I am sorry I can’t find the link but what caught my attention was this:

Steve Jobs had created a team of fabulously talented people to empower Apple’s product development. He was always getting new product ideas. And it’s said that more than his own set of ideas which have given us great Apple products, Steve was also known for his ability to pick a winning idea. He discarded the idea to develop a tablet and instead choose to work on a phone from the Apple team which went on to become the iPhone.

This ability to identify a potential killer idea and ensure that it’s got a leader’s full support is a skill and needs confidence & perseverance. How do you recognise which one’s got it?

As the lead digital strategist I am encountering a lot of thoughts from the young energetic team. Streamlining their ideas and ensuring a feasibility with some amount of experimentation is a new learning curve for me.

How do you manage your thought process? Or the big set of ideas which your teams keep throwing at you? Would love to hear your best practice for idea filtration. Let’s put them in the comments area.

But then I got an email from a cousin who pointed me out to the interesting initiative by a group of BBM Students from R.D National College in Mumbai. I really don’t need to write much, take a look and see for yourself how a college project which was done for a few marks has spread and hopefully will let more know about the effects of drink & drive. I think it’s a good effort by the students to show their responsibility and I did my bit – Liked the Facebook page and I hope to spread the word around by this blog post. Go ahead, do your bit too.

Drive Another Day

If you are fed up of the menace of drinking and driving which often costs death of innocent lives then you ought to be a part of this campaign. Five students from R.D National College, Bandra- Shraddha Chauhan, Shweta Bharat, Uma Rane, Nirali Marfatia and Rahul Lalchandani- have launched the Drive Another Day campaign that hopes to reduce the number of deaths caused by drinking and driving by making people more responsible for their deeds. It started off with multiple ground level activities and now has a Facebook page which has already received more than 1000 likes.

The campaign started off as a Media Planning project for the college but the students decided to make it effective by taking it outside. People usually think that they can drive normally after drinking without realizing the fact that beyond 0.08 mg their vision also starts blurring. Through the help of this campaign the students are positive about encouraging people not to drink and drive which was launched on 2nd September.

As a part of the campaign the students have carried out activities like sticking posters behind some 50 odd rickshaws carrying out messages like “ Had a Drink today? Baetho Ismei. Drive Another Day”. They also utilized the premises of a popular hangout in Bandra known as Bonobo by displaying a dummy dead body of a victim of drink and drive with a message “This Could be You”, which cautioned passerby’s as well as the visitors at Bonobo to give up the practice of drinking and driving. There were valet cards displaying campaign messages given out to Bonobo visitors along with their valet parking card tag. Apart from this, the students also got a pledge petition signed by the crowd who were supporting the campaign which urged them to take a pledge that they will never drive under the influence of alcohol.

Next up, they plan to create a viral video documenting the ill effects of drinking and driving and put it up on YouTube. They will also soon be creating an online game which discourages the practice of drinking and driving.

Join the Drive Another Day effort on their Facebook Page.

On Saturday, I attended TEDx Gateway at Mumbai. They managed to put together an interesting mix of 16 speakers. I don’t think I made enough notes to write on each one. And then some were just not worth the time.

So here are some quick takes from the awesome ideas and thoughts that were presented at the conference.

Simplicity is the key

Rahul Panicker is developing a low-cost infant warmer which can work with or without electricity for rural areas of developing areas. Now, this warmer needs to be heated to a certain temperature for it to be effectively warm enough for the baby. And Rahul faced one problem, he saw that most mothers for safety measure decided to heat it to a few degrees less than prescribed just to be on the safe side. So to avoid this judgmental call which these mothers took, Rahul struck on an idea whereby he decided to have a heat sensitive sign on his warmer. If it was a smiling face the warmer was heated perfectly but if there was a frown it means that it yet needs to be heated.

No effort on training the mothers on the importance of being at the right temperature and so on. Make it simple and they’ll do it just the right way.

Solutions should adapt to local needs

Srini Swamitnathan teaches the 2nd grade class in a Dharavi Municipal School. Most students at this school were used to teachers who would beat them or scold them. So Srini had a tough time having these kids to open up and accept the education he was there to share with them. Srini took this as yet another corporate challenge and tried to understand what they wanted and how can school be fun for them. After lot of interaction and fun times with the children he innovated his teaching styles. Children learnt at every step. On the floor, at the switch board. Students were appointed as weathermen to share the weather every morning. Lessons were not just read but enacted with all the drama needed. It was fun to see his mobile whiteboard which we put on like an apron and walked around the class. And students interacted by marking keywords on this board.

I think this was so important for Srini to not just bring his learnings into a new environment but instead spend time learning on what’s needed and build solutions which fit it the best.

It’s not technology always

Arvind Gangaram Talekar, represents the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust of Mumbai. Of the many secrets he revealed about the Dabbawala it was very interesting to note that they have a failure rate of just 1 in 16 million transactions. And this is completely without the use of any technology in their operations. Hats off! And a great learning to see that not all processes or problems can be solved with technology.

