“195 Months. One Breakthrough Month: March 2026 Delivers 13% of Total Readers!”

195 months. That’s nearly 16 years of writing… thinking… publishing… showing up. No shortcuts. No hacks. Just consistency.

And then came March 2026. 1,80,000 readers. In just 31 days. That’s 13% of everything I’ve built over 195 months.

It takes time to sink in. For years, growth felt like a slow burn, like a Malayalam thriller movie. A steady climb. Sometimes, it is even invisible. And then suddenly… it wasn’t.

This wasn’t luck. This was compounding, finally showing up. Every post that didn’t go viral. Every idea that felt ignored. Every late-night publish. They were all building toward this moment.

Because growth doesn’t announce itself when it’s happening, it shows up when you’ve almost forgotten to expect it. If there’s one lesson from this journey, it’s this:

Consistency feels slow… until it becomes unstoppable. To everyone creating, writing, building quietly — keep going. Your “March moment” is closer than you think. In a lighter way, your Own “Karan Arjun Aayenge (your moment will come)”. Spoken by Rakhee Gulzar from the movie Karan Arjun, “Karan and Arjun will return.”

Keywords: how I grew my blog traffic in one month, blog traffic increase case study, 13 percent growth in one month blog, blog audience growth strategies 2026, content consistency results in blogging, how consistency drives blog success, blog growth over time case study.

#Marketing #DigitalMarketing #ContentMarketing #GrowthMarketing #MarketingStrategy #DataDriven #GrowthStory #Analytics #BusinessGrowth #MarketingInsights #Blogging #ThoughtLeadership #PersonalBrand #Storytelling #Breakthrough #Momentum #Consistency #AudienceGrowth #CreatorEconomy #Marketingblogs #BestMarketingblogs.

When Words Lose Weight, Brands Collapse

I saw an advertisement recently. “Free Fridge on AC.” Immediately, two things hit me. One, you never say Fridge in a proper headline. You say Refrigerator. Words are not casual. Words define class. Words signal positioning.

The visual showed a man sitting comfortably on top of an AC. Beside him was the so-called “fridge”. Both the man and the fridge looked heavier than the AC itself. Poor AC. It looked like it would collapse under the weight of bad creative judgment.

It looked like the entire campaign was created on ChatGPT. Even on ChatGPT, the prompt engineering was not up to the mark. As they say, it is not the machine that matters; it is the man who is manning the machine who matters, who can use that machine effectively and efficiently.

And this is a national retail brand. Penny-wise. Pound foolish. The company saved a few thousand by not going to a proper ad agency.  But what did it cost in brand perception?  The brand’s communication comes across as frivolous. You pay peanuts as salaries; you get monkeys as employees. Harsh? Maybe. True? Often. Communication is not decoration. It is a strategy. It is physics. It is psychology. It is a language discipline.

And then I thought of something opposite. RES PV Ltd. Baseline: “Redefining Sunlight.” Just pause. Redefining Sunlight. In 1994-95. When even Google did not exist. When solar was not fashionable. When sustainability was not a buzzword. That is out-of-the-box thinking.

That is vision. And then came the portable solar lantern, Kuteerdeep. What did Narender call it. “Kuteerdeep – Son of the Sun.” Brilliance. Not just a lantern. Not just a rural lighting product. Not just a utility. “Son of the Sun.”

Poetic. Powerful. Memorable. Narender was our Creative Director at GI Communications (P) Limited. He wrote both the above campaigns. I was the Director of Accounts. Those were glorious days. We would debate one word for hours. We would reject ten headlines before approving one. We believed communication deserved respect. Today, software can create images in seconds. But ideas? Ideas still need thinking. And thinking still needs people who care.

Good advertising is not about tools. It is about thought. Not about software. About sensitivity. Not about offers. About ownership of language. If you respect the brand, you respect the word. And when you respect the word, the market respects you.

