Advertising should create growth hackers!

There is a problem with advertising. Currently, the idea has taken a backseat, and designing is in the front seat. Advertising nowadays is more interested in writing a quirky copy or a cool-looking design. However, advertising should solve business problems. They should help businesses to grow. But rather than solving business problems, they are busy making creatives. 

If you look at the growth hacking scene, you will see many engineers. How come engineers ended up increasing a business's growth? It should be advertising folks solving business problems and bringing profit to a business.  

The work that advertising folks are doing doesn't solve business problems. 

The time for a change has come. 

The curious case of internet quotes

The internet is full of quotes. At first glance, they seem motivational and all good. However, if you dig deep, you will find out many quotes are self-contradicting. 

Like fake news, there are quotes available on the internet that are fake too. Last year, industrialist Ratan Tata debunked one of such fake quotes.  

The pressure to create more content without getting caught as plagiarised content is the main reason behind the fake quotes. A content writer picks an old quote from the internet. Then he tweaks few words of it so that he doesn't get caught in the plagiarism tool. And thus become a new quote. Finally, when he uploads it to the internet, he attributes a renowned name against the quote. 

What the suck - Commenting for better reach!

We all like to have connections on LinkedIn. We all want visitors on our profile. The way to get attraction on LinkedIn is to get active. People even hire writers to write on LinkedIn. Apart from writing a post, another way to get attention is by commenting. If you religiously comment, you are bound to get the attraction to your profile. We all know it right. 

But the funniest part is when people write 'commenting for better reach' in the comment section. It is like you have met someone and then telling him that you two have met. 

Writing 'Commenting for better reach' is a bad idea to get people's attention. It is better to write something which has some meaning. If a person has achieved something, then write a congratulatory note. There is no point in writing 'commenting for better reach'.  

Deconstruction of a Video Advertisement

The ad is about how to keep you safe from online fraud. A conversation takes place between an old man and a young adult through which we get to know the product. The ad features three people- two young adults, a female and a male, and an elderly male. The good thing is that both genders are portrayed in the ad in equal proportion. The old man is dressed in formal attire, making him look educated and corporate. The woman and man are wearing casuals.

The story of the ad is that two people, one male, and one female, are trying to cheat an elderly man over the phone by asking the old man’s bank details and OTP (One Time Password). Commonly, people cheat someone over the call by asking their OTP. However, at the end of the ad, we, the viewers of the ad realize that with the help of Airtel Payments Bank, the old man fools the cheaters.

The product of the ad is Airtel Payments Bank. The product comes quite late in the advertisement. And when the product is shown, there is no presence of the characters. I think this is a good thing.

The camera focused on two sides, young female and old man, in equal proportion. The ad has mainly close-up shots. The screen has been split into two sides- one side shows the old man and the other side the cheaters. The lighting part of the ad is really interesting. There is a right blend of natural and artificial lighting. The ad has extensive use of bright colors. One thing that catches my attention is the extensive use of bright colors in the characters’ attire.

The text comes later in the advertisement. When the text appears on the screen, along with the VO, we don’t see any characters on the screen. Apart from the VO, there are 3 voices present in the advertisement. At the time of product introduction, the VO arrives. The background sound of the advertisement is new-age and peppy. The advertisement ends with the popular Airtel tune.

The product of this ad is the Airtel Payments Bank which offers an added protection to its consumers to beat online cheating.  However, Airtel Payments Bank comes only one time in the advert. It would have been better if the name arrived at least twice or thrice.

It feels good that telecommunication companies are taking cognizance of online scams. The target audience of this ad is primarily old people. The first part of the ad shows old people is vulnerable to online scams. But at the end of the ad, it shows that the old man has actually duped the scammers. The tech-savvy and knowledgeable approach of the old man saves him from getting scammed.

The ad sends the message to those people who are most vulnerable to online fraud. It is interesting to know that the ad shows that women can become an apparatus of online crime.

Online fraud needs to be confronted. Only time will tell if telecommunication companies will bring new ideas to get rid of this problem.

                                                  (Source: Airtel India/Youtube)

Surrounded By Drugs

A few years ago one of my friends was diagnosed with psychosis. The reason the psychiatrist opined was cannabis abuse. The psychiatrist prescribed him various medicines which my friend has taken for 3 straight years. He was also advised to not smoking any marijuana. He released himself from smoking and drinking. He has become a teetotaler.

