Personal blog of Prasad Ajinkya
This blog is a modest small-tier blog. It does not get too much traffic (much to my chagrin) and therefore expecting the blog to monetize is too much. However, I have steadily written my thoughts and opinions on this … for the past 7-8 years now.
Looking at such a long time range allows me to study how blogging and blog monhersetization has changed over the years. Especially now with mobile form factors being the main devices that users tend to consume content with.
In case, if you haven’t really been following my blog, I generally tend to write about tech, games, some personal thoughts, some thoughts about my work at 13 Llama and some analytics.
What I do not write about is Design … be it any design. Systems design, Visual Design, Brand Design … even solutions design. I know for certain that I have a certain unhealthy fear of engaging with the design. So much so that it has now become a mental barrier in my head. Staying away from creativity isn’t necessarily bad since we do a lot of analytical and logical work. Having said that, breaking down problems into smaller bite-sized tasks is now a child’s play and there has become a comfort zone. So much so, that over the past few months I had started to think that we should focus on driving more business in these areas.
Of late though, some of the mandates we have been getting involved us having to work with and also having to define the design specifications. Some of our new team members were pretty gung-ho about working on design specifications instead of a pure play numbers game.
To add to that, at pretty much the same time, we had a couple of our main clients request that we get involved at a higher level and help guide the marketing briefs.
We could have chosen to keep focused on the analytics niche and not step up to the mantle. However, we decided to step out of our comfort zone and things have been taking an interesting turn.
This often involves stepping into a chaotic situation, spending some time taking stock and then working on multiple fronts and more often than not in an iterative manner. From an engagement point of view, it takes a special sort of client to work with. An organization which understands that is an organization that is also in a sense working out of its comfort zone.
This also means that the team which is actively engaged in stepping out of its comfort zone is very very focused on the purpose at hand.
Instead of worrying about things such as appraisals, office times, leaves and petty office politics, the team is then focused on doing what it takes to get the job done. The line of comfort just disappears and shit gets done.
For a lot of organizations, functional teams end up becoming comfort zones. An example of this is when there are functional silos in a firm and cross-functional exchanges do not happen as smoothly as expected. This is when both the functions engaging are not stepping out of their zone of comfort. Unfortunately, we have all experienced the adverse effects when customer-facing teams do not step out of their comfort zone.
This severely impacts their ability and sometimes even the intent to engage. Symptoms of this condition are cases where the customer-facing teams cite company policies, or often play the victim, or end up misinforming or lying to the customer. This builds a trust deficit within and without the system.
Foster a culture of experimentation and over-delivering value. Sometimes force teams to work outside the zone of comfort. Align teams to the grandiose scheme of things and how their mundane job is, in fact, a purpose-centric activity and not a functional silo.
As a concluding note, assuming people are willing to often step out of their comfort zones is such a positive mindset that the rewards of the mindset alone are worth the efforts of stretching one’s boundaries. Over the past few months, I have seen my fledgling teamwork outside their comfort zones, get over their initial mental barriers and come out for the better. The decision to step out of my own comfort zones has been definitely worth it!
I am not a football fan. I get why a lot of people are and believe me I have tried when I was in college. However, I just am not a football fan.
I am a fan of ordinary humans doing extra-ordinary things, however. This is pretty much why I am watching the World Cup. In case if you haven’t figured this out yet, I am talking about the team that has everyone talking about as the surprise winner – Belgium.
One player. Romelu Lukaku.
Again, let me iterate. I am not a football fan. So I do not know how well does he play. What I am a fan of though, is the resilience and determination that this chap has shown over his life. If you want to read Romelu Lukaku’s story, do it. I can wait, you need to read his story in his own words.
People in football love to talk about mental strength. Well, I’m the strongest dude you’re ever going to meet. Because I remember sitting in the dark with my brother and my mom, saying our prayers, and thinking, believing, knowing … it’s going to happen.
I read this post while Belgium was still playing the first rounds. By the time I decided to follow their every match, we were already in the elimination phase. It meant having to sacrifice some sleep, but then again … I want Belgium to win.
It’s not a story of excellence and practice. That is there in ample, but which player who is playing at this stage hasn’t done this already?
What you have to admire for this guy is the sheer drive … the deep desire to win, not because its nice, but because you have to. It’s this ability to pour your heart and soul into each and every match no matter what. This is the stuff of what inspiration is made of.
This drive and integrity can be showcased in any field … and not just football. The next time you do anything, ask yourself this … is this the best you can do? If the fate of your family depended on this … or the world … would you do this any different? If yes, what is stopping you from putting your 100%?
You.
As someone who has been in the area of Digital marketing for the past few years (close to a decade now), it’s interesting to note and see how it has evolved. Right from the open market economics that AdWords grew upon to the game theory dynamics of Search Engine Optimisation, the way the entire industry has been changing is fascinating.
This article on English Tax and building for the next billion Indian users by Sajith Pai makes you stop and think. At this point, all the marketers and brands are busy selling to that sliver of audience who are online and are english speaking, affluent, willing to whip out their credit cards and make a purchase.
However, there is a larger audience out here, 10 times as much. A billion people, who may not be comfortable with English, who may not have approved credit cards and credit lines … but who are online.
