Drizzlin Media Blog

I had written this in response to a set of questions from a blogger who wanted to know why businesses need to have a social media policy at work and what are the benefits and challenges that an organization faces w.r.t having a social media policy.

On the question of why businesses should have a social media policy at work, I feel that there are a couple of influencing factors that is making this transition imperative.

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4/29-A Hauz Khas Village is more than just an address for us (it’s the new Drizzlin Headquarters in Delhi) as it represents a good amount of time spent together as a team to define ourselves, our choices and our brand, it also stands for all that is to follow.

When we first landed here by sheer chance, I felt the room, though bare-minimal, perfectly articulated our needs for a space which would be open, colourful, collaborative and inspiring as we could define it.

It had a character. Even with just its dusty floor, pinkish walls and ceilings that had wires jutting out from corners, it offered you a perspective on what it could be. And we could imagine ourselves there. This was not something we were able to do fully in all the other  places we had seen. (though they were relatively better constructed and furnished)

It was an instantaneous ‘yes’ and the time spent from that day forward was all about setting this up from scratch.

For a whole two weeks, the focus of daily conversations shifted from projects, brands and timelines to walls, ceiling, floors, lighting, paint and furniture!

We went through crazy stages of ideation where everything seemed possible and it was about achieving that ultimate look. At times we reached a dead-end when the execution suffered from a feasibility perspective , and the contractors never seemed to be thrilled with our design ideas (we wanted cemented walls and flooring and not the usual finished marble deal). But we eventually pulled it off.

A counter perspective to this also is that an office essentially is a physical meeting place and has to be functional. So could we have moved in with a lot less? Maybe yes.

But we would have lost out on the complete experience of building something of our own and enjoying every bit of it, I feel very few people would look at doing this and I am proud that we gave it a shot. So here’s to always looking to do more….Cafe Drizzlin you’re next

- Megha

When I joined, Drizzlin’s office was in transition. We were looking out for a new home for Drizzlin and wanted it to be somewhere in Bandra and thus the search began.

Sometime in the first week of October Deepak walks into office pleased as punch and announces to us, “Looks like we may have our new office. It is in Khar right next to the station and it overlooks the trains.” On that Robin was sold on the idea. (For those who don’t know Robin, he loves trains to the point of madness and could sit at the station for hours to watch them go by)

The others needed a little more convincing. So Deepak took out his phone to show us pictures of what would be our new office. It was also a sweet financial deal to get that big an office space in Khar, making it a tough deal to pass up.

A day later Robin, Sabir and I went to check out our to be office. We landed up outside the office building and were a little taken aback at what we saw. For those that know Khar station this building fits right in.

If it wasn’t coming from a reliable source (Deepak) I would have thought we got duped. Like when you see fancy pictures in the brochures of hotels and it turns out to be the complete opposite. At this point I thought it would be insane to give up the comfort of Andheri West for this. However the statement “Never judge a book by its cover” stands true here.

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Wrangler and Drizzlin call it a date …We’re happy to announce our newest client, Wrangler Denims.

With a rich American history that lasts over a 100 years, the brand has come a long way from its association with Cowboys and cowgirls [with their legendary campaign "Long Live Cowboys" ] to ”Whatever you ride” that got them recognition as the ultimate riding apparel. Biker, outdoor enthusiasts, fashion junkies all be ready as we come looking for you to sample what’s in stored for you at the house of Wrangler …. if you’re a Wrangler fan and would like to be considered in one of their initiatives, do write into us. If you’re a biker and really love to take it outdoors .. we’d love hear from you too!

- Deepak

The recent Ford ‘Swap Your Drive’ ads where owners swapped their existing cars for a Ford car promised to be a fresh breath of life in the otherwise boring, scripted world of TVCs. Unfortunately; it falls short of delivering on genuine feedback. The ‘Everything is Good’ aspect of the TVC screams at you to go and check their experience over the week online but the web only hosts the same TVC videos. As a consumer wanting to buy a car, reviews play an all important role in decision making. The web association, unfortunately, does not complete what the TVC seems to suggest and I end up feeling a bit cheated. In fact it only promotes more scrutiny and I would hungrily lap up more genuine reviews from the Autocars and Overdrives of the world.

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Times I feel some brands suffer from stage fright..no kidding….though virtually, talking on a social network or forum is like addressing a public gathering!

And like it happens with some of us, the numbing effect (post the realisation that you are infact audible to many many people out there) comes in and you wonder…’Gosh what am I going to say?’ You stutter, mumble or strike a conversation with a completely irrelevant context and the uneasiness is on wide display.

This is a phenomenon actively demonstrated across some brand pages as well! Think of a prestigious bank and a leading electronics company both relaying movie songs (with the brand connect vague or entirely missing)?!

Honestly, there is ample reason for paranoia. Unlike other mediums, this one can potentially give you a degree of responsiveness from users you never pre-empted, which could be problematic if your vague about your own branding attributes.

This is the rational behind the existence of ‘me-too’ branding approaches that are any day safer but far from being distinctive and fuel a widening perception gap between who you believe you are and who you actually are.

But the end to this ordeal really is in believing you do have a story worth sharing and only you can narrate it best. And to do that you need to know your attributes and build on them, it’s worth the effort as they define you distinctly, make the connect more relatable and this alone is your most engaging proposition.

So for e.g. If customer service is your story, harp about it, if it isn’t think talk about another USP. Either way build a conversation that is rational and relevant enough to be sustainable! Even though movies may seem more popular as conversation starters, why would I as an end user trust or be remotely interested in your taste for movies if they are not what you make or sell?

- Megha

Yeah!  It was a euphoric scenario at work when one of our favorite clients decided to go ahead with a project around food & dining. It can’t get better than this, especially when all of us crave for delicacies and no matter what,end up talking, reading & dreaming about food. We were literally jumping on our couch when Robin (His designation is still unclear but for now, The Account Head) came smiling in from a conference call with the client saying “Sab ho gaya hai. bas paper work baki hai!”

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I stumbled upon this interesting video recently this indeed is extremely relatable on several accounts! It completely captures the scenario most brands would find themselves in- trying to define why they are here, what they should be doing and how should they be measuring it?

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We recently released our latest report on the state of the Indian Blogosphere. We  interviewed 30 bloggers across the country covering genres as diverse as technology, fashion and food to get a pulse of the latest affairs in the Indian user generated content space.

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