Differentiate or die !!!

A certain rich businessman had a beautiful daughter, who fell in love with a guy who was a cleaner.When the girl's father came to know about their love, he did not like it at all, and so began to protest about it.Now it happened that the two lovers decided to leave their homes for a happy future and they eloped. The girl's father started searching for the two lovers but could not find them. At last, he accepted their love and asked them to come back home and get married accepting that they loved each other truly.

So , their love won and they returned home. The happy couple went to the town to shop for the wedding dress. He was dressed in white shirt that day.While he was crossing the road to the other side to get some drinks for his wouldbe, a car came and hit him and he died on the spot. The girl lost her senses. It was only after many days that she recovered from her shock.The funeral and cremation was the very next day because he had died in an accident.

Two nights later,the girl's mother had a dream in which she saw an old lady. The old lady asked her mother to wash the bloodstains of the guy from her daughter's dress as soon as possible. But her mother ignored the dream.The next night her father had the same dream, he also ignored it.Then when the girl had the same dream the next night, she woke up in fear and told her mother about the dream. Her mother asked her to wash the clothes, which have bloodstains immediately.She washed the stains but some remained. Next night she again had the same dream..... she again washed the stains but some still remained.Next night she again had the same dream and this time the old lady gave her a last warning to wash the bloodstain, or else something terrible will happen.

This time the girl tried her best to wash the stains, and the clothes nearly tore, but some stains still remained.She was very tired.In the late evening the same day while she was alone at home, someone knocked the door. When she opened the door she saw the same old lady of her dream standing at her door. She got very scared and fainted.

The old lady woke her up... and gave her a blue object,which shocked the girl...

what is it?.... she asked

New Surf Excel stain remover.... said the old lady.....a dab and it will remove all stubbornstains!!!" ....

Ding ding ding ding......

I know how you are feeling now..........but the interesting build up to the climax of the story amused me..... It is clearly not an outstanding work of creativity but a different thought of course...... some Ad maker can seriously think in similar liines.....

One of the old industry dictum goes .....the first ten seconds of an ad is very important and so is the last ten seconds.... but many seemed to have forgotten all the dictums and rules in their quest for out of the box stuff.... but then again for out of the box ,first you should have the box..right? see this ad and you will know what I mean...

2006 was a year which threw up many surprises in advertising world.... Santhosh Desai quit the industry calling it a group of " experts without expertise" .... true words that comes from long experience of an expert......

Why dont ads spell the miracle that they used to......?

Why are they no longer the subliminal pill that seized the unconsious minds into a magical world..?

Why do brands fall and climb and fall again like the rise and fall of the Roman empire?

Self importance.. arrogance... the awards that it bestows 'on itself'...the peanuts that they pay...the apathy of the clients...the short termism that is a fashion now for both the agencies and the clients......and the recycling that we do with concepts....and throwing away images which the audience liked but the agency thought or ass u me d as waste.......

Many ads have been discussed here and in the adosphere.... but the tragic image if one had to summarise the fall of advertising could be seen when this door opens for a cow to come out..she is named Radha and she is Miss Palampur....

Now even the hardcore Ogilvy fans wouldnt vote this as creative... definitely not me as we have seen it all from O&M
..the train ads..the girl in the cricket field ad...the girl with the mehndi hands ads......

Whatever be the strategy or the lack of it behind this 'idea' it is a fall...or simply to quote Shakespeare , what a flaw.....

It is just one sample.... not that we hadnt had good ones but the bad ones are awfully bad and are staring so horrendously at the future of the business of advertising....

This is not the same old world..the consumer generated media and even advertising has evolved.......

Change the rules my beloved Industry...as one of you rightly said...

Differentiate...or die....!!!