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From MRP to reality: How a Firecracker package could have sparked a lesson in Observation centric learning.

In the modern world, we are quick to “Google it” or, more recently, “Ask ChatGPT.” But real learning doesn’t always happen on screens. It happens when we observe, question, and experience the world around us.

I was reminded of this while conducting a session on Pricing. We were discussing how the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) system in India has, frankly, become a bit of a joke. Anything and everything is negotiable. The MRP, instead of standing for “Maximum Retail Price,” often feels like “Maximum Recorded Price”—something printed just for formality.

I gave my students an example that always puzzled me: firecrackers. Every Diwali, I noticed that the prices printed on cracker packets are outrageously high—no one actually pays those rates. I remarked in class how MRP laws are blatantly flouted and suggested that if anyone could bring a cracker package to the next session, we could have a live discussion.

As expected, most ignored the suggestion (after all, Diwali was over). But knowing Indians, I joked that some would have saved a few crackers—for post-Diwali celebrations or maybe for India’s next cricket victory!

One girl tried but couldn’t get the details. Still, I appreciated her effort at least she tried. Then, fate intervened. Yesterday, during Kartik Pournami, I heard loud cracker sounds near my home. Curious, I went downstairs and found kids from the next house bursting crackers. To their surprise, I asked if I could have the empty packages.

And there it was—proof of what I’d been saying. The total printed MRPs on just three of the firecrackers were as high as ₹3,400! Of course, no one actually pays that much. But that’s not the point.

The point is this: I confirmed something that AI couldn’t. When I asked ChatGPT earlier for pictures of firecracker packets showing MRP, it couldn’t provide even one real image. But walking down just a few steps from my house did the trick.

That’s the real lesson. In a world obsessed with virtual shortcuts and AI tools, don’t forget that real learning still happens in the real world. Step out, observe, question, and experience.

Students, remember this: If you walk that extra kilometre, you don’t just find answers—you earn insights, credibility, and stories worth telling. 

Key words: Observation, Learning, Management Education,  Experiential Learning Pricing, MRP, Indian Markets, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing, Business Insights, Firecrackers, India, ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence,  AI and Education, Real World Learning, Life Lessons, Teaching Reflections, Critical Thinking,  Curiosity

Can De Beers Diamonds Deliver Dramatic Dent in Gold Demand?

Most of my students read the ad and became sentimental. They went gaga over the father—how he was treating his daughter like a princess, how he was trying to break a stereotype, how he considered her a princess, and how he wanted to gift her a diamond on her 16th birthday.  Satiated, they fell back into their seats.  Their faces had the expression of a cat that had a bowl full of cream and was supremely happy.

I said, “Yes, very good. All that you said was seeing the trees and missing the forests. Do you really think that De Beers is the Government of India to fight for girl and women empowerment? Did any of you see the business angle? Every company is looking to make money. It is all about money. How does this ad make sense considering that DeBeers would have spent 40 Lakh rupees in putting out this advertisement?”

A whopping Rs 1,65,000 crores worth, or 802.8 tonnes of gold was consumed by India in 2024. Industry estimates say that diamond sales in India are only 20% of the gold sales. Just like Thums Up dominating Coke in India, in all other markets Coke is an undisputed king. Similarly, only in India do diamonds play second fiddle to gold in a country that worships the yellow metal.

DeBeers is the market leader in the diamond business and would like to have a bigger share in the very lucrative Rs 1,65,000 crore worth of sales that gold generates in India. India has always been a gold country, and the attraction is that gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and as Stree Dhan (a lady’s wealth), wealth that belongs to the lady (mother, wife, daughter). Gold is also seen as an excellent investment that offers a great return on investment.

Diamonds don’t have the above attractions for Indian women. It is only seen as an ornament that is used as part of gold jewelry. That is the perception that De Beers wants to change. Think of diamonds when you earlier thought about gold. A girl's birth, first birthday, first day at school, a girl attaining puberty, engagement, marriage, etc. Thus, this ad campaign of DeBeers is to change perceptions about diamonds. It is positioning itself straight against gold.

