I am on a break this weekend
It has been a good streak of 16 weeks of writing. I wanted to write this week too, but I am short of time. I will be in Jakarta for a friend's reception.
Hola! This is Shantanu, writing on business, marketing and culture every week out of Singapore. This week is an exception. I spent last few days watching 2 Japanese dramas - one Anime and another a modern drama. I was hoping to write earlier so as not to miss writing this weekend, but I couldn’t control the urge to watch dramas after work.
Here are the shows if you are keen to watch -
Ooku - The Inner Chambers - It shows a world run by women. Men perished in a plague ~100 years back (a plague that only kills young men). Men became a luxury and sought after. Only the wealthy and influential women can have a permanent husband (a luxury). Women gave birth by copulating with the few men left in society. Families would rent out boys, if they had one. A refreshing take on the current patriarchal world.
Let’s get divorced - I expected this to be serious, instead it turned out to be fun. The lead actor, part of an influential political family that has represented Ehime for at least half a century, cheats on his wife. The actor portrays a good for nothing politician and husband. Put simply, he inherits the constituency after the father passed away. The wife, an actress, is famous and is the reason why people vote for her husband. By the end of the drama, the guy becomes an expert politician - he loses everything else though. They couple get divorced. Post it, the girl even more successful, winning international awards on her performance. Many more interesting plots inside the drama. It is light and fun. Go watch if you like the plot.
Now you know why I didn’t find time to write earlier. Beyond this, I am also thinking about the future of this newsletter. Currently I want to write in volume and understand what clicks with users. I would want to start giving a particular direction to this newsletter. I thought of starting a different section for specific topics, and using AI to research and write. However, right now the reader base is a close circle of people I know and wouldn’t want to dump generated information without my perspective on it. I will try a few things over next weeks to drive volume.
I hope you are doing well! If not, please find something that gives you pleasure 😇
Some new topics I have been thinking off
How to win Shopee and Lazada Ads? (or any other marketplace in the world)
Thoughts on launching brands and scaling them to sustainable revenue.
I will refine and define these over next few weeks. Since I think and work on these topics everyday, I won’t forget ;)
Thanks for reading today. I would have like to say sorry for not writing but then everyone deserves some break 🤭
Take care, and have a great weekend!
Hahaha, I checked Blackpink’s and Jisoo’s search trends on Google and it seems to have gone down. It could be the effect of the concert they had in May. Look at those annual peaks - they seem to plan this really well!
Okay, bbye now! I will miss my flight otherwise. 🙋♂️