Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

16 things your agency can’t afford to risk…

Monday, December 7th, 2009
16 things your agency can’t afford to risk during these current times of change:
  1. A skill set built mostly around interruption instead of engagement.
  2. A digital department in place of a digital competency.
  3. Core competencies focused on “one to many” instead of “one to one.”
  4. Creating brand-to-consumer communications at the expense of consumer-to-consumer communications.
  5. Lack of analytics and tools to measure effectiveness.
  6. Production systems that are linear instead of organic.
  7. Developing media plans instead of channel plans.
  8. Placing media instead of creating media.
  9. Creating brand transactions instead of brand relationships.
  10. Focusing on “the big idea” instead of “big multichannel ideas.”
  11. Traditional production staff instead of “producers.”
  12. Expecting account executives to be both strategic leaders and project managers.
  13. Continuing to allocate client budgets to media instead of creative.
  14. A business strategy that attempts to support high-value offerings (strategy and ideation) as well as increasingly low-value offerings (basic production and execution).
  15. Selling hours worked instead of value created.


I would add a 16th risks that agencies can’t afford to take:

Beginning 2010 without a written new business strategy, that includes social media as a primary component, to generate inbound leads.

PS: I got this as an email forward.

Fillin it up!

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

A friend mailed me yesterday saying “it’s been over a month and no updates on your blog!!!”

Yea I have been busy and now I guess I got punished for not updating u guys. I’m writing the same content second time :( . I wrote a post in WordPress for iPhone once and it got saved to local drafts and disappeared. Now I’m writing this on a newer version of WP App. Ok tech facts apart.

It’s 4:53 am on a wednesday and I’m awake. It happens to me often so I don’t care. :P

I’m in Bangalore! The garden city…Please ignore my last itenary post where I had written about the November schedule (Cochin, Chennai, Mumbai). Life is unpredictable. And so is my life!.

I was called to Bangalore on an urgent job to redesign a website I had done in 2002. Work is on and I have almost completed the initial template options. Around 4 of them.

Meanwhile tune4 – a chennai based music company – that manages my music projects – is setting up my track Elements to release it in 300+ online music stores worldwide. I guess you already know about it through my fan page on Facebook.

My Facebook fan page is nearing 1500 fans. I would like to call them my well wishers. Some random people who have helped me stick to my dream. Who have fueled my confidence and supporting me with all their love.

In April 2009, when I started my fanpage, I had less than 50 fans. My family members joined after seeing 500+ fans on the page :) . So you know how happy I’m :D . This is a recognition I haven’t got in last 16 years of my music life. Love you all!

Plasma is next big thing happening. Featurig Neha Nair, a Trivandrum based singer who have given my house music track a real good carnatic feel with her aalaaps. You can hear the first cut on Facebook

Bangalore is treating me well. Staying with cousin bro. Hanging out with his group of friends. Clubs, other gatherings, meetig new people etc. Moreover the climate here is damn sexy!

I will be in Bangalore for a while with lot more surprises :)

I’m thinking of blogging regularly. If not big updates, something short and sweet or any crazy posts.

PS: my bollywood project is delayed till march and a malayalam movie project round the corner. But as I always tell you. If it happens, it happens…so forget this till I remind you next time. When a social marketig expert like me does music for a movie, it will never miss ur eyes or ears… :)

Excuse me if there is any spelling error, I’m typing this on an iPhone. ;)

Time is 5:16 am…

As 2008 Ends…

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Hi All,

As 2008 says bye tonight, I thought of posting some crap here to kill some time early morning :D

It has been a neutral year for me all 2008 with many good things happening and some struggle to get things rolling.

Early 2008 I was shuttling between cochin and chennai working with finest musicians in south India. Working for my latest malayalam album was very exciting. Though it haven’t seen light, 2 years of expectation is still exciting me ;)

I came back to Dubai on 15th January 2008 and since then I’m with the business here.

February was when I received mail from Molilim Yacoub, the canadian musician I worked with for the single Show Me Love. 2-3 discussions and 5 nights of sleepless efforts. Joining with Lyricist Karthik Chandan from Bangalore, we made an amazing song.

July 5th a well wisher mailed me saying that someone is releasing an album in Kerala titled Violet , the proposed name for my latest album. And so, I’m still in a process of renaming it before release.

August was my birthday month. No big celebrations. I normally don’t celebrate though. Ended up ordering KFC and eating them with cousins…lol :D

Today I got options for my new site logo. I’m starting to brand myself online ;) . Getting a arabic calligraphy done to be my logo. I got 2 options today. Will decide and work on something for website. I’m still confused if I should go for a black n dark theme or white elegant one as I have now. but one thing for sure, I will have full flashed website, hopefully.

Adobe released the CS4 with loads of new features…best thing technically helping me this year hehe :D

This year Dubai ruler has ordered to cancel all new year celebrations because of the crisis in Palestine. So be at home and hope for the best in 2009

Happy New Year :)
Ifthikar Ali