Bright Angles Consulting

06/11/2020

Had words on the consumer sentiment towards spending in the festive season and post Covid economic recovery.

As the economy gradually recovers from the jolt of Covid-induced lockdown, the green shoots are visible in the advertising industry as well. According to industry experts, India's adex is almost at 80% of pre-Covid levels and could see a significant growth in November because of the festive season

03/11/2020

Have you been following the ups and downs of the Baba Ka Dhaba saga?

Now, dhaba owner Kanta Prasad has filed a case against Gaurav Wasan, the blogger who brought his case to public attention and helped him revive his ailing business.

The incident has left me saddened but not surprised.

Sites like The Better India exist, because people yearn to know that the goodness in human nature is still alive in an increasingly heartless, self-obsessed, materialistic world.

Yet, we have lost the ability to accept goodness at face value. We are inutitively skeptical about unconditional acts to help another. Disbelievingly, we ask 'so what was in it for you?' And we feel vindicated when we get the answer.

Revealingly, some social media commenters feel that Wasan is justified in keeping a cut, but he should have agreed the split with Kanta Prasad in advance. Basically, it's all business.

Meanwhile, media and brands lost no opportunity to associate with Baba, but how many will stick around?

Have we really become a society which sees suffering of fellow humans, as an opportunity to gain our 2 minutes of fame? Or are we still capable of silent, selfless service? And if we are, will anyone believe it?

27/10/2020

Today, more than ever, we are told that time is THE most precious commodity, and we should not waste it.
Paradoxically, we are then told to rush things as quickly as we can.

Founders are exhorted to ‘launch first and then learn along the way.'

In advertising we often agree to impossible deadlines.

Time is precious, it’s true.
That’s exactly why you should take your time to do some things and not rush them.

Always factor in enough ‘thinking time’ when you plan your processes and projects.
Don’t de-prioritise it for ‘doing time’
We generally do the opposite. We factor delays in ex*****on, and we always crunch the 'thinking time'

Thinking is a creative process. The heat and dust of stress can destroy it.
Learn to be jealous in guarding your thinking time.

Even if you are brainstorming ideas as a group, thinking in advance, will enable you to infuse quality and a better outcome.
Remember that the people who are rushing you to do things fast, will not be happy if they are not done well.

Doing things well is a given.
Turning them around fast is a bonus.

Never lose this prioritization.
When you have enough time to think, I promise that you will love and enjoy your work more, and it will be infused with a special energy.

26/10/2020

Do you like boundaries, or the freedom to be without them?

Take a minute to think, because the answer is not straightforward.

Robert Frost in his poem 'Mending Wall', highlighted the opposing mindsets of neighbours whose land shared a common boundary wall.

One neighbour would always make sure the wall was repaired and in good shape, saying “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours.”

Today, the lack of ‘good fences’ in Ladakh is nearly causing an Indo-China War.

Having well defined boudaries can actually mend relationships and facilitate peaceful co-existence of opposing view points.

Meanwhile Frost’s other neighbour wistfully mused 'Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down.'

In Arunachal Pradesh, five youth from the Tagin tribe were captured after they strayed across the McMohan Line demarcating India from Tibet Autonomous Region. This hunter-gatherer tribe frequently ventures into the border forest despite the risk, because it has a fluid concept of boundaries.

Something in them, does not love the walls :)

Do boundaries keep order and clarity in your life?
Or are you happiest when you have freedom to cross them?
The answer will tell you something about your friendships, your style of leadership and the kind of relationships that will work for you with co-founders, peers and colleagues.

10/09/2020

I am looking forward to an interesting panel discussion on the future of marketing today!
In case you wish to tune in to this event organised by Women's Web you can register here;
https://www.womenincorporateallies.com/attend

09/09/2020

I truly enjoyed having a chat with Prashant Chawla - who conducts leadership coaching and experiential training sessions for corporate clients through his company Actcelerate Wellness & Training Inc. We spoke about how I can apply my learnings from a decade in entrepreneurship, to navigating the tough times ahead for all small businesses.
For me, flexibility is the biggest strength for a business or an individual - not just at such times, but at all times. If you are open and ready to accept and adapt to whatever you face, you will weather the storms of life.
Thanks for inviting me over, Prashant! Like all free wheeling and exploratory discussions, this one was self-revalatory for me.

While brands and businesses are struggling to sail through, we have here with us a brand strategist and consumer insight expert, Nisha Sampath, sharing with ...

