Between The Lines
A curated collection of writing work exploring brand voice, storytelling, and clear communication across digital and editorial formats.
Client
VARIOUS
DELIVERABLES
COPYWRITING
CONTENT WRITING
BRAND MESSAGING
BLOG ARTICLES
SOCIAL MEDIA COPY
CREATIVE WRITING SAMPLES
Year
2026 ONGOING
Role
Creative WRITER
What we know before we write
HYPHEN
Hyphen is a D2C skincare brand co-founded by Bollywood actress and engineer Kriti Sanon in 2023 and it has crossed ₹400 crore
in revenue within two years, which tells you this isn't a vanity project. With a 60% repeat customer rate and 4 million customers
across 19,000 pin codes, something real is happening here.
The brand philosophy lives in its name: the hyphen as punctuation, as connector; the pause that holds two things together. In their
case, nature and science. Their hero products include the Golden Hour Glow Serum, Barrier Care Face Creams (for dry/normal and
oily/combination), the All I Need Sunscreen SPF 50 PA++++ and the Milky Serum. Everything is vegan, dermatologist-tested, and
priced for access; not aspiration.
The brand says "Have It All" loudly. The creative challenge is to write what that feels like when it's whispered.
COPYWRITING 01
BRAND CONTEXT
Minimalism Has a Voice. This is what it sounds like when a brand whispers and the room goes quiet to listen.
01
Brand Manifesto
Skin doesn't need a revolution.
It needs a relationship.
Hyphen began with a simple belief: that the space between nature and science isn't a compromise; it's where real results live.
We don't overclaim. We don't oversell. We don't ask your skin to perform for anyone. We just work, quietly and with intention,
to give it what it actually needs.
Every ingredient earns its place. Every formula carries the weight of two worlds; the precision of science, the patience of nature;
meeting in that small, significant pause that is our name.
A hyphen doesn't separate things. It holds them together.
That's what we do for your skin. And that's what we hope your skin does for you - holds you together, through every version
of yourself you're becoming.
02
OOH Campaign
The most honest playlist you have isn't the one you share.
It's the one you saved and never played. Spotify is the only platform that knows this.
Art Direction :
Art Direction :
Bare skin in natural morning light. Zero makeup. No filter. Off-white field. The word "broken" struck through
with a hyphen - not a slash. The product sits small, bottom-right. Nothing competes with the silence of the
headline.
Your skin isn't broken.
Lines that live in the open.
METRO STATION · MUMBAI / DELHI
Stop treating it like it is.
HIGHWAY BILLBOARD
Less ingredients.
More intelligence.
White space dominates the frame. A single product; shot from directly above; sits bottom-center. Below it:
the formula, listed in small grey type. Three ingredients. That's the visual drama. Restraint as confidence.
The most honest playlist you have isn't the one you share.
It's the one you saved and never played. Spotify is the only platform that knows this.
Art Direction :
Art Direction :
A close-cropped grid of six different Indian skin tones. No labels, no correction, no
arrows. Each tone lit identically - clean, warm, matter-of-fact. The only color accent
is the hyphen in the wordmark. The message needs no explanation.
Not for every skin type.
For yours.
SUBWAY POSTER · MULTIPLE CITIES
DIGITAL OOH · AIRPORT / MALL ATRIUM
The pause in your morning
that does all the work.
6-second loop, no sound. A hand lifts the Milky Serum. Slow, unhurried pour into a palm.
The hyphen in the logo pulses once - softly - then holds. No copy animates. The patience
of the visual is the point.
03
Product Copy Suite
GOLDEN HOUR
GLOW FACE SERUM
Your skin has a 6 AM quality - unhurried, undimmed, entirely itself. This serum was written for that
hour. Tamanu oil and Kakadu Plum extract work without announcement, bringing luminosity that
doesn't ask to be noticed. It's the kind of glow that looks like sleep and water and good decisions.
Wear it under everything. Or nothing.
Descriptions that feel editorial,
not clinical.
BARRIER CARE FACE CREAM
DRY TO NORMAL
Ceramides remember what your skin forgets. This cream doesn't hydrate by sitting on the surface;
it restores the architecture underneath, the quiet scaffolding that holds everything else together.
Oatmeal and Cica calm. Peptides rebuild. Hyaluronic Acid stays. By morning, your skin won't feel
like it's asking for anything.
ALL I NEED
SUNSCREEN SPF 50 PA++++
The most honest product we make. It does one thing - it keeps everything you've earned.
Niacinamide and Kojic Acid work beneath the protection so your skin isn't just shielded, it's
quietly improving. No white cast. No afternoon weight. Just the kind of forgettable that means
it's working.
MILKY SERUM
SKIN DRINK
Water isn't enough. Neither is most of what calls itself hydration. This is a skin drink - layered
Hyaluronic Acid that doesn't just sit at the surface but descends, filling the small spaces where
dryness begins. It absorbs before you remember applying it. Skin that looks like it just woke up
from a long, undisturbed sleep.
BARRIER CARE FACE CREAM
OILY / COMBINATION
Oil doesn't mean your skin is asking for less. It means it's asking for smarter. Squalane - nature's
closest match to your skin's own sebum - doesn't mattify here, it teaches. When your skin
learns it's balanced, it stops overcompensating. This cream is the quiet negotiation that gets it
there.
04
Email Campaign
Imagined brief: Launch of the Hyphen Night Reset Serum - a new overnight repair product built around Retinal, Bakuchiol,
and Sea Buckthorn.
Imagined brief: Launch of the Hyphen Night Reset Serum - a new overnight repair product built around Retinal,
Bakuchiol, and Sea Buckthorn.
A new launch that
doesn't announce itself.
Subject: While you sleep, this works.
Preview: The newest thing we've made. And why it took this long.
From: Team Hyphen <hello@letshyphen.com>
Some things can't be rushed.
We've spent the last several months on a formula that works in the hours you're not thinking about your skin -not because it
needs your attention, but because it doesn't. The Night Reset Serum is quiet skincare for the hours that ask nothing of you.
It contains Retinal - not retinol, but its more direct predecessor - alongside Bakuchiol, for days when your skin wants a
gentler conversation. Ceramides to hold the structure. Sea Buckthorn for the slow work of repair. A trace of
Ashwagandha extract that we nearly left out, then couldn't.
Applied in the space between your last thought and sleep, it addresses what the day leaves behind: oxidative stress,
dehydration, the invisible consequence of sunlight and screens and recycled air. By morning, you won't see it. You'll just feel
that your skin handled something.
That's the goal. Not a transformation. Just skin that kept its word to itself.
The Night Reset Serum is here. We hope you find it useful.
- TEAM HYPHEN
05
Tagline Exploration
The space between nature and science.
Skin that holds its ground.
Everything your skin needs. Nothing it doesn't.
Do more with less; and less with more.
Not a promise. A formula.
For skin that doesn't perform, just lives.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
FINALIST
Ten directions.
Three that stay.
The pause that does the work.
Good skin has a grammar.
9
Where nature puts a hyphen before science.
10
Earn your glow. Quietly.
FINALIST
FINALIST
FINALISTS - WITH RATIONALE
This lives in the brand's founding logic. The hyphen is literally a connector and this tagline makes that visible
without explaining it. It positions the brand philosophically, not competitively, and rewards the consumer who
pauses on it. Best for brand-level communications, manifesto placements, and long-form heritage storytelling.
"The space between nature and science."
This cuts through an industry drowning in before-and-afters and overnight miracles. It repositions effectiveness
as something that doesn't need to be sold - just proven. It speaks to the engineer in Kriti Sanon and the sceptic
in the modern consumer. Works across product packaging, performance ads, and in-store retail environments
where brevity earns attention.
"Not a promise. A formula."
The most emotionally resonant of the three. It gently rejects beauty culture's pressure to look corrected or optimized,
while still caring deeply about skin health. It makes the consumer feel seen - not sold to. Best for OOH placements
where the brand needs to earn trust in a single read, and for brand films where the emotional note has room to land.
"For skin that doesn't perform, just lives."
What we know before we write
GOOD FLIPPIN' BURGERS.
