Brand managers are not set up for success

Reading Time: 5 minutesYoung brand managers are thrown into the deep end. MBA education is too theoretical and managers don’t have time to teach. That’s why they need mental models.
It’s not just about the money

Reading Time: 6 minutesIt’s about fuzzy costs, and goodness. Stories, empathy, and self awareness hold the keys that unlock the mystery of fuzziness
Desire is good, desire is bad – The paradox of desire

Reading Time: 6 minutesThere would be no marketing, or even capitalism without desire. Trigger warning: I delve into the Hindu scriptures to understand the paradox of desire.
Mediocrites and Meaning Seekers in the age of AI

Reading Time: 5 minutesIn a post-AI world, the responsibility for keeping the mercenararians in check and the artists fed and clothed will lie with the mediocrites and meaning-seekers.
Mercenararians in the age of AI

Reading Time: 5 minutesMercenararians and artists are two ends of a spectrum, but there is a middle ground
Artists in the age of AI

Reading Time: 7 minutesArtistry is the single-minded, self-driven pursuit of mastery in our chosen area. In the age of AI, we will have fewer real artists, but they will command luxury valuations.
Value = (Output/Input)^Time

Reading Time: 3 minutesWe decide for how long (time) we want to put in effort (input) to get what we want (output) – Will AI upend this inverse relationship between input, output and time?
AI will put a hi-tech chinese factory and the entire Ivy League inside our homes

Reading Time: 6 minutesThis week’s newsletter paints a picture of a future when moats of production and knowledge are shattered, the copyright and value capture dilemmas it throws at us, and some capitalist solutions.
AI will change the structure of business ecosystems

Reading Time: 7 minutesAI will be like electricity. It will become a part of our life and change the very structure of business ecosystems, value and differentiation. Here is how.
Human desires are like onions

Reading Time: 3 minutesHuman desires are like onions. The more we peel, the more we discover.
Brands have two choices – to be a rear view mirror or to show a mirror to our desires.