Thanks to the launch of Jio, you now have an audience who may not be affluent, but who are there online. The same audience is being targeted by brands in a language that is not native to them.
What is the English Tax? It’s the overhead that a user has to go over to understand what is being said. English is not my mother tongue, however after just under 4 decades of being subjected to both formal and informal education, I have started to think of English as my primary language.
However, that may not be the case of the next Billion. They may not even understand English, and thanks to Google or Apple, they would still be able to browse the web online without even typing a single English letter!
To top it all off, this audience is not being targeted online, not because they do not have a foot print, but because they do not understand the language in which they are being targeted.
This is bad.
Not only would they need re-phrasing of communications, but also a lot of mis-selling and mis-communications would be currently done to them.
Yeah, this section is a joke! However, as digital platforms evolve, can the major players like GAFA take a much more responsible stand on exposing the India2 to the internet?
It’s not as if something is wrong with them. Please note, I am not saying that. However the internet which is most relevant for India2 is in the making and a lot of players are just ignoring this huge blue ocean that needs to be made.
There are content oriented players like BhaDiPa (Bharatiya Digital Party) and TVF (The Viral Fever) who are making content in regional languages, pretty sure there are many more as well. However, one look at the keyword search volumes in Hindi and Marathi, and I know that we have still miles to go.
This audience for instance may not be doing a lot of searches, however, they definitely are there on Facebook, on WhatsApp, etc.
What can we do to engage as brands and marketers with this audience?
One step is always to speak the same language. I always loved the devnagri script, it just looks graceful when in comparison to the English script. Call me biased. However, as a marketer I would love to see some really good creatives, copy and content being pushed out there in regional formats.
I have seen this being done by some organisations, and just going by their data consumption numbers makes one re-think the language in which they are publishing! Similarly, the concepts of marketing wont change, but since the language is changing, so would therefore the format and forms. Just taking a Facebook update and translating it to Marathi won’t do. It has to be not just re-phrased but even re-thought … some of the memes and mental models that one language/culture has may pretty much ensure that the whole line of messaging be irrelevant.
I think as an industry based in a country that’s slowly emerging online, we are barely scratching the surface on these things.
As a child, I had seen Blade Runner … in fact that was when I first came across the phrase Android. Yes, back then android did not mean an operating system for a smart phone.
The title of this blog post is a book by Phillip Dick, this book was adapted as the story behind Blade Runner. The movie on its own was also a fantastic experience, but if you read the book, and then watched the movie, its even better.
Another day, another James Bond rumour. Of all the great franchises out there, 007’s—perhaps appropriately—seems to play its cards the closest to its chest. Eon Productions always rations information about where their legendary character is going right up to the point they are ready to announce his destination, and for what looks to be Daniel […]
via What if killing off Daniel Craig’s James Bond makes sense? —
I love Bond flicks. As someone who has watched James Bond escape traps and defeat villains right from childhood days, it’s a treat to read this article.
Not only does the author know his Bond, but also he is able to tell apart the different Bonds from each other (Connery from Moore, Brosnan from Craig, etc). However, do read through the entire article that I have linked above. Perhaps, it is time for Mr. Bond to die.
What the author seems to suggest is that Bond being the immortal he is manages to still beat the odds, but is feeling the pressures of age. James Bond is a legacy system.
In organizations, a legacy system is that system which has been running for quite some time. It is running because the organization does not feel the need to update the system and the system has been running satisfactorily.
By this I mean, the system has its fair share of problems, but its a known devil. People know the workarounds, they know how to work with the system and how to sometimes work around it. They live with it … but every year they do a calculation of what will it take to replace it. Since what the system does represent is technical debt.
Unless the system does not magically upgrade itself or reinvent itself, the technical debt would be carried over.
It has to be paid back in full, and sometimes with interest
This debt has to be paid either in terms of loss in productivity or in terms of cost incurred in upgrading the system.
So, either you keep updating and patching the legacy system … so in Mr. Bond’s case, there’s a constant need to evolve and keep getting better.
Or you simply retire the system, or replace the system with a slightly modern version of the sytem. What we have been seeing when it comes to the casting of James Bond. Daniel Craig would now shoot his 5th Bond flick. This would be his last.
Being an ardent James Bond fan, I would love to see Bond re-invent himself into a mix of Q and M who is also on the field. If wishes could be horses, beggars would ride.
April 10, 2018. Dark social, even though we can’t see it or know what it is, is here. And we should fear it.
via Dark Social is Dangerous — Gareth Roberts
Read through the post, and realized that the title is a bit off. It’s not that Social Media is sending some dangerous traffic, but that the traffic being sent is being incorrectly measured as Direct traffic and therefore, difficult to act upon. This misdirection can lead to a lot of tactical mistakes.
What’s more interesting is the story about World War II that Gareth has nicely illustrated. The deaths due to a D-Day rehearsal were more than D-Day itself. The reason behind this is people coming to the wrong conclusions because of the data made available.
A light skim of this article might put me off Social Media as a marketing channel. As it is I am a bit biased against it, but this would have put the final nail in the coffin. However … this is the blind spot that I am referring to.
Slight misinformation, and there we go jumping to the wrong conclusions. As an analyst, something that you might want to keep in mind is the quality and the veracity of the data that you analyze.