Good Flippin' Burgers started in 2019 as a delivery kitchen in Bandra, Mumbai - founded by three guys who quit corporate to chase the
perfect patty. Sijo Mathew, Sid Marchant and Viren D'Silva had one ridiculous goal: build India's most loved burger brand. Two facts tell
you the story: they are now the highest-rated burger brand on Zomato, Swiggy, and Google everywhere they operate and they've raised
$8.93M across three funding rounds.
The brand is anchored in a purist belief: the patty is the hero. Not the sauce. Not the bun. Not the aesthetic. All sauces are made in-house,
every menu name earns a personality, and the hero products. The Cluckinator, Cheese Bomb, The Kerfuffle, The Grilla all carry names
that sound like they belong in a wrestling arena. They've done collab drops with Netflix India (a Squid Game menu), operate 67 outlets
across six cities, and have a die-hard fanbase that actually gets angry when their regular outlet runs out.
This brand doesn't whisper. It yells from across the street, smells incredible, and still delivers on the promise. Your copy has to match
that energy.
COPYWRITING 02
BRAND CONTEXT
Copy That's As Good As The Burger. This project is about writing with your mouth full;
punchy, irreverent, unapologetically fun. No corporate speak. No calorie guilt trips. Just words that make you hungry.
67 Outlets Nationwide
₹113CrAnnual Revenue
$8.9MTotal Funding
#1Rated: Zomato / Swiggy / Google
2019Started in Bandra
What we know before we write
GOOD FLIPPIN' BURGERS.
Good Flippin' Burgers started in 2019 as a delivery kitchen in Bandra, Mumbai - founded by three guys who quit corporate to chase the
perfect patty. Sijo Mathew, Sid Marchant and Viren D'Silva had one ridiculous goal: build India's most loved burger brand. Two facts tell
you the story: they are now the highest-rated burger brand on Zomato, Swiggy, and Google everywhere they operate and they've raised
$8.93M across three funding rounds.
The brand is anchored in a purist belief: the patty is the hero. Not the sauce. Not the bun. Not the aesthetic. All sauces are made in-house,
every menu name earns a personality, and the hero products. The Cluckinator, Cheese Bomb, The Kerfuffle, The Grilla all carry names
that sound like they belong in a wrestling arena. They've done collab drops with Netflix India (a Squid Game menu), operate 67 outlets
across six cities, and have a die-hard fanbase that actually gets angry when their regular outlet runs out.
This brand doesn't whisper. It yells from across the street, smells incredible, and still delivers on the promise. Your copy has to match
that energy.
COPYWRITING 02
BRAND CONTEXT
Copy That's As Good As The Burger. This project is about writing with your mouth full;
punchy, irreverent, unapologetically fun. No corporate speak. No calorie guilt trips. Just words that make you hungry.
67 Outlets Nationwide
₹113CrAnnual Revenue
$8.9MTotal Funding
#1Rated: Zomato / Swiggy / Google
2019Started in Bandra
01
Brand Voice Definition
Your most entertaining friend who happens to be
an excellent cook
Confident without proving it - the burger does the
talking
Self-aware and a little ridiculous, but always in on
the joke
Bandra-born but pan-India in swagger; not regional,
just real
Proud of the patty the way a chef is proud - quietly
obsessed, loudly amused
1
2
3
4
5
PERSONALITY - IT SOUNDS LIKE
TONE - IT WRITES LIKE
The Personality Brief
Who Are We?
Short sentences that land like a first bite -
immediate, full-flavour
Wordplay that earns the groan and the grin at
the same time
Menu descriptions written by someone who just
ate and is still thinking about it
Pop culture adjacent; never chasing trends,
always aware of them
Never corporate, never preachy, never trying
too hard
1
2
3
4
5
WHAT GOOD FLIPPIN' NEVER SAYS
"Premium dining experience"
"Crafted with passion"
"Indulge in the goodness"
"Your taste buds will thank you"
"Farm-to-table"
"A journey for the senses"
"Limited time only - don't miss out!"
"We take quality seriously"
Any sentence that sounds like a hotel lobby
02
Brand Manifesto
We didn't start a burger company. We started an argument.
An argument that burgers in India should be actually good. Not just-okay good. Not Instagram-good. Not "it's fine for the price"
good. Just; mouth full, eyes closed, forget what you were saying - good.
Three people quit their corporate jobs to prove a point. That the patty is the hero. That sauces should be made in kitchens, not
factories. That a bun deserves to be freshly baked. That if you get these things right, you don't need a PR campaign - you need a
second location. Then a third. Then sixty-seven and counting.
We've been told we're ambitious. We prefer hungry.
Good Flippin' Burgers. Bandra to everywhere. Since 2019. Still flippin'.
Say It Loud.
100–150 words
03
Menu Copy Suite
THE LEGEND · SIGNATURE CHICKEN
THE CLUCKINATOR
The one that started the argument about whether Good Flippin' is better than everywhere else. (It is.) A ginormous crispy fried
chicken breast - coated in smoky BBQ sauce, drowned in Bhoot sauce heat, tucked into a fresh bun with lettuce that's just
there to feel included. Named after a Terminator that could actually be stopped. This one cannot. Order it once. Regret
nothing. Return immediately.
₹345 · The one everyone argues about on Zomato
Names + Descriptions That
Actually Entertain
SIGNATURE BEEF · SMASH CLASSIC
THE GOOD OG
Two smashed buffalo patties. Cheddar that
melts before it can apologize. Our GOOD
sauce which we won't explain, because
then it wouldn't be a signature. Caramelized
onions because raw ones are lazy. A
brioche bun because brioche earned it. This
is the burger that judges all other burgers.
₹449 · The yardstick
VEGETARIAN · CROWD SPLITTER
THE CHEESE BOMB
Designed to make non-vegetarians
deeply question their life choices. The
crispiest, cheesiest patty we could
dream up - herbed cheese seasoning,
GOOD sauce, tomatoes, onions, freshly
baked bun. Warning: "cheese bomb" is
not metaphorical. There will be structural
cheese collapse. Eat above the wrapper.
₹295 · The vegetarians' revenge
CHICKEN · GRILLED & MEAN
THE KERFUFFLE
A peri-peri spiced grilled chicken patty
that starts a disagreement in your mouth
between the heat and the creaminess
and somehow neither wins. Garlic aioli
tries to mediate. Onions just watch.
Named after what happens when you
offer the last bite to someone who
assumed you wouldn't.
₹355 · May cause table arguments
BEEF · GOING ROGUE
THE HOT SMASH
You told yourself you'd get something mild.
Then you saw this. Smashed buffalo
patties, jalapeños, hot garlic aioli, grilled
onions, and the particular kind of eye-
watering joy that only comes from
completely ignoring your own advice. No
regrets included. No apologies either.
₹449 · You were warned
VEGETARIAN · SURPRISINGLY SMUG
THE TRUFFLE SHUFFLER
An umami-loaded shiitake mushroom
patty that knows it belongs in a more
expensive restaurant and chose not to
go. Truffle aioli, cheddar, soft brioche
bun. For the person at the table who will
absolutely say "you should try the
mushroom one" and be completely,
infuriatingly right.
₹449 · The fancy one
SIDES · NON-NEGOTIABLE
THICC SHAKES
Not thin. Not medium. THICC - in the sense
that the straw is merely decorative and you
will need to commit. Available in flavours
ranging from "classic move" to
"questionable decision in the best possible
way." Pairs with everything because it has
no ambitions beyond being excellent at
one thing.
Starting ₹175 · Non-negotiable
CHICKEN · FINGER TERRITORY
ATOMIC TENDERS
Named after the reaction you will have
when you bite in and realize "atomic"
wasn't marketing. Crispy spiced chicken
tenders built for dipping, dunking, stress-
eating between meetings, or as the main
character in your late-night delivery order.
The kind of thing you order for the table
and then deeply regret sharing.
Starting ₹195 · Order extra, always
05
Tagline Exploration
The patty is the point.
Come for the name. Stay for the bite.
We quit our jobs for this. Worth it.
Highly rated. Unreasonably good portion sizes.
No gimmicks. Just beef, chicken, and the right sauce.
India's most-argued-about burger. (We win every time.)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
FINALIST
Ten directions.
