Slangbusters Branding Studio | Microenterprise Branding Service

Are we on the same page? Here goes something.  Once, I ordered food at home really early in the morning, at around 4 AM. I did not want anyone else in the house to be disturbed, or the delivery guy bothering joggers and people who got up that early. I’m sure they would not like someone asking for directions first thing in the morning. What I did was that I kept a track of his location on the app and waited outside, by the gate just a minute before his arrival. Somehow, this made him so happy, he delivered my food with the biggest smile I have seen at 4:30 AM in the morning. He told me, “Customers like you, make it a tad bit easier than it is. Thank you for coming down without me having to call. I did not have to ask people for directions and now, I can get on to the next delivery without wasting time.” I’m sure he must have had a bad day with a customer who must have ordered and gone to sleep. All I did was the bare minimum of being there before his arrival. This instance says...

  Let’s face it. We all are a cocktail of biases. In the world of business, there is no room for some. As I write this,    at a local Starbucks, I have a corporate meeting going on at the next table. Two men in suits, sipping their mocha lattes are discussing and I couldn’t help but eavesdrop. The meeting seemed to have gone successful, indicated by the firm handshake before they left. Only that I did not understand a word of what they were talking about, apart from something about quarterly goals. I heard words like disruption and outbound strategies. It seemed like they were from an advertising conglomerate. They used the word branding so many times out of context, I almost wanted to intervene. Although, why did I fail to understand what the meeting was about? Why did it seem successful, even with the use of heavy jargon? Before we talk about complexity bias, I would definitely acknowledge that I am not a marketing executive or an owner of any marketing jargon dictionar...

  Heard about water-cooler jokes?  Back then in offices there used to be one watercooler on each floor and folks came to drink water (if we go by the obvious logic). But that was just an excuse. Exactly like kids in Indian schools go to sharpen their pencils near the dustbin just to spend some time with their friends.  The water-cooler was more like a gossip joint for colleagues to exchange juicy talks or to crib about unapproved leaves. Back then, huh! This still happens. Only now water coolers are replaced by vending machines. It took me quite a while to understand how different graphic design is from web designing. And how do you expect people to know the difference? The graphic design originated in the early bit of the nineties. Web design came a decade later. Only when the internet made it to the people. Just like my mother who thinks that because it is a multicuisine restaurant, they are supposed to serve everything excellent; most people think that any designer can...

Long-form, short copies, ad campaigns, all that jazz.   A  copy , here, is referred to as everything, from an ad copy to a script for an AV film released for your campaign. Why is it called a copy? Maybe in reference to a copy- which is an empty ruled book that writers write in, or used to write in. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you write a good copy. Know that your reader is not a bot. They don’t read keywords to determine how good a copy is. Readers are thoughtful people who want to take something from having invested their time in consuming your content. Unknowingly, complexity bias might make them believe you are an expert in your field. But, a simple, direct copy will linger in their mind more than a copy full of jargon. Be clever for clever’s sake. Action speaks louder than words. Write witty content instead of having it sound smarter. In this race of trying to be different and above everyone, we somehow have forgotten that we are communicating wi...

Wait, what? People spend lifetimes finding their voice and you’re saying that’s not the final destination? Any job that involves creation needs a voice. Just like brands have to position  themselves to set themselves apart, artists and creators also have to have that edge over others which makes it their USP. This includes everyone including painters, writers, photographers, interface designers, ceramic artists, illustrators, dancers… You get the drill. An artist is a brand themself. The mistake most makes after they have found their voice is that they stop.  What are  voice and tonality? Humans have voice and tone. Based on different permutations and combinations of that voice and its tonality, humans can convey messages with added emotions, expressions, and feelings. We can interpret things from the same message by reading between the lines. At the core, it is all sound, but the way our brains render these voices, sounds, and tones help us with understanding by using co...