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104. Together Forever?

Posted on by Neha Goyal

Once upon a time, it was a statement but today it looks like a question.

There were times when I never use to write blogs but wrote notes and letters to someone just to share my feelings. That person never judged me and accepted the way I am. I still remember the day we met and since then I knew I can share my every tiny, important or unimportant thing with. Well, we call each other our soul sisters. Hold on is it ‘call’ or ‘called’?

From sharing the same bench in school to sitting together in tuition, I’ve spent every single moment of my high school and college with her. She was like a mom to me, who use to pull me out of tough phases with her advice. Even when we couldn’t help each other, we stood behind, silently backing up. We taught each other to be reckless and also responsible. We pushed each other to make decisions that we thought were good. Not only this, we were there to clean mess by helding each other’s hair in the washroom after that extra mandatory shot.

Not to mention, but I have had one of the most memorable trips with her, enjoying fries and cocktail at 2:00 am on the streets of Bangkok. We use to spend hours talking on call at odd hours, pondering over our lives and have seen each other crying. We’ve experienced adventure, love, and have grappled with loss and criticism. And through all of this, we have built each other up. We are not similar but special in our own way and complete each other.

Two of us were capable of having entire conversations from across the room, with our eyes alone that people never use to get. But today, forget about eye to eye conversation; we don’t look straight in each other’s eyes also. People always joked that we should date each other, which was not possible but we both know about our boundless love for each other. Whenever we use to fight, it was she who always took the initiative to solve things as I knew she is there for me and always will be.

But today, I don’t know was it that drunk night when I didn’t listen to her or when I didn’t call her to listen to her grief but fought with someone else on her behalf or is it the distance or me who didn’t try enough? I still don’t understand the reason behind why we are not the way we were. She is my that one friend whose name my father never forgets and my mom misses. Every relative of mine knows her and thinks she will be the most happiest and crazy one at my wedding.

I never thought I’d say this for her but I miss how irritating, crazy and loving she was. Obviously we also use to fight but it was never the way it is today. I will be honest and say, there were days when it use to feel like I still have her the way I had but then reality hits. I remember how even if I wasn’t up to her expectations, I was a loyal friend who never spoke behind or against her rather use to protect her. It pierced me like shreds of ice when I got to know from others, what she was saying behind my back and how it started to affect me yet I chose not to reply.

When I last hugged her and swallowed the lump in my throat, I thought we would still solve each other’s problems. But life doesn’t work out as we expect it to. People don’t remember the big or little things you did for them, the efforts, and the loyalty. They don’t remember how many times you took their stand, fought for them, or be there for them when they needed you. They forget when they themselves were not there for you, left you alone or have hurt you but what they remember are the mistakes you have made. I don’t know how I am going through my life alone but I do feel that it all went downhill not just because of me but both of us.

We both know things have changed between us but I never thought it will change this way. I am not insecure but I do feel replaced a lot of times and how she never supported my dreams and rather said things against it. She has got friends who can replace me as I know they are much better than me yet I know she won’t find someone who will be by her side like I was in these nine years. Even I have friends, who support me and my dreams, care about me and stand beside me yet I can never replace the bond I had with her.

I don’t know is it the guilt of not being up to her expectations or is it because rather than back-bitching about others together, she did with others about me; that stops me from calling her that often. But this is my side of the story and hers will be different from mine.

Deep down, every part of me misses her and how amazing we were together. I use to feel that I am the one who is clinging onto it in an unhealthy way but I guess sometimes it’s good to let go off. We have grown up together but are we going to get old together?

Have I lost her or have I not? I know denial is a maze but that is how I feel. Maybe, it’s all in my head but what I do know is she was and she will be my soul sister. No matter what happens I am there for her even on the days when she feels lost or alone and I always have her back.

103. Only if someone thought about them too

Posted on by Neha Goyal

It’s a bright Sunday morning with less pollution in the air. You are sipping your morning coffee, with your right leg on top of your left leg and reading news on your tab. While reading on COVID’19, what is happening across the world and how the number of cases in India has increased. You realise that the lockdown might increase for the safety of people but it exasperate you. It’s already been more than three weeks since you went out and you don’t feel like staying inside anymore.

Most of us are in a comfortable space where the main problem that we are facing is not going out or helping in house chores. No, my direction is not towards how the immigrants or poor people are facing a setback during this pandemic. Here it is on, how during this quarantine domestic violence and abuse is rising. This lockdown is like a trap for women and children who are staying with abusers.

