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"Content" Talk with Sonali Brahma

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SMCPune up,close and personal with Sonali Brahma.Want to know more about the content queen , read our interview with her.

SMCPune : Who exactly is Sonali Brahma?
Sonali Brahma is a writer, a student (there’s always so much to learn from life), a mother, a daughter, a trainer, an honest and committed person. But more importantly, she is an explorer who is 12 years old in this world. She likes to ‘see’ and ‘understand’ the world,  to inquire, probe the depths of her ‘subjects’ (target audience) when she is writing a story, just as it is, when she is writing for an ad campaign. To connect to these people so she can capture the core of their thoughts, their feelings, their fears, their joys through her words. She believes that the world and life has so much to give that there really isn’t enough time to do it all. But she tries. And so, she writes and leads – copy, content, scripts, short stories, profiles, letters, features, articles, and of course some inspiring and thought-provoking FB updates! To describe her in three words – Never say enough!
SMCPune : What is your passion? Tell us about your experience with different brands you worked on.
Sonali Brahma : Writing is my passion. It is the origin of my odyssey into the world of brands. I have had some amazing experiences building brands. Right from building a baby brand seeing it blossom and mature into a fully grown, much envied beauty (Mont Vert Real Estate) to working on the my alma mater (SIBM) as a lead creative resource, to working on a Child Care brand from scratch and watch it take baby steps (Innocent Times) and then proudly talk about a hospital one had helped launch (Oyster and Pearl Hospital), it’s been a truly overwhelming journey. A world that is at once exhilarating and adrenalin pumping and at times nail biting, a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. Explore, love, fall, learn and conquer…it is this creative world that drives me that I am so very passionate about.
SMCPune : Being a content writer, do you think it’s important to express yourself via blog? Your website doesn't showcase your industry work ..Any particular reason of not including the details there?
Sonali Brahma : Yes, blogs are a great platform for self expression. But I believe they play a far larger role today. Blogs have become a great business and marketing tool. You can not only write about your line of work, your views about things in your domain, but you can ensure the right ‘pull’ (drive the right target audience to your blog). Moreover, a blog is dynamic, can be updated to the last minute, and is easily editable, unlike a website. To me, my blog is my online marketing showcase, my website, its more formal sibling.
SMCPune : You have recently joined social media channel. What prompted you to join and what are your views on it?
Sonali Brahma : I have always been a social media enthusiast. FB, Linked In and more recently, Twitter have been my bridges to a world of opportunity. As against popular opinion, which says, Social Media is for those who do not have much to do, I believe in the power of social media. It is online networking and networking is the best way to build your business and brands. It’s like playing golf, only, you play it online. Joining the Social Media Club has brought me closer to a tribe which has experienced the power and felt the success of social media for itself.
SMCPune : Great Content is required but if it is not shared via proper channel, it loses its essence. What are your views on this?
Sonali Brahma :One of the pivots of successful communication and advertising is ‘the right message (content) at the right time, to the right audience, through the right channel’. Even if one is missed out or incorrectly used, the entire point is lost. So great content, whether expressed through traditional media or new media, needs a proper, well thought-out channel/outlet to create an impact. The power of words and equally important, the power of media must never be undermined.

The Importance of Content in Social Media

Cont -entertainment.

The next big thing to hit the tech-savvy generation after infotainment is Contentertainment.

Contentertainment is nothing but CONTENT + ENTERTAINMENT. Fairly simple to look at, at first glance, but more and more complicated as you get into the thick of things. What really matters is the proportion of the mix. What is bigger in the mix – Content? Or Entertainment? Or both?

Social Media probably started out as pure fun and entertainment. It began as a community of like-minded people ‘online’ who are ‘connected’ not just on the web, but also in thoughts, likes, dislikes, careers, lifestyles and what have you! It was a common platform that helped you share and exchange ideas, thoughts, loves and pet peeves. It helped you ‘laugh’ together and ‘grieve’ together in a world where meeting face-to-face becomes excruciating by the day.

Thus came FaceBook. An online book full of faces whom you shared a good vibe with. Thus was born Twitter; a derivative of ‘ A little bird told me….’; the only difference being that ‘the little bird’ here is ‘you’, the owner of the Twitter page who himself ‘tweets’ like a little bird in little characters (140 only) and tells the world what’s happening in his/her life/world.

While Twitter and Facebook are truly, truly ‘social’ and aim at ‘socializing’/entertaining online, there is
Linked in – the business arm of Social Media, where all business persons connect trying to make a better living out of networking. ‘Content’ thus acquires a more and more deeper meaning in Social Media, while pure fun-based entertainment takes a backseat.

Reading between the lines
Content today has become purposeful with always some ‘message’ to pass along. It is always something that you want to achieve, something to do, some sort of a goal to work on. Even Facebook has become a platform to talk about your ‘achievements’ – the car you purchased, the book you read, the ‘great ad’ you saw, the ‘five star’ property you checked into. It has become a showcase of attitude, of lifestyle, even a hunting ground for head hunters or eager employers; it has become an open book for recruiters/ employers to ‘check out’ a person’s personality from his posts on the wall or his ‘likes’ and see if he is indeed the right ‘fit’ for the organization.

“Think, before you tweet”!, seems to have become the buzzword, lest you are misunderstood/misread. Content definitely is on its way up the ladder of Social Media. News is in, so updates are big. Everyone is in a hurry to ‘update’ his wall, post, page etc. Search engines still recognize good content. The crawlies (spiders) still make a strong case for regularly updated and original content. Even the visuals have to be meta tagged as the crawlers do not ‘catch them’.

Content drives the world wide web. Content drives business online. And even offline. Powerful, original content speaks a lot more than a glamorously made You Tube video. Original ideas and thoughts on Social Media spark a conversation, and even a revolution (read Egypt, Anna Hazare).

