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.

We all gathered Saturday afternoon at the Mystique Gardens. We had booked a ‘banda’ which is a big tent set-up in the open garden. The place was decorated with colours of the Indian flag and huge TV screens and big massive speakers ensured that the about 100 people who gathered at the venue made sure there was nothing amiss the excitement.

The concept of banda is interesting. I am told that it’s usually popular among the male friends, who book a banda and then experiment to cook some live fish and meat. The management provides all the necessary ingredients and you cook, eat and drink to merry.

Although nobody at our banda was cooking, it was an interesting experience to see some really awesome set-ups at the other bandas where fish and even an Indian sabzi of peas & potatoes was being cooked.

Being there and witnessing the energy of the place was an experience to be cherished. I have actually seen yet another milestone for the Indian Cricket Team and that too amongst an Indian expatriate community. And mind you most of them were 3rd generation Indian born and brought up in Kenya, but have not yet lost the connect or the spirit for the country’s most popular game.

And before I end there are some thoughts I am going to leave you with. Of course these will be debated, questioned and made into case  studies. And as somebody mentioned on twitter will also be a part of upcoming Power Point Presentations.

• As a captain what does MS Dhoni do to ensure that the team work towards a common goal and not just individual milestones?
• As the senior most player in the team, what does Sachin Tendulkar do to earn the respect of the team players who probably don’t even have half the experience he’s got in the game? I loved what Virat Kohli said – ‘He [Sachin] has taken the burden of the country for 21 years and so it was only right that we carried him on our shoulders as a pay-back.’
• How does one manage to keep cool and calm when 1.2 billion people expect you to pull off a 30 runs from 30 balls?
• And of course like MS Dhoni said he made some tough and radical decisions before the start of the game and will now be respected because they won, but would be questioned if they didn’t.

Launchy

Always a problem finding the right file? Look no further. Launchy has been the most useful piece of software to get me directly to a file/folder or application by just typing out it’s name. Of course you need to make sure you index your hard disk, the right way. [Download]

ObjectDock

Is your desktop messed up with short-cuts to files & folders? Get ObjectDock, the Mac look alike taskbar. Easy access to folders and other applications without cluttering your desktop. [Download]

IrfanView
Simple, light-weight image editor. Crop, re-size your images quickly without having to load a heavy application like Adobe Photoshop for simple actions. Also with a few plug-ins it will let you view some of the more complex image formats without those heavy software installs. [Download]

Dropbox
A popular online storage which I only recently started using and it’s been super useful. I don’t bother with file transfers to the USB pen-drive anymore. Just copy the file in the Dropbox folder and it syncs with my Macbook at home. So I have access to important files at all time. [Website]

GTD wallpaper
If you don’t fancy those lovely desktop wallpapers here is something which is great to sort the files and shortcuts on the desktop. [Download]

And here is a bonus:

AvaFind/Google Desktop
If you’ve been unsatisfied with the search results given by Windows default search engine then get yourself one of these application. Google Desktop does a superb job of indexing content of the files, email applications so you can probably end up finding that needle in the haystack. [Ava Find Home Page / Google Desktop Download]

What’s your favourite piece of software that makes computing easier for you? Share your thoughts in the comments area.

But what I am going to share is some of the work which caught my attention and is surely worth seeing. [Click on image to view full-sized images]

CafiAspirina
A copywriter’s delight.

Hot Wheels
Can’t resist it but this is one of those “I wish I had done it” sorts.

Nissan Auto Insurance
Smart. That’s all I’ll say.

Bangalore Traffic Police
Mudra’s silver win at the Cannes

Super non-stick pans
Have always enjoyed ambient stuff done so well.

Film winners will be announced this weekend, so will share my picks later next week.

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.

Over the weekend, I was at Cavelossim Beach in Goa to attend the Goafest 2009. This year the event focussed on the R-word – “Why this recession is too good to be wasted?” But I think the recession was more than evident at the event – lower number of friends from the industry, limited booze per person and no free water sports.

But then I think Goafest is more than just the number of beers you can drink. It’s about the opportunity for many young advertising professionals to hear some of the best minds and distinguished industry leaders share some of their vision and experiences.

Sir John Hegarty explored how this recession is an opportunity to get more creative and evolve new channels of communication, products and embrace the internet more boldly. Neeraj Nayar spoke about the progression from just Branded Messages to  Branded Utility – Services. (will try and explore these talks in future posts).

I guess a lot many have been disappointed at the very limited number of wins at the Creative Abby awards. Talks about the jury being very harsh and then admitting this on the stage left everyone amused. Of course, like always there was a lot of scam work (ads which are not actually released by the brand, but done only to win awards). Some of the work on radio (Virgin Mobile, Tata Magic) and integrated advertising (The Blind Children’s Painting Exhibition & Domestic Violence – Bell Bajao) was truly entertaining and award-worthy.

DJ Akhtar at the Zoom party and Jalebe Cartel the next night really did some magic and got the dance floor filled up. Although the weather was sick, I think people just kept drinking from the bar to quench their thirst and dance away into the wee hours of the night.

If there is something I am disappointed about this year’s visit, is the number of photos – barely anything compared to last year. Sharing them online at flickr.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I will be attending the Goafest 2009 at Cavelossim Beach, Goa over the next 2 days.

Looking forward to some inspiring talks by Sir Johan Hegarty & Dan Wieden. Of course the sun, sand, water sports, the beach and beer are added attractions.

Find out more about Goafest 2009 here. And you can also browse photos from the last year’s event at my flickr album. Meanwhile I will continue to give live updates from the event on my twitter channel.

“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.

[Click on the posters for larger version]
   

Also you must watch the election campaign speech by the leaders of each camp – Buffalo, Elephant and Monkey.

And your vote can make a difference. So send a SMS and do your bit.

Update: You can put your vote online by clicking on this link.