The National Commission for Women (NCW), which receives complaints of domestic violence from across the country, has recorded more than twofold rise in gender-based violence in the national Coronavirus lockdown period. The total complaints from women rose from 116 in the first week of March (March 2-8), to 257 in the final week (March 23-April 1).

Due to lockdown and restrictions in going out, it is difficult for the victims to seek help. Women who are financially dependent on their partners are sacred to revolt against it as their husbands can become more violent and abusive. Women coming from low-income are the ones who are facing this issue the most as their husbands would take out their frustration of no job on them.

Not only the family members but the situation of domestic violence is getting worse even in some hospitals where people are getting isolated. Recently, in an article by India Times, I read how a migrant woman died due to excessive bleeding after allegedly being raped in the isolation ward in Bihar. She was two months pregnant woman who was suspected to be a coronavirus positive. She was kept for isolation where she was assaulted by a healthcare worker for two days.

This is one of the many cases that we know has happened when we are in our house safe yet cribbing to go out. When we, here want to go out and meet people, there are people who are waiting for the lockdown to get over so that they can be safe again in their own houses.

Institutions that are supposed to protect women facing domestic violence and abuse are trying hard to reach out to them and help them. The NGOs and helplines are moving these victims to move to nearby safe zones or are providing counseling to them online or over the phone.

I don’t know what else to say except hoping that these women will stay safe and stand against issues like this.

Reference: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/migrant-woman-dies-of-excessive-bleeding-after-allegedly-being-raped-in-isolation-ward-in-bihar-510562.html

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-rise-in-domestic-violence-across-all-strata-of-society-in-the-coronavirus-lockdown-period/350249

102. Zero to One

Posted on by Neha Goyal

Author: Peter Thiel

Published: 2014

As the book name suggests, going zero to one means to start something new. A person is taking a leap, a step further which is the essence of true innovation.

Through this book, Zero to One, the author Peter Thiel gives ideas for technological start-ups through his experience at PayPal and Palantir. He is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund. He strongly believes and states ‘Competition is for losers’.

This book helps one to realise that having the power to innovate should be the primary goal for the people who wants to be successful. A unique solution to reach this goal, the entrepreneurs need to think of the existing problems and then question themselves, how can they innovate and solve it and become a monopoly in the market.

When they come with a solution, they should start by targeting a small community. Author Mr. Thiel writes, “The perfect target market for a start-up is a small group of particular people concentrated in a group but served by few or no competitors.” That is how some of the biggest tech companies have become successful. It helps them to understand the market better, solve the problems if there are any and if the people like the product they spread the word across. That is how it happened in the case of Facebook which is used by a lot of people across the world.  

Mark Zukerberg, invented Coursematch during his college time. Through Coursematch, where people could visit to see what classes they were taking and then facematch it. All these programmings gave birth to Facebook which is a billion-dollar company today which was first tried in colleges before it was opened for the world.

He also mentions the four lessons that guide business thinking today are:

1. It is better to risk boldness than triviality.

2. A bad plan is better than no plan.

3. Competitive markets destroy profits.

4. Sales matters just as much as the product.

The author believes that success doesn’t come through good luck but in actual, it comes from hard work, good skills, and great team effort. He states that one genius cannot create a successful start-up and must have a long–term view for its company. It is important for someone to build-up a start-up with a strong foundation and work for their future rather than worrying about it all the time.

He says that a lot of people think that today technology has answered all our questions and there are no difficult questions to be asked. But the secret to making new discoveries is by asking the unanswered questions to explore new things.

It is a book that should be read by entrepreneurs. Today technology works differently from how it used to be. Mr. Thiel gives a lot of insights on start-ups, strong foundation, success, exploring new things and asking questions that are yet to be discovered. In the end, one should remember that every time we do something new for our future, we go from ‘Zero to One’ and should always set the foundation of it right.

Creativity in Public Relations

Posted on by Neha Goyal

 “Creativity is not tactical or technical—it’s emotional.”

Creativity is turning new ideas into reality, thinking upon it and then producing something which is not ordinary. When we bond this creativity with public relations, it is thinking about the audience’s perception towards a cause. It is like a public relation currency, boosting the inherent value of any campaign tactfully. In this field, the professional needs to constantly generate fresh ideas and concept can make the simplest of an idea or outside the box idea which can make a hit campaign. The creativity is not required while just making a campaign for a client but for them to communicate in general with the public through various media.

