Marketing

Amazon's $68 billion ad machine now has access to 190 million Netflix viewers. Here's what it means for advertisers. Amazon's ad business makes $68 billion a year. Now advertisers can target right audiences on Netflix through expanded targeting capabilities via Amazon DSP. Starting Q2 2026, brands buying ads on Netflix through Amazon's platform can now use Amazon's shopping data to target their 190+ million viewers. Think about what this means. Amazon knows what a huge chunk of U.S. households buy, browse, and search for. Netflix knows what they watch. That data is now being combined for targeting. So a skincare brand can target someone who searched for serums on Amazon - while they're watching a show on Netflix. Here's why this matters: → Netflix made $1.5 billion from ads in 2025 and is targeting $3 billion this year  → Early tests are already beating previous benchmarks → A large share of new signups now choose the ad-supported plan. Till now, streaming ads were about showing up in front of millions and hoping it works. This changes that. Now brands can connect what people watch to what they actually buy. For anyone running ads, this is worth paying attention to. Shopping and streaming just became one ecosystem. How do you think this will change the way brands plan their ad budgets?

IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) CRISIS WASN’T IN THE SKIES. IT WAS IN THE LEADERSHIP CABIN. Three things stood out. One: Employees were left alone to face furious customers. No leader should ever let that happen. If you don’t stand by your people in a storm, don’t expect them to stand by your customers in the sun. Customer experience collapses the moment employees feel abandoned. Two: In any crisis, honesty is the only strategy that works. This time, the communication wasn’t transparent. When leaders hide the full picture, years of goodwill can disappear overnight. A crisis can earn trust, but only if you tell the truth. Three: The belief that “we are too big to be ignored” has ended more companies than competition ever has. Customers always have a choice. And if they don’t, they will create one. We shouldn’t watch the Indigo crisis like spectators. This is a reminder for every leader to build their own crisis blueprint. Because crises will come, when they do, your response becomes your reputation. There is more to business than profits. There are people, trust, and how you show up when it matters most.

I used to think charging less would get me more clients. After my trip to the US I realised it just made them trust me less. when i was cheap, clients questioned everything. "why this approach?" "can we try something else?" "i'm not sure about this." so when i raised my rates, they trusted my decisions completely. same work. different psychology. so here's what i've basically realized about pricing: when someone sees a low price, their brain doesn't think "great deal." it thinks "what's the catch?" they start looking for problems. inexperience. desperation. corners being cut. low prices trigger fear of loss, not excitement about savings. but when they see premium pricing, something else happens. "if they can charge this much, they must deliver results." "other people are paying this, so the value must be there." "the risk of not solving this problem costs way more than the investment." premium pricing signals confidence in your work. think about it. rolex doesn't make better watches from a functionality standpoint. but the price tells you everything about what owning one means. same thing with services. a premium project isn't necessarily 10x better in execution. but the price signals experience, systems, proven results. and here's the shift that changed everything for me: i stopped anchoring clients to the price and started anchoring them to the outcome. not "this costs X" but "this will generate Y for your business, and the investment is X." when they're thinking about ROI, the price becomes secondary. your pricing isn't just a number. it's a signal to the market about who you are and what you deliver.

We analyzed 4 million recruiting emails sent through Gem. Most get opened. But only 22.6% get replies. Half those replies are "thanks, but no thanks." We dug into what actually works. Here are 8 factors that drive REAL responses: 1. Strategic timing beats everything else - 8am gets 68% open rates. 4pm hits 67.3%. 10am lands at 67% - Most recruiters blast at 9am when inboxes are flooded - Avoiding peak times alone can boost your opens by 7-10% 2. Weekend outreach is criminally underused - Saturday/Sunday emails get ≥66% open rates consistently - Why? Empty inboxes. Zero competition. Candidates actually have time - Yet few recruiters send on weekends. Their loss is your gain 3. Keep messages between 101-150 words - Shorter feels spammy. Longer gets skimmed - You need exactly 10 sentences to nail the essentials - Every word beyond 150 drops performance 4. Generic templates kill response rates - Generic templates: 22% reply rate - Personalized outreach: 47% increased response rate - Even adding name + company to subject lines boosts opens by 5% 5. Subject lines need 3-9 words - Include company name + job title for highest opens - "Senior Engineer Role at [Company]" beats clever wordplay - 11+ words can work if genuinely intriguing, but why risk it? 6. The 4-stage sequence is optimal - One-off emails are dead. Send exactly 4 follow-up messages - You'll see 68% higher "interested" rates with proper sequencing - After stage 4, engagement completely flatlines. Stop there 7. Get the hiring manager involved - Having the hiring manager send ONE follow-up boosts reply rates by 50%+ - Yet most recruiters don't use this tactic - Weekend advantage: Minimal competition for attention 8. Leadership involvement is a cheat code - Role-specific timing (tech vs non-tech) matters - Technical roles: 3 of 4 best send times are weekends - Engineers check email differently than salespeople. Adjust accordingly TAKEAWAY: These aren't opinions. This is what 4 million emails tell us. Most recruiting teams are stuck in 2019 playbooks wondering why their reply rates won't budge. Meanwhile, recruiters who implement these 8 factors see dramatically better results. The data is right there. The patterns are clear. The only question is: will you actually change how you operate? Or will you keep sending the same tired emails at 9am on Tuesday? Your call.