3 That Go On The Wall.
Bandra said so. The rest of India agreed.
Made fresh. Named terribly. Tastes incredible.
9
67 outlets. Zero backup plans.
10
The kind of good that makes you send a voice note
FINALIST
FINALIST
01
"The patty is the point."
This is the brand's entire philosophy compressed into five words. It names the enemy (gimmick-first competitors), states the value
(actual food matters), and sounds like something the founders would say over a beer at the original Bandra store. Works as a long-term
brand line for packaging, store interiors, brand films, and investor decks equally.
02
"We quit our jobs for this. Worth it."
Origin story as copy. Completely true - three founders left corporate careers to start this. The "Worth it." does double duty: it's their verdict
and an invitation to the customer to share that verdict. Creates an emotional connection without being sentimental. Ideal for brand
anniversary campaigns and founder-forward content. The sentence break makes it perfect for split-screen formats.
03
"India's most-argued-about burger. (We win every time.)"
Leans directly into the brand's #1-rated status on every platform but frames it through debate, which is how food becomes beloved.
The parenthetical is the brand's confidence made audible: cheeky, declarative, not defensive. Best for OOH and social where you need a
reader to react and they will, either with a laugh or an "actually..." which is still engagement.
06
OOH / Print Ad Concepts
HIGHWAY BILLBOARD · PRE-CITY ENTRY
3 Ads That Stop
Traffic
Art Direction - Solid black billboard. No product shot. Massive white Bebas-style type in the top two-thirds; the subline
in smaller yellow. A single arrow pointing right at the bottom. No photography. No colours beyond three. The confidence of
saying nothing except "we're near" is the entire message. Works 10x better at night when the yellow pops against darkness.
CONCEPT 01
Good Flippin' Burgers. Next exit. You've been warned.
3
4
5
YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE
VERY HUNGRY.
CONCEPT 02
METRO STATION PILLAR WRAP
THE CLUCKINATOR
WAS HERE.
And it was, by all accounts, a lot.
Art Direction - Entire pillar wrapped in GFB red. A single massive photo of The Cluckinator - shot at knee height looking up
like a monument. Headline in full-bleed white Bebas. Subline in small italic yellow underneath. This feels less like an ad and
more like a declaration. Designed for high foot-traffic platforms where commuters have 8 seconds and look straight ahead.
CONCEPT 03
ZOMATO / SWIGGY APP BANNER
RATED #1 BY PEOPLE
WHO ACTUALLY ATE IT.
Not by us. We're biased. Obviously.
Art Direction - Cream background with a blown-up star-rating graphic as the hero visual. Below it: actual pulled-from-Zomato
customer reviews in tiny type - dozens of them, a wall of real unfiltered praise. Headline and subline float on top. The visual
argument is that reviews do the selling and GFB just frames them. Highly native to the delivery platform environment where trust
signals convert directly.
07
Social Ad Copy
ORDER NOW → GOODFLIPPIN.COM
5 Ads That Deserve
The Scroll Stop
Some burgers have names like "Classic" or "Original." Our most popular one is named after a Terminator that clucks. The kind of fried
chicken that makes you put your phone down mid-scroll. Crispy, smoky BBQ, Bhoot sauce heat - the whole business. You've seen the
reviews. You know what to do.
01 INSTAGRAM REEL · STATIC AD
3
4
5
We named a burger The Cluckinator. It outsells everything. We stand by this decision.
02 TWITTER / X · ENGAGEMENT POST
03 INSTAGRAM STORY · LATE NIGHT TARGETING (11 PM – 2 AM)
Controversial opinion: the Cheese Bomb is better than the Cluckinator.
We said it. The crispiest, cheesiest vegetarian patty we could dream up; herbed cheese seasoning, GOOD sauce, fresh tomatoes.
Does it dethrone the Cluckinator? Absolutely not. Was this post designed to cause a debate? Absolutely yes. Drop your order below;
Cheese Bomb or Cluckinator?
PICK A SIDE
It's 11:30 PM. You're awake. We're also awake. Coincidence?
We see you. Scrolling. Hungry in the way that has nothing to do with lunch. The Atomic Tenders are ready. The THICC Shake is colder than
your ex's last text. The Cluckinator is literally just waiting. Look - we're not going to tell you what to do. But we are going to put the order link
right here.
OPEN ZOMATO. YOU KNOW WHICH ONE.
FIND YOUR NEAREST OUTLET →
You've heard about us. Someone in your office group chat mentioned us. A friend from Mumbai visited and wouldn't stop. Now we're here
11 outlets, all the sauces, same obsessive patty-first philosophy that made us the highest-rated burger on every platform in every city we've
entered. We're not here to be decent. We're here to be your regular.
04 FACEBOOK CAROUSEL · NEW CITY LAUNCH (BANGALORE)
3
4
5
Bangalore. We need to talk.
05 INSTAGRAM FEED · NETFLIX COLLAB DROP
We watched Squid Game. Then we made a burger about it. Because obviously.
Crispy fried chicken. Signature Korean sauce. Gherkins, onion, spicy mayo. All the drama of Season 3, none of the emotional damage.
The Korean Krossover is here - a limited-edition collab with Netflix India, because we believe in art, culture, and also just making an
excellent spicy chicken burger. Available while the hype lasts.
PLAY OR PASS → ORDER NOW
What we know before we write
GOOD FLIPPIN' BURGERS.
Good Flippin' Burgers started in 2019 as a delivery kitchen in Bandra, Mumbai - founded by three guys who quit corporate to chase the
perfect patty. Sijo Mathew, Sid Marchant and Viren D'Silva had one ridiculous goal: build India's most loved burger brand. Two facts tell
you the story: they are now the highest-rated burger brand on Zomato, Swiggy, and Google everywhere they operate and they've raised
$8.93M across three funding rounds.
The brand is anchored in a purist belief: the patty is the hero. Not the sauce. Not the bun. Not the aesthetic. All sauces are made in-house,
every menu name earns a personality, and the hero products. The Cluckinator, Cheese Bomb, The Kerfuffle, The Grilla all carry names
that sound like they belong in a wrestling arena. They've done collab drops with Netflix India (a Squid Game menu), operate 67 outlets
across six cities, and have a die-hard fanbase that actually gets angry when their regular outlet runs out.
This brand doesn't whisper. It yells from across the street, smells incredible, and still delivers on the promise. Your copy has to match
that energy.
COPYWRITING 02
BRAND CONTEXT
Copy That's As Good As The Burger. This project is about writing with your mouth full;
punchy, irreverent, unapologetically fun. No corporate speak. No calorie guilt trips. Just words that make you hungry.
67 Outlets Nationwide
₹113CrAnnual Revenue
$8.9MTotal Funding
#1Rated: Zomato / Swiggy / Google
2019Started in Bandra
SUPERTAILS: PET PARENTING CONTENT
FOR PEOPLE WHO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
Science-backed health and nutrition
education that respects the reader's
intelligence.This is here trust is built.
CONTENT STRATEGY 01
CONTENT PILLAR MAP
A full content strategy build for India's leading pet care brand - carving out a third lane between too clinical and too cutesy.
Four pillars that together cover the full range of an Indian pet parent's emotional and practical life built so every piece of
content has a clear home and a clear reason to exist.
PILLAR 01
PILLAR 02
Vet-Verified
Nutrition myths
Breed health
Vet Q&As
Symptoms & signs
Indian Home, Indian Heart
Pet parenting through the lens of Indian
family life - joint households, festivals,
domestic help, small apartments.
Family dynamics
Festivals & pets
First-time parenting
Cultural guilt
PILLAR 03
Everyday Pack
The unglamorous, necessary, deeply
rewarding work of daily pet care. Routines,
products, and practical guidance.
Grooming routines
Product guidance
Training basics
Diet plans
PILLAR 04
Pack Stories
The human side of the relationship. Grief,
milestones, unconditional love, and the
moments that make it all worth it.
Community features
Pet loss
Rescue stories
Milestones
STRATEGIC RATIONALE
Most Indian pet content either lives in Pillar 01 (educational but cold) or tries to go viral via Pillar 04 (emotional but shallow). Pillars
02 and 03 are where Supertails wins: the intersection of cultural specificity and daily usefulness is almost entirely unoccupied. A
Bengali household navigating their dog's first Durga Puja noise anxiety isn't being spoken to by any major brand. That's the gap.