Content has the power to change your world, my world, our world. Let’s not underestimate it!

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Footloose and free – Freelancers don’t come for free.

That’s the general perception about ‘freelancers’ as they are popularly called by all and sundry; not to miss the accusing tone of voice (TOV) when a client mouths this word. It’s as if the client is talking about a necessary evil he has to deal with, because the client wants a professional but not an agency you see. What he doesn’t tell is that he simply cannot afford the latter’s high costs nor the high handedness and feels it’s best to go with a freelancer who can kowtow to all his demands and still charge him a fraction of the agency’s bill. 

The client approaches this species in all earnest with a truckload of expectations. The client wants the freelancer to be very professional, very experienced (in the client’s industry, preferably), deliver the work ‘day before yesterday’ or even before, work on off days, sick days, weekends, public holidays, ungodly hours, be accessible on phone or better still, a Blackberry 24 x7, respond to the client in half a second, not argue, object, debate or protest, AND NOT CHARGE ANYTHING FOR ALL THIS THAN PEANUTS! 

The freelancer too begins his job in earnest, communicates with the client regularly, works on the job religiously and does all he can to deliver the goods to the best of his ability and to the client’s satisfaction. But just when he thinks that the client is happy and decides to bill him, the client starts exhibiting symptoms of PBS, a hellish state akin to the PMS, which in  freelancer terminology reads ‘Pre – Billing Syndrome’. After PBS hits the client, he withdraws himself, cuts off contacts with the freelancer, does not take his calls, does not answer his mails/text messages and like the proverbial bear goes into long months of hibernation. The poor freelancer has no choice but to sulk and sink into forced hibernation, termed in medical lexicons as depression. 

Months later, after endless follow-ups, the client decides to bless the freelancer and parts with some money as part payment of his efforts. In the hope that the balance will follow soon, the freelancer accepts the part payment and waits; sometimes for months or years or forever. The money, mostly, never comes. The partly paid invoice/bill promptly follows its predecessors to the file marked ‘Bad Debts’. The cycle continues and the freelancer remains where he was, an overworked, underpaid, ignored species that wonders what happened and where things went wrong. The client then shifts to another freelancer, or later as (if) he grows, to an agency and then another. 

In business, they say, all is fair. What is unfair here is the word ‘freelancer’. What is not ok is the perception or the image that the word carries which says “Hey, I am a freelancer because I don’t have a regular job, I am free of attitude and I come for free and you are free to behave as you please with me”. 

And yet, we have freelancers who are richer than agencies, who have clients as big as the Fortune 500, who live life on their terms. They are free spirits, yet committed professionals. And not because no one is giving them a job, but because they choose to be independent. 

Freelancers out there, would you still want to use this term? Clients out there, do you still want to associate yourself with the word freelancers? Wouldn’t you both benefit if you use a word with more respect? How about Consultant? Or Partner? Or Associate?

You are of course free to suggest a better term, but for now, let’s do away with the word freelancer and its meaningless associations.

Freedom deserves respect. And so do the freelancers.

Central Park Hotel Fusion Cuisine Ad 2

Central Park ad Fusion Cuisine Fest (Published )

Why art directors don’t read copy and copywriters can’t stop writing.

As a young trainee copywriter, I was yet to come face to face with the harsh reality called an ‘art director’ or ‘artist’. Given to believe during my learning days that ‘a copywriter and an art director’ are in it together, that ‘no idea can be good enough without the equal contribution of both’ and such romantic mush, I was looking forward to some great chemistry with the artists on my team.

But as I would soon discover, the reality was earth-shattering like in most things. After fussing and fawning over myriad things like the thesaurus, origin of words, right usage and finally writing a copy that was ‘crisp’ yet ‘connected’ and ‘good’, I felt the art director could have at least read it (once!) But alas! No such luck. I was on the threshold of finding out his eternal love for the CTRL A, CTRL C and CTRL V keys (copy-paste for the uninitiated). The end result was that the dear man had put down everything I had written down, even the instructions like ‘highlight this’, ‘use the standard bullet points here’, ‘this is missing’ etc. to the last letter. Aaarghh! I pulled my hair for the nth time in a single year but the art man was as impassive as ever. He nodded his head when I pointed out, deleted the things I pointed out and went about his ‘designing’ business again. The next ad came out exactly like the first one, with all the instructions intact. That’s when the bitter truth hit me:

“Art guys don’t read copy”. But why???

Good question, no good answer.

And then another good question:

“Man, I mean woman, why do you write such long copy ya!!!! I mean who will read this, who has the time to read allllllll this!!”

“Can you cut this down to half? It’s such a huge mass”, beseeched the art man of me in a very silken voice that almost betrayed his frustration at long copy. And here I was convinced that not everyone can write GOOD LONG COPY. Sigh!

So I cut the copy NOT IN HALF of course, but a wee bit and got back to my business - of writing.

We must have repeated the above incident ‘n’ number of times in the decade and a half we have worked since. The art directors I worked with changed with the agencies, but their property of ‘copy paste’ seemed to b an integral part of their DNA. Surprisingly, when I met that old art man again he had the same to say for copywriters.

“You copywriters just can’t stop writing!!”

Although the art of advertising has undergone radical change since then, there’s one thing that has stuck - art guys who never read copy and copywriters who never stop writing long copy. The endless brawls between copy and art continue unabated. But we still work together; sometimes (these are rare cases) display great chemistry and many a times come up with a brilliant, award winning piece.

And yet, the eternal fight for space even in a double spread continues and so does the ego-tussle between art and copy. The boss throws his hands up in exasperation and throws a deadline at both. “Remember”, he bellows, “a good ad can have just one thing –a powerful visual or a powerful headline, never both”.

Win-win my foot!