 The sky with no limit to alterations can be thought of as creativity. Public Relation campaigns are designed in such a manner that the connect leaves its foot print on the target group’s mind and they never get tired of it. Creativity is intrinsic to public relations. Without creativity, public relation would lose its true essence.

The communication and media industry has been through several rapid revolutions which have changed the way of connecting and communicating with people. Today, with so many interactive platforms and crowded bazaars it is becoming essential to curate authentic creative content that will ‘cut through the noise’ and grab the attention of the target audience. PR is strengthening the roots and spreading its wings via different PR tools.

When I talk about an international PR campaign which left a long-lasting impression, the “Fearless Girl” campaign is a good example. The campaign talked about the female empowerment which involved putting a bronze statue of a girl standing fearlessly across the iconic Wall Street charging bull. It draws attention to its ‘SHE fund,’ which invests in companies and putting women in top jobs. The statue is a sign of ‘extremely courageous girl’ who did wonders for the brand.     

The campaign had the key element of emotions to connect the audience with the brand by putting a girl statue for their company. The campaign had an essence of emotions which very well-connected the audience with the brand. The message was crafted very creatively to get noticed. It stood out; people connected and thus was impactful.

Clients are likely to approach public relation teams for creative ideas. Creativity helps the organization to dive in deep into their values and dynamically aligning with the audience. No organization can do without creativity; creativity is the only tool to tell the large part of the story. 

A public relation campaign is not done only for a client’s reputation, a product or a brand; but there are campaigns which make a difference in the community. In the common to the campaign on gender equality was shown through a short film “Daughters of Mother India”. It is the film which was a representative of India’s side of Nirbhaya’s story which did not sensationalize the issue of gender violence. The campaign was manifested towards a different angle. It exhibits the society and law enforcement to work together in a safer association of people.

The film shows women police officers taking calls specifically from sexual assault and rape victims because of the serious increase in the number of women voicing their story because of terrorizing incidents taking place in the hub of the country. Every day we are listening to negative news this campaign arises hope and acts toward eradicating the myth of an unsafe capital. It conveys the message that gender violence laws are now becoming strict and how the mindset of society is changing in this situation. The campaign portrays a leap of faith to the audience as it delivers a different message than others.

Public relation creates a likable company image for the public, and how it impacts public opinion. It is one way that companies seek to shape public opinion. Creativity in public relations is the perfect convergence between “what to say” and “how to say”. A message that is in sync with the issue at hand as well as relevant to its target audience. The message should be crafted in a way that gets the dissimilarity, the attention, the interest, the sympathy concludes in a want to take part and engage. In reality, creativity comes into play right from the beginning when the building of PR strategies is done for clients and it is the last output in public relations.   

While talking about creativity in public relation, it reminds me the checklist of Chip and Dan from the book ‘Made to Stick’ where they outline a formula for judging and creating ideas that will ‘Stick’ to the audience. There checklist consists of five ideas for a story to stick which they claimed it as ‘SUCCESs’ for any idea. The idea should be creative in such a way that it is Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Stories. It explains what it is that makes you notice an idea, understand them, and act on them. The simple answer is the way we ‘present’ our idea. (Reference book: Made to Stick)

 ‘Power of Words’ is a game-changer in public relations when it comes to creativity. From crafting press releases to building a reputation, it’s the power of language that keeps it going.

In recent days, social media has allowed full remit of public relations and not merely focused on media relations. This has broadened the impact and importance of creativity in PR, massively increasing the stakes, the rewards, and the opportunities. The creative ladder has been introduced to encourage the employees to talk about new ideas and creative campaigns to modern and socially appealing agendas. This helps to raise the profile of creative thinking and quality of creative ideas. 

Creativity is important in all aspects of public relations as it can be used in numerous ways. It can mean different things to different people and that is how exactly I feel towards the creative world of public relations is.

100. Pledge completed

Posted on by Neha Goyal

What are we “putting down” when we “put it down on paper”: a current of thought, a torrent of emotions, the first incisions of a decision?

Eight months back, when I started my post-graduation program in Public Relations, the first thing we were told was- ‘You all have to write 100 blogs within 10 months’. Trust me I couldn’t sleep that night as my thoughts were filled with how am I going to complete this task. The person who hesitates and avoids writing, how is she going to complete this? Initially, it looked impossible to me as prior to that I never wrote blogs. Still while writing my first blog I took a pledge to complete a hundred blogs within ten months.