Content that lives here creates community through recognition - readers share it not because it's informative, but because it
feels like it was written for them.exist.
Article 01: Health & Nutrition
The Great Indian Home Food Debate: What Your Dog Can Actually Eat
(and What Your Vet Wishes You'd Stop Feeding Them)
There's a particular kind of judgment that happens when you tell an Indian aunty you feed your dog "foreign food." Eyes narrow.
Head tilts. "We fed our Tommy plain rice and curd for fourteen years and he was absolutely fine," she says, with the confidence
of someone who has never heard the word 'microbiome.'
And look - Tommy probably was fine. But "fine" and "thriving" are different things, and in 2024, we know enough about canine
nutrition to do better than fine.
The home food question is genuinely complicated, though. It's not just a matter of "Western kibble good, Indian food bad." The
reality is more nuanced, more cultural, and honestly more interesting than that.
Pillar: Vet-Verified | ~1,000 words | Blog / SEO long-form
VET-VERIFIED - NUTRITION
Dal-chawal. Roti with ghee. The leftover sabzi that nobody wanted. We've all done it and some of it is fine. But some of it really,
really isn't.
5 min read Dr. Priya Nair, BVSc (Reviewed) Nutrition, Dogs
"The problem isn't that Indian food is inherently bad for dogs. The problem is that what we eat is designed for human digestion;
higher in salt, spices, and refined carbohydrates than a dog's system is built to handle consistently."
What's actually in that dal-chawal
Plain boiled rice and lentils, in small quantities, won't hurt your dog. In fact, rice is often recommended by vets as a gentle food
during stomach upsets. The issue is the word "plain." The dal your dog is eating from your plate has been tempered with onion,
garlic, and salt - all of which are problematic for dogs in varying degrees.
Onion and garlic: both contain thiosulfates that damage red blood cells in dogs, potentially causing hemolytic anemia. Small
amounts over time can accumulate.
Salt: Indian cooking is salted for human palates, which means it contains far more sodium than a dog needs. Excess sodium
strains the kidneys over time.
Spices: turmeric in small amounts is fine (actually anti-inflammatory), but chilli, pepper, and most masalas cause gastric distress.
Ghee: the good news: a small drizzle of ghee is not the enemy. The bad news: "small" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
The foods that actually work
If you want to supplement your dog's diet with home food and many vets actively support this as a way to add variety and moisture
to meals the trick is cooking separately, without the masala.
Plain boiled chicken breast, eggs (boiled or scrambled, no butter), plain curd or yogurt (a great probiotic), boiled sweet potato, and
carrots are all genuinely good for dogs and widely available in Indian households. Paneer, in small quantities, is fine. A little plain
cooked rice as a mixer? Absolutely.
The golden rule is simple: if it's been through your tadka, it's not for them.
The myth of the "Indian breed advantage"
Indian breeds - Mudhol Hounds, INDogs, Rajapalayams - are often said to be naturally adapted to Indian food. There's some truth
to this: dogs that have evolved in the subcontinent over centuries have adapted to a diet with more carbohydrates than, say, a Siberian
Husky. But this doesn't mean they thrive on household scraps. It means their baseline tolerance is higher. Their optimal nutrition still
looks like balanced protein, appropriate fat, and controlled carbohydrates.
"Breed adaptation is not the same as breed immunity. An INDog can handle more dietary variation than a German Shepherd;
but both do better with intentional nutrition."
So what should you actually do?
The answer most vets land on: a good quality commercial diet as the primary food source, with home food as a supplement, not a
substitute. This isn't a commercial argument - it's a practicality one. Commercial pet food, when it's the good stuff, is formulated
to complete nutritional profiles that are genuinely difficult to achieve consistently through home cooking.
If you want to home-cook fully, you can - but it requires real commitment: rotating protein sources, adding appropriate supplements,
and checking in with a vet nutritionist at least twice a year. Many people do it well. Most people think they're doing it well when they
aren't.
The most honest thing we can tell you: your dog's food deserves the same intentionality you bring to your own. Not the same food;
just the same care.
Article 02: Emotional & Cultural
What No One Tells You About Getting a Dog in an Indian Household
The moment you tell your Indian family you want a dog, a very specific sequence of events begins. It moves like a raga - each
family plays it slightly differently, but the structure is always the same.
First: flat refusal. "This house is not big enough." "Who will clean?" "Do you know how much they cost?" "What about when we
travel?" (This last one is always said as if you've announced plans for a six-month international expedition, rather than a long
weekend in Goa.)
Then: negotiation disguised as concern. Your mother starts researching whether dogs are "hygienic." Your father sends you
three WhatsApp forwards about allergies. Your grandmother begins a quiet but dedicated campaign of sighing whenever you
bring it up.
And then - if you are persistent, or lucky, or both - something shifts. You bring the dog home. And within approximately eleven
days, the entire family has completely rearranged their lives around an animal they swore they didn't want.
Pillar: Indian Home, Indian Heart | ~1,100 words | Blog / community long-form
INDIAN HOME, INDIAN HEART - FIRST-TIME OWNERSHIP
It starts with "absolutely not" from your parents and ends with your father sitting on the floor at midnight, feeding the dog
biscuits by hand. A story about dogs, families, and the slow dismantling of a very firm no.
6 min read First-Time Parents, Culture, Family
"The person who said 'I don't want a dog in this house' is now cooking separate chicken for the dog, because apparently
the packaged food 'doesn't look nutritious enough.'"
The house help situation nobody talks about
Here's something Western pet parenting content never prepares you for: the delicate negotiation with your domestic help. In most
urban Indian households, the person who keeps the home running is not you - and your dog becoming that person's problem
without their full buy-in is both unfair and unsustainable.
Some house helps become fiercely devoted dog people within weeks. Others are genuinely uncomfortable and need time, space,
and patience. The responsible thing - and the thing most new pet parents underestimate - is having that conversation honestly
before the dog arrives. What are they willing to do? What boundaries do they need? A dog in an Indian home is a household matter,
not just a personal one, and treating it that way from the start prevents a lot of resentment down the line.
The apartment math problem
Most Indian pet content online is written by people in houses with gardens. Most Indian pet parents live in 2 BHKs in Bengaluru.
This creates a specific kind of anxiety that doesn't have a name yet, but should.
You wonder constantly if the space is enough. You feel guilty on days when you can only manage one walk. You become weirdly
invested in finding the largest possible park within a two-kilometre radius of your building. You learn which neighbours will complain
about barking and carefully time departures accordingly.
The truth, from people who've done it: apartment dogs are happy dogs, when their needs are met in other ways. Mental stimulation
matters as much as space. A bored dog in a bungalow is worse off than an engaged dog in a flat. The size of your home matters less
than the size of your attention.
What the first Diwali actually feels like
Nothing prepares you for it. You know Diwali is loud. You've lived through it your whole life. But you've never lived through it with a
creature who has no framework for what is happening, no capacity to understand that the world is not, in fact, ending.
The first year, you will likely feel like a terrible pet parent for not being better prepared. The second year, you'll be stocked with
anxiolytic supplements three weeks early, have a vet-approved sedation plan on standby, and have sent notes to every neighbour
in your building with polite requests and zero expectation of compliance. This is growth.
The guilt that doesn't go away
The specific guilt of the Indian working pet parent deserves its own support group. It's not just the guilt of leaving them home - it's
the guilt layered on top of guilt. You feel bad about leaving. Then you feel bad that you feel bad, because you have a career,
responsibilities, a life. Then you check the camera for the fourteenth time and see them sleeping peacefully and feel obscurely
betrayed.
This is normal. This is, in fact, the defining emotional experience of having a dog. The love is disproportionate to any rational
explanation for it, the guilt is proportional to the love, and none of it ever quite resolves - you just get better at holding it.
When the family falls
And then, one day, you come home and find your father - the man who said "absolutely not," who sent WhatsApp forwards
about allergies, who refused to make eye contact with the dog for the first two weeks - sitting on the floor of the living room,
sharing his evening biscuit, talking to the dog in the gentle, absurd way that people talk to animals when they think no one is
watching.
