Daily Journal

Today was a good day!

1. Won a complaint filed against citibank – resulting in them issuing me a no dues certificate and saving me from paying Rs.18,000 to close the pending credit card account.

2. FHM informed me I had won a DH4 contest and asked for my mailing address so they could send me my prize a DH4 DVD!

3. downloaded a cool Trek XI preview from YouTube – love the music and the montage of scenes from TOS, TNG and Trek1-10 movies.

4. B’day’s this Sunday. Have a lunch planned – should be fun!

5. Ruth made a replica of my original homepage on njit with modifications suggested by me

Lyrical Sense: Love

Love as defined by Webster’s dictionary is ‘a strong positive emotion of regard and affection (noun)’. Love is indeed a universal phenomenon as popular mythology from all over the world have some icon or the other for love – be it Cupid to the Romans, Aphrodite/Eros to the Greeks or Kama to the Hindus. Love, in my opinion is a very basic human emotion that we are all born with which, we unlearn or give less and less importance to in order to advance our knowledge and wisdom on things that occupy importance in our various pursuits.

Love is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound

And I don’t know if I’m being foolish
Don’t know if I’m being wise
But it’s something that I must believe in
And it’s there when I look in your eyes…

This is John Paul Young’s timeless classic that most people hear playing on late night radio or in the month of Feb – during Valentine’s Week. Though this event is both cyclical and seasonal, it is interesting to note how pessimistic the world is becoming slowly but surely – with manifestations vividly visible in pop art and music. Most songs today are about the love that was or the love thats lost or the love that never was.

Let’s examine The Roc Project’s (feat. Tina Arena) ‘Never (love was so past tense) to see how the popular mood surrounding love and relationships has so drastically changed.

I can’t be with you again
don’t remind me of the good times that we had
learned a lot from us instead
And I never want these feelings to ever come again
No no

you’ll never hear me crying
you’ll never see me trying
to love you once again
your love is so past tense

Please don’t tell me that you’ve changed
don’t wanna hear on how you’ve lost your evil ways
the one who’s changed this time is me
and i wont go back to feeling helpless and deceived
Oh no

The most blatant being Eamon’s ‘Fuck it (I don’t want you back) that talks about how his girl friend cheated on him shattering all his trust and that the relationship is history!

Why is it that these songs are popular? Do they represent a change in people’s morals, ideals or an acknowledgment of the degradation/delighting in degradation of our times and the acceptance of that in song and verse. People must really enjoy this stance since they dance to it and are presumably having an enjoyable experience whilst doing it! Have we become a society with no light, no hope, no love?

Now, this didn’t happen overnight. The world was never this bitter, selfish or cold. The trend started quite early and can be seen through several songs right from the mid seventies with The Righteous Bros’ ‘Unchained Melody’ (1976) – used in the soundtrack of the movie Ghost; to their 1986 hit, ‘You’ve lost that loving feeling’ popularized in the Top Gun movie soundtrack. Other recent songs suggest remorse and the absence of love like David Guetta’s Smash Club Hit – The love is gone or Hoobastank’s – The reason.

Why is it that we don’t see songs like Starship’s ‘Nothing’s gonna stop us now’ or Bryan Adam’s ‘Everything I do, I do it for you’? So is the world really full of pessimism and is it all going to hell? Do we need a big flood to sanitize the earth and repopulate it post Armageddon with more loving, giving creatures?

FMCG Brands Online Today – A whitepaper

We live in a world inhabited by millions of brands, each fighting for our attention. With media fragmentation on the rise, wily marketers try to leverage each and every resource in an effort to get consumers to take notice of them. Their arsenal includes (not restricted to) new product launch buzz, media advertising, product packaging and shopper marketing initiatives. Thus, the average person is bombarded by approximately 30,000 messages a day � that�s 1,250 messages an hour and 20 messages a minute! [1]