3 years have gone by but he is still under the influence of medicines as prescribed by the psychiatrist. Meanwhile, he suffered from relapse twice in these 3 years. This means that he lost ‘normalcy’ twice irrespective of taking medicines. Recently, he has changed his psychiatrist with the hope of no more relapses in the future.

Let me clear on one thing that this piece is not a rant against doctors or modern medicine. My friend is fed up with surrounded by drugs every day. The psychiatrist, whom my friend is consulting currently, said that my friend is suffering from OCD, not psychosis.

This has made my friend completely puzzled. Currently, he has no other option than to trust the current psychiatrist. The only reason behind this is that he doesn’t want to go back to where he was 3 years back. The previous psychiatrist did make him well in two relapses happened also.

                                                         (Source: Flickr)

Budget-Friendly Device For Your Budget

Last Sunday I went to a grocery store with Rs. 1000 budget. The moment I entered the shop, I started doing mental accounting. That means the moment I picked up an item I started calculating the cost. After Rs. 850 I lost the interest to calculate. And understandably the final figure crossed Rs. 1000 mark. This has prompted me to find a solution to stop doing mental accounting and keep the purchase within the budget.

Attach a device to the bag which will show the price of a product when you drop it inside the bag. The more items you put in, the device will start showing the total amount of the purchase. In that way, you can always get to know how much you have spent.

The process would be really simple. Before dropping an item into the bag, you have to touch the barcode on that device. After that, the price of the product will flash on that device’s screen. Follow the same procedure for as many products you want to put inside the bag.

                                                                      (Source: Pixaby)

I’m Lazy

After one and half month gap, I started blogging but I still think I’m not yet started. The procrastination has gone to such a level that I’m sick of it. I need to break this chain of procrastination immediately. I’ve started over-sleeping. I’m sleeping around 10 hours a day. I also need to end this. I’ve few plans in mind. I need to improve my writing. I need to blog every day. I need to write 10 ideas every day.  Yes, 10 ideas every day. No matter how rubbish they are. I haven’t written short stories for a while. I need to restart the process immediately. The time starts now.

                                                   (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I Hate Scripted Interviews

I have a total of 12 years of work experience. I’ve been to many interviews. During my initial days, I used to answer everything that the interviewer used to ask. But over the years, I’ve realized that there are some problems with the scripted interview formats. Scripted interviews limit the chance of finding the true potential of a candidate.

Let me explain how. If you’re an interviewer and ask a candidate to tell them about themselves then that person will only parrot what is written in their resume. That person will never be able to reveal their true self. However, if you interview in a friendly manner then it would be really easy for them to answer.

This way you can understand their temperament and also check their creativity. The best thing about conducting a friendly interview is that when the interviewee leaves the room you have already created an impression on them.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Blogs Are Important

I’ve been writing blogs for the last 8 years. I’ve written various types of blogs for industries like education, marketing, technology, etc. I wrote those blogs mainly for SEO purposes. I intended to bring more traffic to the website. Those were mainly non-promotional blogs to educate readers.

Though I’ve written many blogs in my writing career but never realized the importance of blogs. Yes, it makes me sound like an idiot but it is what it is.

A week ago, I was writing a script. The script was related to travel & tourism. And believe me, I was completely dependent on blogs. The research work that I had done was heavily dependent on the blogs available on the web. I couldn’t have been able to write down the piece with the research work. I also took help from the blogs to write the script.

I couldn't write a script without the help of the blogs. I never imagined that blogs can be used to create a different writing form. We generally use blogs to get information. While writing the scripts I realized that it was the blogs that laid the foundation of my script. 

                                                     (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

                                                 

Writer’s Block

Many say that there is no such thing called ‘Writer’s Block’. They believe if you start writing things will start to work out. But now I'm realizing that writer's block is real.  I call it ‘Idea Block’.  Now, I’m completely out of ideas to run this blog. I can’t generate new ideas to write. The ideas that are popping up inside my head are not good enough to share. Some are ideas not at all.

But I have to run this blog. I can’t stop this blog. So I’ve decided to write on writer’s block. The last three blog posts that I wrote were a spin-off of news shared on LinkedIn. But I don’t want to do this type of work. I want to share my ideas; tell my perspectives.

I don’t know how to get out of this situation. I also don’t know how long it will continue. Should I travel? Have sex? Meet new people? Or just do other stuff to get out of this stupid situation. I don’t know.

