Happy new year !!!

A new year again.. As the lazy adformula team goes for holiday at various exotic places (mine is at Thekkady ), let us wish the whole world a pleasant and prosperous new year..

Let people not be killed, let walls fall, let bigots vanish and let advertising excel !!!

and have fun.. because in life nothing is more important !!!

Now for the fun gun... Are you sick of making the same resolutions year after year and yet you never keep them? Here are some resolutions that you can actually accomplish! Enjoy! :-)

10. Read less.

9. I want to gain weight. Put on at least 30 pounds.

8. Stop exercising. Waste of time.

7. Watch more TV. I've been missing some good stuff.

6. Procrastinate more.

5. Drink. Drink some more.

4. Start being superstitious.

3. Spend more time at work.

2. Stop bringing lunch from home: I should eat out more. and last but not least...

1. Take up a new habit: maybe smoking!

truth well told !!!

Truth well told.. says McCann Erickson..

This film is a shocking revelation of the inside facts of the so called creative and strategic business of
advertising... felt bad to have it in adformula, my good old friends...but its a self introspection which we have to do.....
sooner or later !!!!!

pls have your speakers on!!!

Nike..its all about running !!!!

Its one of the very famous and famed Nike running commercial ( yes there are aplenty) created by W+K for Nike and glorified as the offspring of a succesful matrimony between the client and the agency.. Phil Knight and Dan Wieden , to be precise... All was well until Nike realised that in the sneaker segment things are rosy but not so in the runners arena.. Not only that they were trailing behing the formidable Adidas ( the runner ads again) but even behind the new comers and small fries like Asics, a Japanese brand...
So..? what else... W+K was shown the door( partially though), and came in Crispin Porter + Bogusky, with the Bag and Baggage and the Brauhaha of having Coca Cola and Volkswagen in their kitty among other famous brands.. and their strong point..? Digital advertising, where the other team lacked and where Nike felt it should do more.... fair enough!!!...
And what we get????



Alex Bogusky of C S + B , has said somewhere after the release of this ad that they wanted this NOT to look like a Nike commercial, but instead, wanted people to say WHAT is THIS?...

I said the same.. so did many others whom I know...

Does that ring any bell?

Nike..its all about running !!!!

Tata Ace : Riding on Elephants!

All advertisements are not alike, neither should they be. But, are all the elements in the ad be same- for eg: a father,mother and a child/ a tourist, a localite and an elephant/a beach, a girl and a boat. We can find similarities in many of the advertisements that are being made. Tata Ace is just another one, but not just one. Here too, we can find a traveller, some elephants and localites on elephants..but the advertisement says Tata Ace feels best for carrying loads. See it here.

Seasons Greetings!!!

Adformula and the whole team is on a break.. Bakrid and Xmas.. and a pre newyear hangover.. see u all on 26 th and in the mean while......




Eid mubarak and merry Xmas !!!!

Look at Me.. Look at Me... Please Look at Me.!!!

The business of advertising is funny...(ofcourse ,made so with the funny people that we have in abundance) it is about some how getting the attention of the mass and the crass, some how means some how...just make sure that the OTS happens, make sure that the brand and its message pass through and across the eyeballs and if possible the brains that are connected to the eyeballs...and on ground earth, where they fight out the war of clutter among all the dust and din and the sweat and blood and the corpses and the confusion, just a few survive and those who do, fall into the insecurity of the victor, and is always in a hurry to get new and become new....., just like the average models who do not think they are too skinny.....just like actors do not find themselves handsome enough.... just like the stars who claim not to know what all the fuss is about. Our crazy obsession with the perfected surface has become so absolute that everybody ends up having to work off some obscure psychic debt...
In our industry though, its prooving to be for the good. Unless you become insecure and reinvent to be new and to be seen, advertising will not serve its very basic purpose and will not have the fun it was born along with....
This ad came in Business line some days back and in a lecture I used it as a good example of advertising strategy.. simple !..... the right creative strategy married to the right media strategy makes a wonderful offspring named good advertising strategy... and this is a proof..Done by MC Saatchi for Jet airways ( in a category ,which in India, is suddenly cluttered and looking worse than a corpse ladden battle ground),it stands out and so well and blends with the media, and with a graceful ease delivers the message.

and this, which struck me, is from an inflight magazine of Jetairways is an extention of the above idea but executed with charm and creativity... just see it..

the first one is a gatefold, and when you open the fold comes the space, which is the selling point... Brilliant in conception but what is more heartening is the successful coming together of the creatives and the media !!!

