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Naveen Sivakumaran

📍 Sydney

The output is only as good as your brief

"I went to my hairdresser and gave her unclear directions. I walked out looking like this girl lol! I had to wear caps for a few months! The same applies to marketing and business. Lack of clarity in our messaging can deliver poor results." - String Nguyen When

Open your eyes and ears to everyday life

"Every time I have a memorable experience, I feel sorry for other people. As a writer, I can turn this experience into a story. What do the others have?" I was watching "David Sedaris teaches Storytelling and Humor" on Masterclass. Mind - blown! 🤯 When David said

Can your marketing team sell?

"It looks great but our customers don't really talk like this. They don't use these words and phrases". We were working on a thought leadership piece that the sales team could send to prospects coupled with product specs. The design and copy were on

This will piss you off but you must not react...

"You're putting it on the wrong foot, love!" Aditi is seated on the floor putting on her shoes. She made it very clear that she didn't want my help. I tried telling her a couple times, but, "No, appah. It's Aditi&

Build it. But they won't come.

"Try it, Aditi, just one little bite" I was trying to tempt my 2-year-old to try ice cream for the first time. She sticks out her tongue. Little by little until the tip touches the ice cream. A lick. And another. Bigger licks. A few nibbles. "Mine!

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

I was watching Peppa Pig with Aditi. A morning ritual of ours. She, on my lap, munching down her brekkie while pointing out things she recognises from the cartoon. It's a nice little "us" time that we enjoy. One episode has a scene where George (Peppa&

Create once. Distribute forever.

I'm piggybacking off an earlier piece where I talked about how Aditi, my 2-year-old, is more fascinated with the toy box than the toy itself. One box... Several uses. As a box itself, it's a car, place, house, bed. When torn down into pieces, it becomes

The product you sell is useless without context

I was playing with Aditi and surprised her with a bunch of toys. She was psyched. Unpacked them all. Those with toddlers can relate - give them the coolest toys to play with and they'll be more fascinated with the boxes. Plain cardboard boxes! See, the toy, is

Garbage in garbage out

"Their brief is all over the place!" A friend of mine who runs a hybrid software development studio was on a rant about a client who kept changing the scope of a web app. It was beginning to affect team morale, let alone resulting in wasted resources. He

Great product. Great message. Didn't stick?

"I'm trying out LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It's pretty good, man." My acquaintance goes on tell me about its features. Me thinking, "It was cool when I first told you about it 3 years ago. It was also cool when I told you about