We love to shine a light on the incredible talent in the BTC community. This month, we’re talking to Abhilash Krishnan, a digital marketer who is putting his digital talents and deep expertise to work for the natural world.

He does this, amongst others, for Internet of Elephants, a company dedicated to changing the way people engage with wildlife and its conservation. Abhilash always has one eye on the horizon. He regularly contributes his ideas of where tech, the internet and digital marketing are heading, to the BTC community. Here are 21 questions to get to know Abhilash better.

WG: What's the story of your name?

AK: Abhilash is derived from the Sanskrit/Hindi word Abhilasha (अभिलाषा) which means intense desire or aspiration. I think the correct word would be ‘endeavour’. I’m told my grandmother was very particular that I be named Abhilash. Yes, she was a headstrong ambitious lady.

WG: Name one thing that you love about the place where you live

AK: Cubbon park. I live in Bengaluru, India, and I love just about everything about this city. 

The food, the weather, art, culture of book-reading and libraries, heritage walks, and of course the beer culture. South Indian breakfast with filter coffee is the best in 'Namma Bengaluru'. 

WG: What problem in the world keeps you up at night?

AK: Inequality of opportunities and not having a level playing field is what bothers me. This goes for everything - from the basics like food and shelter, to the opportunities to grow - education, access to technology and healthcare. If you are born into a stable financial environment you have a huge-huge head start, and you are privileged. Rooting out this inequality can resolve a lot of our global issues.

WG: What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning?

AK: Literally -  my morning walks and runs, park-hopping and listening to some of my favourite podcasts and music mixes. 

WG: What is the big change you want to see in the world?

AK: This may sound idealistic, but I truly wish to see people collaborating and sharing more (instead of competing for most of the time), giving away what they have in abundance or happily sharing their knowledge and expertise to support stranger-innovators who are creating meaningful solutions. Collaboration of the human race at a global scale, not necessarily driven or governed by nation-states is so exciting and magical to think of. 

WG: How are you working towards that change in your own way?

AK: I think I see myself not as a crusader but more as a collaborator-contributor. I try to do my small bits first and incrementally add to compound the larger results. Two things that I'm absolutely passionate about are: wildlife and motorcycling. I work with innovative teams that are creating solutions for global issues. One of them is 'Internet of Elephants', where we create games and digital experiences to rekindle relationships between people and wildlife and revolutionize how conservation is supported.

Second, I don't ride my motorcycles for months together, I don't commute to work, and opt to walk as much as possible for routine errands (that’s roughly a 1000 miles a year). And then once a year, I take time out to fix the machines and go for solo long rides. In my own way, I try to earn those miles.

WG: If you were a car brand, which brand would you be?

AK: I am not a car person. Now if you ask me what motorcycle then that would be a Royal Enfield (Bullet). It's a simple motorcycle that you can ride, maintain, restore and modify yourself, provided you are curious to learn, hoard all kinds of weird tools, and are open to soiling your hands.

WG: What is the biggest branding mistake you ever made?

I started my marketing career as a digital media planner. Early on in my career, I focussed too much on what we were good at: paid digital media. Only later did I realize the power and value of optimization, recommendation engine, and organic growth. Now I am a big proponent of natural organic growth, supported strategically by in-organic tactics.  

WG: What is your biggest branding success?

AK: Lee Make History. This was an APAC-level picture-story campaign by denim fashion brand LEE Jeans, celebrating creative expression. It was very early in my digital marketing career (2008-2009), this was a time before Facebook had a mobile app and smartphones were not known for great picture quality.

With a very small team - brand custodians, a creative agency, and me as the one-man digital team, we handled the India chapter of this year-long campaign and organically got amazing-quality digital participation, submissions, and showcases from India.

Photo copyrights of Lee Jeans, VF corporation (Kontoor Brands). Reproduced from APAC chapter of LeeMakeHistory campaign 2008-2009.