Here is a communication which doesnt have to scream.... look at me ,look at me..please look at me...

The Fun Gun!

Some advertisements are as good as this cartoon. hmm.. I mean to be mum, because its inexpressible.. Have fun!, friends

How to Sell Themselves!..

Advertisements are a platform for models and the film fraternity to speak about themselves and say how stylish they are. But recently, we have found a trend, as we have seen in KANK, , OM Shanthi OM, and some other films, were actors parade themselves to just remind all of us, that they are back in films, especially someones like Shilpa, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and some others. It becomes " a point of sale" of their own charming skills for a few seconds in the screen. I think that also is the political game of cricket, waiting for roles to shine, retire, and say oops I have lost my...

Hope, it does not happen in advertising, just like we are happening to see old bollywood songs played in background for many ads like LG and Fiat Palio. Yes, its the same with everyone everywhere- the noted ones being Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, who cannot sleep without new scoops and gossips about themselves.

So one day Naseerudin Hoja decided to advertise himself. He didn't find anything better than wearing rags , sitting on a horse back turned to other side of horse's face, drumming a baja, and singing loudly as the best attempt to impress others, as clumsy as he is! somebody asked him why he is sitting turned to other side? he replied, " hey , why are you asking me? You ask the horse why it is running the other way?'.. It seems to be the same with all of these actors and pop singers too.. for one thing, they feel they are ignored, they donno what to do to charm others, so let it be like this!...

So, friends...... should we bother about glamour and glitz, as long as it seems like..desperate people's attempt of foolishness to impress others!

Airtel.. from novelty to nomans land..!!!

I wonder ,would be there any one who have not loved this ad... and even went for the brand seeing it.. its power of communication.. and the sheer magic with which it hooked us as made us flabbergasted.. saw a wow.. now that is touching my soul and senses... and this one.... which was a sequel which still stayed good and enriching...



And this one with the Rahman magic, which was one rare ad which the folks wanted and see..again and again...shifted channels and reached channels where the ad is shown....



and now this one.... what can I say....you would have seen it and may be have got shocked by the sheer callousness with which the whole
advertising is conceived and made...If you have a celebrity, then any things seems to be ok,the market will have to sit and watch...


What a fall ... From class to crap.. from creatives to crass.. and the latest, from novelty to the no mans land ads....keep watching...!!!

Saying Yes and No

Go, look for the green,
Go, look for the red,
But, whether it will give you, your daily bread?

I hope, you wouldn't have read what I had meant. Sometimes we make our advertisements colourful, filling it with unidentified flying objects to develop curiosity. Sometimes it makes us feel blunt and make a remark- " Oh, these ad guys are crazy, what is it?."

I would suggest the creatives to think twice before they feel, they have done their best. The Sprite ad says " make sure you don't look thirsty".. but I would like to say:- Do we always drink Sprite just to impress girls? or are the girls so annoyed that they can't tolerate a guy's look?

And for the next:- May be Britney overdid it in the media, so we have just begun to listen to Britney's tears. They are just cashing in on her popularity again.

May be the last one is better. Nothing begins in a day nor ends. But we would like to know everyday, something about yesterday, which every news paper brings.

So shouldn't we think again:

Ads can be made to please.

It can also be made to tease.

But, will it always make us say cheese?

The Fun Gun!

When Xmas is nearing, we are often clogged with targets and advertisements in making. but let's take a look at our thought processes.

1. What do you put in a toaster?

..

..


