The leading design and brand strategist joins us and drops truth bombs about craft, what counts as content, and finding one's true audience.
Meeta Malhotra is a veteran in the Indian branding and design space. She was a partner at the iconic design consultancy Ray+Keshavan, where she helped build brands such as Airtel, Kotak Bank, Mother Dairy, and Vistara Airlines. She continued founding firms and remains active in the startup ecosystem. In 2020, she started The Hard Copy - a digital resource for anyone building a digital-first, design-led brand. Chuck has been a writer with the publication since inception, having authored several case studies.
We invited Meeta onto the show because she brings in several perspectives. As the founder of a content-led site constantly looking to find its true audience. As someone who deeply thinks about content in its various forms. As someone who is able to separate fad from trend. As someone who is able to look at things as a creator, consumer and marketer. And finally, as someone who just has damn good taste.
Any conversation with Meeta is an insight-a-minute, and this is no different. It was a highly thought-provoking conversation for us.
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:42 Art vs Content
00:06:17 What makes for good content?
00:09:23 How do Formats shape Content
00:12:08 The Origin Story of The Hard Copy (THC)
00:16:40 The Pivot that changed THC's fortunes
00:20:23 The Hunger of Founders from Small Towns
00:23:44 Process of THC Newsletter
00:27:31 Judging your own Content
00:33:08 Creator vs Brand: Whose voice?
00:35:20 Generative AI content and mediocrity
00:42:20 Two big skills for the next decade
00:43:44 The two most important mantras of the Creator Economy
00:51:17 Content Creation as Self Discovery
00:54:46 Beauty of being Bored
01:01:18 What uniquely Indian content does the world love
01:05:39 The Loneliness of Content Creation
TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT
This is a YouTube interview series hosted by Utsav and Deepak aka Chuck, about the aspects of content that really matter - the craft, the process, the thinking, the ambition.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
To guide budding creators.
What goes into creating content? How do you make content that resonates with people as well as imbibes your unique essence? How do you make sure you hold on to your creativity whilst trying to crack the 'business' of it? The journey to content creation involves passing through many processes - the ideation, the discipline, the craft, motivation, bringing it all to life while battling hurdles of the daily grind as well as the human mind. An exhilarating process whose outcome makes it look simple and that's the beauty of it.
We interview experts to understand creation at its core and uncover the hidden gems behind this journey. From breaking down the process to diving into their minds as they go through this start to finish. Expect nuanced, sharp conversations with creators, industry folks and entrepreneurs.
THE 6% CLUB
India’s first creator coaching program, designed for people with full-time jobs. Developed by mentors who built global 2% ranking content projects while balancing demanding careers. It features live sessions, 3 masterclasses from creators who have cracked it (Amit Varma, Krish Ashok, SneakyArtist, and more planned), personalised mentoring sessions, peer reviews, a vibrant community, and much more. Check out the program and sign up for the next cohort, here: https://www.thesixpercent.club/
Links
Meeta Malhotra
Website: https://meetamalhotra.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meeta_malhotra/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/meetamalhotra
LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/meetamalhotra
The Hard Copy
Website: https://thehardcopy.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehardcopyco/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHardCopyCo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehardcopyco/
