Future Shock in the Age of AI illustration showing technological acceleration from trains to AI networks.

Future Shock in the Age of AI

Prabodh JainLeave a comment

Alvin Toffler’s Warning and the Challenge of Technological Acceleration

A Book from 1970 That Suddenly Feels Contemporary

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A few months ago, I found myself rereading Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, first published in 1970.

Like many books that acquire classic status, it is often remembered for what people think it said rather than what it actually argued. Toffler is frequently described as a futurist who predicted the information age, the internet, remote work and other developments that would emerge decades later. Yet as I revisited the book, I was struck by something else entirely.

At almost the same time, I came across a recent warning signed by nearly two hundred economists, technology researchers and public policy experts. Their concern was not simply that artificial intelligence might transform the economy. Their concern was the speed at which that transformation could occur and the possibility that society was unprepared for it.

Suddenly, a connection became apparent.

The most important question raised by artificial intelligence may not be where the technology is taking us. It may be how quickly we are expected to get there.

More than half a century ago, Toffler argued that societies routinely underestimate the consequences of acceleration. They focus on the destination while neglecting the human consequences of the journey. Today, as artificial intelligence advances from research laboratories into offices, factories, classrooms and homes, that warning deserves renewed attention.

This article is not an argument against artificial intelligence. Nor is it an attempt to portray Toffler as a prophet who foresaw large language models and generative AI.

Instead, it is an exploration of a simple proposition:

The challenge of AI may not be that it changes the world. The challenge may be that it changes the world faster than people and institutions can change themselves.

What Toffler Actually Argued

The popular understanding of Future Shock often misses its central insight.

Toffler was not primarily concerned with any particular technology. He was concerned with the accelerating rate of change itself.

As he wrote:

“The rate of change has implications quite apart from, and sometimes more important than, the directions of change.”

This was a remarkable observation.

Most public discussions about technology focus on outcomes. Will a new technology create jobs or destroy them? Will it increase prosperity or inequality? Will it strengthen democracy or weaken it?

Toffler asked a different question.

What happens when change arrives faster than individuals, organisations and institutions can absorb it?

His concern was not merely economic. It was psychological, social and institutional.

He argued that human beings are adapted to environments that change at manageable speeds. When the pace of novelty becomes excessive, individuals experience stress, confusion and disorientation. Organisations struggle to adjust. Social norms become unstable. Established systems of education, governance and professional development fall behind reality.

Toffler called this condition “future shock.”

It was not a prediction of catastrophe. It was a description of adaptive overload.

The Neglected Variable: Speed

Technological progress is usually discussed in terms of capability.

How powerful is a technology?

How accurate is it?

How productive is it?

How profitable is it?

Yet history suggests that another variable may be equally important: speed.

A society can often absorb enormous changes if they occur gradually.

The transition from horse-drawn transportation to automobiles transformed cities, industries and daily life. Yet the process unfolded over decades.

The electrification of industry altered production systems across entire economies. Again, the transition took decades.

The challenge becomes more difficult when transformation occurs over years rather than generations.

Toffler understood that technological acceleration creates a compounding effect. New knowledge produces new technologies. New technologies generate further knowledge. The cycle becomes self-reinforcing.

He described this elegantly:

“Technology feeds on itself.”

In the age of artificial intelligence, that observation appears particularly relevant. Improvements in computing power, data availability and machine learning techniques are now feeding one another in ways that compress development cycles dramatically.

The question is no longer whether society will change.

The question is whether adaptation can keep pace with acceleration.

Fifty Years of Accelerating Change

Since Future Shock was published, the world has experienced a succession of technological revolutions.

Each brought extraordinary benefits.

Each also required significant adaptation.

The Personal Computer

The spread of personal computers transformed office work, accounting, publishing, engineering and communication.

Tasks that once required entire departments could be performed by individuals.

Productivity increased dramatically.

Yet millions of workers had to learn new systems, acquire new skills and abandon familiar ways of working.

The Internet

The internet compressed distances and democratised access to information.

Communication that once took days or weeks became instantaneous.

Entire industries emerged.

Others disappeared.

The internet expanded opportunities while simultaneously creating new demands on attention, information processing and decision-making.

Smartphones and Social Media

The smartphone placed the world’s information infrastructure in billions of pockets.

For the first time in human history, individuals became continuously connected.

This development delivered extraordinary convenience.

It also created new forms of distraction, information overload and psychological strain.

