• The Veteran

    Frederick Forsyth

    The book is quite a departure from the regular thrillers that Forsyth is famous for, but that doesn’t take away anything from the quality of the work. It consists of five stories, which showcase the research that characterises Forsyth’s works. I’d actually have taken these for Jeffrey Archer’s work for the quality of the ‘twists’, and sometimes, even the wit.

    ‘The Veteran’ and ‘The Art of the Matter’ are renditions of the concept of justice, with the latter giving us quite a few insights about the art world and its inhabitants. ‘The Veteran’ would seem an open-and-shut mugging case and the trial that follows, but develops layers as it proceeds. There is something very satisfying about this story as well as the last one. In ‘The Miracle’, a tourist couple on their way to experience the Palio horse race in Siena, come across a stranger and his tale of the supernatural. ‘The Citizen’ involves a drug enforcement officer and a range of characters who are involved in a drug trafficking episode.

    ‘Whispering Wind’, the last story is considerably larger than others, and while the average ‘Bollywood’ viewer would find the concept familiar, it is still a great story based on ‘The Battle of the Little Bighorn’, the amount of detailing takes it up several notches.

    ‘The Veteran’ might be named after the first story or perhaps the expertise that key characters in all five stories exhibit. The most endearing aspect of this book is how it marries clinical descriptions and detailing with stories that exude warmth and humanity. That, and the excellent endings make this a great read.

  • AdBag

    Eco friendly bags that also doubles up as an advertising medium, that’s AdBag. In conversation with founder Rohit Mukherjee

     
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  • Consistency and cohesion

    Google’s Search Plus your World once again made me think about consistency, (in terms of a brand’s voice) a subject that finds frequent mentions here.

    Consistency in branding has been a golden rule for a long time. But by now, brands would be used to seeing their messages layered with the contexts and perspectives added by users on social networks. Considering the transient nature of the feed and search capabilities, and despite their inherently ‘viral nature, brands could still console themselves a bit about reach.

    After all, despite the march of the social networks, Google was (and is) still easily dominant when it comes to specific search, and brands could still play a few SEO/M games. But now, Google is accelerating its social fusion into search; the layering will happen here too, and the incumbent search gaming tools would start getting blunted.

    In this context, I wondered if brands should probably move from consistency to cohesion. Consistency was a good tool in a mass media era when one way distribution and a linear flow of information ruled. In this era of collaborative media, cohesion factors in context  – time/place/person etc to the brand’s message. It lends flexibility to the brand’s voice, qualifies it, and helps empower internal and external customers. So, rather than getting an OCD over exact phrases, colours etc, the brand custodians could work on how best to package the brand’s core DNA in different settings. Then, even if consumers don’t share as-is, at least the brand’s perspective would be context relevant. Your thoughts?

    until next time, consistently cohesive

    PS: My guest post on afaqs last year lists some advantages of this approach under “What happened after the TVC ended?”

  • Never Discount Art

    While he lived, they made fun of his art. After an entire life bemoaning the fact that he sucked at art, he finally bled to a slow painful death. But then, his art became immortal, as did he. Suddenly everyone wanted a stake in his works. Of course, you all must know his name – Drawcula.

    until next time, arty stick stake 😀

  • Weekly Top 5

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