Is this a result of doing repetitive work? When I started this blog in September, I had many ideas to write. But now I'm feeling things have just stopped. 

However, I’ve decided to write no matter what it is. I’ll just WRITE, WRITE, WRITE. Sounds stupid but can't help.

                                                (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

We Need Citizen Scientists

I believe ‘Citizen Scientists’ are the key to progress in some challenges of our time. Scientists of our time shouldn’t think what is happening outside their labs don’t apply to them. ‘Citizen Scientists’ can bring a new perspective on issues such as climate change and pollution.

During Darwin’s era, people participated in botany and archeology.  Capturing the curiosity of the people would be the path to achieve it.

Citizen science is growing in different parts of the world. There are instances where scientists are collaborating with communities, especially in Africa.

  

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Is Kolkata Climate Proof?

The prediction is that rising temperatures combined with population growth will force 3 billion people to live in ‘unlivable’ conditions by 2070. This means more and more people will leave for ‘climate havens’. Climate havens are those cities that are sheltered from extreme weather.

Cities around the globe are developing climate action plans, meaning there will be more zero-carbon housing projects and green belts replacing asphalts. 

So my question- is Kolkata climate-proof? Does Kolkata have zero-carbon housing projects? What is the plan with green belts?

Cyclone Amphan showed how vulnerable we are. It is high time that we ordinary citizens should raise these questions so that we remain prepared.

                                              (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

No More Office

After working almost a year remotely, I can easily say that there is no need to get back to the office. I always hated traveling to and from the office. Traveling time is saved. Now companies have to give strong reasons to go back to the office. They can’t say the spaces are missing humans so you guys have to come back. Employees have the power to reject it for their health.

Yes, a people-to-people connection is necessary but that is getting done every day via Zoom or Google Meet. If there is any need for collaboration and congregation, then people can gather at the office but you certainly don’t need to meet daily. In short, there is no need for daily meetings.

Nike’s director Brittney Van Matre has suggested that companies should consider setting up outposts in unconventional locales. It may sound great but very few companies will do that. Most companies will stay away from it because of the loss they’ve suffered during the lockdown.

On the contrary, they should think of cutting the costs related to spaces.

                                                        (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

A Limerick

Write, write, write.

2020 please go out of sight.

Read, read, read,

2020 was really insipid,

I know your 2021 will be bright.

4 Months of Blogging

As 2020 is coming to end, I like to tell you that the biggest achievement for me this year is creating this blog and running it. I always wanted to start a blog but for many reasons, I was unable to do so. I had a blog previously where I used to review films but I failed to run it. Hence, running ‘Odd Ones’ for 4 months is a success for me.

 It gives me great pleasure to write on different topics every day. Initially, I thought here I will only share my ideas but now I almost talk on every topic. This probably shows my inability to generate new ideas every day. At some point in time, I thought of choosing a niche and write on it but then I dropped the idea. I’m still writing on different topics but I don’t know about the future.

To date, I have posted over 70 blogs and gained 3000+ views. And My goal would be to write 365 blogs next year.

Sex Attracts!

I heard the phrase ‘sex sells’ in Netflix’s web series Mad Men. Like Don Draper, one of the characters of the show, I also believed that sex doesn’t sell. It doesn't attract people to buy things. But I’ve been proven wrong with this post (https://bit.ly/34VBM2m). 

I wrote this post to share a funny anecdote involving blue films. I used the picture because the picture itself is blurred but still gives a sexy tone. I wrote the blog in Bangla intentionally as the story was narrated to me in Bangla. I didn’t expect many views from the post.

But I have been proven wrong, as it has gathered the most views to date. I have posted 70 blogs and it has the most number of views.

I analyzed the content and found that there are different types of content available in my blog. But not all of them gather such attraction. The difference between this particular post and the second popular post is huge. Then what is the reason for such an attraction?

I’m certain that the post gathered attention because of the image. It somehow demeans my ability as a writer but I think the image triumphs what is in the blog.

Hence, I can easily say that sex attracts!

Help Me!

I think the time has come to accept me that I’ve to choose a niche for my blog. What do you say, guys? But I’m still not sure. I’m getting running out of ideas. Either I’m having plenty of rubbish ideas or no ideas at all. However, I don’t only want to focus on topics like digital marketing or travel. That will be a complete recreation of content. Those types of blogs are very easy to write. You create content from a blog or article that already exists on the internet. You won’t be able to say anything original.