Globalisation

Globalisation connected labour markets, supply chains and consumers across continents.

Consumers benefited from lower costs and greater choice.

Businesses gained access to new markets.

Workers in many industries experienced both opportunity and disruption.

Pandemic-Era Digital Acceleration

The COVID-19 pandemic compressed years of digital adoption into months.

Remote work, online education, telemedicine and digital collaboration became widespread almost overnight.

The transition demonstrated humanity’s capacity to adapt rapidly under pressure.

It also revealed how difficult rapid adaptation can be.

Across these examples, a recurring pattern emerges.

Technological change generally produced net benefits.

Yet adaptation was rarely smooth.

Institutions often lagged behind innovation.

Education systems struggled to keep pace.

Regulatory frameworks arrived late.

Workers bore much of the burden of adjustment.

This historical pattern provides valuable context for understanding artificial intelligence.

Why AI May Be Different

Every generation believes its technologies are unique.

Such claims should be approached cautiously.

Yet artificial intelligence possesses characteristics that distinguish it from many earlier innovations.

First, it is a general-purpose technology.

Like electricity or the internet, its applications extend across multiple industries.

Second, its barrier to adoption is unusually low.

A smartphone and an internet connection are often sufficient.

Third, AI affects not only physical and routine work but also cognitive and professional work.

It can draft text, analyse information, generate software code, summarise documents and assist decision-making.

Finally, the technology itself continues to improve rapidly.

Capabilities that seemed remarkable two years ago can become commonplace today.

This combination of breadth, accessibility and speed creates conditions that closely resemble the concerns Toffler identified more than fifty years ago.

Adoption Is Racing Ahead of Assimilation

One of the most striking aspects of the current AI wave is the speed of adoption.

According to Stanford University’s 2026 AI Index, 88 percent of surveyed organisations reported using AI in some form during 2025. Seventy percent reported using generative AI in at least one business function.

Generative AI reached more than half of surveyed organisations within approximately three years, a pace faster than the adoption trajectories of many earlier digital technologies.

These figures are impressive.

But they also require careful interpretation.

Adoption is not the same as assimilation.

Installing a tool is easier than redesigning an organisation.

Experimenting with AI is easier than integrating it effectively.

Giving employees access to AI is easier than helping them understand when its outputs should be trusted, challenged or rejected.

The distinction matters.

Many organisations appear to be acquiring AI faster than they are developing the managerial practices, governance structures and learning systems necessary to use it well.

This is precisely the kind of mismatch that concerned Toffler.

Jobs Will Be Changed Before We Know Whether They Will Be Lost

Public discussion of AI often oscillates between two extremes.

One predicts mass unemployment.

The other predicts negligible impact.

The evidence currently supports neither conclusion.

Research by the International Labour Organization suggests that roughly one-quarter of global employment is exposed in some way to generative AI.

However, exposure does not imply elimination.

Most occupations consist of multiple tasks rather than a single activity. AI may automate some tasks while leaving others untouched.

Consequently, job transformation currently appears more likely than immediate large-scale job replacement.

Yet transformation should not be underestimated.

Changes in tasks can reshape careers.

Changes in careers can reshape organisations.

Changes in organisations can reshape labour markets.

Particular attention should be paid to entry-level work.

Many professions rely upon routine tasks as training grounds.

Junior lawyers review documents.

Junior accountants prepare schedules.

Junior analysts compile reports.

Junior programmers write relatively simple code.

If AI assumes a growing share of these activities, organisations may become more efficient in the short term while simultaneously weakening traditional pathways through which expertise is developed.

This possibility deserves far more attention than it currently receives.

The Productivity Promise

Artificial intelligence would not be spreading so rapidly if it delivered no value.

Evidence increasingly suggests that it can improve productivity in many contexts.

One large study involving more than five thousand customer-service agents found that AI assistance increased issues resolved per hour by approximately fifteen percent.

The greatest gains were observed among less experienced workers.

In effect, AI appeared to help distribute the practices of high-performing employees across the broader workforce.

Other studies suggest reductions in time spent on email, administrative tasks and routine knowledge work.

These are significant benefits.

They should not be dismissed.

Yet productivity improvements do not automatically translate into broad economic transformation.

History reminds us that organisations often require years to redesign workflows, management systems and business models around new technologies.

The invention of a technology and the realisation of its full economic benefits are rarely simultaneous events.

Artificial intelligence may follow the same pattern.