The answer is bread. If you said "toast", then give up now and go do something else. Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, "bread", go to question 2.


2. Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk". What do cows drink?

...

...

...


Answer: Cows drink water. If you said "milk", please do not attempt the next question. Your brain is obviously overstressed and may even overheat. It may be that you need to content yourself withreading something more appropriate such as "Children's World". If you said, "water" then proceed to question three.


3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a greenhouse made from?


Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said "green bricks", what the heck are you still doing here reading these questions? If you said "glass", then go on to question four.


4. Twenty years ago, a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany. If you will recall, Germany at the time was politicallydivided into West Germany and East Germany. Anyway, during the flight, TWO of the engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he has time and the plane crashes smack in the middle of "no man's land" between EastGermany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors - East Germany or West Germany or in "no man's land"?


Answer: You don't, of course, bury survivors. If you said ANYTHING else, you are a real dunce and you must NEVER try to rescue anyone from a plane crash. Your efforts would not be appreciated. If you said, "Don't bury the survivors" then proceed to the next question.


5. If the hour hand on a clock moves 1/60th of a degree every minute then how many degrees will the hour hand move in one hour?
...........
..............

Answer: One degree. If you said "360 degrees" or anything other than "one degree", you are to be congratulated on getting this far, but you are obviously out of your league. Turn your pencil in andexit the room. Everyone else proceed to the final question.


6. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, six people get off the bus and nine people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on. In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven. What was the name of the bus driver?
.........
..........
........
Answer: Oh, for goodness sake! It was YOU, Read the first line!!!

Thus, the lesson is we don't have to get worried about unnecessary facts! Have fun, friends!

Oh! We cannot forget these oldies!

How many of us recall the advertisements in the '80s and the '90s, when the Indian advertising industry, mainly concentrated on the print to influnce the populace. we have often found Aishwarya in the newest ones, like that of Nakshatra, which was considered one of the best among recent ones.

The Garden Vareli advertisement is sensual and who wouldn't fall in love with sarees?

This is a co-branding effort : Lee Cooper and Sheetal. Its abstract, simple and conveying the message.

Vimal Suitings- Its not one of those- just in case ads that anybody would put, just to remind customers. It stands unique because of its copy, presentation and the background.

Oh! In those days too..Who wouldn't ogle? yes, if you were looking for something trendy, just to make yourself more popular among social circle, you would have tried it!..That was what the advertisers and Phoenix shoes makers would like you to do!

airtel... hyperbole....

its just an accident..I dont mean the one you saw here, i mean my decision to put it here today. Was teaching exaggerated claims in the class today and surprisingly most of them ( TG SEC A (mostly)agegroup 21-25 )felt that this ad is a best example of exaggerated claims which is unabashedly used in advertising...I have been with airtel for years but never noticed this ad... this group, my students ,who form the bulk of the intended TG have done it, alas but ,for wrong reasons..

the ad world...

what more to say about my beloved industry.... the ad industry.... it seems to be true, strikingly and shockinlgy, across ages, across geographies and borders.....

Invading the content ...(Part 8)

continued from part 7>>>>>>>>>

Partnership

Partnership is an unholy alliance as perceived by the TG, between the advertiser and the broadcaster. In effect it is the cumulative effect of too much of importance to products placed in programmes, too many products moving in and out of scenes and frames, and products engaging in sales talk amidst the programme. Partnership leads to what the TG thinks as surreptitious advertising, which is “the representation in words or pictures of goods, services, the name, the trademark or the activities of a producers of goods or a provider of services”. Cinema researchers have found this to be compromising the artistic integrity of movies accusing them of being ‘just long advertisements’ . Based on the level of Integration and the level of explicitness product placement on the silver screen can be split into three--Implicit, non integrated explicit and integrated explicit . The more explicit it is, the more will be the partnership visible and in television, unlike cinema, it is visible promptly.

The audience intolerance threshold appears when the TG can clearly foretaste a partnership where the thin line between obvious advertising and subtle product placement vanishes and both become one and the same. Here the TG can glimpse that it is done to serve advertising, the broadcaster intends it, and it is capable of misleading the public.