Similarly, in the 70s and 80s, motorcycle riders  in the USA had a macho image and an image of negativity because of movies and popular culture. The riders were huge, had tattoos, wore leather clothes, and were shown as tough people. Movies like Mad Max heightened and reinforced the image of this ultra-tough, macho bad man. Regular customers were shying away from motorcycles.

Honda wanted to change this perception and came out with a path-breaking campaign. "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." This campaign, where Honda showed people from different walks of life, aka respectable people, riding a Honda motorcycle, went a long way in changing the perception of a motorcycle being a  mode of transport of tough, bad people. De Beers is trying to do the same with its campaign: change perceptions. In a way, it is a generic campaign that will benefit all diamond sellers, and as a market leader, De Beers would profit the most.

De Beers, too has tried the perception change campaigns in the past. One of its iconic campaigns was the “A diamond is forever” campaign, but that focuses mostly on the engagement and the marriage segment. But in India, it is trying to trigger the heartstrings of the breadwinner, the father, assuming that he will do anything for the apple of his eyes - his daughter!

Key words: Jewelry Marketing, Luxury Goods Advertising, Consumer Perception, Market Trends, Advertising Campaigns, Brand Positioning, Product Promotion, Target Audience, Market Research, Sales Strategy, Gold Marketing Strategies, Gold Investment Promotion, Precious Metals Marketing, Gold Jewelry Branding, Digital Gold Marketing, Gold Sales Campaigns, Luxury Gold Products, Gold Market Trends, Gold Advertising Agency

Here comes my first blog posting

Here comes my exciting entry into the world of blogging. So far I have limited myself to popular articles in newspapers, souvenirs, and journals both popular and academic. As a voracious reader, it was always tempting to put forward your own point of view but found it very cumbersome to write and then mail and wait patiently for the editors (gods) to relent and publish your piece.

Thanks to technology and blogging things have become easy. I picked up a field that is close to my heart - Marketing. Marketing has been my passion, my area of specialization. Marketing was the area where I cut my teeth. It was marketing that taught me all the things of life and made me what I am today.

It was my passion for marketing that drove me to teach. I felt that there were lots of things that could be shared. I find my journey into academics and teaching to be great fun and a very enriching learning experience.

The blog posting will have around 500 words and there will be a posting every day. I made a mental promise to myself to be prompt and post each and every day. The sequence of topics that would be posted is

Monday: Posting would be about 5 latest concepts of marketing that will be useful for students, and professionals attending interviews. Also great fun for people who want to know the latest concepts in marketing.

Tuesday: Posting would be on consumer behaviour. This would be all about why consumers behave the way they behave or do not behave the way they are supposed to

Wednesday:  posting would be about a topic that is very close to my heart - Common sense. Common sense is something everyone knows and understands but common sense is not very common. Posting would enlighten you about common sense marketing practices that could go a long way in creating a competitive advantage.

Thursday: Posting would be about the best marketing practices of companies from around the world. It would be about cutting-edge marketing practices that made a company iconic and made them symbolic of an entire country a la Coke (USA)

Friday: The posting would be about controversies. Marketing controversies that have rocked the world and made the headlines.

Saturday: Posting would be devoted to the best marketing reads, classic books, classic articles, classic videos, and movies that a marketing buff should not miss.

Sunday: posting would be about the best advertisements and the worst advertisements that have been hitting us. The selection of advertisements could be from print, television, radio, web-based or from OOH.

All in all, I would like to share what I have with others and I want your suggestions and feedback in making this a lively and happening blog. Please drop your feedback to me on my e-mail.

Keywords: Blogging, Marketing,  Passion, Teaching, Academics, Learning, Technology, Consumer Behavior, Common sense, Best practices, Controversies, Iconic companies, Advertisements, Feedback, Engagement