The world has indeed changed. Marketers are beginning to come to terms with the fact that brands do not reside atop shop shelves or in cute commercials � but in the minds and hearts of consumers. Evolved marketers are increasingly embracing the concept that true brand ownership lies with their consumers and not with them. This motivates them to consistently make their brands relevant to their target audience by increasingly being seen at popular venues like social networking communities. Here visitors can very often engage with the brand in a way that they consider interesting by creating content around it and discussing it intensely through numerous forums and blogs. Consider the My Space phenomenon. The community boasts of having over 106 million registered users[2] and is one of the oldest & most popular online communities worldwide. Marketers are quickly leveraging its voracious popularity (amongst teens, tweens and young adults) as a strategic marketing tool. For instance, boosted by a significant ad buy on MySpace to support the May 2006 movie release, X-Men 3 garnered 3.2 million friends on its profile. Other mainstream brands have (with much success) entered and created a niche for themselves on Myspace; each garnering numerous friend additions (Impressions, involved exposures) like Nike Soccer (43,000 friends), Jack-in-the-Box (1.64 Lakh friends), Honda Element (43,159 friends), Aquafina (16,302 friends) and mobile telephony giant Cingular Wireless� Cingular Sounds (38,108 friends).[3] MySpace seems to be starting a trend by driving adspend on social networking sites. eMarketer estimates that marketers will spend $280 million on social network advertising in the United States in 2006. The largest chunk of that spending will go toward MySpace, which eMarketer estimates will generate $180 million in U.S. ad revenue this year. eMarketer projects that ad spend will increase to $1.9 billion by 2010. This rapid growth assumes that marketers will embrace the one-to-one-to-many style of marketing that social networking makes possible. The figure also reflects aggressive growth projections that Wall Street analysts have set for MySpace.[4]

All of us know that the most potent form of advertisement is a personal endorsement/referral from a friend � since the motive to disburse the information has no commercial underpinning. It simply stems from a unique experience (good or bad) which a friend wants his peer to be aware of. This process of message transfer/communication is termed viral communication since it is akin to a cold virus transferring from one person to another or the way a computer virus spreads with every forward. Marketing initiatives are becoming more and more personal. Marketers realize that consumers are constantly talking about them and that a certain sentiment if established strongly enough could either make or break them overnight. It wasn�t that long ago (September 2003, to be precise) that the Niestat brothers created a web hysteria with their expose on Ipod�s battery replacement policy (or lack thereof) with IpodsDirtySecret.com which hosted a film that documented their experience with iPod customer service. They forwarded that web address to 30 of their friends which resulted in 300 hits by the end of that very day and over 40,000 the next day![5] The movement was so powerful and so profound that it got national news coverage and extremely bad PR for Apple � who was then forced to change its battery replacement policy within 2 weeks of that story breaking. What�s amazing about this is that, this was an act of love, not hate! The Niestat brothers were so in love with the iPod & Apple products that they thought Apple�s response was very �un-apple-like� especially since they had remained loyal to the company during its choppy past.

Marketers are beginning to recognize this and have begun to start thinking about ways and means to motivate consumers to evangelize their brand (positively) amongst their peers. Axe which woos young males with the simple yet unignorable proposition of guaranteeing female attraction is, in our opinion, on the forefront on consumer engagement with various initiatives that include Vixens (sexy models doing silly things), Evanandgareth.com, TheGameKillers.com (dealing with people that stifle the attraction game-play) all housed on TheAxeEffect.com has gone far in establishing and re-establishing Axe�s dominance in the minds of young males when it comes to deodorant fragrance choices. It is the ONLY obvious choice since consumers recognize that Axe truly understands what�s really important to them and constantly strives to deliver that in the most engaging and entertaining way possible. Evanandgareth.com is an interesting case study, wherein two everyday young males were asked to tour America and write the playbook on how to seduce women and document their daily experiences on their video blog. Needless to say, numerous people followed the mis/adventures of the duo which led to numerous repeat visits to the video blog site and active discussions on the site�s numerous visitor-created forums. Other brands like Philips Norelco, Nestea Ice are not that far behind in the race to innovatively engage and entertain consumers. They do this by: a) creating content and properties that are relevant and hip to their respective target groups and, b) create an environment that nurtures community building – where consumers may freely discuss issues that are important to them through various blogs and message boards housed on the site. The sites motivate visitors to register (in order to participate in the host of activities offered on the site) and evangelize the site amongst their peers so that they may join them in that unique experience. These initiatives all go way beyond the product/brand giving the effort a sense of vastness and credibility since the end result expected is not sales but customer engagement. Thus the consumer is so taken in by the brand�s attempt to understand his evolving world, address his latent, (at times) unarticulated needs that he totally buys into the brand at very emotional, intimate level which would never have been possible by being exposed to a TV/Radio commercial or Print/Outdoor advert.

