consumer psychology

Side-by-side comparison showing Google's failing polished demo approach versus the winning transparent reality approach in AI marketing.

ARTICLE 2 : The Challenger’s Playbook: How to Market Against Entrenched AI Incumbents

Leave a Comment / Blogs

Google’s Gemini videos fail because they don’t answer the question consumers actually ask: Why switch from ChatGPT? In mature markets with entrenched incumbents, that’s the only question that matters. The companies winning AI adoption have figured out a completely different playbook—one that acknowledges the incumbent, demonstrates differentiation, and treats switching costs as real barriers. If you’re marketing AI products to consumers in 2025, this is the approach that actually works.

ARTICLE 2 : The Challenger’s Playbook: How to Market Against Entrenched AI Incumbents Read More »

Johnny Weir in burgundy sweater smiling confidently, standing next to Phaedra Parks in yellow dress with skeptical expression, in front of festive red background with Christmas tree. Still from Google's 'Sleigh My Name' holiday ad.

The Era of “Look at the AI” is Dead. Long Live the Era of Camp.

Leave a Comment / Blogs

By the time Johnny Weir appears on screen, clad in a sequinned blazer, looking for redemption in “Snowberry Falls,” you realise something fundamental has shifted. For three years, Big Tech screamed about Large Language Models and neural networks with sombre, cinematic adverts. Google has finally admitted defeat in the “features war” and opened a new front in the “culture war.” With Sleigh My Name, they’ve stopped explaining how the sausage is made. Instead, they’re serving it on a glittery platter with drag queens and reality TV stars. This isn’t just a funny advert. It signals the end of the “Tech Demo” era and the arrival of “Post-Hype” reality. Every marketer—whether selling SaaS or sparkling water—needs to dissect this campaign.

The Era of “Look at the AI” is Dead. Long Live the Era of Camp. Read More »

Benedict Cumberbatch sitting in a leather armchair on a theatrical stage with a Christmas tree and pianist, representing Amazon's Five Star Theater campaign. Title: Amazon Five Star Theater Campaign Visual

The Genius of Amazon’s “Five Star Theater”: Why Brands Are Finally Ditching the Glossy Act

Leave a Comment / Blogs

Amazon’s “Five Star Theater” campaign represents a seismic shift in modern advertising. Rather than selling aspirations, the brand performs real customer reviews with theatrical intensity—transforming messy authenticity into marketing gold. This campaign works because audiences are exhausted by polished corporate messaging. They want to be seen, not sold to. The data backs this up: 90% of Gen Z prioritizes authenticity, 88% of consumers trust peer reviews over brand claims, and funny ads deliver 6x more brand lift than traditional spots. Amazon didn’t invent new content; it simply elevated what already existed—unfiltered testimonials from the reviews section—into strategic art. The result? A campaign that mocks influencer fakery, celebrates internet culture, and critiques advertising excess simultaneously. This signals the end of aspiration-based marketing and the beginning of recognition-based authenticity. The brands winning in 2025 aren’t trying harder. They’re trying differently.

The Genius of Amazon’s “Five Star Theater”: Why Brands Are Finally Ditching the Glossy Act Read More »

Split-screen comparison of Apple and Google advertising approaches: Apple side shows dark, abstract imagery with no phone and text reading 'Atmosphere'; Google side shows bright, comedic scene with phone featured and text reading 'Argument'

Apple Doesn’t Know You Exist. Google Wants You to Know It Knows.

Leave a Comment / Blogs

Two smartphone ads dropped on the same day. Apple’s 65-second spot for the iPhone 17 Pro features men in dinner jackets performing surreal feats to an operatic crescendo, never once showing the phone in use. Google’s “It’s Pixel, Actually” reunites Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Martine McCutcheon from Love Actually to demonstrate the Pixel 10 Pro’s 100x zoom. These aren’t merely advertisements—they’re philosophical declarations answering a question every marketer confronts: Should you acknowledge your competitors, or pretend they don’t exist? The surprising truth? Both strategies are working. Apple advertises from overwhelming market power. Google advertises from rapid growth against a dominant incumbent. This article breaks down why opposite approaches both succeed, and what your brand should do about it.

