YesMadam: How the brand milked ‘Narayana Murthy 70 hours work week’ keyword on LinkedIn

tech.hindustantimes.com:

YesMadam? What's that now? Well, if you have clicked on this article then you already identified it from the recent ‘LinkedIn stunt'. The company was founded in December 2016. We first heard about YesMadam in February 2024 after appearing on Shark Tank Season 3. The founders revealed to Inc42 in May 2024 that after the Shark Tank episode, “YesMadam website traffic grew to almost 10X,... user base by 3X”. And this is still the last found news article on Google search about YesMadam before the LinkedIn stunt.

In fact, even if you search “YesMadam + Wiki” on Google, you will be directed to the movie from 1985. There's no social presence, in fact people in metro cities may not even know that there's something called YesMadam. So, did they have any brand power to lose in the first place? After the LinkedIn stunt, at least people will search for YesMadam on Google and many may opt for their services.

News media has written countless free articles on YesMadam. Social media is full of opinions on YesMadam. And the more LinkedIn gurus talk about marketing ethics, the better the reach of YesMadam.

LinkedIn, among the last remaining sane social media platforms in India, has rediscovered itself as a place for aspiring career gurus. Originally created to help people find jobs, Indian users have realised that it's far easier to get popular by talking about jobs than actually getting a new job on LinkedIn.

With Narayana Murthy talking about no weekends and 70 hours work week, these LinkedIn gurus started talking about mental health, work stress and work-life balance. If you come to think of it, YesMadam could have easily jumped on the “Narayana Murthy 70 hours work week” keyword. But they cleverly did not. Instead they chose to do something wicked, as per the opinions of LinkedIn gurus.

Many founders and influencers jumped on the “Narayana Murthy 70 hours work week” keyword to get instant reach. But soon many realised that social media and news media are no longer interested in the