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Every so often my LinkedIn feed shows up with one or more of these kinds of announcements: "We are thrilled to be recognised as a great place to work… or … Proud to be named one of India’s best workplaces" (Before someone comments… I'm guilty of using this corporate spiel too, with many companies I've worked with before :) ). Photo by Xavier Praillet on Unsplash Next, the brand team gets to work, with the badge going up on the careers page, social media being updated, and th

For the past year, we've been asking one question: How will AI change marketing? A better question to ask may be: How will AI change the value of a brand?" Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash Conventional wisdom suggests that AI levels the playing field. AI can write copy, generate visuals, summarise research and personalise campaigns in minutes. The barriers to content creation have never been lower. But when everyone has access to the same tools, execution stops being the ad

Why ‘Brand Matters’ more in the age of AI and not less? Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash People are overwhelmed. Candidates are overwhelmed. Customers are overwhelmed. AI is increasing the amount of information available, not reducing it. As a result, people rely on mental shortcuts. Those shortcuts are often brand-based. When you hear: Apple, one associates design, simplicity and a premium experience. With NVIDIA, you associate AI, innovation and technical leadership. Th

When I started in this field, employer branding meant something fairly contained. Build the EVP. Create the content. Tell the company story. Looking back, we'd only just scratched the surface. Photo by Kyle Smith on Unsplash The evolution has been gradual. We moved from recruitment marketing to employer branding. From careers pages to storytelling. From broadcast to conversation. Each shift expanded the practice. The next one expands it further, and I think it's the most sign

A few weeks ago, a small green-cheeked conure nearly died on a busy traffic intersection. My brother-in-law spotted her just in time, stepping in as a bike and a rickshaw were about to end what was probably an already disorienting journey for a bird that had clearly flown far from wherever she belonged. My niece took her in. And what happened next is what I keep thinking about. Within days, this bird, who I assumed would be quiet and cautious, had decided my niece was her flo

Lately, I’ve been getting invites from creators I follow on Instagram to join communities. Not follow, not subscribe, but to join. Photo by Seth Doyle on Unsplash WhatsApp has shifted from groups to communities. Reddit, Discord, and Slack, places where real conversations happen. But in Employer Branding ? Somewhere along the way, communities became an afterthought instead of the mainstay. And yet, community is not new to talent attraction. What’s missing is intention. Creatin

If you’re building your Employer Brand from the ground up, it’s tempting to jump on to campaigns, hashtags, or career site redesigns. But before you create anything, pause and ask these 5 Employer Brand Diagnostic questions first: 1️⃣ Why would someone choose to work and stay? Go beyond perks. What emotion would you like to evoke, to join your mission? Consider what makes your work meaningful or impactful, what differentiates your employee experience from competitors, and how

Your Employer Brand is not only your Employer Reputation . One is what you intentionally build. The other is what the world says about you. Too many companies treat employer branding like damage control, only reacting to Glassdoor reviews and scrambling to manage the social/online narratives. But a strong employer brand is proactive. It’s rooted in your values, lived by your people, and communicated clearly at every touchpoint. Don’t wait for reputation to shape your brand. S

When Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta go to market for tech hires, they’re not just selling jobs. They are selling an experience of impact, one that engineers can picture themselves building. Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash Here’s the snapshot: Amazon leans on leadership principles, scale, and customer obsession. The hook: ownership at a massive scale. Google wraps mission-driven work in world-class perks, engineering excellence, and a visible learning culture

Here's what you need instead... "Culture fit" used to sound like a good thing. Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash Until we realised… It often means hiring people who think, work, and decide in the exact same way. That’s not culture... It’s comfort. And comfort kills innovation. What we need instead are Culture Builders. People who bring cognitive diversity...that's different ways of thinking, problem-solving, and approaching challenges. People who make the team sharper, more

That little bit of workplace banter has followed me around for years. Friends and colleagues have always made the Heinz Ketchup connection with my name. (Psst...honestly, a big brand reference is always fun when it’s sort of tied to your identity 😊). So when I heard about Heinz Ketchup Smoothie, of course I had to find out more. 📣 If tomatoes are a fruit, is ketchup just… a smoothie? They’ve taken a viral internet joke and turned it into reality... blending ketchup with aca