ON INSTA-STALKING, SOCIAL MEDIA ETIQUETTE AND MORE
We jumped into the matrix with the sharp, savvy Angélique Raina, a brand consultant and digital influencer, who navigates social media strategy, visual campaigns and much more for the brands she works with. We pick her brains on her branding strategies, favourite apps and Instagram accounts she’s currently stalking.
As a consultant for brands, my work revolves around building their narrative and creating a belief system for their patrons. From strategising campaigns to curating collections, events, and sometimes down to even the consistency of tissue to wrap their products in — one could define it as being a custodian of their taste and image.
Three simple deciding factors — do they have an aesthetic that is particular to them (or is there room to create one?), is the production or craftsmanship above market standards (+ can they scale?), and finally do I love the brand or have a rapport with its founder.
The best brands are authentic; their story and aesthetic are in tune. Internationally, Rosie Assoulin is a great example. In under three years, she has crafted a distinctive visual signature that is centred around this effortless whimsy.
My current favourites are Del Pozo, Rosie Assoulin and Mansur Gavriel. Besides the brand-owned social media accounts, I also enjoy tracking the creatives or the consumers of the brand. A brand can create spectacular imagery, but how is this re-interpreted by consumers? What was the photographer's favourite outtake? Sometimes there is more meaning in that!
Feedly, because there is no better way for me to read the feeds of the 128 websites I subscribe to. Google Keep to organise the relevant information I pick up along the way in myriad forms, screenshots, pictures, links, taped conversations — super easy to merge in with the mothership app of Google Drive.
Pet peeves: low-resolution and over-filtered photos. Why are photos taken from a 10+ megapixel smart phone, still blurry? What is the point?
Standing atop a four-feet wide roof of a six-storey building with no railings. A little scary to say the least, but it overlooked the Qutub Minar, and we really needed that angle.
Will always and forever be my family photos, my grandmother and mother have such rarefied and timeless taste, I needn't look anywhere else.