Search Query Performance Report on Seller Central is an extremely powerful report for growing on Amazon Amazon is a search led platform, and in most categories at least 60-70% sales originate through a search query. And this report gives all the metrics ( search volumes, impressions for that query, clicks from that query, add to carts from that query, purchases from that query) for the top 1000 relevant search queries for your brand. And you get both the category level data as well as your brand data and your brand's share Eg: You can find out for the search term "ceiling fan", what were the total impressions, your brand impression share, total clicks, your brand click share, total add to carts, your brand add to cart share,total purchases and your brand purchase share etc Now this is extremely powerful data. This includes both organic and paid clicks/sales You can basically map your brand funnel vis-a-vis the category funnel for every relevant keyword Eg: Lets say for the keyword "ceiling fan", my impression share is 7%, click share is 8%, add to cart share is 9% and purchase share is 10% The immediate actionable would be to increase impression share by increasing spends on the Keyword "ceiling fan". And because this is a high volume keyword and my funnel is stronger than the category, I would start a single KW exact match campaign with high budgets and bids for this keyword And if the funnel holds, very soon the impression share will increase Similarly, if impression share>click share, it means the Hero image/Title/offer needs working If Click share>Purchase Share, it means the offer ( pricing/TAT) and the content ( images, bullets, A+ etc) need to do a better job at convincing the consumer Now imagine if you do this rigorously for 1000 keywords and bring incremental improvement for many search queries, how the benefits could stack up. Both market share and TACOS will improve Extremely powerful report if used well. Doing this rigorously helped us a lot in the last 12-18 months ( This report didn't exist when we started 10 years back) in scaling up Amazon even faster than we used to and gain almost 300-400 bps market share on platform. Also helped a lot in scaling up the new categories How to Access? Seller Central>> Brands>>Brand Analytics>> Search Query Performance And once there, you can look at the data week wise, month wise, quarter wise

Warner Bros. Discovery is officially splitting into two companies. And the move may reshape the entertainment landscape as we know it. Announced today, WBD will separate into: 🎬 WBD Streaming & Studios – Max, HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC, and content production. 📺 WBD Global Networks – CNN, Discovery, TNT Sports, and other linear TV assets. David Zaslav will lead the Streaming & Studios entity, while CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels takes over Global Networks. This isn’t just operational restructuring—it’s a signal of strategic discipline. In a media world demanding agility and specialization, WBD is choosing focus over entanglement. For years, media conglomerates tried to be everything at once. Today’s move suggests the next era belongs to leaner, purpose-built organizations: one built for growth, another for value extraction. 🔍 Key implications: ⌙ Investor signaling: The market rewarded the move immediately. WBD stock jumped on the clarity and perceived unlock of future deal potential. ⌙ Deal logic accelerant: Each company now has clearer financials and objectives, making it easier to explore mergers, content alliances, or targeted asset sales. ⌙ Creative empowerment: The Streaming & Studios entity can now prioritize storytelling and platform scale without the drag of managing linear economics. Expect more risk-taking, franchise building, and talent-led bets. ⌙ Global strategy divergence: WBD Global Networks, still strong internationally, may double down on licensing and local partnerships, while Streaming leans further into global IP as a differentiator. This also raises bigger questions about how legacy assets are valued. Linear TV isn’t dead—but it’s no longer the center of the media equation. This move implicitly reframes cable and broadcast as supporting players in a world increasingly dominated by platforms, brands, and data-rich direct-to-consumer models. 📈 In short: WBD didn’t just split its balance sheet—it split its future. One side is now primed to scale storytelling in a streaming-first world. The other is free to optimize legacy economics without pretending it’s still the future. This may be WBD’s most forward-looking move since the merger. The media chessboard just changed.