It is also not easy to create something original every day. I don’t want to create content out of old content.

So tell me guys how to run this space successfully. I mean creating original content every day. Consider this blog as an appeal to you guys to help me out of this muddle.

                                                           (Image Source: Pixabay)

Why We All Need Break From Our Work

I took a break from blogging for around 15 days. The hiatus was not intentional. I was just preoccupied with some other works. However, when I returned to blogging six days ago, I realized that I was hungry to pen my ideas. The break allowed me to think.

Before I restarted to write, my thoughts were with relating to the future of my blog. I began to think about whether I should choose a niche for my blog. I was intrigued by the idea of whether I should write only on the topic.

The break also helped me to understand that I should approach this blog more seriously. I should have a bank of blogs ready. I need to have a buffer stock of blogs for at least 30 days ready.

Another thought that popped up in my mind is that I also need to have a daily routine concerning writing.

As we are entering the Christmas and New Years' break, an unofficial break globally, I thought sharing this piece with you may help a few.

No More Jhoot With Jute!

Before the partition of Bengal, the jute industry in Bengal was at its peaks. Jute used to cultivate in the eastern part of Bengal and processed in the western part of Bengal. However, the partition of Bengal changed things drastically. West Bengal, where most jute mills are, has failed to import jute from East Pakistan due to bilateral tensions. Things didn’t change even after the creation of Bangladesh. I don’t know the reasons why it got stopped but the moot point is that jute stopped coming from Bangladesh to West Bengal. Adding more insult to the injury, militant unionism in West Bengal severely damaged the jute industry. The government also didn’t try to revive the industry. The invention of plastic and plastic products is another reason behind the downfall of the jute industry.

I think it is the right time to revive the industry. The threat of climate change is looming large. If we care about our planet then we should shift to jute from plastic. Jute is bio-degradable, recyclable, and 100% nature friendly. A hectare of jute plants consumes about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide and releases 11 tonnes of oxygen.

From West Bengal's perspective, it has all the ready-facilities to manufacture jute products. Howrah has numerous jute mills, mostly inoperative, which can easily be reopened and manufacture jute products. Trade unionism has taken a back seat since the opening of India’s economy. It means jute mill owners don’t have to face problems as much they used to face previously. The cost of labor in West Bengal is less than the rest of India. It means jute owners can invest in automation also. Regardless of your political ideology, you can’t ignore that automation in the manufacturing sector. And if West Bengal fails to acknowledge it then it will miss the bus.

The foundation of the Bengal economy is agriculture. Now the government needs to pay focus on the revival of jute cultivation. They should turn the one-crop-land into the land where jute can be cultivated. This will not hamper the cultivation of seasonal agricultural products. In short, West Bengal doesn't have to depend on Bangladesh.

                                          (Source: Creative Commons License)

Agartala Is So Far Away From Kolkata

Agartala is India’s third international internet gateway after Mumbai & Chennai. You must be wondering what on earth I have been writing a piece on Agartala. According to the 2011 census, 2,414,774 Bengali-speaking people live in Tripura which is 65.73% of the entire population. The commonality of language and ethnicity is the connecting factor between two states West Bengal & Tripura.

But Agartala is so far away from Kolkata. The distance between Kolkata to Agartala is 1559 km. So if you want to reach Agartala from Kolkata via road or train, you have to travel almost the entire north-east. If you avail NH 27 to reach Agartala from Kolkata, it would take 41 hours.

Usually, people of both West Bengal and Tripura take air service to commute. However, I think there should be a train route from Kolkata to Agartala other than the existing ones. I mean that there should be a direct train route from Kolkata to Agartala via Dhaka.

The distance from Kolkata to Dhaka is 393 Kms and Dhaka to Agartala distance is 90 km. The total distance, Kolkata to Agartala, is around 500 km, 1/3rd of the current one (the black line on the map).

If there is a rail line between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka, it will not only impact the trade and commerce of India and Bangladesh, also it would bring the northeast much closer to India.

The two governments, India and Bangladesh, need to lay a 90 km rail line from Dhaka to Agartala. It will not only generate revenue for the railways but people of the northeast will not feel disengaged. At times, I feel northeast is so far away from Kolkata. People of West Bengal primarily favor north or west India.

        (Image Source: Google Map)