The greatest gains may ultimately come not from doing existing tasks faster, but from rethinking how work itself is organised.

The Adaptation Deficit

If there is a central challenge emerging from the AI transition, it may be what could be called an adaptation deficit.

Technological capability is advancing rapidly.

Human systems are advancing more slowly.

Consider education.

Many schools and universities are still debating how students should use AI.

Many teachers have received little formal training.

Curricula designed for a pre-AI world remain largely intact.

Consider organisations.

Many leaders understand that AI matters.

Far fewer have developed coherent strategies for implementation, governance, workforce development and risk management.

Consider public policy.

Governments around the world are attempting to balance innovation, competitiveness, employment, privacy, security and accountability.

The task is formidable.

The issue is not whether society can adapt.

History suggests that it can.

The issue is whether adaptation can occur quickly enough to avoid unnecessary disruption.

When Assistance Weakens Capability

One of the most interesting questions surrounding AI concerns the relationship between assistance and expertise.

Technologies that make people more capable can also make them more dependent.

Navigation systems help drivers reach destinations efficiently.

Many users, however, become less familiar with geography.

Calculators improve computational efficiency.

They may also reduce mental arithmetic skills.

Artificial intelligence introduces similar questions.

If an AI system drafts reports, writes code, summarises research and generates recommendations, how much learning still occurs during the process?

Will future professionals acquire deep expertise?

Or will some forms of expertise gradually weaken?

These questions do not yet have definitive answers.

However, they highlight a recurring theme.

Technological efficiency and human development are not always identical objectives.

Sometimes they reinforce one another.

Sometimes they conflict.

Successful organisations will need to think carefully about both.

What Business Leaders Should Do

The lesson from Toffler is not to slow innovation.

Nor is it to resist technology.

Rather, it is to recognise that successful adaptation requires deliberate effort.

Business leaders may wish to consider several principles.

1. Adopt AI, but avoid panic-driven deployment

Competitive pressure can encourage rushed implementation.

Speed matters.

So does thoughtful integration.

2. Redesign work, not merely tools

The greatest benefits often arise when workflows are reimagined rather than simply automated.

3. Protect learning pathways

Junior employees still need opportunities to develop judgment, experience and expertise.

4. Measure quality as well as speed

Efficiency gains should not come at the expense of accuracy, creativity or trust.

5. Invest in continuous learning

Reskilling is no longer an occasional activity.

It is becoming a permanent organisational capability.

6. Build institutional capacity alongside technological capacity

Technology alone does not create resilience.

Strong management, governance, culture and education remain essential.

The Real Warning

Alvin Toffler did not predict ChatGPT.

He did not predict large language models.

He did not predict today’s debates about artificial intelligence.

What he offered was something potentially more valuable.

He provided a framework for thinking about technological acceleration.

His warning was not that change is dangerous.

His warning was that change can arrive faster than human beings are prepared to absorb it.

Artificial intelligence may ultimately increase productivity, expand access to knowledge and improve living standards.

The long-term benefits could be substantial.

Yet the immediate challenge lies elsewhere.

It lies in ensuring that the institutions responsible for education, employment, governance and professional development evolve quickly enough to keep pace.

More than fifty years after Future Shock was published, the central question remains remarkably similar.

Not whether technology will change the world.

But whether society can adapt at the speed of that change.

Research Notes and Reference Links

Alvin Toffler

1. Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970)
Publisher: Random House
Foundational work on acceleration, adaptation and social change.

Artificial Intelligence and Economic Disruption

2. Ben Casselman
Nearly 200 Economists and Tech Leaders Warn of A.I. Threats
The New York Times (Subscription may be required.)
Discusses concerns regarding rapid AI-driven disruption and policy preparedness.

3. Stanford University Human-Centered AI (HAI)
AI Index Report 2026
https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index

Labour Market Impacts

4. International Labour Organization (ILO)
Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure
https://www.ilo.org

5. World Economic Forum
Future of Jobs Report 2025
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025

Institutional Preparedness

6. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
AI Preparedness Index
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/AIPI

Productivity Studies

7. Erik Brynjolfsson, Danielle Li & Lindsey R. Raymond
Generative AI at Work
Quarterly Journal of Economics (2025)
Study of 5,172 customer-service agents examining the productivity effects of generative AI assistance.

8. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper
The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence
National Bureau of Economic Research
https://www.nber.org

Additional Recommended Reading

9. Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee
The Second Machine Age (2014)

10. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson
Power and Progress (2023)

11. Richard Baldwin
The Globotics Upheaval (2019)

12. Carl Benedikt Frey
The Technology Trap (2019)

13. Mustafa Suleyman
The Coming Wave (2023)

14. Hannah Ritchie
Not the End of the World (2024)
A useful counterbalance against excessive technological pessimism.

Author’s Note

This article does not argue that artificial intelligence will necessarily produce widespread unemployment, social instability or economic harm. Rather, it revisits Alvin Toffler’s central insight that the speed of change can become a challenge in its own right. Whether AI ultimately delivers broad human benefit may depend less on the technology itself than on the ability of individuals, organisations and institutions to adapt to it wisely and at scale.

Chintakindi Mallesham – Asu‑Machine

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I wrote this story because I keep meeting people who believe impact needs a million-dollar pitch deck. A tenth-grade weaver from Telangana just proved them wrong. Read on for 600 words of low-tech magic, a mother’s pain-free shoulder, and a build-list you can copy-paste into any craft cluster tomorrow.
—Prabodh

A tenth-grade weaver from Telangana, a mother’s aching shoulder, and a cam the size of a laddoo—together they cut 6 hours of painful labour to 90 quiet minutes.

Scroll down for the full story, a parts-list you can copy, and proof that you don’t need a unicorn valuation to create life-changing tech.

In a cramped shed behind Sharjipet village, a young man watches his mother, Laxmi, wince after every one of the 9,000 arm circles it takes to prepare a single Pochampally sari. By 1999 he will have turned those circles into one smooth, 90-minute glide.

The Small Idea

A hand-cranked, motor-assisted “asu” frame that winds 4,500 metres of silk onto pegs in the time it takes to drink two cups of tea.

The Big Impact

Across Nalgonda and Warangal districts, women once locked into six-hour marathons of pain now run micro-enterprises: 800 machines, 10,000 revived looms, and weaver families whose loom counts jumped from four to forty in three monsoon cycles.

The Pochampally sari is born twice: first in dye, then in motion. Before the coloured threads ever meet the loom, they must be wound—thread by thread—around wooden pegs in a semi-circle wide enough for a woman’s outstretched arm. The local name for this pre-loom ballet is ‘asu’. One sari yields approximately 9,000 swings. Two saris a day, 18,000 swings. By the age of forty, most women have shoulders that creak like old teak doors.

Chintakindi Mallesham, a tenth-grade dropout who had never seen the inside of an engineering college, decided the creaking had to stop. He began with a bamboo frame, a cycle sprocket and the stubbornness of someone who has watched pain up close. Between 1992 and 1998 he earned, saved, melted, recast and re-earned whatever he could. Neighbours laughed; banks shrugged. Each prototype failed a little differently: threads snapped, pegs wobbled, and motors overheated.

The hinge came on an ordinary February afternoon in 1999. 

While repairing a power-looming unit in Balanagar, Mallesham noticed how a simple cam-and-lever movement could mimic the human wrist’s twist around each peg. He skipped lunch that day, skipped wages too, and walked home with a fist-sized steel cam in his pocket. That night the first Laxmi Asu machine—named, of course, after its first beneficiary—spun a flawless 90-minute Asu. Laxmi herself used it for the next sari and felt, for the first time in decades, no fire in her shoulder.

Word spread faster than monsoon rain. By 2001, sixty machines dotted the weaving hamlets. Steel replaced wood, microcontrollers replaced guesswork, and noise dropped 90%. 

Lingamma, a widowed mother of two, mortgaged her nose ring to buy the seventh unit. She began charging ₹300 per sari for asu services. 

Fifteen years later, she owned a pucca house, two engineering graduate daughters, and a second machine. Multiply Lingamma by the hundreds, and you begin to sense the quiet earthquake Mallesham set off.

Warka Water Tower: Harvesting Drinking Water from Thin Air

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In many rural and arid parts of the world, access to clean drinking water is a daily struggle. For countless families, it means walking miles under a harsh sun, queuing up at unreliable water points, or depending on unsafe sources. It is in this everyday hardship that the Warka Water Tower finds its quiet purpose – and profound relevance.

Inspired by nature and tradition, the Warka Water Tower offers an elegant solution to a complex problem. Created by architect Arturo Vittori, the tower is named after the Warka tree of Ethiopia – a revered fig tree that serves as a natural gathering spot for communities. Much like its namesake, the Warka Tower is more than just a structure – it is a place of sustenance, dignity, and connection.

