What I've liked: There I was before the television set idly flicking through the channels half asleep, half listening to the wonderful medley of languages when all of sudden I was woken up by two foreigners having a heated debate in a totally unrecognizable tongue.

It sounded as if they were trying to pronounce "Titan"… so curious, I came back to the channel and within a couple of seconds, an all too familiar melody wafted across and a super announced that it was an ad for Titan.

That was a chance encounter but yes, it was riveting enough to make me glued to the set the next time it appeared.

And that, to me defines a successful ad. The second time around of course, the story came through and it did so quite charmingly.

I rather like the very understated 'proud to be an Indian brand' message that came through, and I especially like their clutter-breaking technique of running the whole story in Spanish (I presume).

Yes. I must admit it was a very interesting translation of an oft-repeated phrase -- "exported to … countries all over the world".

Wonder if this little mispronunciation story was client feedback or was it just the product of a fertile brain? Either way it works  well for the brand and we all know that that is what counts in the end. Congratulations, Titan!

What I've learned: The Boss is always right… or is he really?

I opened shop on March 25, 1980. A few months prior to that, one of the doyens of Indian advertising came to meet me. He came to the Reliance Textiles office at Naroda, near Ahmedabad.

He had heard about the impending opening of "Reliance's new agency" and he had come with an offer to merge his agency with Mudra.

I was taken aback and enquired what was in it for him, and, for me. His interest was justified. Reliance was an up and coming company and he felt that it would go far.

As for what was in it for me -- all he offered, was this cryptic phrase  --  " another point of view"! Those, were his exact words -- "I will offer you another point of view."

It seemed like far too much of an expensive exchange to me at that point in time, but 23 years later I realise that I should have bought his offer. And yes, gone in for the merger.

You might wonder what could have caused this drastic change of mind. Well,  all I can say is this -- after sitting through countless "brainstorming sessions", my respect for the 'other point of view' has risen. The same scene is played out everywhere.

Despite holding a high calibre meeting, it's normally the boss who decides. Everyone else watches the direction in which his head is moving and they swing in that direction -- it invariably becomes a one-man show whether there are 10 or 1,000 employees.

Now why are employees reticent about debating a point, and, equally, why are employers just as scared of it? Is our corporate world so lacking in courage and conviction? I hope they realise soon that healthy debate is the oxygen of a company.

Talking about the 'other point of view' is what steels a company to meet competition. True, it's just one that gets accepted but its takes wisdom on the part of the boss to choose what's best and the employee to accept that decision.

Talking of courage and conviction, let me narrate a small story.

Swami Vivekananda was travelling by 2nd Class, a class frequented by whites in those days. A white man entered the compartment and hung his coat on the peg while Swami tucked his feet up, his boots on the floor and dozed off.

When he woke up, his boots were missing. He didn't say a word even though he knew that the white man had thrown it out of the train. Now it was the white man's turn to fall asleep -- when he woke up his coat was missing. And he questioned the Swami about it.

"Your coat has gone looking for my boots," he replied. A calm but firm stand always demands respect, even from the most voluble opponents.

It invariably serves as a territory marker for beliefs and will always work to your advantage if not immediately, most definitely in the long run.

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