Introduction to Behaviour Architecture

Satish Krishnamurthy from final mile spoke about Behaviour Architecture which is founded on new sciences like Behavioural Economics and Cognitive Neurosciences.He shared a project his company worked on which helped minimize the number of accidents due to trespassing at railway crossings. Railway boards have spent a lot money trying to tell people not to risk their lives by crossing the railways lines but to no avail and death numbers are only on the rise. Final Mile attempts to influence the trespasser’s behaviour through various warning signs, sounds and symbols just as he/she is about to make the decision to walk across the track.

A very interesting and enlightening session indeed and I really hope you can see this video online once the organisers manage to put it up.

Interestingly I also got an opportunity to chat with Biju Dominic, the co-founder of Final Mile and he shared some interesting projects they were working on which include a corporate client who wants their employees to follow more road safety like wearing seat belts, following speeds limits. Final Mile does not engage only with corporate clients but also takes up social causes with a mission. The team is currently working on a project to help minimize spitting at public places.

Behaviour Architecture seems like a very interesting topic to me and I am hoping to pick up a book on the same subject very soon. Let me know if you’ve got any title recommendations.

A face to the many twitter handles

The TEDx event also gave me the chance to meet many of the twitter handles I have been interacting with over the past few months or weeks. So there was Mysti, Sengupta, Media_Reveries. Also it was nice catching up with Netra and Rohanbabu. Aviraj and Inkv – nice meeting you too.

Asthetika is a place where you can go shopping and look for that special gift which is just perfect for your partner. Choose from a variety of products with a mix of flowers, chocolates, soft-toys and even personalised messages/photos to go along with your gift.

I am sure you’ll find something suitable for your partner at Asthetika. So if you struggling to do your Valentine shopping just go across to the Asthetika’s Facebook Group, see the full collection and get your customized gifts in no time. Gifts can be delivered in India via courier/speed post. But for Mumbaikars, they are giving free delivery within Mumbai limits.

For details contact:

What if the appliance brand or store gave consumers an opportunity to take the product home and experience it? Let’s say for a nominal fee they would deliver the microwave to your house and you could use it for a week to see if it does help your family cook the regular ‘ghar ka khana’ rather than the fancy items most often advertised by the brand. The consumer gets a good amount of time to experience the product, understand the usage and probably even see the difference it can make.

Of course there would have to be some terms & conditions – like the security deposit, a damage clause and other legalities to safe-guard the interest of both the parties. But I am sure things could be worked out and consumers given a chance to experience the product.

So, would you be interested in taking an appliance and trying it out for a few days? What would it be?

The weekend witnessed The Wall Project. The aim was to get the local artists and enthusiastic citizens to paint a stretch of wall between Mahim and Matunga (a wall running parallel to the railway line).

I share a few pics from the walk around the wall. This is the official Facebook group and here is the official website.

Art Director: Ninad Gharat, Binal Parikh
Copywriter: Aditya Iyengar
Photographar: Amol Jadhav
Illustrator: Shankar Chavan

This is an ad to promote the famous exchange offers which Big Bazaar announces very often. What’s remarkable (and you may have to take a closer look at the image for this) is the fact that this entire music system has been constructed after buying/collecting  a big quantity of junk and then assembling the pieces bit by bit. Here are a few pics taken of work-in-progress, which should give you a better idea.

Click on the images to see them in full size.

This is the billing envelope sent out by Vodafone. Provoking subscribers to opt for e-statements and thus save paper.

Click picture to see larger size.

“Advertising is all about entertainment and if you can’t entertain the audience they are switching the channel and going somewhere else.”

Shared by Pushpendra Misra of Flying Saucer Films in a very inspiring session at our office this afternoon. As an ad film director he shared some lessons on creativity and film crafting. I attempt to put them down with a little expansion.

Be a student all your life.
Keep learning. If you think you are a great comedy writer, think again. A few years down the line you could look back at the work and say I can write so much better than what I did. But that’s only if you continue to learn and aim to deliver only better than your previous best.

Wanna be creative? Be a sponge.
Absorb, learn and explore varied forms of art – be it music (listen to something which may not be your style), art (see if there is something that interests you in those galleries) and try to see films which may not be your staple viewing diet.

Say no to “No Entry”.
Don’t shut your mind to a certain style or format just because you didn’t understand it. If underground music or psychedelic trance is not your taste maybe you haven’t grown to like it yet. Give it another shot, you may just find something interesting in it. Be willing to experiment.

Observe life.
Life is one of man’s biggest teacher. So why not take inspiration from it. Look around, you’ll find that your uncle speaks in a very funny accent you haven’t made sense of yet. Your granny is an excellent story-teller. These little observations of life may add spice to your creative work.

Don’t wait for the “big” opportunity to show your best creativity.
Be creative in every form you can. Are you being creative enough to propose to your girlfriend? Start being creative beyond just your work deliverables and you will see that creativity finally seeps into your work too. And before you know it the least expected work can be one of the best in your portfolio.

So, if you think creative ideas came just by sitting in office for long hours and drinking lots of coffee – think again. Get out there and let your surroundings strike that spark within you. Go, explore.