You don't say anything. You take a photo you'll keep for the rest of your life. And you understand, completely and without any
need for explanation, what all of this has been for.
That's the thing no one tells you about getting a dog in an Indian household. It doesn't just change your life. It changes your
family's.
Your dog isn't "used to" Indian food. They're tolerating it.
There's a difference between a dog surviving on rice and dal and a dog thriving on balanced nutrition.
Onion and garlic even in small amounts, even in tadka - accumulate over time. Salt levels in home
cooking are designed for human kidneys, not theirs.
This isn't about guilt. It's about knowing the difference, so you can make better choices going forward.
Link in bio for what's actually safe to share from your plate and what to keep on yours.
#DogNutrition #IndianDogParent #PetHealth #Supertails #VetVerified
7 captions across all 4 pillars - optimised for saves and shares, not just likes.
CAPTION 01
Vet-Verified
The person who said "no dogs in this house" is now cooking separate
chicken for the dog.
No further context needed. Tag the family member who had the most dramatic conversion arc.
We know you have one.
(Ours was a dad who now gives the dog his evening biscuits and pretends it never happened.)
#IndianPetParent #DogFamily #DogDad #DogMom #Supertails #PetLife
CAPTION 02
Indian Home
Your dog's morning is better than yours, and honestly? Fair.
5:30am. Stretch. Zoomies. Breakfast inhaled in approximately four seconds.
Full body wag for no discernible reason. Nap planned by 7am.
We could all take notes.
What does your dog's morning routine look like? Drop it below -we read every
one.
#DogNutrition #IndianDogParent #PetHealth #Supertails #VetVerified
CAPTION 03
Everyday Pack
There is before-dog, and there is after-dog. You know exactly which side
of the line you're on.
Before: you left the house without guilt, slept diagonally across the entire bed,
and genuinely did not know what time the neighbourhood park opened.
After: you plan your entire evening around a walk, have 1,400 photos of the same
animal, and have said the words "wait, does the hotel allow pets?" before every
single trip.
No complaints. Zero. What was the moment you knew there was no going back?
#DogParent #PetLife #BeforeAndAfterDog #PackStories #Supertails
CAPTION 04
Pack Stories
Puppy nutrition isn't complicated. But it is easy to get quietly wrong.
The first year shapes everything: bone density, gut microbiome, coat quality,
energy levels. What your puppy eats now isn't just food - it's the blueprint.
Three things most new puppy parents underestimate: calcium balance (yes,
you can overdo it), portion sizing for the breed (not the bag), and the fact
that "premium" on the label means exactly nothing without checking the
actual ingredient list.
Full puppy nutrition guide is on our blog - link in bio. Worth the 5 minutes.
#PuppyNutrition #NewPuppyParent #VetApproved #Supertails #PuppyCare
CAPTION 05
Vet-Verified
Diwali is in [X] weeks. Start preparing your dog now, not the night before.
Noise anxiety during Diwali is real, it's distressing, and it's almost entirely
manageable if you start early enough. Thundershirts, calming supplements,
and desensitisation routines all need time to work; they're not emergency
fixes.
We've put together a complete Diwali prep guide for anxious dogs: when to
start, what actually helps, and what to have on standby for the big nights.
Your vet's number should also be in your recent calls before the 20th. Just
in case.
Link in bio. Save this for later. Share with every pet parent you know.
#DiwaliWithDogs #DogAnxiety #IndianPetParent #Supertails #PetSafety
CAPTION 06
Indian Home
The best thing we sell isn't a product. It's the 11pm peace of knowing
your dog is taken care of.
There's a specific kind of calm that comes from having the right vet on call,
the right food in the bowl, and the right people in your corner when
something goes wrong at 11pm on a Sunday.
That's what we're trying to build. Not just a place to buy things - a place to
feel less alone in this.
What do you wish had existed when you first became a pet parent?
#PetCommunity #DogParent #Supertails #PetWellness #PackLife
CAPTION 07
Everyday Pack
Newsletter - full edition
Subject line
Your dog is stressed about Diwali. Here's what to actually do about it. 🪔
The Supertails Pack Letter | Monthly | Approx. 600 words
Hi [first name],
October means exactly one thing in this newsletter: it's time to have the Diwali conversation.
Not the fun Diwali conversation - the new clothes and the mithai and the lights one. The other one. The one where
we talk about the fact that for your dog, the most joyful time of the Indian calendar is also the most genuinely
frightening. The one where we remind you - gently, because we know you already feel terrible about it - that it's
not too early to start preparing.
We've done the research, talked to the vets, and collected stories from hundreds of pet parents who've been
through it. This month's issue has everything you need.
The Pack Letter - October Edition
THIS MONTH'S FEATURE
A Calm Diwali Is a Planned Diwali: Your 3-Week Prep Guide
Dr. Ankita Mehta, small animal behaviourist, breaks down exactly what noise anxiety looks like in dogs (spoiler: it
doesn't always look like what you think), why desensitisation needs to start now and not on November 1st, and
what the research actually says about calming aids, anxiety wraps, and the dreaded sedation question.
Quick summary: Start a calming supplement 2–3 weeks before Diwali, not the night of. Create a designated safe
room before the season starts so your dog associates it with calm, not panic. And yes, it's okay to talk to your vet
about prescription support - that's not giving up, it's good pet parenting.
Read the full guide on the blog. It's the most thorough thing we've written all year, and we think you'll want to save it.
VET TIP OF THE MONTH
The one thing to do before Diwali week
Call your vet. Not to book an appointment - just to check in. Let them know your dog's anxiety history, ask if they'd
recommend anything proactively this year, and confirm they have an after-hours protocol. This takes six minutes
and will save you a lot of 11pm panic in November. Do it this week.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Anxiease Calming Chews - now in chicken flavour
Ashwagandha, L-theanine, and chamomile in a format dogs actually want to eat. These are the calming
chews we recommend most to pet parents during high-anxiety seasons — and the new chicken flavour
means even the pickiest eaters are on board. Use code CALMPACK for 15% off this month.
FROM THE PACK
Ramya's story: the Diwali that changed everything
Last year, Ramya from Chennai wrote to us in a panic at 10pm on Diwali night. Her Beagle, Mango, was shaking
uncontrollably, wouldn't eat, and had been panting for hours. She didn't have anything in the house, her vet
wasn't reachable, and she was terrified.
This year, Ramya has a calming plan in place, Mango started supplements two weeks ago, and she's built a
quiet room with familiar smells and a white noise machine. "Last year I felt helpless," she told us. "This year I
feel prepared. That's all I wanted."
That's all we want for every one of you. Please reach out if we can help - our care team is available over chat
all through the festive season.
With love from the whole team,
The Supertails Pack - Dr. Priya, Karan, Meera & the rest of us
P.S. - Forward this to one pet parent who needs it. They know who they are.
Content tone guide
Voice characteristics
Warm without being saccharine - we care,
we don't gush
Expert without being clinical - authority
earns trust, jargon loses it
Funny without being flippant - especially
near serious topics
Specific - Indian context, Indian households,
real detail
Honest - we name the hard stuff, then help
with it
The voice that makes Supertails feel different and how to protect it across every format.
WRITE LIKE THIS
WHO WE'RE WRITING FOR
Urban Indian, 24–38, Tier 1 or large Tier 2
Treats their pet as family, not a hobby
Bilingual thought process (thinks in English +
mother tongue)
Has navigated a skeptical extended family
Will spend on pet health but research before
buying
WRITING RULES
Lead with recognition, not information -
make them feel seen first
Short sentences in moments of emotion;
longer for explanation
One piece of cultural specificity per article
minimum
Never talk down - assume they're smart
and motivated
Always end with an action or a question,
never a platitude
REGISTER BY FORMAT
Blog: thoughtful friend who happens to
have a vet on speed dial
Instagram: punchy, warm, built for saves
not just likes
Newsletter: a letter from someone who
genuinely knows you
Product copy: honest benefit > clever
tagline, every time
Error / care messages: human first, process
second
"The guilt of leaving them home doesn't
go away. You just get better at holding it."