Standing nearly 10 meters tall, the tower is constructed from natural and locally available materials such as bamboo, jute rope, and mesh. At its core lies a simple yet powerful principle: condensation. As humid air passes through the mesh, it cools, condenses, and forms droplets. These droplets trickle down into a basin at the base – providing as much as 100 litres of drinking water per day under ideal conditions. No electricity, no moving parts. Just thoughtful design rooted in natural processes.

But what elevates the Warka Water Tower from a clever invention to a meaningful innovation is its human-centred design. It’s not parachuted in as a finished product – it’s built by the community. Its parts are low-cost, biodegradable, and easy to assemble. Its maintenance is minimal. In that simplicity lies its strength.

There’s something poetic about it too. Its silhouette – graceful and organic – blends with the landscape. It’s not an intrusion but an inclusion. People don’t just collect water here; they gather, converse, and reclaim their time and well-being.

For me, the Warka Water Tower is a textbook case of a Small Idea with a Big Impact. It doesn’t rely on high technology or vast capital. Instead, it draws upon context, compassion, and creativity. In doing so, it shows us a better way – where innovation respects local wisdom, enhances lives, and leaves a light footprint.

As climate change makes water scarcity more widespread and urgent, we’ll need more such low-tech, high-impact solutions. The kind that quietly transforms. The kind that belongs.

India’s Deep Tech Challenge: Commerce Minister Calls for Innovation Reset

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My article on Piyush Goyal’s Speech at Starup Mahakumbh 2025

In a speech that has sparked widespread debate across India’s business landscape, Commerce Minister ​Shri Piyush Goyal delivered what many perceive as a wake-up call to the nation’s burgeoning startup ecosystem. Speaking at Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi, Goyal challenged entrepreneurs to pivot from service-oriented businesses toward deep technology innovation—a message that, while pointed, underscores a strategic vision for India’s technological future.

“We need more deep-tech startups in India,” ​Shri Goyal emphasized, drawing comparisons between India’s current focus on food delivery platforms versus China’s advancements in semiconductors, electric vehicles, and robotics.

While his comments initially drew criticism for appearing dismissive of gig economy startups, the minister’s broader message highlighted the necessity for technological self-reliance.

“The minister’s words shouldn’t be taken as criticism but as a challenge to engineers and technologists,” noted Zoho founder ​Shri Sridhar Vembu. “What we need are smart engineers who roll up our sleeves and get it done. We can do this.”

India currently boasts over 1.57 lakh government-recognized startups and more than 100 unicorns, establishing itself as the world’s third-largest startup hub. However, ​t​he Minister questioned whether these impressive numbers translate to meaningful technological advancement.

The debate reflects a critical junction for Indian innovation. While service-oriented startups have created significant employment opportunities and addressed urban needs, deep tech ventures represent just a fraction of the ecosystem, with ​Shri Goyal citing approximately 1,000 such startups nationwide.

Despite the controversy, ​Shri Goyal’s speech was a balanced one. While it might sound like he ​w​as dismissal of current achievements, ​i​t was actually a call for their evolution​.

Eternal.com: A Masterclass in Strategic Domain Acquisition

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Timeline visualization of Eternal.com acquisition and corporate rebranding process

In the digital age, a domain name is more than just a web address—it’s a strategic asset. Eternal Limited’s acquisition of eternal.com demonstrates a level of strategic foresight that deserves analysis, particularly given my decades of experience in business and domain naming.

The Power of Direct .com Domains

The .com domain extension has maintained its supremacy in the digital landscape for several compelling reasons:

  1. Brand Authority: Direct .com domains (without prefixes or suffixes) are the digital equivalent of prime real estate
  2. Global Recognition: The .com extension is universally recognized and trusted across markets
  3. Corporate Legitimacy: Most Fortune 500 companies own their direct .com domains, setting a global standard

Strategic Implications of Eternal.com

The acquisition of eternal.com aligns with practices followed by global industry leaders. Consider these examples:

  • IBM owns ibm.com
  • Honda owns honda.com
  • Apple owns apple.com

This puts Eternal Limited in the same league as these global corporations from a digital identity perspective.

