Hareeshankar

Pen History As early as 4,000 B.C., ancient peoples used crude pens consisting of hollow straws or reeds that supported a short column of liquid. During the 500’s B.C., people began to make pens from the wing feathers of such birds as geese and swans. The shaft of the feathers was hardened, and the writing tip was shaped and slit to make writing easy. These feather pens were known as quill pens, and they were widely used until the development of steel-nib pens in the 1800’s. By the late 1800’s, inventors had perfected an early version of the fountain pen. This pen represented a major improvement over previous pens, because it featured an ink reservoir and a capillary feed. Earlier pens held only a small amount of ink at a time and had to be repeatedly dipped in ink. The First Fountain Pen In 1883, L. E. Waterman, an insurance salesman, purchased a writing contraption with its own ink reservoir. But when it leaked, ruining a sale, he got an idea for a better one and decided...

Watching the recent James Bond film festival on Star Movies ensured not only great entertainment, but also an opportunity to understand one of the world's truly enduring brands. For this character, created by Ian Fleming over half-a-century ago, still manages to keep the pulse racing even after myriad transformations that the world around him has undergone. What then is the elusive recipe for the popularity of the world's best known secret agent? And what can the brand world look to imbibe from an idea that has traversed space and time with aplomb? The triumph of an overarching philosophy Call it the essence, core or unifying theme, but the Bond brand seems to have it perfectly figured out. While playing with the most advanced gadgets coupled with dutifully romancing all the women who cross his path and saving the world just in time for cocktails might only seem outward manifestations of the behaviour of this super spy, there are deeper primal levels at which these might...