The solution

Programme sponsorship is the least disliked of today’s funding mechanisms, and even
Advertising is reluctantly accepted. While TG has differing opinion as per the different secondary data available, one thing is understood- the audience intolerance will be more severe in its after effects in case of excessive product placements in TV. This study leaves enough scope for further research in that aspect. To conclude the observations of this paper, let me suggest some solutions to avoid the TG entering the Intolerance Threshold.

Avoid relating to children

Keeping children from the influence of advertising and parents from the influence of advertising on children. Remember that Children have limited capability to make a distinction between advertising and editorial content.

Avoid surrogate acts

Viewers accept product placements generally and if it is sublime. But when products, which cannot be advertised, otherwise (Alcohol, Cigarettes etc) appear as product placements – underplayed or out in the open, it will be counter productive. Researchers have found this to be true .

Stay away from news / current affairs, religion and children’s content

They are serious involvement programmes and it is better not to be very significantly present in such programmes to avoid the risk of audience intolerance. Asianet news time on prime time used the idea mobile jingle on air when the final wrap up of news occurs at the end of the half an hour programme.

Stay in Game shows and sports film, entertainment and drama

These genres are generally of less involvement type and of commercialized nature and the TG generally accepts product placements. Parading and prominence are tolerated but patter and partnership will be despised. Programmes that look like, they have been conceived to sell the sponsors products will be a flop. The example of the Hindi film ‘Yadein’ with its outrageous product placement done for ‘Pass Pass’ is a much-discussed one.

Use it to enhance realism

Product placement is generally well received when it enhances the realism of a programme, and when it is relevant to the script in what can be called as ‘Editorially justifiable’ and is not too prominent. Advertisers having too much editorial control will not be accepted by learned societies.

Use it in the background

Background product placement is considered as the best. Products that you do not actually notice may work better than the ones you do.

Practice self-regulation

This is a wonderful tool of subtly communicating to the TG, virtues of products and brands without putting them into displeasure is used optimally. But before the golden goose is slaughtered, the Indian advertising industry should evolve some code of conduct for the advertisers, media houses and the programme producers to make sure that the fate of spot advertising and sponsorships doesn’t repeat here too.

They are: -

A)-The genres of programming in which product placement should be permitted should be decided and a consensus should be arrived.
B)-The challenge the four p’s of audience intolerance threshold poses to the whole idea of product placements in TV programmes should be taken head on.
C)-The measures needed to ensure viewer transparency and their trust in editorial integrity should be listed out and regular check has to be maintained
D)-The role of the Advertising Standards Council of India in the whole self regulation frame work should be decided and a mechanism for complaints if any should be activated
E)- Measuring of effectiveness of product placements would be made more beleivable and authentic, for all the parties to effectively use them without dispute and desperation.

the final say :-

Product placements in TV is defenitely growing ,on par with if not over and above cinema.TV programmes have more advantages like low shelf space as compared to cinema , which all the parties- practitioners of product/brand placement, including clients, ad agencies ,PR firms,production firms, and independent agents -all of them will have to listen. Product integration should be the aim, not merely product placements. If this formula is kept in mind, the production costs can be shared, more captive audiences could be reached, and with more impact than spot advertising or sponsorship, demonstrate brand usage in natural settings, make the programme more realistic and authentic, be cost efficient and yet remain liked and not hated.
‘together,the advertising world should remain committed to save this golden goose and not succumb to the vampire - named greed’.

************************************************************
THE END !!!

Most Effective Television Ads- An Afterthought!

JuxtConsult's Ad Box office report says among urban consumers, who are often clouded with ads have found among the top 5- Vodafone ads as the best among them ( the Pug is the common factor!), Airtel as the second best ( SRK and A.R.Rahaman as the common factors), and the list moves like Nokia, Pepsi, Reliance Mobile, Colgate LIC, Fevicol, ICICI Prudential Life, Surf Excel in that order. But see the list of celebrities associated with- SRK, AB, Dhoni, Sachin, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Abhishek, Hrithik, John and Salman.

