The Creative Knight

The Knight represents the awakening of the creative soul and moves by leaps of intuition. Even the most powerful piece on the board, the Queen, cannot move as the Knight does. 

Despite being an astute strategist, I've always been a creative writer at heart. Displayed here are some examples of creative work I'm particularly proud of. 

MBTA

Boston's public transportation system recently started their late night service. The objective behind this campaign was to convince 18-34 year olds that the Massachusetts public transportation system (MBTA) is the most appealing and useful transportation option because it now offers late night service on weekends when they want to be out and about. 

ASPCA

I worked on a campaign to convince 16-30 year-olds that they should consider getting involved with the ASPCA because it is beneficial to them as well as the animals and is not necessarily as much of a commitment it is perceived to be. 

The campaign was called "No Strings Attached". The idea behind it was to play off the commitment phobia which is prevalent among young people and use common break up and anti-commitment lingo in association with helping out at the ASPCA. 

The deliverables developed included posters, outdoor advertising, guerrilla marketing, social media marketing and a partnership idea with charitybuzz.com.

Publications

Articles written by me have been published in national daily newspapers including The Hindu and The Times of India between the years 2006-2008, back when I was in high school. I have also worked on the editorial board of the guest edition of The Times of India

This is a feature story written by me

Bodega: The Secret  behind the Supermarket

Taking a stroll down Clearway Street in Boston, one may come across a small convenience store tucked away in a corner without a name or sign. The store may not exactly be the best place to stop at and grab a bottle of water because it looks shady as hell with its grimy exteriors and sun weathered products on display. It seems like the perfect place for a shifty eyed dealer to hand over a suspicious looking package under the counter. Better skip this store and go to the grocery store around the corner, right?

Wrong! This dubious looking store is no ordinary Bodega, a Spanish word literally meaning “a small grocery store”.  Stepping inside, a secret door hidden behind a vending machine leads to the real Bodega, Boston’s coolest sneaker boutique.

Walking through the secret door, the room transforms from an unkempt and funny smelling convenience mart to a hip store stacked with rows and rows of trendy, sought after sneakers and other apparel. The store’s polished wooden interiors and the high ceiling with a glass chandelier that fills room with golden light are an epitome of elegance. But the walls are also lined with modern graffiti art, and over the hip-hop music playing in the background, a certain rapper expresses his love for shorty. The sneaker boutique is an exotic blend of street culture and sophistication.

“The sneaker culture is based on graffiti art, hip hop, skateboarding and music which is the background I come from and share with my co-founders Jay Gordon and Dan Natola,” says Oliver Mak, one of Bodega’s founders, when asked what prompted them to think of starting Bodega.

Bodega opened in May 2006, at a time when the market conditions were favorable and there was plenty of spotlight on sneaker collection. There was a specialized need at the time in the industry and Bodega was able to cater to it.

“Crazy stuff happened to us initially,” says Oliver. “In the first week that we opened, we were working all day setting up the store and at around 2 a.m., I heard my friend screaming outside. I ran to see what happened and turns out, he got into a fight with a drug dealer and fell down the stairs. And on the day of the store opening, we found a homeless man who fell asleep in our radiator. To cap it off, the Bodega store on the outside got robbed two days later. But things have been looking up since then.”

Things definitely have been looking up because over a period of eight years, Bodega went from a nonentity to an international player in its segment. It’s on par with its contemporaries in cities like New York, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo.

Most retail stores are out there right now, busy spending their resources on various schemes, promotions, programs and paying millions to advertising agencies to throw terms around like “pay-per-clicks” and “SEOs”, all in an effort to draw customers in.  Bodega decided to swim against the tide and showed the world what can be achieved with no advertising whatsoever. It’s interesting to learn how Bodega managed to do this. One would think that for a store with the novelty of being hidden, it would be a natural concern that people might never hear about it. But apparently, not for Bodega. 

“People talk too much, you know what I mean?” says Janet, the stylish store manager dressed in a white crop top and a baseball cap on backwards. “Every year about 20 of you guys come in here, doing a story about Bodega and when these stories get published, people get talking and come to visit. Our store is completely based on word of mouth and we’ve been doing pretty well for ourselves.” Janet has been working for Bodega almost from the time it started.

Most advertising and promotions out there are very “in your face”, and young people see through the blatantly obvious tactics companies use to try and gain business. Bodega understands that what millennials want is to not be wanted. They want to feel empowered and make their own choices, not have it pushed on to them. They want to seek out that store which is unique, hidden and doesn’t try too hard.

“I heard about this place from my friend who loves to collect sneakers. He’s been coming here for years,” says Emily, a customer who was busy trying on a turquoise and purple, limited edition Nike Kobe IX Elite shoes covered in a distinctive flyknit pattern. “I just shop at Bodega sometimes because they have some really cool stuff.”

Emily’s friend is probably someone commonly referred to as a sneakerhead. A sneakerhead can be described as a person who collects, trades or admires sneakers as a hobby. This is no ordinary hobby because sneakerheads live and breathe shoes. They have a real passion for shoes and know everything there is to know about them. The sneakerhead culture originated from retro, street fashion, sports, independent couture, art and design. It’s also partly based on nostalgia because most sneakerheads had an unfulfilled childhood of not being able to afford the sneakers they admired.

“I have about a 100 pairs of shoes,” said Janet showing off the shin length Nike Air force basketball shoes designed by Riccardo Tisci she was wearing. “But that does not make me a sneakerhead. A real sneakerhead would spend thousands of dollars on a single pair of sneakers and they have a real sneaker collection dating back to almost 1994 even. There aren’t that many authentic sneakerheads and only about one in every 20 people who shop at Bodega would qualify as a real sneakerhead.”

Bodega stocks sneakers ranging from $50-800 including many limited edition and collectible sneakers. The store sells sneakers only at retail markup but many times sneakers sold at $100-300 at Bodega are worth a lot more and get resold at almost a $1000.

Bodega faces immense amount of competition from big franchise retailers like Macy’s, Sears, Kohl’s etc. who give volume discounts. “We’re a tiny store compared to all the big players in the industry and there is only so much you can sell as an independent store,” says Oliver. “We haven’t been able to reach economies of scale yet but we try nonetheless.”

Bodega understands that everything is gradually moving online and the future is in e-commerce. Its online store has been functioning well since its 2012 opening.

Despite the convenience of the online service, no one in their right mind would pass up on the experience of visiting Bodega’s brick and mortar store. After all, there aren’t that many stores that have the novelty of having a secret entrance. Besides, it turns out that the Bodega out front does sell water bottles too.