NOT LIKE THIS
"As a pet parent, it's natural to feel emotional
about leaving your furry baby!"
DRESSED
IN THE
CITY
A content strategy built on the belief that fashion is not what you buy - it's where you walk, who you become, and
what the city asks of your body every morning. Full content package including editorial, social, and newsletter.
H&M's problem isn't that people don't know them. It's that the people who matter most to their next decade have already made up
their mind about what H&M is - a fast fashion brand with a complicated relationship to honesty.
Direction A (Style, Not Shopping) is smart, but it risks sounding like a retailer cosplaying as a sustainability guru. People will smell
the brief through the content.
Direction B (Fashion Has a Carbon Footprint) is honest and bold - but the moment H&M writes about its own supply chain, they're
back in the same conversation they've been losing for three years. Every piece becomes a fact-checking exercise.
Direction C earns the right to exist in the conversation without asking permission. It doesn't defend H&M. It doesn't even mention
H&M (much). It places the brand inside a genuinely human story - the story of how cities shape us, and how fashion is one of the
languages we use to navigate that. H&M as curator, not as character.
The strategic genius is this: by telling real stories about how people in Lagos, Mumbai, Seoul, and Stockholm actually dress, H&M
earns cultural credibility through witness rather than claim. You trust someone who sees you more than someone who sells you.
CD NOTE - THE STRATEGIC CHOICE
CONTENT STRATEGY 02
01 / STRATEGIC BRIEF
Why Direction C Wins the Room.
Direction C is the only one that doesn't require H&M to defend itself. The greenwashing cloud follows Directions A and B
everywhere. C finds a different altitude. The brand becomes the camera, not the subject. For a sceptical Gen Z audience,
being genuinely curious about the world is more persuasive than any apology or any styling tip. We're not running from the
criticism - we're outflanking it by building something valuable enough that the criticism becomes a footnote.
The Four Pillars.
Every piece of content produced under "Dressed in the City" sits inside one of four pillars. Not categories; pillars.
Each one is load-bearing. Together they make the brand feel like a point of view, not a content calendar.
Long-form editorial deep-
dives into a specific city's
fashion culture. Not what's
trending there - but how
people actually dress, and
why. The economics, the
history, the climate, the
commute. Reportage, not
lifestyle content.
PILLAR ONE
02 / CONTENT STRATEGY
City Portraits
Notice that none of the four pillars require H&M to talk about H&M. The product can show up - gracefully, contextually,
organically -but it's never the point. "Pillar Four: The People Who Dress Cities" is the emotional core of the whole
strategy. Those are the people Gen Z actually trusts. A tailor in Bandra is more credible on fashion than any brand
account, anywhere. When H&M gives them the stage, some of that credibility transfers. Quietly. Without a press
release.
PILLAR TWO
PILLAR THREE
PILLAR FOUR
The In-Between
Borrowed Language
The People Who
Dress Cities
Stories about the moment
fashion shifts - when
tradition meets modernity,
when a city's dress code
breaks, when someone
wears something that
shouldn't work and rewrites
the rules. Short, punchy,
visual-first.
How cities steal from each
other. The Korean street-
wear that landed in Lagos,
the Stockholm minimalism
that remixed through
Mumbai apartments, the
New York energy that
rewired Seoul's youth
culture. Fashion as
globalisation, made human
Profiles of the individuals;
not influencers, not
celebrities who set the
unspoken dress codes of
their block, their building,
their daily commute. The
tailor in Bandra. The
security guard in
Södermalm who somehow
makes a uniform look
extraordinary.
CD NOTE - PILLAR ARCHITECTURE
LONG-FORM
EDITORIAL
BI-MONTHLY
SHORT-FORM
SOCIAL
WEEKLY
SERIES
NEWSLETTER
MONTHLY
PROFILE
VIDEO
BI-MONTHLY
Building a Voice
H&M Doesn't
Have Yet.
03 / BRAND VOICE
"Step into a world where style meets
sustainability. Our Conscious Collection
is designed for the modern woman who cares
about her impact."
H&M's current content voice is what happens when a brand tries to sound like everyone at once: vaguely aspirational, deliberately
inoffensive, and memorable to no one. The task here isn't a tone refresh. It's a full reconstruction.
The new voice for "Dressed in the City" has one job: make the reader feel like they're reading something written by someone who
was actually there. Not someone managing a brand.
THE NEW VOICE - DRESSED IN THE CITY
THE OLD VOICE - GENERIC H&M
Problems: "Step into a world" - the oldest cliché in
fashion copy. "Modern woman" - patronising.
"Cares about her impact" - the greenwashing that
got them in trouble. Zero specificity. Could be any
brand.
"The bus from Yaba to Lagos Island takes forty-
five minutes if traffic's kind. Most days it isn't.
Taiwo plans her outfit around this."
Why it works: Named person, named place,
named time, real constraint. The reader is in
the scene before the brand has said anything.
Fashion as lived experience, not aspiration.
Don't write "a woman in the city."
Write "Adaeze, who commutes two
hours each way and has exactly
zero tolerance for shoes she can't
run in." Names, numbers, places,
constraints. The specific is the
universal.
RULE 01 - SPECIFIC ALWAYS
BEATS GENERAL
RULE 02 - WITNESS, DON'T
LECTURE
The voice observes. It doesn't
explain what fashion means. It
shows what someone does and
lets the reader conclude.
"She's chosen this" is better
than "This choice represents
her identity." Trust the reader.
RULE 03 - CITIES ARE
CHARACTERS
Mumbai in July is not Mumbai
in January. Seoul at 2am is not
Seoul at 9am. The city should
be doing something in every
piece -pressing, demanding,
rewarding. It's not a backdrop;
it's a co-author.
RULE 04 - NO SUSTAINABILITY
SIDEBAR
This is a hard rule. The word
"sustainable" appears zero
times in editorial content. Not
because the brand isn't working
on it - but because when a
sceptical audience smells the
brief, you've lost them. Earn the
right to that conversation later.
RULE 05 - SHORT SENTENCES
DO THE HEAVY WORK
Longer sentences carry texture
and detail. Short sentences carry
weight. The rhythm should move
between the two - never settling,
never droning. Read everything
aloud. If you stumble, cut it.
RULE 06 - H&M IS THE ROOM,
NOT THE SPEAKER
Brand mentions are minimal -
editorial footer, subtle visual
branding. The content stands
without the brand. If the writing
couldn't exist without the H&M
logo, it's an ad. This is not an ad.
CD NOTE - THE VOICE CHALLENGE
H&M's voice problem isn't actually a writing problem - it's a trust problem that's been outsourced to copy. You can't fix
distrust with better adjectives. What "Dressed in the City" does is sidestep voice entirely in the beginning. The first thing
people notice should be that they're reading about a real person in a real place. By the time the H&M logo registers, the
trust has already been built by the story. Voice follows credibility - not the other way around. The comparison panel above
is the most important slide in any client presentation: it should make the room physically uncomfortable looking at the left
column, then relieved looking at the right.
On a Tuesday morning in Lagos Island, Emeka Adeyemi is running exactly eleven minutes behind, which he has calculated is still within
the acceptable margin. He's in a slim-cut blazer made from aso-oke fabric - the same deep indigo-and-gold weave his grandmother
wears to weddings - paired with dark trousers and leather loafers that have never once slowed him down. He works in fintech. Nobody
said anything about the blazer when he started wearing them to meetings. This was the point.
"The silence was the permission," he tells me. We're at a café on Adeola Odeku Street where the espresso is excellent and the AC is
fighting a losing battle against July. "I waited for someone to say something for about three weeks. Nobody did. After that, it felt
permanent."
THE INHERITED DRESS CODE
Lagos has a fashion problem that is also a history problem. The modern Nigerian corporate wardrobe was, to a significant degree,
imported - the suit, the tie, the particular brand of khaki trousers that became standard office-wear in government departments.
These clothes arrived with colonialism and stayed long after it left, the way some habits do. For decades, dressing for work in Lagos
meant dressing in a version of London, 1965.