India is not that far behind when it comes to virally powered marketing ideas. Brands like Clinic All Clear, Axe (ComeToAxeland.com), Colgate Max Fresh (MaxFreshClub) and Sunsilk (SunsilkGangofGirls.com) are making serious headway with engaging and delighting consumers in way that are fresh and new to the Indian market. Clinic All Clear�s (CAC) MakeYourMoves.com is like a virtual flirting game where one can choose between moves (on the opposite sex) and watch the outcome of their choices in a prerecorded video window. The product integration is not apparent and the entire activity seems geared to entertain and to help visitors realize that CAC truly understands the psyche of its target audience. In just five days after launch the site had received 5000 registrations, 2 lakh user sessions of 18 minutes each and 1.4 million page views. By the end of the first five weeks registrations more than doubled to over 1400, and there were a total of 3.2 million page views, of which 77,000 constituted unique visitors.[6] The site has other audio visual components like Paris Hilton�s latest music video as well as the ability to make a movie with its desi flavored movie maker which when produced can be voted on and discussed on a highly active blog. Till date over 5000 movies have been made online and the site has had over 3.8 million hits.[7] Colgate launched its foray into this new media with Maxfreshclub � a community site launched on Valentine�s Day, promoted the viral and topical �Max Muuaah� by which a user could send an e-kiss (of varying intensities!). Over 2000 �muuaahs� were sent on Feb 14th alone. �Crystal Quest� and Crystal Challenge� had users hunting for/ collecting the cooling crystals to drive home the brand message. Over 1 lakh unique users (60 percent in the age group of 21-30 � core brand target audience) came to the site over a 3 month period and spent an average of 9 minutes.[8] Sunsilk gang of girls � India�s first ever all girl community online has also tasted success with over 2 lakh members, over 20,000 gangs being created and the site boasting of over 150 million hits. The site is powered by blogs, numerous forums, games and syndicated content.[9] Even categories that do not lend themselves immediately to viral ideas like travel services (MakeMyTrip.com) and financial services (TATA-AIG Maharaksha) are jumping on to this bandwagon in a big way. MakeMyTrip.com created a buzz with its highly entertaining virals (Sita haran, Ram-Lakshan, Chidiya Udi, The Moving Train) that communicated the site�s ability to offer the best travel deals online. The virals took about 2-5 days to gain popularity with the effects diminishing in about ten days to two weeks. The entire campaign reached about 250,000 unique visitors.[10]

Gone is the era of �out of sight = out of mind�. Today�s awareness mantra seems to be more like �out of mind = out of sight� since consumers are more likely to engage products/services that they perceive to be receptive to their evolving tastes, habits and preferences and who delight them right through the purchase-consumption and post-purchase process. We live in exciting times. The rules of the game have changed significantly. The lines between what is marketing and entertainment have blurred. It�s all about entertainment now, since, it�s only when brands entertain consumers with their engagement initiatives that the consumer recalls both the experience and the brand that powered that unique and is then motivated to draw others into the fold to share in that experience to make it bigger not only for himself but for himself AND others as a group. The concept of �one� just got bigger. What�s key today is individuals and their leanings towards the communities they build, their participation within them and the way they evangelize them to constantly create richness and visualize a better, more informed and involved world.

