What the studio is reading.
Daily, curated. 5 to 7 items a day across design, branding, packaging, consumer trends, technology, and India. Every link goes to the source.
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Converse Apologizes After Roiling Social Media With Ads That Evoke a Lynching
Converse pulled ads after widespread backlash that the imagery evoked lynching, a reminder that no mood board review replaces a room with actual diverse eyes in it.
Read on Adweek -
Aara Turns the Spice Jar Into an Invitation to Indian Cuisine
Aara redesigned the humble spice jar into a considered entry point for Indian cuisine, proving that everyday packaging is still the most underused brand real estate in the country.
Read on Dieline -
3 Ways Starbucks Is Reclaiming Its Brand Magic
Starbucks is rebuilding brand equity through three operational and identity moves, worth reading if you think a logo refresh alone can fix a brand that stopped meaning something.
Read on Adweek -
‘minimalism feels cold when empty of narrative’: how aarke shapes its brand identity
Aarke's brand director argues that minimalism without narrative is just emptiness, and their product design choices show exactly what it looks like when restraint carries a point of view.
Read on Designboom -
Digital captures 60% of India's ad spend as total AdEx set to cross Rs 2 lakh crore in 2026: Report
Digital now takes 60% of India's total ad spend, with the market set to cross Rs 2 lakh crore by 2026, numbers that should reframe how any brand team is allocating attention right now.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
D2C brands are measuring influencer marketing with the wrong ruler and their boards are about to notice
D2C brands are still measuring influencer ROI by reach and EMV, metrics their investors are increasingly skeptical of, and the gap between vanity reporting and real attribution is about to get expensive.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
12_things is the new fragrance brand doing everything a brand isn’t supposed to do
12_things launched a fragrance brand by breaking every category convention, and it's worth studying precisely because it shouldn't be working as well as it is.
Read on Wallpaper* -
How Coleman Turned a Fake AI Product Into a Marketing Win
Coleman invented a fake AI product, let the internet react, then revealed the joke: a masterclass in using absurdity to make a legacy outdoor brand feel current again.
Read on Adweek -
Oscar Health Is Rebranding to Make Healthcare Feel Human
Oscar Health's rebrand is a direct bet that making healthcare feel less clinical and more human is itself a growth strategy, not just a design preference.
Read on Adweek -
Siddharth Taparia’s Strategy for Transforming Globally Fragmented JLL Into a Unified Marketing Force
JLL's global CMO Siddharth Taparia on collapsing a fragmented, 200-country marketing operation into one coherent brand voice: the structural problem most large B2B firms quietly ignore.
Read on Adweek -
Folk Cuts a New Pattern for Light Beer
Folk Beer's packaging ditches craft-beer maximalism for cut-paper geometry, proving that restraint in a crowded fridge aisle is its own kind of loud.
Read on Dieline -
Beyond private labels: Swiggy’s bigger Noice bet
Swiggy's Noice push is bigger than a private label play, it signals the platform wants to own the product layer, not just the delivery one.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
Inside Wikipedia’s Plan to Survive the Answer Engine Apocalypse
Wikipedia is rethinking its entire content model to stay relevant as AI answer engines absorb its traffic, and the strategy it lands on will matter for every publisher.
Read on Adweek -
Jessica Hische, Meta’s Muse, and the Ethical Landmines of Design
Jessica Hische's work for Meta puts a sharp question on the table: when a designer's style trains an AI model, who owns what comes out the other side?
Read on Dieline -
The Monoculture Is Dead. It’s Time for the Rise of Niche
Adweek calls the monoculture dead, and the data backs it up: brands chasing mass reach are losing ground to tightly scoped communities that actually buy.
Read on Adweek -
With a Collection of Over 15,000 Pieces of Packaging, The Chicago Brand Museum Redefines What Makes a Museum
A Chicago collector has amassed 15,000 pieces of consumer packaging and turned it into a museum, making the case that the box is as culturally loaded as what's inside.
Read on Dieline -
How Crocs Became One of TikTok Shop’s Top Sellers
Crocs cracked TikTok Shop by leaning into the joke rather than away from it, a useful case study in how polarising brands can turn embarrassment into conversion.
Read on Adweek -
The Risky Ads That Still Pay
Brand Equity looks at the Indian ads that took real creative risk and still delivered commercial returns, worth reading if you think safe briefs are the safer bet.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
Colgate Made a Better Toothpaste Tube. Now They’re Getting Sued for It
Colgate redesigned its toothpaste tube to use 50% less plastic, got sued for it by a competitor, and the case is now a live lesson in how IP law can punish better packaging.
Read on Dieline -
agricultural waste forms complete building system in new york house by LTL architects
LTL Architects built a New York house almost entirely from agricultural waste, treating the material system itself as the design concept, not a sustainability footnote added at the end.
Read on Designboom -
Offline by Design: How Pinterest Turned Disconnection Into Earned Media
Pinterest built a real-world campaign around intentional disconnection, and the earned media it generated says more about attention economics right now than most paid strategies will.
Read on Adweek -
Mattel Partners With Bluey as It Shifts From Toy Maker to Building Fandom
Mattel is formally pivoting from selling toys to building fandom, using its Bluey partnership as the template, and that shift should matter to every brand sitting on an underused IP.
Read on Adweek -
hussein chalayan staged a living room, then let his models wear it away
Hussein Chalayan staged a living room as a set, then dressed models in its furniture and textiles as the show progressed, collapsing the line between domestic space and the body wearing it.
Read on Designboom -
Ferrero India bets on premium experiences, sharper media mix to drive growth
Ferrero India is doubling down on premium experiences and a tighter media mix to grow in a market where chocolate is still an occasion purchase, not a daily habit.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
India’s Great Brand Comeback: Why Dead Brands Are Suddenly Valuable Again
Dead Indian brands are being acquired and revived at a pace that signals something real: dormant equity is cheaper to buy than new equity is to build, and founders are noticing.
Read on Brand Equity (Economic Times) -
HallPass Wants Permission to Cheat, But In a Good Way
HallPass built an entire brand identity around the permission to cheat on your diet, and the packaging earns the joke without explaining it to death.
Read on Dieline -
three centuries-old japanese craft traditions converge in loudspeaker collection
Three centuries-old Japanese craft traditions, one loudspeaker collection: when heritage is the actual brief and not the mood board, the work looks completely different.
Read on Designboom -
Pluto Is Perfume Without the Guesswork
Pluto is selling perfume without the usual mystery theater, clear ingredients, honest descriptions, no opaque poetry. It is a direct challenge to how the entire category communicates.
Read on Dieline -
Kate McKinnon Is an Evil CEO in Sequel to Zoom’s Bowen Yang-Led Brand Reset
Zoom cast Kate McKinnon as an evil CEO in the sequel to its Bowen Yang brand reset, doubling down on self-aware comedy as a long-term brand voice, not a one-off stunt.
Read on Adweek -
Sonos’ New Brand Story Aims to Win Back Trust Two Years After Botched App Update
Sonos is rebuilding brand trust two years after a catastrophic app update, and the campaign is worth studying: this is what a real recovery narrative looks like, not just an apology.
Read on Adweek
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