ONCE UPON A TIME IT WORKED.

LACK OF ORIGINALITY WAS NO BIG DEAL.

REPETITION OF SAME AND IRRELEVANT WAS THE HALLMARK OF THE DAY.

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Topics: Brand Marketing, Brand Design, Brand Exhibiting, Brand Perception, Sarmistha Tarafder, Brand Power, Branding

 

[And] I have learnt from people's stories, been inspired by their hope, and been strengthened by their coming together.”
― Sharad Vivek Sagar

 UPDATED AUGUST 2017

When people come together, great things start happening. For starters, they shun the logic that had worked yesterday, but is obsolete today. They work as one organism — one mind and one soul for one mission, and thus they make something happen that is far grander than themselves.

It is your people who lends color, texture and poetry to your brand. It is your people who brings forth innovation and sees to the health, and the ultimate survival of your brand.

Since we live in an age of innovation, your job as a leader is to prepare your company for the kind of "work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined."

HOW do you go about doing that?

For starters, you are sitting on the perch. You should be able to forecast by the soft trends and strategize by the hard trends.

Having said that, in this article, we do not talk about trends but we draw inspiration from 5 books that can help change the pattern of your brand and get you situated for the long haul.

Check it out and see if it does anything for you.

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Topics: Art of Business, Brand Power, Branding, Value Brand

 

CHANGE OR COLLAPSE

The industry that, which is the stronghold of the American economy was dumbfounded. They heard the unthinkable.

“You can fight [the end of car ownership], and that will probably not turn out well. Or you can acknowledge that this is happening. This is real, serious, and going to change your world." This ultimatum was delivered by the Lyft president and co-founder John Zimmer, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, a couple of years ago.

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Topics: Sarmistha Tarafder, Brand Power, Brand, Branding, brand and business model, Trade and Commerce

 

In a culture of visual and technological mobocracy, we have forgotten the power of words. Sad isn't it?

Yet, the greatest of the great were always aware of the strength of the words. And they harnessed it with superior charm and considerable acumen.

Most of us would agree that, Nelson Mandela is an icon of freedom and a powerhouse of forgiveness and statesmanship. However, did you know that, during his prison days, it was unlawful even to quote him (for the fear of massive uprising). And, here is why?

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Topics: Brand Perception, Idea Brands, Sarmistha Tarafder, Branding, Value Brand

 

 

 

Getting back in the space, getting back into writing.

Thank you Gordon Nary, for giving me the much needed nudge to get my act together. And, for my other readers, I am ever so grateful for your patience. Thank you for understanding that given any circumstances, I always strive for quality over quantity.

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Topics: Disruptive Innovation, Branding, Face-to-Face Marketing, customer satisfaction

 

Sometime, about 400,000 years ago, our ancestors mastered fire. This phenomenal breakthrough changed our diets, extended our days, unleashed our imaginations and inspired us to ponder about the heavens.

Today, our world is very different. We live in flattened world - both metaphorically and psychologically. Our body and mind has never, ever been so fragmented before. Our body remains in physical space, while the brain travels in a virtual space that is both nowhere and everywhere at once. Our nervous system is getting bombarded by this pool of data, which is not influenced "just by the environment—as was the case for millennia—but abstractly, virtually."

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Topics: Brand Marketing, Idea Brands, Brand Power, Branding, PaloAlto Networks, Sephora BeautyTalk, Avon Cancer Walk

 

 

 

Updated October 2016

Initially, I started this as one article. But, shortly, I realized the magnitude of the subject line. It wants to be a TRILOG - (not a word from the Webster dictionary, of course.) I am breaking it up in 3 parts and this is the first part of the newly coined word Trilog. Let me know what your feelings are about this word. I am kind of liking it.

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Topics: Graphic Design, Brand Marketing, Open Booth Design, Trade Show Marketing, Technology, Brand, Branding, Trade Show, Healthcare, Disruption

 

 

Updated March 2017

SOME BRANDS ARE CATEGORIZED AS CLASSIC

“Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is we’re not that dumb and we’re not that smart." 
Don Keough - At the 1985 press conference announcing the return of ‘classic’ Coke following consumer backlash to New Coke

Coke is one of global brands that drives value and derives strength by constantly re-making itself. Because, once you accept your limits you can aspire towards going beyond them — both creatively and consciously.

Hence, you achieve the status of 'classic' — you somehow manage to be masterly all the time. 

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Topics: Brand Marketing, Brand Design, Brand Potential, Brand Exhibiting, Brand Perception, Communication Arts, Brand Colors, Color inspiration, Sarmistha Tarafder, Brand Power, Brand, Brand virtue, Branding, Characteristics of Famous Brands

It is a striking irony that in a bio-diverse planet such as ours we thrive on the competitive herd mentality of trying "to fit in". We like to play it safe. We like to trod the path that have been traveled ten thousand times. We have forsaken the imaginative spirit of David Livingstone to be "the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary". The best we can do is "new and improved" of the same old stuff. For example, the daily staple jeans: we have a choice of high rise, low rise, classic rise, boot cut, straight cut, wide leg, skinny flair and more of the same. In vain, we do not think about fabricating jeans that will interact with the atmospheric conditions to provide optimum wearing experience. The technology is there yet the imagination and the capital to take it to this level is sure lacking!

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Topics: Brand Design, Brand Potential, Brand Exhibiting, Brand Perception, Booth Design for Trade Shows, Idea Brands, Booth Design Inspiration, Sarmistha Tarafder, Know your Target Audience, S Portable Display Booths, Brand Power, Brand, Harvard Business School, Globalization 4.0, Brand virtue, Branding, "Different", Youngme Moon

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Topics: Art and nature Inspiration, Art and Design, Art of Business, Booth Flooring, Architecture, Booth Display Design, Exhibition Booth Design, Color, Booth Design trends 2011, Goethe, Exhibition colors in harmony, Turqoise Booth Design, Unique Booth Design, Sarmistha Tarafder, Art of Creation, Branding, Trade show exhibit design