But do you feel it is alarming that it is Bollywood mania, even in advertisements . We find them the most popular and recognised, especially among women if we could say, Rani Mukherjee and Preethi Zinta, and so films have been influencing a lot, especially the ad-makers. Lets sit and brood a little while? I feel we are depending a lot in this bollywood worship that we are a bit cliched in our story lines- Isn't it time to get more creative folks !

World Aids Day !!!

There are also days when advertising
can be considered as a noble art:......

The international day of action on HIV and AIDS which takes place every year on 1 December - is one of those....

Every year, the World AIDS Day represents one of those opportunities for advertisers and designers around the world to use their communication skills and creativity for noble causes. The results are usually very creative ads, most of them being the fruits of voluntary, unpaid work coming from some of the greatest communication agencies.

Required by Sida Info Service – the French Aids information service - BDDP & Fils 2005 campaign will undoubtly catch your attention, whether you like it or not......



The above one poster targets the male gay community: the shocking visual displays a homosexual male who has been stabbed and killed by male sex.

The associated tagline reads: ‘Don’t let ignorance spoil your life’ (translated from the French ‘Ne gâchez pas votre vie par ignorance‘).

Three other posters that are part of BDDP & Fils 2005 campaign targets a more global audience, even if we would dream of having no audience or ‘market’ at all for that kind of ad. The posters show disturbing images of AIDS-mutilated bodies, while relying on the same sarcastic tagline: ‘You’re right when not protecting yourself from AIDS. You can live perfectly well with it.’(translated from the French ‘Vous avez raison de ne pas vous protéger du SIDA, on vit très bien avec‘).
The visual metonomy used - that is, the usage of a part of the body to stand for the whole body - makes the presence of the disease appear as very suble and atrocious in the same time. Those little rotten hair, toes and tooth that speak for the whole body seem to tell: AIDS is not always visible at first sight, but it is well-present and slowly decomposing human bodies and killing people. I am not sure if the aggressiveness of such a campaign will have the intended, right effects on everybody. But it will certainly shock you, and you will remember it once you see it....

And the one next which again is 2 year old , a poster by UNICEF but haunting by the stark frankness with which it throws us into the direct effect of AIDS.. death for the affected and trauma for the related...see this...


Hope as we enter another AIDS day, good sense will prevail !!!!

Artwork in Ads

Art work in ads can be beautifully woven into a message. It is not only respect for the art and the artist, that brings attention of a normal observer, but it makes it easier to convey even difficult messages in the form of cartoons, caricature or collage. It becomes easy to portray human behaviour. Although, these advertisements are for a recording company, wine maker, and for a fruit drink as shown, they follow colourful tones to convey meaning. I suppose, lot of colours spoil the drawing. I feel instead of giving mixed meanings, by making it simple and emphasising on clarity, artwork is a good advertising tool.

the social bores...!!!

How boring are social service ads? or for that matter any product or service ad with a call for a change kind of social message embedded in it? Generaly boring .. rite? The government kind of ads that are good in intention but poor and boring when it comes to execution....
Recently media is hit left and right by a series of ads issued by the GOI to make us "aware" of the importance of being careful about getting the right visa and other documents before going abroad for work, particularly as labour..... I dont intend to show it here, as adformula has better things to show.. take for instance the two ads that I thought of sharing here... Of course it sells a product or rather a service namely Aaj Tak, a TV channel, but a social cause is embedded so amazingly well... simple they are and short they are and yet so strong they are....

The fun gun...!!!

The man discovered COLOURS and invented PAINT,
The woman discovered PAINT and invented MAKEUP
The man discovered the WORD and invented CONVERSATION,
The woman discovered CONVERSATION and invented GOSSIP.
The man discovered GAMBLING and invented CARDS,
The woman discovered CARDS and invented WITCHERY.
The man discovered AGRICULTURE and invented FOOD,
The woman discovered FOOD and invented DIET.
The man discovered FRIENDSHIP and invented LOVE,
The woman discovered LOVE and invented MARRIAGE.
The man discovered TRADING and invented MONEY,
The woman discovered MONEY and invented SHOPPING.
Thereafter man has discovered and invented a lot of things...
While the women got STUCK to shopping.............

and what about Advertising?????

