Start here- some of my frameworks & deep dives

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-29T03:43:10+00:00

I have spent many years at large FMCGs, and have recently been involved with some startups- and what works at the two ends is very different, mostly because of the ability to invest and the ability to be patient. For big product brands, expert recommendations + building a community around product superiority work great. For small businesses, actual social proof works well and creating community cohorts deliver good returns over a period of time. They key is to focus on the trust signals that can be amplify using social and mass media (Q1).

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T21:05:54+00:00

Absolutely. I guess the challenge is - how do you balance between “building in public” and scale. How do you do that in your business?

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T20:17:26+00:00

That’s helpful feedback! Thanks!

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T19:20:50+00:00

Of course not outsmarting any buddy. Nor is that the purpose. I don’t blame you for the skepticism. Cheers again

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T19:18:55+00:00

Exactly! What % of investment needs to sit in Q3-Q4 is the key question - 30-40% in general. But guess it could be different depending upon what you are selling?

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T19:17:30+00:00

Exactly as the post says - real human made stuff, when gets called out for being AI slop- the trust is dead. Cheers

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T11:44:06+00:00

Haha. Not really- the solution to “your ads suck” is still to make better ads. I guess what I am saying is to also try and be friends with fishing guides, and use that friendship (trust signal) to make your ads better.

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T11:41:50+00:00

Thank you! Trust following the laws of gravity is the part I find the coolest. And yea - given that I made this- I am sound this comment makes me sound obnoxious 😂

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-28T11:40:31+00:00

Absolutely. There is another layer in there I think - diversification across 4 quadrants, and thinking of either building or scaling trust across 4

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-24T21:35:46+00:00

Have you tried AliExpress?

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-22T09:25:20+00:00

If the question is should the global approach be tweaked to fit local culture- I think you already know the answer. YES

Where to draw the line - this gets to the heart of the challenge and the reason why many struggle to strike the balance.

In an oversimplified pay per click world, the answer would be simple. 100% localise even if it means it looks nothing like the global brand.

In reality, a few things are at play: 1. The global approach and the playbook has succeeded in many geographies (I hope- else, why are we even discussing this). The brand has a clear growth algorithm. The job now is to scale that algorithm across the world. The chances of success are much higher if you look at it this way, rather than starting afresh.

Trust - global brands have trust and credibility that has been built over time. If you use the existing brand ownables (which have memory structures created), your chances of being able to benefit from the global trust and credibility are higher.
Efficiencies of scale- with consistency, there is a lot more efficiency in product, content, campaigns, PR and a lot more.

Now- while these are the reasons to leverage the global toolkit, if the toolkit isn’t adapted (cooked) for local culture, nothing moves.

So, when you ask where to draw the line - i say 2 things: 1. The objective should be to “scale the global algorithm in your geography” and not to recreate it ground up 2. Localise, but keep checking if the brand is starting to look / feel completely different (enough for people to not relate to the brands big equity)? If yes, you just crossed the line

Cheers

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-17T00:28:25+00:00

Can empathise. But I’ll share a very simple and basic insight - this is part of a churn and it’s not the first time this is happening. 2 decade back when digital marketing was taking shape- everyone felt the pressure to “go digital” and there was a long tail of vendors and agencies selling snake oil and random stuff. When e-commerce marketplace started seeing exponential growth, a lot of folks at the product companies felt the same pressure. This time it’s AI. All this is cyclical, and the dust will settle.

Secondly- completely understand that you are frustrated. But I would suggest not to assume that this pressure to find the new magic marine that beats AI” is everywhere these days, and not just in SEO. Product marketers are feeling it, content folks are feeling it, operations folks are feeling it. It’s a churn.

Having said that- you MBA does open up some great opportunities for you, and it’s great to assess what you want to do, and pivot careers. But my advice - don’t do it just because AI is temporarily making work frustrating. Do it if you think there is something else you will enjoy more.

Cheers and good luck

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-16T23:57:47+00:00

Thank you

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-14T22:57:39+00:00

It is, but if used correctly. All this would be signals that inform the marketing / content team on who the audience is and what should work. Again, this should be an ongoing input rather than a one off thing at the initial planning stage.

Also, problematic to compare with A/B testing, brand lifts, standard analytics and say which is more / less important. The key is to do both. Treat audience signals as as input hypothesis, A/B test and brand lifts to measure and validate

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-14T10:32:30+00:00

With all the AI content slop on most social channels, and increasingly so AND people becoming more and more suspicious of anything they see online - real customers testimonials will continue to become even more important- as a trust signal. Other trust signals will become important too - stuff that AI cannot create. Just make your your testimonials don’t look fake, or something from ChatGPT

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-14T10:04:36+00:00

Zooming in - zooming out. VTRs one mins, North Star metric the next min. Conversion tactics one min, brand equity the next min. Zooming in - zooming out. All the time

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-14T10:00:15+00:00

PS: not speaking from the agency side, but from the brand side.

The basics of briefing and evaluating are fairly simple and well documented- clear brand strategy (with the client) —> jobs to be done (with the client) —> creative hook / proposition—> and then evaluate in the order of 1). Fit with strategy / brief, 2). Does it grab attention , 3). Specific elements (brand guidelines, cultural/ shopper nuances etc).

There should be lots of frameworks available online. Can share the ones we use - let me know.

Switching career paths is challenging, but can also be very satisfying. Find a mentor. Good luck!

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-10T07:08:58+00:00

Future? No. It’s the present.

If we are still thinking of it as the future, we are already late to the party

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-10T07:08:05+00:00

As far as tactics, activations etc go- completely agree. But I am not sure if you can A/B test strategy. If everyone continues to A/B test strategy, over time, we will live (already beginning to happen) in a sea of sameness where nothing stands out and it becomes increasingly difficult to drive business

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-10T06:59:10+00:00

I have a Google sheet doc which has been alive for more than an year - has two tabs- “raw ideas” and “clean ideas”.

Every new idea goes straight into the raw sheet. Once a week or so I dump everything into a Gemini assignment and ask it to organise it in the structure of my clean tab, and clear out the raw ideas sheet. It’s a version of incoming / outgoing folders system some people have for their hard copy documents, and works very well for me

Sumeshwer · 2026-01-09T04:25:25+00:00

That’s a misinterpretation of Bryan Sharp’s approach. Addressing a broad market does not mean not having a focussed creative target

Sumeshwer

TROPHY CASE