After taking that pledge, there was no turning back. Today, here I am, completing my hundredth blog in eight months. Well, it wasn’t an easy journey for me where I wrote weekly blogs, monthly book reviews as well as did a 60-day blog challenge. In my 60-day blog challenge, I use to write one blog every day for 60 days and two blogs on Sundays. To some, it may sound easy, but let me tell you it wasn’t as easy it sounds.

Like the life of a PR professional, life in SCoRe (School of Communication and Reputation) is challenging and every day is unpredictable. It was hard for me to write daily with my assignments, presentations, back to back classes and volunteering work on weekends. Still anyhow I managed to do it to keep up my resolution of completing the challenge, the pledge that I took and most importantly not backing off from my own words.

The majority of times we had to decide what we’ll write for our blog posts and daily coming up with a new topic was a task. Deciding a subject and writing a blog used to get difficult on days when I didn’t know what I should write on or when I was already dying with a lot of assignments.

However, I am proud of myself that I did what I had never even dreamt of and completed a hundred blog posts. While writing these blogs, I explored various topics by reading and writing about them. I shared my personal experiences, what new things I learned, gave my point of view on different things. I won’t say that my blogs are good but it helped me improve my writing skills and communicate with clarity. It also taught me how to be active even after a long tiring day which is highly required in the field of communication.

These blogs, they taught me that one needs to keep pushing and move out of their comfort zone in order to achieve something.

99. RT online Conclave

Posted on by Neha Goyal

As we know, communication professionals have been the solution providers in every critical situation since decades. With this new normal of going digital, work from home and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reputation Today in partnership with SCoRe decided to organise its very first online conclave. The RT conclave that was scheduled this month in Delhi has been postponed due to the pervasive outbreak. To have a discussion on the current situation and how to go about it, some of the best communication professionals from PR firms and corporates from various sectors were part of this conversation. The panel of 16 members with a moderator and anchor delivered a short and crisp message in an average of three minutes on topics like How Companies are Dealing with Volatility, Uncertainty, Chaos & Ambiguity.

It was a great opportunity for me to attend and enrich myself with insights on how organizations are responding to the ongoing pandemic, and how reputations are at stake. My 3 key takeaways during such a situation from the #RTConclave are:

  1. Brands should focus on what they stand for, their purpose, how can they give back to society rather than getting distracted during such a challenging time
  2. Being authentic, engaging and having a meaningful conversation in these trying times is important for all communicators
  3. No matter how difficult the scenario is, brands should be empathetic and humane not only to their customers but towards all their stakeholders

But above all, the biggest reminder during this conversation was ‘we the communication professionals are in the people’s business at the end of the day’.

Other than discussing how communication professionals can bring normalcy to this situation, the conversation ended with an action to bring awareness and commitment towards caution and health. People from Reputation Today, PRCAI, SCoRe along with the panellists, pledged to fiercely uphold our profession as never before by promising to stay safe, to stand by their clients and to be ethical no matter what. Anyone from PR fraternity can take this pledge and be a part to communicate better even during these testing times.

98. Work From Home

Posted on by Neha Goyal

It was a week where not only a firm, a city or a country but most of the countries were working from home. It is a situation when it is important to come together and support each other to get through this. As today, we are amid a bizarre condition where the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) necessitates responsible individual, social and institutional behaviour.

It totally depends on how one looks at a situation. This is definitely an adverse state but we should look at the other side of it as well. We have been given the gift of time that we don’t get when we go to our workplaces and have hectic schedules. It should be seen as a forced sabbatical where we can’t do anything about it but can utilise it by doing a few things for ourselves. It helped people in maintaining social distance in every way possible and also spend time with their families that they usually don’t do.

The outbreak of this pandemic disease that is spreading rapidly is making people do things that people are not accustomed to or things that they like but don’t get time for. With the implementation of technological advancement students and employees have been continued doing their work online. This process of working might change the way we work in the future and bust myths around remote working. This has also been a unique situation for those who have never worked from home for long periods and found it difficult in doing so. There is a huge difference in working in office and at home productively during this pandemic. A lot of people who are familiar with doing this shared some tips and tricks to work effectively without letting the work suffer.