The shift started quietly -a generation ago, in the cultural eruption of Nollywood and Afrobeats, Lagos started building a visual identity
that was entirely its own. Fashion followed music, the way it always does. But in the boardrooms and open-plan offices of Lagos Island
and Victoria Island, the old code held. Until, broadly, it didn't.
What Lagos Wears
to Work
04 / ARTICLE ONE OF TWO
LAGOS, NIGERIA
A generation of Nigerian professionals is quietly rewriting the office dress code - one Ankara blazer, one agbada collar,
one Saturday-market find at a time. Nobody asked for permission.
"The suit was never really ours. We borrowed it politely for sixty years. We're giving it back now."
Dressed in the City · Series 01, No. 01 · Pillar: City Portraits
Tolani Bello is thirty-one and runs brand partnerships at a media company in Lekki. She's wearing a structured two-piece in a sunset-
orange Ankara print - the kind of thing that would have been called "too traditional" for client meetings five years ago. She's also
presenting to a client in three hours. "The suit was never really ours," she says. "We borrowed it politely for sixty years. We're giving
it back now."
THE ECONOMICS OF THE NEW LAGOS WARDROBE
To understand how Lagos dresses, you first have to understand the Balogun Market. Sprawled across a dense network of streets on
Lagos Island, Balogun is one of West Africa's largest textile markets. On any given Saturday, you can find Ankara fabrics from across
the continent, imported lace from Austria and Switzerland, tailors who will turn three metres of fabric into a blazer or a trouser suit in
two days for a price that would buy you a single H&M shirt in Stockholm.
This is the economic reality that makes Lagos fashion genuinely different: it's a city where looking extraordinary is within reach for people
who are not rich. A tailor-made Ankara blazer costs less than a fast-fashion alternative. Custom is the accessible option. This inverts
almost everything we think we know about fashion and affordability.
Adaeze Nwosu, who runs a small creative agency in Surulere, does most of her professional dressing through a tailor she's worked with for
six years. "She knows my body, she knows my job, she knows what kind of meeting I'm going to." This is not a luxury. It is, in Lagos,
simply how you dress well.
THE SILENT REVOLUTION IN ROOM 7B
What's happening in Lagos's offices right now isn't activism, or even a movement. It doesn't have a name. Nobody organised it. It's more
like a collective exhale - the gradual, individual, entirely uncoordinated decision of a generation to stop performing a foreignness that
was never really theirs.
When Emeka walks into a client meeting in his aso-oke blazer, he's not making a statement. He's just dressed. The fact that it feels
radical to some is, he thinks, the interesting part. "My dad wore a suit every day for thirty years. He was proud of it. I respect that. But I
think what I'm doing is the same instinct - to look like someone who belongs here, and means business."
He finishes his coffee. He's eight minutes late now. He doesn't look worried about it.
CD NOTE - ARTICLE SELECTION & CRAFT DECISIONS
Lagos was chosen for the first feature for three reasons: (1) It's a city with the world's fastest-growing fashion culture right now
and most Western audiences know almost nothing about it. That gap is an opportunity. (2) The story writes itself: a British
colonial professional dress code still lingers in Nigerian corporate culture, even as a generation actively dismantles it. Tension
equals story. (3) Lagos Gen Z is the most globally watched fashion subculture nobody in H&M's European core audience can
place - which makes it genuinely surprising, which is what good editorial feels like. The goal is to make a reader in Stockholm
or Mumbai feel like they've just learned something they want to repeat at dinner.
Several deliberate craft choices here worth naming. Opening on a specific running-late scene grounds the reader physically
before we ask them to engage intellectually. The Balogun Market section does double duty: it's fascinating editorial content
AND it quietly challenges the assumption that fashion affordability is an H&M-level problem to solve - implying the brand
should be humble about its role in other markets. The pullquote is the emotional spine of the piece. It should stop the scroll.
Every article needs one sentence that the reader will actually say to someone else. "We borrowed it politely for sixty years" is
that sentence. Notice there's no H&M product mention, no sustainability frame, no brand CTA. This piece should feel like it
could run in The Guardian. That's the whole point.
The subway in Seoul closes at midnight. This is one of the most important facts about Seoul fashion.
In a city this organised, this meticulous, this carefully scheduled, the last train home is also the first editorial decision of the night. If you're
staying past twelve, you already know you're committed. You've planned for this. You've dressed for this - which means you're probably
wearing something that is, in the language of Seoul street style, completely different from what you wore to the office ten hours earlier.
Jeong Sohyun works in marketing at a mid-sized firm in Gangnam. She is, during office hours, impeccably professional: tailored,
understated, the particular Seoul-corporate aesthetic that values visible effort and quiet quality. At 11:30pm, outside a bar in Hongdae,
she is in a deconstructed oversized blazer, wide-leg trousers in a muted clay, and sneakers that she describes as "a whole conversation."
She looks like a completely different person. She is, she explains, exactly the same.
THE TWO WARDROBES OF SEOUL
Seoul is often described abroad as a fashion city with a single aesthetic - the "clean" look, the K-beauty-adjacent minimalism, the mono-
chrome palette that travels beautifully on Instagram. This is real. It's also incomplete. It's the daytime wardrobe, the performance wardrobe,
the wardrobe Seoul presents to its own economy.
The night wardrobe is stranger, bolder, and considerably more interesting. It's where the city's fashion energy actually lives - in the alleys
of Hongdae and the basement clubs of Itaewon, in the vintage market that runs until 3am in Dongmyo, in the clusters of young people
outside convenience stores at 1am who are, genuinely, dressed like they considered every decision carefully.
Seoul
After 11PM
05 / ARTICLE TWO OF TWO
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
By day, Seoul dresses for performance. By night, it dresses for itself. In the gap between these two wardrobes, a generation
has built one of the most sophisticated street fashion cultures on earth.
"The day is for your employer. The night is for your generation. Seoul understands this completely."
Dressed in the City · Series 01, No. 01 · Pillar: City Portraits
Park Jihoon is twenty-six and works at a creative agency. He's been tracking Seoul street style for four years on an account with sixty
thousand followers who are not, he is careful to note, fashion people. "They're people who are interested in what people actually wear,"
he says. "There's a difference." For Jihoon, the night wardrobe is not a release valve from the day. It's the other way around. "The day
is performance. But it's not fake - it's one mode. The night is another mode. Neither one is more you. You just have to be good at both."
WHERE SEOUL STYLE ACTUALLY COMES FROM
The global picture of Korean fashion has been shaped almost entirely by K-pop and K-drama export - the idol aesthetic, the drama
wardrobe, the immaculately styled artist in a 10-second clip. This is influence, but it's not origin. The real engine is smaller: the
independent designers in Dongdaemun who produce in micro-runs, the vintage importers who source from Japan and the US and
transform the pieces through alteration, the stylist-adjacent social accounts run by people who simply have extraordinary taste and
no interest in making it a career.
What makes Seoul fashion genuinely hard to replicate from outside is its density. Fashion here is not one scene. It's hundreds of
micro-scenes, each with its own internal logic, running simultaneously within a city of ten million people who are, by global standards,
extraordinarily visually literate. You can move between them in a single night. Sohyun does.
THE CONVENIENT STORE, AT 2AM
The true meeting place of Seoul street style is not a boutique or a runway or a social media post. It is the GS25 convenience store at
the corner of almost any street in Hongdae or Itaewon at 2am. This is where people end up after the bars, after the clubs, standing
outside with a can of beer or a triangle gimbap, looking at each other. No agenda. No performance context. Just the honest edit of
what everyone chose to wear tonight, lit by fluorescent white and the glow of a phone screen.
Sohyun says this is her favourite fashion research site. "You see everything there. You see what people actually committed to." She
pauses. "Nobody there is thinking about trends. They're just wearing the thing they got excited about."
The subway is long closed. Nobody seems to mind.
CD NOTE - WHY SEOUL & ARTICLE CRAFT DECISIONS
Seoul is the second feature because it creates useful contrast with Lagos. Lagos's story is about reclaiming cultural identity in
professional spaces - daytime, public, visible. Seoul's story is the opposite: a culture where daytime conformity is intense
(the corporate dress code, the skincare uniform, the performance of put-together-ness) and where the real fashion
experimentation happens in the hours after midnight, in Hongdae alleys and Itaewon side streets. The tension is different, but
the underlying question is the same: what does a city ask of your body, and where do you get to answer back? This dual-city
structure - contrast as editorial architecture - is what makes the series feel like a series rather than standalone articles.