Want your words to actually sell? Here’s a simple roadmap I've found incredibly helpful: Think of crafting your message like taking someone on a mini-journey: 1. Hook them with curiosity: Your headline is the first "hello."  Make it intriguing enough to stop the scroll.  Instead of just saying "Email Marketing Tips," try something like "Want a 20% revenue jump in the next 60 days? (Here's the email secret)."  See the difference? Promise + Specificity = Attention. 2. Tell a story with a villain: This might sound dramatic, but hear me out.  What's the problem your audience is facing?  What's the frustration, the obstacle, the "enemy" they're battling?  For the email example, maybe it's "wasting hours on emails that no one opens."  Giving that problem a name creates an instant connection and a sense of purpose for your solution. 3. Handle the "yeah, but..." in their head: We all have those internal objections.  "I don't have time," "It costs too much," "Will it even work for me?"  Great copy anticipates these doubts and addresses them head-on within the message. 4. Show, don't just tell (Proof!): People are naturally skeptical.  Instead of just saying "it works," show them.  Even a simple "Join thousands of others who've seen real results" adds weight. Testimonials, even short ones, are gold. 5. Make it crystal clear what you want them to do (CTA):   Don't leave them guessing!  "Learn the exact steps in my latest guide" or "Grab your free checklist now" are direct and tell them exactly what to do and what they'll get.  Notice the benefit in the CTA example: "Get sculpted abs in just 4 weeks without dieting." And when you're thinking about where you're sharing this (LinkedIn post, email, etc.), there are different ways to structure your message. The P-A-S (Problem-Agitate-Solution) or A-I-D-A (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) frameworks are classics for a reason. The core difference I've learned? Good copywriting isn't about shouting about your amazing product. It's about understanding them – their challenges, their desires – and positioning your solution as the answer in a way that feels like a conversation, not a sales pitch.

Brad Pitt’s new F1 film is a masterclass in how brands can show up in culture. A $300 million budget. Real F1 tracks. And luxury brands fighting to sponsor a team that doesn’t even exist. It’s entertainment, sport and marketing all blending together... and it’s re-writing the playbook for how brands embed themselves into culture. Here’s what makes it stand out: • A fictional F1 team, APXGP, filmed during real Grand Prix weekends. • Brad Pitt, trained in a modified F2 car, driving alongside actual F1 drivers. • Lewis Hamilton co-producing to capture the authentic essence of the racing world. • Real brands like Mercedes-Benz AG, SharkNinja, IWC Schaffhausen and Tommy Hilfiger actively sponsoring a fictional team. • Actual drivers, including Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, making cameo appearances. • All set for release in cinemas June 2025, followed by streaming on Apple TV+. This isn’t just clever product placement, it’s narrative integration at its best. Real brands woven into a fictional story, filmed in real-time at actual events. And it’s a glimpse of where brand marketing is heading. The film isn’t even out yet, and here we are talking about the brands already. That’s how you build long-term equity. This is the new standard in marketing: • Culture first, commerce second. • Stories over traditional advertising. • Integration, not interruption. If your brand isn’t part of the stories people care about, good luck buying their attention. Learn from this. Build worlds people want to be part of. Create stories they’d miss if they disappeared. And find ways to turn up in that culture and be part of the narrative. Rather than looking for ways to interrupt them.

Are independent DSPs obsolete? What comes next? Over the last few months, The Trade Desk and Viant Technology — the leading independent DSP and the AI-powered challenger — have seen their stock prices drop by 50% and 30%, respectively. Is the market losing confidence in the standalone DSP model? For years, DSPs competed on supply integrations, user experience, targeting capabilities, and smarter bidding. But today every major DSP plays with the same cards i.e. the tech itself has become a commodity. This means today’s differentiation comes from somewhere else: ▶️ Exclusive data (1st party signals at real scale) ▶️ Exclusive inventory (closed ecosystems) And who owns both? The walled gardens — Google, Amazon, and increasingly, Retail Media Networks. That leaves brands with a choice: ↩️ Double down inside the walls of Google, Amazon, and retail media ↪️ Push for the next generation of independent platforms My take: the independent DSP as we know it is fading — but this creates space for something new. A network of Commerce Media platforms? Verticalized solutions for CPG, Pharma, Travel, etc.? …? Where do you think the next wave is headed? Are independent DSPs in existential trouble, or will they find a new way to differentiate? #advertising #media #tech

If you ever visit Bali, you'll notice a flood of Polo Ralph Lauren stores... All selling Polo apparel at almost 60% off the retail price... And despite the on point branding of the stores, they're all fake - not the original Polo Ralph Lauren... And this is because in the late 1970s, an Indonesian man trademarked the brand name, colours and logo in Indonesia, much before the American company decided to enter into that market. So all the stores can legally operate under the Ralph Lauren name and with the logo, but are not owned by the original American company we know of. Plus, the original brand cannot sell its products in Indonesia. And so that the same thing doesn't happen with your brand anywhere around the world... you must take these steps while registering your trademark... 1/ After registration of your trademark at the Indian Trademark Office (ITO), within six months file for a global trademark that is valid in 130 countries through a WIPO application which happens from the ITO itself In certain countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Japan - also make a separate filing independent of the WIPO application - as these countries have a first-to-file method, which means if someone else files before you, they get the right even if you have been using the brand for longer 2/ To increase defensibility, also register variations of your trademark in other languages such as Chinese, Arabic - as well as trademark common misspellings of your name 3/ Consider getting a trademark not just in the same category in which you currently operate, but allied categories where you may operate in the future as well - for example, an apparel brand may want to enter bags, shoes, or even cosmetics, watches and sunglasses later. These days, even as small D2C brands begin to sell online and start getting orders from NRIs outside of India - it becomes important to protect your brand not just in your country of origin, but even elsewhere. #casarthakahuja