Other than working from home, through social media we also learned how people have spent their time and motivated others as well. Some people have spent time reading books, started exercising and meditating, took up a new hobby whereas some got back to their old hobbies like painting, cooking, dancing and so on.

Together the whole world is fighting against this virus and taking precautionary measures. Even today on 22nd March, every Indian citizen stayed in to support #JantaCurfew and help each other in not spreading this virus. Looking to the current scenario, it looks like we will be staying in and working from home for few more days. But it is on us, that how we chose to remember certain parts of our life. Being angry and grumpy never helps but choosing positivity over negativity does. And I hope things get better soon and gets back to normal.

97. Communication during Pandemic Outbreak

Posted on by Neha Goyal

This is not the first time that several countries are facing a pandemic outbreak of a disease that is contagious. A similar predicament had happened in the past as well. The Great Plague of Marseille occurred around 1720, the first Cholera Pandemic took place in 1820 and around 1918-1920, an outbreak of influenza took place. All these diseases had killed thousands of people across the world in different centuries of disease outbreak. At the same time, today our country, our world is going through an upsurge of a disease i.e. Coronavirus, whose first case was discovered in 2019.

This disease outbreak is a crisis that is shaking the world markets, causing deaths and triggering concerns all around. It is disrupting a lot of business and life in broad-spectrum across various countries. WhatsApp and various other social media has led to a lot of rumours and news that added fuel to fire and created anxiety and panic among citizens. To stem the spread of this virus, not only government, institutions, and offices are taking drastic measures but also various brands. They are stepping up to help people and their employees in such a tragedy by bringing a new aspect in their communication by providing correct information and support. 

The telecommunication sector has taken a step to spread awareness to its users by informing them about the necessary steps they should take in such a situation by a pre-recorded warning message. Various brands like Lifeboy, Amul, HUL, Dettol, Godrej, Flipkart and so on are promoting self-hygiene campaigns on various platforms. Goa brewing company in India has stopped making some of its luxury products and are making hand sanitizer for people.

The industries that have been affected by the disease are the aviation, hospitality and tourism sector. People are avoiding travelling in such a situation and the bookings have drastically gone down. Yet in such a challenging time, various brands in these sectors are providing extra care and flexibility to their passengers and guests. Proper sanitizers are placed in various locations for people. 

A lot of events have been cancelled in the country to avoid large gatherings. Events that weren’t cancelled took precautions to avoid chaos among the people. Various brands have taken immediate action by giving their employees work from home and recommend people and their employees to maintain social distance. In such a situation, people are recommended to maintain honesty about their health issues. Various food chains and restraints like KFC are stating about how hygienic their kitchen is and how they are maintaining cleanliness during COVID-19. Whereas the food delivery app Zomato, is taking precautionary measures by doing contactless delivery.

In such a situation, I believe that if a brand feels that they are not prepared or doesn’t have anything positive to spread for its customers and employees, they should choose to stay quiet rather than creating more destruction.

96. My first TEDx Experience

Posted on by Neha Goyal

I have watched numerous intriguing TEDx videos of ideas that were worth spreading. While watching those videos I always had an urge to attend at least one of the TEDx events. I was familiar with what happens at these events but on 23rd February 2020, when I attended my first TEDx Gateway event in Mumbai, it was beyond my imagination. Witnessing an actual conference was an unforgettable experience.

TEDx Gateway is one of India’s largest ideas conferences that feature eminent speakers from across the globe who share unique ideas. Speakers came from different walks of life and spoke about diverse trends, treatments, and technologies. Their stories left us with exciting new insights, and a range of experiences and perspectives.

The event was started by Australian Beatboxer and Musician, Tom Thum who was phenomenal and stunned everyone with his performance. His piece got more exciting when he created the fusion of beatboxing and orchestra. Enlightening us with the fact that how “eating meat is like throwing away eight plates of food for every one plate you consume” was the food innovator Bruce Friedrich who believes in creating sustainable alternatives to meat consumption. I was amazed with how Nirupa Rao saw nature and plants around her whereas Shneel Malik believes that we can work with nature by designing systems that can impact globally. The 15-year old Rishab Jain had such incredible knowledge about Pancreatic Cancer and Gangadhar Patil shared how he created a network to tell people stories of rural India.