Imagine the UI nightmare and the extent of participation dropouts - the participant had to take pictures on an SLR/DSLR camera, transfer them to a desktop, upload it on a website (Indian data bandwidth was nothing to be proud of those days), and then wait for it to be approved by a jury to be finally featured for voting. 

Eventually good content attracted more and greater content. 

WG: What brand do you always look to for inspiration?

AK: Nokia - I've worked on the media agency side for this brand when they were in the mobile devices business. I have known the DNA of this brand and admired their product innovations, sustainable recycling practices and open engagement culture from the brand side. Nokia today might appear to be a forgotten brand in the consumer side of the businesses, but they were actually lucky to exit a market that was going to just get even more competitive, wasteful and cluttered. The brand though is still creating waves where it matters - 5G advanced telecom networks, the virtual network for the Metaverse and responsible AI. They are still working at 'connecting people'. 

Patagonia is another brand that I have started taking inspiration from, recently.

WG: What would you love to figure out about digital marketing that you still can't quite master?

The warp pace at which the tech side of marketing is evolving and the opportunities to leverage these for good. Personally, I’d be happy to be able to integrate APIs confidently, automating a lot of marketing tasks, and resolve issues with writing code where it is necessary.   

WG: What is your first memory of a brand?

AK: The Indian Air Force. I grew up on air bases and this was the logo and roundel that I'd see everywhere, every day till I finished high school. 

WG: Which brand is totally overrated?

Apple. I use a Macbook. I like the products and their build quality, but I don't think they are worth the premium being charged for the product and after-sales. While trying to resolve some very basic things like battery replacement, I realised how wasteful the brand is and how difficult they make it for users to DIY-fix their laptops in most markets. I still take the risk and do it myself.

WG: What brand should finally get the attention it deserves?

AK: Patagonia.    

WG: Who is your biggest changemaker hero?

AK: K.K Shailaja Teacher - former health minister of Kerala who led the COVID taskforce of the state during the pandemic.

WG: What would be your dream project or role?

I am delighted to share here that the ‘future of work’ is going through a massive overhaul right under our noses. If you really believe in an existing project’s vision, all it takes for you to be part of it and contribute meaningfully is to join their ‘discord’. So I am not actually looking at one role in one organisation when I can contribute to multiple projects that I believe in and grow in the process. A few upskilling roles on my radar right now are Web3 community and treasury management, and tokenomics for a gaming project ideally with ImmutableX and getting proficient with on-chain Web3 analytics tools like Nansen and Dune.

WG: Business is/can be a force for good. Agree or disagree?

AK: Absolutely agree! The way I look at it, businesses or corporations are legal entities and should be no different from individuals. They can be a huge force for good, they can be nimble and evolve, accept change and at a civilizational scale, can have a much larger and everlasting impact. 

WG: If you could have one person be your brand ambassador for a day, who would it be?

AK: I’d like to have a choice between Dalai Lama or Khabi Lame. 

WG: If you could give someone or something one million dollars in services from the best brand builders in the world, who would you give it to and what would you want them to do with it? 

AK: While it doesn't work this way in the decentralised world, I’d want to experiment with ImmutableX to create and manage a world-scale gaming guild that is gamed and programmed to perpetually create resources for the conservation of wildlife and wild places.

WG: We always say it takes a village to build a brand. Who is in your village - who is supporting you? 

AK: My immediate family on one hand and absolute strangers with common passions and interests that I have worked with over the years, and formed great supporting relationships.

WG: If you and your co-founder split up, and a judge ordered one of you to keep the product and one of you to keep the brand, which would you choose?

Usually, I'd choose the one that is (for lack of a better word) more 'adaptable' and scalable. Or depending on my state of mind I might just let them keep both and start afresh if that gives me excitement and peace of mind.  

WG: Where do we go to find out more about you and your work?

On Web2, my LinkedIn profile and my Twitter.

On Web3, I am building my reputation and proof-of-work at Lens Protocol and Polygon ID.