The opening hook - "The subway in Seoul closes at midnight. This is one of the most important facts about Seoul fashion" -
is doing everything an opening line needs to do: it's surprising, specific, and promises to deliver a payoff on a claim that sounds
almost absurd. The reader is immediately curious how those two things connect. That curiosity is the only engine we need. The
ending returns to the convenience store - a structural echo that gives the piece a sense of closure without a tidy resolution. The
GS25 at 2am is also quietly doing ideological work: it argues that the most interesting fashion moments happen outside of
commerce, outside of the glossy aspirational space that H&M usually occupies. This is deliberately self-aware - the brand funding
content that gently undermines the transactional model of fashion. That self-awareness is exactly what earns Gen Z credibility.
She owns fourteen kurtas and has
worn each one in the rain. July in
Mumbai isn't a weather problem.
It's a wardrobe philosophy.
MUMBAI, INDIA
Instagram Caption Series - Six
Cities, Six Moments.
06 / SOCIAL CONTENT
Each caption is paired with a visual direction (for the photographer/art director) and a strategic note. These are not\
product captions. They're world-building. The product appears - if at all - in the credits, not the copy.
#DressedInTheCity #Mumbai
#Monsoon
Visual: Woman crossing a flooded
street, kurta hem lifted exactly
enough, face unbothered. Shot
on a real monsoon day, not a set.
If it's not actually raining, reschedule.
Friday dressing in Lagos is a different
language. The week is behind you.
The city is watching. You came
prepared.
LAGOS, NIGERIA
#DressedInTheCity #Lagos
#FridayDressing
Visual: Group shot, Lagos Island, late
afternoon. Everyone mid-laugh, mid-
movement. Ankara visible on at least
two people. Not staged. The goal is to
photograph people who would dress
like this anyway.
The last train leaves at midnight.
After that, you either go home or
you become an entirely different
person. Seoul is full of people
who chose the second option.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
#DressedInTheCity #Seoul
#NightDressing
Visual: Hongdae alley, 1am. Single
figure, wide angle, street light, no
flash. The city should feel alive
around them, slightly blurry, them
in focus. Mood: committed.
Stockholm in February teaches you
the difference between dressing
against the cold and dressing
despite it. Most people eventually
choose the latter. The rest move
south.
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
#DressedInTheCity #Stockholm
#WinterDressing
Visual: Someone emerging from
a tunnelbana entrance, coat
deliberately chosen (not just
warm), early morning light,
breath visible. The coat is doing
character work, not just practical
work.
Every city has one commute outfit that
becomes the person. In London, it's
usually the one that learned to function
in every weather simultaneously, and
somehow became stylish by accident.
LONDON, UK
#DressedInTheCity #London
#CommuterStyle
Visual: Victoria line platform, rush hour.
Portrait orientation. Faces not shown if
possible - this is about the clothes and
the body language. Everyone moving
except one person, still, in something
remarkable.
The city doesn't wait for you to be
ready. You either dress to meet it or
you dress to survive it. Most people,
if you look closely, are doing both at once.
EVERYWHERE
#DressedInTheCity
Series anchor caption - used for launch
post and occasional reshares.
Deliberately city-agnostic so it can run
with any image from the series. This is
the thesis statement of the whole content
direction in two sentences.
The Newsletter - Issue No. 01.
ISSUE NO. 01 - SERIES LAUNCH
The City Taught Me
How to Dress.
Not a stylist, not a brand, not an algorithm. The city. The bus commute, the sudden rain, the meeting you walked into
overdressed and the night you walked out underdressed. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
07 / NEWSLETTER
I want to start this newsletter - the first edition of what we're calling Dressed in the City - with an honest observation:
the people who taught most of us how to dress were not fashion editors. They were not brand accounts or influencers
or style guides. They were the people we watched on trains and street corners and in offices who seemed to have
figured something out, without trying to teach it to anyone.
Fashion as cultural learning, passed between strangers who never speak. This is one of the stranger and more
wonderful things that cities do.
H&M publishes this newsletter. I want to get that out of the way because I think the most interesting thing we can do
is acknowledge it plainly - we're a fashion brand with a complicated recent history telling you stories about how people
dress in cities, and we're not using any of those stories to sell you anything directly. Some of you will be sceptical about
that. That's fair. The only answer to scepticism is the work itself, so that's what we're going to focus on.
H&M - DRESSED IN THE CITY ISSUE 01 · FREE TO READ
THIS ISSUE: TWO CITIES, TWO WARDROBES
The newsletter is where the voice gets to breathe. No algorithm, no scroll stop, no thumbnail - just writing and a reader
who chose to be there. This is the most intimate, and therefore most powerful, touchpoint in the entire content strategy.
LAGOS - THE WARDROBE RECLAMATION
Emeka Adeyemi walked into a client meeting in an aso-oke blazer and waited three weeks for someone to say
something. Nobody did. That silence, he says, was the permission. Our first full editorial looks at a generation
of Lagos professionals quietly dismantling a colonial dress code - not through protest, but through the daily,
accumulating choice to just stop pretending.
A NOTE ON WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER ISN'T
We're not going to tell you what to buy. We're not going to give you a "10 trends to know this season" list. We're not going
to use the word "sustainable" as a marketing term (I just used it in the explanatory sense - that's allowed). We're going to
tell you about people and cities and the way fashion works in the world when it's not trying to be fashion content.
If any of that makes you want to tell us something - a city we're missing, a story we should be telling, a dress code your
neighbourhood invented that nobody's written about - reply to this email. We're reading them.
SEOUL - THE MIDNIGHT WARDROBE
The subway closes at midnight. Everything interesting in Seoul fashion starts after that. Our second piece follows
the city's two-wardrobe culture - the immaculate daytime self and the stranger, bolder night version - through
the people who move between them without thinking it's contradictory, because it isn't.
WHAT'S COMING
Next issue: Stockholm in February, and the particular philosophy of dressing when the cold is not a season but a condition.
Plus the first instalment of "The People Who Dress Cities" - the tailor, the security guard, the market vendor who is,
without knowing it, setting the aesthetic agenda for an entire block.
The city is teaching. We're paying attention.
- The Dressed in the City Editors
H&M - DRESSED IN THE CITY UNSUBSCRIBE · MANAGE PREFERENCES
CD NOTE - NEWSLETTER CRAFT NOTES
Three deliberate choices worth flagging. First: opening with "I" - a brand newsletter that uses first person singular immediately
signals that there's a human editorial voice here, not a committee. This is essential for trust. Second: the explicit
acknowledgment that "H&M publishes this newsletter" with a direct engagement with scepticism. This is the most controversial
choice in the entire content strategy and also the most important one. You can't build trust by pretending the trust problem
doesn't exist. Naming it - once, plainly, without over-explaining - is the fastest route through it. Third: "reply to this email" at
the end. This is not a CTA. It's an invitation to a conversation. The difference matters enormously to the reader, even if the
mechanics are identical. The goal is a newsletter with a reply rate that surprises the email analytics team. When people write
back to a brand newsletter, something has gone right.
What This
Strategy Is
Actually Doing.
Content strategy documents often end with a slide about KPIs and a projected engagement rate. This one is going to end differently,
because the most important thing "Dressed in the City" does isn't measurable in the first quarter.
What this strategy does is change what H&M means to a sceptical audience - not by defending the brand, but by making the brand
synonymous with a quality of attention. The brand that noticed Lagos. The brand that spent time in Hongdae at midnight. The brand
that put a tailor in Bandra on the cover and let him talk about his work for a thousand words.
You don't earn Gen Z trust by being right about sustainability. You earn it by being genuinely curious about the world and putting that
curiosity on record. "Dressed in the City" is that record.
The product is in the credits. The trust is in the story.
FINAL NOTE
DOCUMENT INCLUDES
Strategic Brief · 4 Content Pillars · Brand Tone Guide · 2 Full Articles · 7 Instagram Captions · 1 Newsletter Edition · CD Notes Throughout