Speaking of technology, the artificial intelligence reporter Karen Hao stated: “We live in a world where tech problems are social problems and social problems are tech problems.” Yuval Mor, Lily Peng, and Vrishab Krishna explained how we can use AI in other forms such as transforming the healthcare space and allowing doctors to detect diseases. A topic like biotechnology was spoken by Dr. Oded Shoseyov who said, “If you want a new idea, open an old book.” Every speaker spoke passionately about their topic. Whether it was Dr. Shruti Kapoor giving an empowering speech on women safety or Danish Siddiqui sharing how he exposes the raw truth through his photographs.

Engaging and making the audience relish was the Grammy award-winning band- Opium Moon who had a team coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Taking the notch higher of the event was the 8-year old Licypriya Kangujam whose speech on climate made the whole audience give her a standing ovation. Every speaker shared at least one story or used slides that added impact to their talk, making it more memorable. Bringing the touching performance with young performers was the founder of Slam Out Loud Jigyasa Labroo.

Jay Walder reminded us of the fact that ‘21st-century problems deserve 21st-century solutions’ whereas Eli Beer highlighted how not an ambulance but people and community can help in saving someone’s life. The former Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay spoke about how climate change is affecting various countries while Hajer Sharief promoted human rights, gender equality, and political participation and making people aware of their responsibility towards humaninty and the environment.

Not just the TED talks, but the whole atmosphere was an exhilarating, informative and inspiring experience that I got to attend. It was an event where in a nutshell we received a lot of information on various topics from the best of experts. It was rightly said by the host Shayamal Vallabhji ‘These are the stories, the topics, the ideas that India should be talking about.’

95. Building Strong Brands

Posted on by Neha Goyal

Author: David A. Aaker

Published: 1996

Building strong brands is a sequel to the book ‘Managing Brand Equity’ written by David A. Aaker.  The author from California specializes in marketing strategy and gives lectures around the world on brand strategy problems and issues. He has written books and articles on branding, advertising, and brand strategy.

Through this book, the author tries to focus on brand attributes with emotional and self-expressive aspects. He says that strong brand-building skills are required to survive and prosper among the crowded market of various brands. He gives a summary of how to build and manage brand equity through various case studies of some of the big brands their stories, how they stood out and what tactics they used. Kodak, Body Shop, Harley-Davidson, Smirnoff are some of the examples used to give the readers a better understanding. The author discusses how important it is for the brand managers to see their brand as a person rather than a product as it helps them in providing a different approach and communication to it.

The author talks about what makes a brand strong. In one of the chapters, he talks about brand equity and its major assets. The major assets are categorised as Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty, Perceived Quality, and Brand Association. He also talks about why is it hard to build a strong brand and give a certain point which can be thought of and work accordingly.

The book has chapters on the brand identity system and brand personality. According to the author, they are the concepts that play an important role for the brand to be out of the box. Brand identity provides direction, purpose, and meaning which is central to the brand’s strategic vision. Whereas, the brand position is a part of brand identity and that is how a brand communicates and positions it over competing brands.

While talking about brand identity, the author also speaks about the organisation association. These associations are qualitatively different and have the potential in generating and supporting value propositions and customer relationships. After all this, implementing the identity and value proposition comes in the picture, where the brand position is the first step.

Through the example of Harley Davidson, the author explains how consumers start associating with the personality of the brand because of its human characteristics. The big five scales of brand personality are- sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness.

After the identity is placed and value proposition is specified, the implementation of the brand position begins. Its salient characteristics that brand managers should consider are reflected by the terms part, target audience, actively communicated and demonstrates advantage.

After telling the readers about how brand managers can position the brand/product in market by breaking the clutter through various steps, he speaks about other situations they can face. With the case study of Smirnoff author tells the how brand have changed their strategies and communication with time to reach the larger audience which many brands don’t achieve in the first go. How they can manage the various systems of brand, branding strategies, leveraging the brand and its assets. He states that measuring brand equity is important as it provides various insights. It can be done through knowing how distinctive the brand is in the market, how relevant it is, its esteem and understanding what a brand stands for. Last but not the least, comes building the brand that involves strategic and tactical imperatives.

To keep the readers interested, the author has used various old advertisements, pictures, charts, real-life brand stories to keep people engaging. Another interesting thing about the book is that every chapter begins with a quote from famous people.

In conclusion, the author gives a thorough understanding of brand management where the various case studies of some of the most popular brands in the book gave me a good understanding and made my concepts clear.