Beyond Just a Domain Name

The acquisition of eternal.com represents more than just a technical requirement for the corporate rebranding. It demonstrates:

  • Long-term Vision: Securing a premium generic domain shows commitment to building a lasting legacy
  • Strategic Planning: The domain acquisition preceded public announcement of the name change, showing careful preparation
  • Investment in Digital Identity: Premium domain names are significant investments, reflecting confidence in the brand’s future

The Value Proposition

While the actual acquisition cost remains undisclosed, premium generic .com domains often command seven or eight-figure prices. The investment, however, should be viewed in the context of building a global digital identity that will serve the company for decades to come.

This article is part of a series analyzing Eternal Limited’s corporate transformation. Read our previous piece on the corporate structure change [here].

The Corporate Evolution of Zomato Limited to Eternal Limited

Zomato Limited Transforms to Eternal Limited: Understanding the Corporate Evolution

Prabodh Jain1 Comment

In a significant corporate development, Zomato Limited has announced its transformation to Eternal Limited. This change, however, comes with an important distinction that warrants clarity: while the parent company’s name is changing, the consumer-facing brands remain unchanged.

The Corporate Structure

The renamed Eternal Limited presently runs these four consumer-facing brands: Zomato, Blinkit, Hyperpure and District.

Eternal Limited now stands as the parent company, stewarding a portfolio of distinctive brands that have become household names in India:

  1. Zomato: The flagship food delivery platform continues to operate under its well-established brand identity
  2. Blinkit: The quick commerce platform delivering everyday essentials
  3. Hyperpure: A B2B platform revolutionizing the supply chain of high-quality food ingredients
  4. Going Out / District: A platform facilitating the discovery and ticketing of offline experiences

Strategic Implications

This corporate rebranding reflects Eternal Limited’s evolution beyond its origins as a food delivery company. The new name acknowledges the company’s expanded scope and diverse business interests, while maintaining the strong brand equity of its individual services.

What This Means for Stakeholders

For customers, the experience remains unchanged – they will continue to interact with the same beloved brands they’ve always known. The Zomato app, Blinkit’s quick deliveries, and other services will maintain their distinct identities and operational independence under the Eternal Limited umbrella.

The transformation to Eternal Limited represents not just a name change, but a strategic repositioning that better reflects the company’s broader vision and diverse business portfolio. As the company continues to evolve, this new identity provides a foundation for future growth while honoring the strength of its established brands.

This article is part of a series analyzing Eternal Limited’s corporate transformation. Stay tuned for our next piece examining the significance of the eternal.com domain acquisition.

The Jaguar brand redesign and update is a bold step.

JaGuar’s Bold Rebrand: A Strategic Leap into the Future

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Jaguar redesigned logo and brand update is a necessary and bold step.
Jaguar redesigned logo and brand update is a necessary and bold step.

In the world of luxury automotive branding, few moves have been as audacious as JaGuar’s recent rebranding initiative. As someone who has spent over three decades in the branding industry, I find myself intrigued by the boldness of this strategic pivot that has set the automotive world abuzz.

The luxury carmaker’s decision to completely reimagine its brand identity – from its iconic leaping jaguar to its very name styling (now “JaGuar”) – represents more than just a visual overhaul. It’s a calculated gambit to reposition the brand for an electrified future, even if it means challenging nearly a century of heritage.

Jaguar's willingness to start with a clean slate, is exemplified by the deletion of their entire social media history.

What’s particularly fascinating is the brand’s willingness to start with a clean slate, exemplified by the deletion of their entire social media history. This move, while shocking to many, signals an unwavering commitment to their new direction.

Drawing parallels to other rebranding “failures” misses a crucial point: each brand’s journey is unique. The success or failure of previous rebranding efforts by other companies cannot predict JaGuar’s fate. What matters is the strategic thinking behind the move and the consistency of its execution moving forward. The brand’s design chief, Gerry McGovern, acknowledged that the new direction would “shock, surprise and polarize.” This wasn’t an oversight – it was the intent. In today’s cluttered marketplace, generating conversation is half the battle. The 500% increase in online searches for the brand suggests they’ve already achieved this initial objective.

With captions such as "delete ordinary" and "copy nothing", Jaguar's new campaign has electrified audiences worldwide.

The promotional campaign, with its vibrant aesthetics and abstract narrative, has predictably divided opinion.

What critics might be overlooking is that JaGuar’s target audience isn’t necessarily their current customer base. The luxury automotive landscape is shifting rapidly, with electric vehicles and changing consumer preferences reshaping the market. JaGuar appears to be positioning itself for this future, even if it means potentially alienating some traditional customers in the short term.