[1] Src: Fortune Magazine: �Excuse Me, Please, Do You Mind If I Sell You Something?�,

by Anne Fisher, June 21, 1999 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/06/21/261693/index.htm

[2] Src: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace

[3] Src: Imedia: 5 Brands make their mark on Myspace, by Nanette Marcus http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/11010.asp

[4] Src: iMedia: MySpace drives Ad Spend, By: Debra Aho Williamson http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/10656.asp

[5] Src: Fox News interview Jan 9, 2004 http://neistat.com/pages/press_holding/fox.htm

[6] Src: iMediaConnection: Creative Showcase http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/11315.asp

[7] Src: Clinic Al Clear flirts with the consumer, June 17, 2006 http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k6/june/junemam71.htm

[8] Src: Media2win: Building online destinations with a difference http://newmedia.agencyfaqs.com/the_net_at_work/18.html

[9] Src: exchange4media: Sunsilk Gang of Girls strikes the right chord with 150 million hits, September 30, 2006

[10] Src: Marketing Sherpa: Viral Hall of Fame 2006 http://www.marketingsherpa.com/vas2006/6.html

11 Things You Ought 2 Know About Me

1. We live in a world made up of a multitude of heterogeneous peoples. I think Humanity is the one element that binds us together. Being able to relate to people irrespective of diverse culture and creeds, in my opinion, is important for our collective harmony and growth. This belief has been reaffirmed over the years post conversing with a diverse set of peoples over the World Wide Web.

2. Fantasy dominated the early, formative years of my life. I was very taken in by Superman and his ability to be super. This inspired me to try to be super in my own unique way. The creation of ‘Rajivness’ – an eternal state of being abundantly pleased with the self.

3. Music is my passion and an integral part of me. I was humming Roxette’s – She’s got the look; one day, when a couple of people around me joined in each singing in his own style. The melody in the fusion that resulted was fascinating. The way a tune got through to a heterogeneous set of people and had the exact same (joyous) effect on each individual amazed me.

4. Learning about the world cultures fascinates me. Chatting one evening on the Internet, I met a girl from Sofia (Bulgaria) and initiated conversation in her native tongue ‘Zdrasti! Kak si? Hello! How are you?’ The connection that was created amazed me. I learnt that people are most receptive when spoken to in a language most familiar to them.

5. My interest in culture extends beyond our universe. The warmth and care that some of these evoke is truly remarkably. I do not believe in goodbyes. To close friends I say live long and prosper.

6. Embedded in the depths of what moves me are the virtues of Valor and Courage. To persevere in the face of adversity, even when no hope seems in sight and to emerge victorious (bruised, but not broken) is outstanding in my opinion. The movie ‘Gladiator’ occupies a special place in my mind and heart. It inspires me to persevere.

7. One of my favorite words is ‘why’. Many people think it is trivial and childish. I guess they don’t share my fascination with discovery. I think questions are more important than answers. They cause discomfort since they challenge popular belief, but they are also the harbinger of change and very often, introduce a new era of learning and improvement.

8. Michael Jordan once said that man was meant to fly. This inspired me greatly. The act of doing the unthinkable with grace and style even for a few brief moments is exhilarating. Improving my ability and pushing my limits is an enduring goal in sport and life.

9. I savor individuality. It is both refreshing and provocative. It helps keeps things alive and interesting. It is that one thing that gives us identity and a feeling of self.

10. During a group meeting late one night, when we were unable to analyze a case study a quarrel erupted since the submission was due in a few hours. I found the entire situation amusing and laughed out loud. The quarrel paused. I drew the group’s attention to their childish antics. Everyone burst out laughing. After that, everything seemed much clearer and we were able to crack the assignment and do a good job as well. It was interesting how a little humor could so rapidly turnaround the entire situation.

11. At age 6, to check if a lizard could swim I let one in a soda bottle, only to watch its fatal drowning My curiosity for things has sobered down over the years and I’m still fascinated with the unknown and the undone.

Lyrical Sense

Musical lyrics are not to be taken lightly.
In many of these songs that we shake, jive and sway to – lie deep and meaningful words of wisdom…
Profound points of view that both inspire and titillate the senses.
Allow me to be your guide on this wondrous journey.

Enigma tops my list since I believe they weave music around philosophy that has roots in theology and myth. Micheal Cretu’s a genius!

Lets examine a few:

Motivation

Push the limits:

Basic instincts, social life.
Paradoxes side by side
Don’t submit to stupid rules
Be yourself and not a fool.
Don’t accept average habits
Open your heart and push the limits.

