Blog
The Gifting Journal: Thoughts, Ideas & Stories from Our Studio
The Diwali Budget Cut That Is Costing You Far More Than You Realise.
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio I want to tell you about a conversation I had with a CFO. Not the kind of conversation you might expect from someone who runs a…
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Diwali Is Less Than 100 Days Away. Some HR Teams Are Relaxed. Others Will Panic in October. Here Is the Difference.
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio I want to start with a scene that I know every HR head and Admin leader in India has lived through at least once. It is the…
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Eleven Annual Days. Eleven Generic Gifts. And Then Someone Finally Got It Right.
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio I want to tell you about a conversation I almost did not have. It was a Tuesday morning, about six weeks before their company's…
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The Phone Call That Tested Everything We Stand For. And What Happened When We Answered It.
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio I want to tell you about a Thursday afternoon that I will not forget for a long time. I was in the middle of coordinating a…
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Every Customer Is Looking for a Vendor They Never Have to Chase. Here Is How We Became That.
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio Let me tell you about a conversation I had with an HR head about six months into our working relationship. We were on a call to…
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The Silent Conversation Your Corporate Gift Is Having With Your Employees — And Why Most Companies Are Not Listening
By Aarthy Balachandran | Founder, The Knots Studio A few months ago, something happened that I have not been able to stop thinking about. One of our clients, a fast-growing…
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From Mithai Boxes to Meaningful Moments — How Corporate Gifting in India Is Quietly Changing Everything in 2026
By Aarthy | Founder, The Knots Studio Let me start with something a little uncomfortable. Every year, somewhere in India, a well-meaning company orders a gift for their employees.…
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Nobody Talked About the Keynote. Everybody Talked About the Gift. Here Is Why. 🌱
We have all been to corporate events. The carefully planned agenda. The polished speaker. The beautifully designed stage. The catered lunch that everyone photographs but nobody…
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Recognized Employees Are 31% Less Likely to Leave. Here Is the Gifting Strategy Behind It.
By The Knots Studio Let me ask you something directly. When did your organization last make an employee feel truly, genuinely recognized? Not at the annual function. Not during…
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You Spent 3 Months Hiring Them. And Then You Gave Them a Notepad and a Pen.
Think back to your first day at a job you truly loved. What did it feel like to walk in? What did the company do — or not do — to make you feel like you belonged? Now think about…
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Your Best Employees Are Not Leaving for Money. They Are Leaving Because Nobody Made Them Feel Seen.
Read that again. The most talented person on your team is n ot updating their resume because of their salary. They are doing it because they showed up every single day, gave their…
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I Have Seen Hundreds of Gifting Briefs. The Best Ones Always Have These 4 Things in Common.
I am going to say something that most gifting companies will not say out loud. The most common reason a gifting order goes wrong — wrong product, wrong timeline, wrong expectation…
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Your Employees Know the Difference Between a Gift and an Afterthought...... So, Do We
Let us be very honest here. That standard gift box your company sends every Occasion — the same one, same size, same contents, every year — your employees are not excited about it…
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I have opened hundreds of corporate gifts in my career. I remember exactly two of them. Here is why — and what I did about it.
We have all received that one "standard" corporate gift. Opened it. Smiled politely. Forgotten it in ten minutes. That feeling — that is exactly what I started The Knots Studio to…
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