As we approach the December 2024 concept car reveal in Miami, it’s crucial to remember that this rebranding is just the first step in what will likely be a longer transformation journey.

From my perspective, JaGuar’s brand managers deserve the space and time to execute their vision. While the risks are significant, so too are the potential rewards. In an industry where playing it safe often leads to irrelevance, JaGuar’s willingness to take such a decisive step might just prove to be their masterstroke.

PM Modi outlines nine key resolutions and requests for India's future development and civic responsibility

PM Modi’s 9 Requests

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See PM Modi’s video here: bit.ly/pm-modi-9-requests

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi put forth nine resolutions (sankalp) and as many requests (aagraha) before people, urging them to work towards fulfilling them.

1. Save every drop of water and make more and more people aware about water conservation.

2. Go from village-to-village and make people aware about digital transactions, teach them about online payment.

3. Work to make your village, your locality, your city number one in cleanliness.

4. Promote local, local products as much as possible, use only Made in India products.

5. As much as possible, first see your own country, travel around in your own country and if you want to go to another country, then you should not feel like going abroad until you have seen the whole of India. PM Modi said “And these days, I keep telling even big rich people that why are they getting married at destinations in foreign countries, so I said ‘Wed in India’, ‘Get married in India’

6. Keep making farmers more and more aware about natural farming. This is a very important campaign to save Mother Earth.

7. Include Millets as Shri-Ann in your daily eating life, promote it widely, it is a super food.

8. Be it fitness, yoga or sports, make it an integral part of your life.

9. Be a supporter of at least one poor family, help them. This is necessary to remove poverty in India.

Here’s a graphic, A3 size, printable downloadable PDF file:

The 9 Requests of Prime Minister Narendra ModiDownload

What is the difference between buying a product from a retail store and online?

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This is my answer on Quora.com to the question

What is the difference between buying a product from a retail store and online?

Am going to answer this question.

I run a business having an online store and a retail store.

Therefore, am qualified to answer it.

The business is Sarangi, the Kanjivaram sari store.

The retail store is in Mylapore, Chennai in south India.

The online store is at www.sarangithestore.com.

Retail and online offer different propositions to the customer.

Retail buying experience is, of course, direct.

You can touch and feel the product.

If apparel, you can try it on.

If crockery, you can hold it in your hands. Quickly assess its properties like size and weight.

If furniture, you can sit on it. The entire family can try it out.

There are exceptions to each of these, of course.

For food retail, as in restaurant dining, well, you know.

For cars, you can test drive it.

There’s great joy in shopping in a store or a mall.

It’s an experience; it could be therapeutic. We can make use of the six senses to better assess the product.

For online, the sense of smell cannot be evoked / made use of with current browsers.

When you come to Sarangi the store, you’ll be personally greeted and seated.

You’ll be surrounded by greenery.

We’ll probably offer you water and coffee.

Online buying experience is indirect or virtual.

You can’t touch and feel the product.

Which works fine for things you know about.

Such as packaged food, mobile phones and travel tickets.

All of us are happier to not have to stand in a queue to buy train tickets.

Online you have access to a vast inventory of products.

From many merchants all at once.

You can discover stuff in Pinterest and instantly visit the merchant.

There’s an instant-ness in shopping online.

You are moving at electron speed.

Online merchants are constantly improving things to make shopping easier.

Product photography has been constantly evolving.

Product listings have been improving.

Better search makes it easier to find what you want.

Better filters make product discovery easier.

www.sarangithestore.com provides a filter which makes it easier to look for the saree you want. You can go fairly granular, for example, with filter options for motifs and even for border colour.

Shopping online can be a great experience, too.

I personally know people shopping for wedding sarees where a dozen or so family members are located in various parts of the world. In Singapore. In California, USA. In Canada. Simultaneously shopping at www.sarangithestore.com by sharing links via WhatsApp chat. Comparing sarees. Shortlisting them. And making their selections.

Though online has also affected many products themselves.

Books have been visibly affected.

In the near future, printed books will disappear in favour of online reading.

Only some types of speciality books will be physically printed.

Notice how, these days, there are no printed user manuals accompanying electronic gadgets.

Online and retail offer different value propositions and varied experiences.

Considered together, it’s a fabulous time to be a shopper.

Whether online.

Or in store.