Age of Loneliness (Carly’s Song)

Carly, don’t be sad Life is crazy, life is mad Don’t be afraid Carly, don’t be sad That’s your destiny, the only chance Take it, take it in your hands

Beyond the Invisible

I look into the mirror
See myself, I’m over me
I need space for my desires
Have to dive into my fantasies
I know as soon as I’ll arrive
Everything is possible…
Cause no one has to hide
Beyond the invisible

Close your eyes…
Just feel and realize
It is real and not a dream
I’m in you and you’re in me
It is time
To break the chains of life
If you follow you will see
What’s beyond reality

Close your eyes…
Just feel and realize
It is real and not a dream
I’m in you and you’re in me
It is time
To break the chains of life
If you follow you will see
What’s beyond reality
Close your eyes…
Just feel and realize
It is real and not a dream
I’m in you and you’re in me
It is time
To break the chains of life
If you follow you will see
What’s beyond reality

Theo-Philosophy

Rivers of Belief:

 

If you believe in light, it’s because of obscurity If you believe in joy, it’s because of sadness And if you believe in God, it’s because of the devil

Return to Innocence

Love – Devotion
Feeling – Emotion
Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart, my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence.

And if you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself, don’t hide
Just believe in destiny.
Don’t care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don’t give up, and use the chance
To return to innocence.
That’s not the beginning of the end
That’s the return to yourself
The return to innocence.

Odyssey Of The Mind

There’s no teacher who can teach anything new.
He can just help us to understand the things we always knew.

There are other artists as well whose lyrics are full of wisdom. Dj Tiesto’s Just Be for instance – makes a LOT of sense. It talks about finding harmony with who you are and coming to terms with it. Read on…

You can travel the world …

but you can’t run away from the person you are in your heart

you can be who you want to be

…make us believe in you…
…keep all your light in the dark
if your searching for truth
you must look in the mirror and make sense of what you can see…
just be

they say learning to love yourself
is the first step that you take when you want to be real …

and flying on planes to exotic locations won’t teach you how you really feel…

face up to the fact that you are who you are and nothing can change that belief just be

John Lenon’s timeless classic – Imagine - is another soulful, food for thought type poem which suggests a counter measure to all the violence and ill in the world.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people

Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

No song list would be complete without the mention of the masterpiece by Baz Luhrmann – The Sunscreen Song or the Suncreen Monologue song as its also popularly known as. This is an insightful look at the lives we lead and ways to live less complicated, more happy, more enriched lives…

Ladies and gentleman
to the class of ‘97
wear sunscreen
if I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
the long term benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists
whereas the rest of my advice
has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now…

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth
…never mind
you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
until they’ve faded
but trust me
in twenty years you’ll look back at photos of yourself
you’ll recall in a way you can’t grasp now
how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous
you really looked
you are not as fat as you imagined

don’t worry about the future
or worry and know that worrying is about as effective as
trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum
the real troubles in your life
are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
the kind that blind sides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday
do one thing everyday that scares you
sing
don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts
don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
floss
don’t waste your time on jealousy
sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind
the race is long
and in the end its only with yourself
remember the compliments you receive
forget the insults
if you succeed in doing this, tell me how
keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
stretch
don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life
the most interesting people i know didn’t know at 22
what they wanted to do with their lives
some of the most interesting 40 year olds i know still don’t
get plenty of calcium
be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t
maybe you’ll have kids, maybe you won’t
maybe you’ll divorce at 40
maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75 wedding anniversary
whatever you do
don’t congratulate yourself too much
or berate yourself either
your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s
enjoy your body
use it every way you can
don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it
it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
dance
even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
read the directions, even if you don’t follow them
do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly

Brother and sister
together we will make it through
Some day a spirit will take you
and guide you there
I know you’ve been hurting
but I’ve been waiting to be there for you
and I’ll be there just helping you out
whenever I can

Get to know your parents
you never know when they’ll be gone for good
be nice to your siblings
they’re your best link to your past
and the people most likely to stick with you in the future
understand that friends come and go
but with a precious few they should hold on
work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
where as the older you get the more you need the people you knew
when you were young
live in New York City once
but leave before it makes you hard
live in northern California once
but leave before it makes you soft
travel
accept certain inalienable truths
prices will rise
politicians will philander
you too will get old and when you do
you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable
politicians were noble and children respected their elders
respect your elders
don’t expect anyone else to support you
maybe you’ll have a trust fund
maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse
but you never know when either one might run out
don’t mess too much with your hair
or by the time your 40 it will look 85
be careful whose advice you buy
but be patient with those who supply it
advice is a form of nostalgia
dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal
wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
and recycling it for more than it’s worth
but trust me – on the sunscreen