Apple Doesn’t Know You Exist. Google Wants You to Know It Knows. Read More »

MG Motor EV Sahi Hai campaign testimonial collage featuring nine real customers sharing authentic electric vehicle experiences in their home and office environments

MG Motor’s “EV Sahi Hai” Campaign: A Strategic Deconstruction

Leave a Comment / Blogs

MG Motor’s “EV Sahi Hai” campaign represents a masterclass in testimonial-driven marketing, systematically addressing India’s electric vehicle adoption barriers through authentic customer voices. Launched in August 2025, this strategic initiative employs real customer testimonials to tackle specific concerns: range anxiety, charging infrastructure, and running costs.

The campaign’s greatest strength lies in its authenticity—featuring unscripted testimonials with natural speech patterns and regional accents that resonate with Indian consumers. From Sai Datta Vamshi’s interstate journey to Dr. Jitesh Sahgal’s ₹10 lakh savings claim, each testimonial provides concrete evidence against EV scepticism.

However, the campaign exhibits notable vulnerabilities. Its predominantly urban demographic may inadvertently reinforce perceptions that EVs suit only metropolitan consumers. Most critically, it fails to address service infrastructure concerns—a significant adoption barrier identified in multiple studies.

The campaign succeeds in reducing consumer scepticism through strategic authenticity, but whether it translates into sustained market leadership depends on MG Motor’s ability to maintain testimonial quality whilst scaling consumer education across India’s diverse automotive landscape.

MG Motor’s “EV Sahi Hai” Campaign: A Strategic Deconstruction Read More »

Priyanka Raina in a cream waistcoat holding her infant son beside an array of Maate baby-care products displayed against a white backdrop

The Label-Reading Revolution

Blogs

This in-depth analysis examines how Suresh and Priyanka Raina’s #EffectiveBabyCare×Maate campaign transformed a simple baby care product launch into a cultural movement about ingredient transparency and conscious parenting. Written in The New Yorker’s signature style, the piece dissects the strategic brilliance and potential pitfalls of founder-led marketing, exploring how the campaign capitalised on millennial parents’ research obsessions while addressing their blind spots in baby care product selection.

The article reveals how Maate’s authenticity-driven approach—combining cricket celebrity credibility with entrepreneurial expertise—successfully bridged traditional Indian Ayurvedic wisdom and modern safety standards. Through detailed analysis of their digital storytelling techniques, cultural positioning, and competitive landscape, the piece offers valuable insights for digital marketers seeking to balance authentic brand building with measurable performance outcomes in an increasingly skeptical consumer environment.

The Label-Reading Revolution Read More »

A joyful trio of young trekkers—two men and one woman—stand arm-in-arm on a grassy mountain ledge, backpacks on, raising their free arms against a backdrop of cloud-shrouded, snow-capped peaks.

When Music Becomes Memory: The Aawara Triumph That Shouldn’t Have Worked

Blogs

There’s something rather marvellous about watching a marketing campaign succeed for precisely the wrong reasons. OPPO India’s “Live the Aawara Life” campaign for the Reno14 Series has achieved that rarest of modern marketing miracles: it’s made people voluntarily choose not to skip an advertisement. In an era where ad-blocking is a survival skill, this represents nothing short of a cultural coup. Yet, beneath the surface of this viral triumph lies a paradox—music and emotion have so thoroughly eclipsed the product that the ad’s greatest triumph may also be its greatest flaw. This is the curious anatomy of a campaign where nostalgia, melody, and the hunger for authenticity collide, leaving even the most seasoned marketers wondering: what, exactly, are we selling when we sell a feeling?

When Music Becomes Memory: The Aawara Triumph That Shouldn’t Have Worked Read More »

Watercolour illustration of a person at a laptop, surrounded by icons including a brain, shopping carts, stars, and a "limited offer" sign, evoking themes of digital marketing and consumer psychology.

The mind games behind your shopping cart

Blogs

It begins, as so many things do, with a confession. To admit that marketing is about influencing human behaviour—Holly Pound’s phrase, not mine—is, in certain circles, rather like declaring a secret fondness for cheesy rom-coms and obscure jazz. Yet this is the world we inhabit: a society in which the art of persuasion has become less the province of snake-oil salesmen and more the daily occupation of well-heeled professionals with PowerPoint decks, fMRI scans, and a penchant for the Oxford comma. The modern marketer, a curious hybrid of amateur neuroscientist and corporate dramaturge, now perambulates the corridors of commerce with the quiet confidence of someone who knows which neural buttons to press.

The mind games behind your shopping cart Read More »

Scroll to Top