Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 29

Why I Paid Human Musicians + Artists to Create the Sonic Identity for My Podcast

Earlier this week I posted on LinkedIn about a project that my team and I have been working on for nearly a year. During the pandemic, I created a video show which many of you watched. After a smart suggestion (and fair criticism) from Chhavi about how two heads talking wasn’t really compelling on video … I decided to invest in turning the show into an audio podcast. The audio for episodes would need to be remastered, the quality improved and the format changed.

In addition, I knew I wanted a...

Why Branded Reselling Platforms That Allow Customers to Sell Old Products to Each Other May Be Better Than Ebay

Sustainability-first brands like Patagonia have taken their commitment to reuse to the furthest extreme by creating an entire ecommerce experience dedicated to allowing their customers to sell used products to one another. When the Worn Wear platform came out in 2020, the brand was criticized for their crazy idea of inviting their customers to keep their products for longer and resell them or buy used products instead of new ones. Now many other fashion retailers have similar platforms as this h...

The One Time When Everyone Lies on Social Media: After Getting Laid Off

Getting laid off is hard. Though I’ve now been an entrepreneur for nearly ten years, I do remember those moments (yes, plural!) in my life when it happened to me and those were always emotional times. If you were to go by what people share on social media, though, you might think differently. A recent article on the Slate asked: Why is it so common to pretend to be grateful when a job ends?

Some of the reasons are pretty clear cut. You don’t want to jeopardize future employment chances by see...

UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of Influencers at the DNC Convention

Last week, many of you wrote to me about a story I shared about the treatment of the media at the Democratic National Convention and how they seemed to be elevating influencers above journalists in priority. One follow up video that offered more context on the story was this behind the scenes video look at the convention spaces created by influencer @underthedesknews on site.

Watching it was a good reminder that there really is no substitute for seeing the real situation from the ground a...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Against Technoableism by Ashley Shew

“Rethinking who needs improvement” is the provocative subtitle of this book which offers a different perspective on disability that might just shift your perspective about what it means and the way that we often see and treat people with disabilities. As a disability advocate and college professor teaching undergraduates all about disability, she’s clearly used to opening people’s minds. This short book offers plenty of illuminating insights, starting with quantifying the five main disability st...

In a World of Digital Silence, What Should Anything Sound Like?

Electric cars are quiet. Maybe too quiet. The problem, as some public health groups warn, is that electric cars dramatically increase the risk of accidents with pedestrians. The absence of sound creates danger, because we expect to be able to hear a car coming. Now that legislation spearheaded by groups advocating for the blind and visually impaired is starting to require electric vehicles to emit “an artificial engine noise,” the new challenge is what this sound should be. Do car makers just co...

What the Democrats Got Wrong About Media at the Convention

One of the truths about our new media environment is the central role that influencers are taking in the content people consume and trust. Particularly when it comes to young people and their media diet … so it’s no surprise that politicians are courting these influencers and hoping they can help inspire the younger generation to come out and vote. At the Democratic National Convention this past week, influencers took such a central role that they were credentialed and treated like VIPs.

Unfo...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Ultralearning by Scott H. Young

As we head into the end of the summer and back to school times, learning might be on your mind and everyone else in your family too. Learning, of course, isn’t just for school and one of my favorite books all about how to learn better is Ultralearning by Scott H. Young. Nearly every page of this book is full of useful and non-obvious advice. Take notes as questions instead of answers. Attack your weakest point and learn that thing you find most difficult. If you care about long term retrieval, s...

How Crocs Is Taking a Page from LEGO’s Marketing Playbook

Brand partnerships can be tricky. One partner may eclipse the other. It can be hard to stand out or make the right commitments. I’ve always admired the way LEGO used partnerships to leverage the content and stories of their partners but add their own unique lens through the various items you could build through co-branded LEGO sets
with nearly every popular movie franchise series, from Marvel to Harry Potter. Recently, some lists of the many varied collaborations the Crocs brand has been doing ar...

Best & Worst Marketing Ideas from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

It’s time for another review of the best and worst of the Olympic Games marketing. This isn’t a complete list but some of my initial impressions based on reading and what I’m seeing here on site in Paris too. Let’s start with the winners.

Best of Paris 2024 Olympic Marketing:

The Openness Medal by Samsung  – Rather than being another brand trying to celebrate champions, this wonderful idea challenges Gen Z to be vulnerable and share their failures openly on TikTok. This is exactly what the...