive coach, master raconteur, teacher par excellence, collector of watches (and art, stories and many other things). More than all this - a very good human being who in a few minutes of conversation could inspire and energise you, even if you barely knew him.
 
I can't say I knew him very well. He was a kind of mentor in my coaching journey - and once or twice he generously spared time to give me some career advice when I sought him out. And yet he made a lasting impact on me - as I'm sure he did on many others too. What I really admired was not his corporate credentials, or his coaching prowess - but his ability to be interesting!
 
For it seemed as if there was no subject under the sun that he couldn't talk about, and no conversation could end without a great story around it. The width of knowledge and interests he had were truly amazing - and in the few minutes people spent recounting their experiences with PKM - we had touched upon horology, retail marketing, Aparna Sen, V.S. Naipaul, the US Consul, Nandalal Bose, Bilbao in Spain, Amundsen's polar expedition, The Paper Chase, Johnathan Livingston Seagull and lot's more..
 
And how did he do this?

Three bits of advice from PKM will always remain in my mind - two of them shared by people at today's memorial meeting, and a nugget he had left with me during a conversation some years ago.
 
One speaker mentioned that PKM apparently was a member of a 'hot air' club - a small group of friends who met occasionally and talked about, well, hot air! While it wasn't clear as to what they actually discussed, - in my mind's eye I imagined a group of friends, master storytellers all, relaxing around a table, regaling each other with fascinating anecdotes from their life experiences. These were conversations without agenda, without expectation - where discovery was serendipitous - a great story here, a gem of a learning there!  One of the keys to being interesting I noted is to keep interesting company. 
 
Another speaker recounted how PKM had told him about the importance of working a 'second shift’. By this he meant investing a few hours each day when the world was asleep, either early in the morning or late at night, in reading, listening, watching, researching, writing, thinking - and thereby enriching and expanding oneself. How many of us consciously do this I wondered?
 
And the third PKM-ism was something he had told me during a conversation around hobbies. (I use this one unashamedly in conversation!)  He had said that a hobby was not something you did in your free time. A real hobby is just like your 'work' - except that you don't get paid for it!

To be an interesting person, one must first learn to be interested!

Thanks PKM! Rest in peace.

In an era where 21 inch TVs were the norm, a fringe TV brand took the market by storm by offering great deals on large 29 inch TVs. They started with an almost unbelievable 'buy a big TV and get a small TV free' offer! They then offered great exchange prices on the 29 inch TVs before finally pricing them like 21 inch TVs of the more reputed brands. The era of great offers had begun - other players followed suit to regain ground but the upstart who started it all soon slipped out of peoples' minds.

Didn't quite manage hundred books this year, but 60 was no less enriching. Here's wishing everyone a wonderful 2014!

For any brand to be King, you have to begin by understanding the Communication Life Cycle of the product category in which the brand operates. And here is a simple illustration of that life cycle.

My resolution in 2012 was pretty much the similar to that in other years – see new places, meet new people and learn new things. Except that in 2012, I actually did something about it. I challenged myself to have at least 50 such experiences by the end of the year. The journey became so fascinating that I ended up counting at least a 100 fascinating journeys by the end of the year.

This is not a twisted take on the title of that famous movie starring the late James Dean.In fact the title may as well have been: ‘Wear your rebellion’. The young and restless have always had ways of thumbing their noses at the establishment.The genesis of this article is a feature I once read about young Naga men and women dressed in high-fashion clothes… not Italian or French or any famous label…but mainly Korean!

A couple of months ago a cousin sent me a mailer about a ‘moderate’ trek in the Himalayas and before I knew it I had signed on for something way out of my comfort zone. To put things in perspective, in my forty odd years of life I had climbed higher than 6000 feet only on a plane, and the city pavements were about the most uneven surfaces I had ever walked on. (Why I did it, I don’t really know - perhaps it was a just a mid-life whim, or the fact that I hadn’t seen real snow in over a decade, or it may even just have been a reaction to a particularly hot day in Chennai).