Author: gowrink

A comic series for DataviCloud

Articles & Blogs, Brand, Social media

In October 2023, I began working with DataviCloud, a Chennai-based startup by ex-Freshworks founders. They are building a data platform for small to mid-sized businesses, which will make accessing, handling, and visualising organizational data ridiculously easy.

Over the last few months, we’ve worked on refining the brand messaging, writing useful articles/guides on building a data culture, and sharing these on social channels (for now, that’s LinkedIn.) You can read the blogs here and follow updates here.

I want to talk particularly about a fun content project we’re doing.

Much of analytics and BizOps in any fast-growing business is absolute chaos. The only way to get through each day is to look at the humorous side of things. How do we reflect that in the brand messaging? Vikas (CEO, Co-founder) had the idea of creating a comic series featuring Penguins (they’re adorable and already dressed in suits!) as characters in just such a work setup. I have a ball coming up with funny ideas and writing the dialogues each week. And Ruchi Shah, a talented illustrator, visualises them with amazing attention to detail.

Predictive analytics delivering bad news.

Secret Santa Gift Ideas for the Entire Growth Team (slideshow)

Techies celebrate Valentine’s Day

A Sales guy, a Marketer, and a Product Manager walk into a meeting room…

Calling Unicorns, Soonicorns, Chimeras & Yalis

It’s 2024 but some things haven’t changed.

Go-To-Market or Get-The-Eff-Out!

What it’s like to be the only data person in the room

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon be doing everything. Until then, we have to deal with humans.

DataviCloud is still building their product and I am building their comms strategy—there’s lots to do. But I am thrilled that we’ve already got some great feedback.

Content for Printo

Brand, Web/Landing Pages

Printo is a 17-year old Bengaluru-based organization that revolutionized the print-on-demand space back when they launched. Over the years, they’ve expanded and pivoted many, many times but their communication has been pretty simple and straightforward. It definitely did not reflect all the interesting categories they’d expanded into.

In January 2023, I got the opportunity to work with their marketing team to refresh their messaging for these lesser-known verticals and train the tiny in-house team to ideate, write, and design better. I had big plans for this project but in May 2023, the entire marketing team was laid off and my engagement came to an abrupt end. Such is life!

Most of the work we’d put in was at a nascent stage and hardly any of it went live. I do want to talk about one of the projects because I think we did have the right ideas.

The goal: Printo had established itself as a go-to place for retail customers (individuals) to take document printouts, print photo books, and create custom gifts. The business team had curated extensive offerings to serve the Corporate Gifting space and wanted to target the vibrant startup ecosystem in Bengaluru. The question was: how could one come up with messaging that resonated with this audience?

What their existing landing page for Corporate Gifting looked like:

As you can see, there was very little storytelling and nothing that differentiated Printo from others in this high-competition, operationally-heavy space. In reality, Printo’s offering was very different and designed to simplify the way gifting is done. Operationally easy for the admin/ops/HR folks on the procurement side, lots of options for them to choose from, and reliable too.

In the revised wireframe I suggested, I tried to bring out all these aspects while also leveraging Printo’s long legacy in Bengaluru. Please note: these are rudimentary Canva pumpkins that didn’t get to be transformed into glass slippers by the magical touch of a professional designer.

Consulting for GiveIndia

Emails

Give is India’s largest charitable fundraising platform that runs on a monthly giving model. They work with verified non-profits, not individuals, and cover missions related to human upliftment: education, hunger, elder care, disability support, and poverty. From 2018-2019, I worked with their tiny but passionate marketing team to create and execute their communication strategy.

At the time, communication was one of the biggest challenges that Give faced. The fundraising industry was full of players who used poverty porn and emotional blackmail to get donations. Not only were the visuals triggering but after a point, people began to be de-sensitized to the plight of others.

I helped the team establish communication guidelines that would apply in everything we put out: emails, social media, and ads. Here’s a short overview of what we crafted over many months:

#1 Treat both donors and beneficiaries with respect. Donors are not cash cows; respect their preferences and limitations. This means no messaging that makes them feel shame for their privilege or guilt about not doing enough. Beneficiaries are not victims; be sensitive with the vocabulary used when referring to them. This means no visuals of sick babies and weeping adults.

#2 Show donors the power of their actions. People give when they connect with a cause. But they also want to know if what they’re doing has any impact at all. Show donors who they are helping—real people with hopes and dreams. Share the impact of their contribution through quantitative updates, but more importantly, through stories of hope and upliftment.

#3 All messaging should pass the PCD test: Positive, Dignified, Compassionate. All communications and creatives must meet at least two out of these three tenets of voice and certainly nothing that goes against them.

I also helped the Give team overhaul their newsletter. From sporadic donation appeals, we turned The Giving Chronicles into a short weekly dispatch that turned the spotlight on one hero story in every issue. For those who wanted to know more, we added a Recommended Reads linking to more impact opportunities and stories. We used this section to highlight causes that get less attention or missions urgently in need of support.

The simple, uncluttered layout and focus on words over visuals was a conscious effort to make The Giving Chronicles more letter than news. We also included a simple Did You Know? section to bring to light the lesser known aspects of Give’s functioning.

Here are a few examples of The Giving Chronicles that I worked on.

For the <3 of Longform Ads

Print

I love old-school advertising. Long newspaper ads that hook you with their headlines and keep you reading all the way down. To demand and hold attention is a rare and beautiful skill. Alas, such assignments come by rarely these days. So I try my hand at them on my own time, just because.

These are personal creative exercises and have no relation to the brands/organizations mentioned.

Copywriting for cultsport

Brand, Emails, Social media

Part of the cult.fit family, cultsport is a new line of business for all things sport: workout equipment, activewear, nutraceuticals, and more. cultsport aspires to speak in an energetic, clear, relatable voice, with a focus on showing up and being a wee bit better everyday. From June to October 2022, I worked with their marketing team on store banners, ads, and emails. Here are a few.

A fun fitness email: If you could pick only one fitness equipment to work out at home, which one would you pick? A complicated choice, much like evaluating candidates.

In-app store banners: Workouts aren’t always work—they can be fun! I’ve tried to bring out that spirit in cultsport’s app banners, which inspire and sell (because CTR!)