'We are essentially a marketing company... marketing to us is a total operation, more than mere selling. it has a wide band of activity, from product development to consumer satisfaction

- P.L. Tandon, HUL's first Indian Chairman, 1960. HUL's advertising strategy: whisper to everybody then shout to a few. 🙌

For all those who believe in the Reptilian conspiracy theory, me has news. Lizards got diddly-squat on the true lords of this planet; Cats. 😎

Let me channel my inner-threadboi for the internet's favourite animal.

https://twitter.com/pacificleo/status/1633005923169079296

Enter Toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by toxoplasma gondii. It's a parasite that's sexually produced in the intestine of cats. 😵‍💫🥶

The Google Bard chatbot fiasco reminds me of another noteworthy public gaffe that had enormous consequences.

The Ratner effect. 😵‍💫 It’s 1991.

Gerald Ratner took over his family business, and by the age of 40, he built the largest jewellery group on the planet, and…

…he lost it all in 10 seconds. 🥺

Stephen Dubner's two laws of storytelling:

1. Every good story has an individual at the center of it. Without a personality, it's hard to captivate an audience.

2. People don't like facts; they prefer stories. 😜

https://twitter.com/priyankadeo/status/1622573327528108032

Mr. Grover is the archetype product of our own voyeuristic urges.

He has created a personality, and milked our need for gossip and trivialities around the perception he wants to create.

A working hypothesis on why most orgs struggle to build a 'differentiated' brand, or a 'brand' in itself 👇🏻

Measure + Manage. 1. Measure: The obsession with measuring efficacy of output to 'better' said output gets drowned because of how subjective branding is.

2. Manage: Creative people want to do creative work, but tying them up to 'alignment', metrics & operational work kills all brand output.

Startups who don't have the budgets for branding, here's what you can do 👇🏻 Get your leadership to be vocal on social - this is non-negotiable. 🔊

People want to work with smart people. 😝
(Add a performance marketing layer to increase reach.)

The @gojektech branding playbook.

Lessons in building brand. 🖖🏻 I've done over 100+ calls explaining how Gojek went from being an obscure, unknown org to a popular brand among our primary TA: Engineers, Product Managers, Designers.

Here are some takeaways, in no particular order.

Credit cards. Thread. 🧵

Simple financial advice: If you're using UPI, cash, or debit cards, you're doing it all wrong.
In the age of credit, you're losing out *at least* 30k/annum by using debit.

DON'T. Ok, goes without saying: This advice is for folks who have strong financial discipline. If you're the kind who spends recklessly, and struggle to save money at the end of the month, credit cards are not for you. 😝

The Glengoyne distillery's story starts in 1833, and they've had the distinction of supplying their fine whisky to the Queen mother. Toffee, Apricots and Vanilla - what can go wrong?

Glengoyne. Cuartillo. 9/10.

Nothing vanilla about 2021, great start for the palette ❤🥃 A blended whisky from Suntory's three distilleries - Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita. A mishmash of everything...

Toki. Blended. 6/10.

Toki means "time" in Japanese, and this one was not quite the aged classics we typically witness from Suntory. 😋

This is my first from the Bruichladdich distillery. It's a beautiful looking bottle, and I had to have it. Good decision.

The Laddie Eight. 8yo. 8.5/10.

A juicy delight you're bound to get drunk on ❤ The Glengoyne distillery's story starts in 1833, and they've had the distinction of supplying their fine whisky to the Queen mother. Toffee, Apricots and Vanilla - what can go wrong?

Glengoyne. Cuartillo. 9/10.

Nothing vanilla about 2021, great start for the palette ❤🥃

Wrigley's is synonymous with chewing gum.
But did you know the company started off by making...

Soap? 🤷‍♀️ As a kid, it used to be my favourite stick of gum and there was something 'cool' and stylish about it. I realised how ubiquitous it was and decided to read up more.

What I found was an insane study in product development and marketing. 🔥❤️

Ok, super interesting startup I came across - The kind that makes you go, 'why didn't i think of that?!'

Meet Thrasio. Started in mid-2018. Profitable. $780 million valuation. Current valuation: 32x of seed.

[Thread] What does it do?

Thrasio finds niche bestselling everyday products on Amazon and buys the business out. By having multiple of such mom & pop businesses, they create a niche market of 'lovable, essential' products.

Who wants to know how a $5.2 billion dollar company headquartered in China, listed in the US, and operating in India, is abetting prostitution?

(Short visual story)

THREAD. This is the story of Joyy Inc, a company listed in the Nasdaq.

Its business: Social Commerce.
Mechanism: Live video streaming.

One of their half a dozen products is @BIGOLIVEapp.

*Rating some of the whiskies I've had. If anyone has recommendations, please reply below.

*I don't like smoked whiskies. So as much as Talisker is a crowd favourite, I don't like it. Let's start with a classic.
The Macallan. 9/10.

The Mike Ross to my Harvey Specter. What a joy this chappie is. 😍

There has never been a better time to set shop in Southeast Asia. The internet economy is BOOMING, and HOW! Some numbers.

The obvious comparison here is India with 1.3 billion people.
SEA has 650 million people, but heavily transact on the internet.

[THREAD] 2016: 260 million internet users.
2019: 360 million internet users, 90% on mobile.

[All subsequent data from a Google report that has been tracking SEA since 2016]

"Oh, I wanted to ask this... What is @CRED_club's business model?"

👆Every second conversation I've had with people in the last 6 months.

So, I spoke to a bunch of folks. [Thread] Disclaimer: Some conversations were had in confidence and I'm not putting all of that out here.

But, I would love to hear more thoughts around this because I find Cred to be super fascinating.