Garima Mehra

Garima MehraOct 28, 2026

I watched a Panchayat spin-off last night. There was no conventional bollywood face on the thumbnail yet the video crossed 6.5 Million views And to be clear, I’m a fan of these actors. Panchayat is actually where I discovered most of them, and they’re exceptional. Halfway through, I realised something: this wasn’t just an episode. At the end, it turned out to be a Birla Tyres ad. And strangely, I didn’t mind. That’s the part I keep thinking about. Digital entertainment has quietly changed who gets to be a star. 10 years ago, actors playing characters like these would probably have remained supporting faces in someone else’s film. Today, they can pull millions of views on their own. Having spent seven years in recruitment, I saw this pattern often- Talent was rarely the only problem. Sometimes people just didn’t get the right platform. The Viral Fever built that platform. The second thing is how brands show up now. People skip ads, but they don’t skip the character they love! So instead of interrupting viewers with a 30-second pitch, the brand funds a story built around characters people already love. That’s a very different kind of advertising from buying an ad slot. There’s also an interesting distribution flip here. Panchayat sits behind a Prime Video subscription, but this spin-off is free on YouTube. The paid show builds the IP, characters and emotional connection; the free video takes those characters to a much larger audience. And a brand pays to be part of that reach. One piece of content entertains people, distributes a brand, and gives supporting actors a centre stage. That’s a pretty smart model. For founders and marketers, the lesson is simple: People don’t give attention to products. They give it to stories and characters they already care about. Your job isn’t to interrupt that story it’s to earn a place around it. As a viewer, what are you more likely to remember: A brand from a random 30-second ad, or one that funded a story you actually chose to watch?

Garima MehraOct 29, 2026

Most founders know Claude can write their content. Very few know it can help produce the campaign too. I wanted to test how far I could take that. So I created a fictional bag brand, built its visual direction, and used Claude + Higgsfield AI to turn it into a full product campaign. The biggest challenge wasn’t generating good-looking images. It was making every asset feel like it came from the same brand. That’s where the system matters. I broke down the entire workflow in this carousel. Would you try this for your brand?

Garima MehraNov 5, 2026

At this point I've been seeing so many posts about the Canva layoffs on LinkedIn. And somehow, a company’s layoff has turned into leadership lessons, founder takeaways and thought leadership content. I get that POV matters But do we really need to turn everything into content? If you're a Founder and you genuinely feel for the people affected, maybe share job openings, offer referrals or help someone find their next opportunity! That would be a much better leadership lesson than another post explaining what we can learn from layoffs… Not everything needs to be content. And yes, I see the irony of writing a post about this.