Ok, enough of this deep stuff. Let me change the mood to romance – a subject of much interest in which I have a high level of emotional involvement possibly since I’m a hapless romantic at heart -part of the many flaws of being an Aquarian I guess…

I’d like to start this with the Iconic Love Ballad - Annie’s Song by John Denver

You fill up me senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

…Let me give my life to you Come let me love you, come love me again.

Another delightful love sonnet is Joe Cocker’s - You are so beautiful

You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Can’t you see
Your everything I hoped for
Your everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
Such joy and happiness you bring

Such joy and happiness you bring

Like a dream

A guiding light that shines in the night

Heavens gift to me
You are so beautiful to me

Another beautiful love ballad is by Lighthouse Family – Lost in Space - used in the motion picture soundtrack for the film Lost in Space

Sometimes I get tired of this me first attitude
You are the one thing that keeps me smiling

Thats why Im always wishing hard for you

cause your life shines so bright

I dont feel no solitude
You are my first star at night

Id be lost in space without you
And Ill never lose my faith in you

How will I ever get to heaven, if I do
Feels just so fine
When we touch the sky me and you
This is my idea of heaven
Why cant it always be so good
But its alright, I know youre out there

Doing what youve gotta do
You are my soul satellite
Id be lost in space without you

And Ill never lose my faith in you

How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

And Ill never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do
And Ill never lose my faith in you
And Ill never lose my faith in you

Another soulful, upbeat love song that I love singing when cruising down the freeway is Dido’s - Here with me.
This song was used in the open credits theme of the hit TV show – Roswell.

I didn’t hear you leave
I wonder how am I still here
I don’t want to move a thing

It might change my memory

Oh I am what I am
Ill do what I want
But I cant hide

I wont go

I wont sleep

I cant breathe
Until you’re resting here with me

I wont leave
I cant hide
I cannot be
Until your resting here with me

I don’t want to call my friends

They might wake me from this dream
And I cant leave this bed

Risk forgetting all thats been
Oh I am what I am
Ill do what I want
But I cant hide

I wont go
I wont sleep

I cant breathe
Until you’re resting here with me
I wont leave
I cant hide

I cannot be

Until your resting here with me

Another Dido mellow track is White Flag which has a striking intro violin note that sets the mood and pace of the song. The video features David Boreanaz of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel fame.

I know you think that I shouldn’t still love you
Or tell you that
But if I didn’t say it
Well, I’d still have felt it
Where’s the sense in that?

I promise I’m not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were but

I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess
And destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can’t talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of “It’s over”
Then I’m sure that that makes sense

But I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love and always will be

And when we meet
Which I’m sure we will
all that was there
Will be there still
I’ll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I’ve moved on

I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love and always will be

To Boldly Go…

“When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one; but in doing so you’re not left with a handful of mud either.” …..Leo Burnett, Chicago 1926.

This has been my credo ever since I graduated college in Mumbai in 1997. I have always had a curious bent of mind and have enjoyed probing the undiscovered and the undone. I have found this process to be enriching, enlightening, and at most times, rewarding in some sense or the other.

For sometime now, I have had a fascination with communication- it excites me to think of the effect a message may have on a disparate set of people and how people’s needs and wants may be influenced in favor of certain goods and services. I have always enjoyed and found challenging, the process of communicating effectively, creatively and in an engaging fashion with a wide variety of people. My “audience” has widened exponentially to include not only my parents, friends, and teachers, but also business associates, colleagues, clients and their customers.