05/09/2020

These days, the number of male shoppers in Mumbai are on the rise - in modern retail, kirana, local markets and even at the fruit/vegetable seller.
Probably, division of labor has resulted in more men getting the responsibility to purchase household and FMCG goods.
It has been interesting to see the men negotiating in stores while shopping. Many of them are on the phone to their wives to clarify doubts. A few are sending photos, or doing video calls to make checks.
I have also helped a few. One wanted help to distinguish between maida and rice flour! Another, between refined and filtered groundnut oil.
Our default target in FMCG has been the housewife - except in certain areas of the country, and rural markets where the male is the buyer. Maybe, male decision makers for household products will increase now, or at the least, they will wield more influence in a wider range of purchases.
Store layouts, POP materials and even packaging/labelling may need to be adapted to these new decision makers.

01/09/2020

Over the past few months, we have discovered the many negatives of Work From Home. I am curious to find what people think about Workouts From Home!

Personally, I take every opportunity to get exercise, as a chance to step out and enjoy my daily dose of fresh air, sunshine and nature, as the lockdowns have severely curtailed this aspect of my life.

I am sure many people (especially in places like Mumbai) also have a constraint of space and privacy when it comes to exercise at home.

Now, some of us are looking forward to gyms opening again, but many of us will still hesitate to go back, as they are high-risk places for virus transmission. And in fact, we are reading about many gyms being forced to close down.

I think the time is ripe for Workouts Outside Home to take off. Socially distanced activities like jogging and cycling, personal training sessions in parks, open air pop-up gyms (they could use the now-disused stadiums and marriage grounds) and even good old non-contact sports like tennis and badminton.

Gyms can re-purpose themselves to deliver these new workouts, as they are in the fitness business not the 'workout indoors' business. And there is always a market for fitness.

Your thoughts?

10/08/2020

The debate has raged fast and furious on LinkedIn around Zomato's newly announced 'period leave' for women.
A surprisingly large number of men have weighed in on it.
Some men have criticised it as being a backward step for women's rights.
- Tokenism vs more important measures for equality like equal pay and equal representation.
- Fear of lowering organisational productivity.

Surprisingly, a number of women have also expressed apprehensions around the concept.
- private (even taboo) data being made public,
- an excuse for further discrimination against them.

Sanitary napkin brands believe that they can enable menstruating women to win hockey matches and ace exams - basically, period days will be the days that you over achieve.

What is missing from this discussion;
- Data! The number of women contracting PCOD at a young age is on the rise, leading to irregular, painful and
often unmanageable periods.
- Should this be extended to school and college kids too?
- Benefits can be immense for women in Peri/pre menopause.
- Scientific reason of how resting on painful period days can benefit women's well being.
- 80% of women do not use sanitary napkins, relying on cloth and other means. Many of these are also working class. How about including them?

05/08/2020

Don't waste too much energy and emotion on anonymous people you meet online, cos they just might not exist!

BethAnn McLaughlin invented , a Hopi anthropologist who died of COVID-19

22/07/2020

One of the biggest training needs for small and big businesses in the pandemic and post-pandemic times ahead – is compliance of staff to safety measures, to prevent spread of Covid-19.

Already, two small incidents have bothered me;

- Staff from HDFC Bank came home to get my signature – and pulled the mask below their nose, after being seated! One of them wanted to show me an insurance plan on their iPad and came right next to me (with mask up, thankfully) I was super uncomfortable all the time, cut short the meeting and am avoiding calling the bank again to avoid a similar situation.

- In a leading supermarket, the on duty staff are all masked – but the off duty staff are hanging around outside, drinking chai together and chatting. Its as though off duty, the rules are not needed any more. Unfortunately, it’s all the same for the virus.

As more businesses open up physically, safe behaviour needs to become a protocol and an SOP – like it is in aircraft, and in the operating theatre of hospitals.

It will not only keep customers safe, it will also reassure them psychologically.

It’s a massive task. Organisations will need external trainers to implement it.

I think it's a multi million dollar opportunity.

10/07/2020

The traditionally male dominated finance industry may be in for a suprise. Women-run Hedge Funds (albeit limited in number) outperformed those run by men, chalking up lower losses.

This is not the first study to show that women are good at managing risk. A recent JP Morgan study revealed that women's investments in the share market, returned higher investment than men, over the long term.

Investment is considered essential for wealth creation.

It is also true that women are single for longer periods of their lives, have increasing responsibility to support their parents, and often earn less money in their lifetime than men owing to maternal leave and other factors that oblige them to 'take a break'.

Investment can do wonders towards their financial empowerment

Getting women to see themselves as good investors, may be a faster route to female empowerment than other meausures.

After all, centuries have proven that possesion of money, is the most powerful leveller of divides like religion, class etc.

Small cluster of women-run funds avoided some of the broader losses