I think it would be pertinent to briefly reflect upon my experiences in India, in the field of marketing communications prior to my arrival in the US. I completed my undergraduate studies from the University of Bombay in Bombay, India, majoring in Accounting and Finance. As an undergrad, and a high-schooler before that, I’ve always had a creative bent of mind. A trait and a personality type that I didn’t think would really be the right fit for what I thought was the extremely dry profession of Accounting (however, with all the creative things happening in the Accounting profession these days, maybe I was too quick to judge). Upon graduating college I was fortunate to land a job at BDDP, a prestigious advertising agency in Bombay. I worked at BDDP for two years on the Nilfisk-Forbes account in both creative and public relations account management. As a trainee copywriter I was involved in the creation of two internal communication films for Eureka Forbes Silver Circle Club and International Sales Division respectively. As a Junior Account Executive I specialized in Internal Corporate Communications. Through this experience I learnt that in order to further my career I would need to get a Management degree. I enrolled into the MBA program at Welingkar’s Institute (affiliated to Temple University, PA) in Bombay and specialized in Marketing. Graduate school was a great experience for me. Being able to choose an area of concentration and focus completely on it was an extremely motivating and rewarding experience. The experience molded me into a true team player and helped me to develop leadership skills.

Being born under the sign of the Water Bearer, my Aquarian traits of originality and inventiveness, I believe, lent itself to the field of communications. My experiences in advertising taught me a lot. Whilst at Saatchi, Rediffusion |DYR and D’Arcy(now Publicis) (on various projects) I learnt the importance of research in the communication creation process – specifically Usage & Attitude (U&A) studies. Since communications are meant to be liked before they can be persuasive, the advertiser must understand the psychology of his audience. Working at these esteemed organizations exposed me to some very interesting techniques like, qualitative and quantitative studies, dip-stick surveys, focus group discussions and customer behavior observation.

The idea that effective communications needed to be entertaining and engaging was driven home through my experiences working with Leo Entertainment at Leo Burnett.

At Leo Burnett, my main account was The Hallmark Entertainment Channel. At the time Hallmark was making its foray into the ultra-competitive S.E. Asian and Australian satellite television market. I was given the responsibility for the promotion of their movies and television programs. Through certain tactical and strategic efforts we were able to increase the channel’s viewership significantly over a six month period. My most memorable and challenging campaign was the StarTrek Voyager campaign. This was an edgy outdoor, radio and internet advertising campaign. Keeping in mind the content of the show, I put together a unique on-ground event concept that was intended to be pilot tested in India’s key meters. I envisioned a ‘Be a Captain for a Day’ campaign that allowed members of the public (present on site) to sample the show. A truck was designed to resemble the starship USS Voyager. We set these trucks up at key locations (hang-out spots) in the city. People were invited to enter the back of the truck – where the bridge of the ship was recreated. Sitting on the Captain’s chair, a person would play a simulated videogame, with all the thrills of having the ship toss and turn, just like on the show. If the participant completed the game successfully, he/she would be given a certificate that stated he was deemed fit to enter Starfleet Academy and to tune in to Hallmark Channel weekdays from 9 to 11 pm for details. This ’stunt’ generated both interest in the show and awareness, while skillfully plugging the show’s name, network and show times in a seamless fashion.

Working in India fulfilled my short-term goals of entering and learning the dynamics of the field of advertising. However in the long run it was my goal to broaden my horizons and look toward a more global landscape. Keeping this in mind I decided to look State side. I enrolled in the New Jersey Institute of Technology and decided to develop a technical skill set that I think is critical in this day and age. I did a MS in Management specializing in eCommerce. After completing this program, however, I realize that in order for me to make a foray into the US ad world I would need the backing of a reputed communications school. One that has a well-recognized program and an influential alumni circle. Thus hath my travels brought me to Emerson College – where I would learn to broaden my horizons, which, for the most part have been acutely national in the Indian context, to international and global dimensions. The wealth of knowledge that I possess through living, studying and working in India coupled with my unique educational background (BCom – Accounting, MBA – Marketing, MS – Ecommerce) would both enrich and enliven the experience for all the program’s participants. Specifically, I hope Emerson, will help me strengthen and fine-tune my skills to equip me to meet the challenges and demands of working in the US. I hope to be able to leverage the one-year, which it takes to complete the Master of Arts in Global Marketing Communication & Advertising program, into a lifetime of “grabbing stars”.

(essay submitted as part of Emerson College application)