Invading the content ...(Part 7)

Continued from part 6..>>>>>

Parade

Too many products finding a place in, is more dangerous than prominence to one or a few products, which appear in a programme. Parading of brands in a programme, is making brands appear one by one in a given programme- be it a game show or a teleserial. If this happens, it is due to the producer’s/ broadcaster’s/ advertiser’s insatiability to make quick money. The brands necessity to appear in a frame as the hero’s pen or the heroine’s fairness cream or the game show host’s cheque book should look natural and should go along with the script. However in some cases it is the brands ability to spare a big sum of money rather than its inevitability in the script decides on its presence in the silver screen. Here again, it is the type and nature of the programme, which decides on how soon the TG will enter the threshold intolerance point. Feelings like “it didn’t need to be there”, “ so many of them” etc among the TG will give them a feel that they are sold for a bargain.

In a game show like ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’, parading was done without much of audience frustration and they stepping into intolerance, whereas in a teleserial like ‘Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ it may look anomalous that the heroine’s cosmetic brands and the hero’s apparel brands are paraded in an audacious display of deceit. A situation where such parading swallows the main story line is a ‘phagocytosis’, where the intolerance threshold point starts. Reality shows but, as i observe them is careful in this aspect. Not that they dont allow parading but are cautious to make sure that Passive learning happens without the intolerance creeping in...

Patter

Patter is defined as a beguiling attempt at persuasion, a long-winded or slick sales talk. It is tedious for the audience members when, for instance a heroine of a popular serial laments that her ‘particular’ brand of hair oil (the name is carefully repeated during her cry) is not to be seen and as a result, all her hair is going to fall in no time, it is an enticing way to bamboozle and sell.
If ads in normal commercial breaks do irritate people when facts are not presented straight and unambiguous, product placements then definitely make the TG intolerant if it engages in patter.
The logic applying here is simply that during an ad break, the TG is aware and even expects the presence of glossy and astute messages which may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but not during a television programme. In product placement however, the heavier the brands purse is, the more are chances that the script and dialogues get swayed like a coconut tree in blowing wind. Here then, it will look artificial and arousal levels will be zero and it will produce no recall as research with movies have established .Advertisers should get clue from research findings, which state that not all product placements are effective. When such sales talk happens in a programme, in which the TG is engrossed, it leads them to audience intolerance threshold.

Marketing Apparels

We like to wear clothes, not just to cover up, to look sophisticated, to look simple, to look stylish and for what not. To sell clothes is more difficult, as each individual bargains for his own terms and preferences- variety matters, as well as brand names. It is unexpected, because as surprises, consumers go on shopping and shopping and one day they stop!.. They just stop buying any more denims!- who knows, it is likely. But no wonder, most of the ads are focused on developing a wardrobe full of stylish individualistic clothes, just like assortment of chocolates, for the consumers. They focus on their brands, and become as creative as possible to attract the multitude. These advertisements are worth its efforts- Lee and Reebok

The Assvertising industry!

What takes a model to be the ultimate celebrity, with whom everyone from the captain of the nations cricket team to the hottest of co stars want to be seen?

What makes her the most sought after endorser for whose presence brands can wait for, reinvent themselves for, or even die for?

Well see this ad and let us discuss our question after this...

Well this ad I am sure would have caught your eye balls (oof... EYE balls I mean) if not for the ass of a creative it is , but for the ass in the creative. The model is Deepika padukone ( for the 0.00001 % of ignorants who still dont know who she is, blasphemy though !) Just 21-year-old Deepika is the daughter of former World badminton champion and a legend Prakash Padukone.and no prices for guessing ,the star who rose into prominence with her debut film ,OSO as they call it with King Khan or SRK, in the chart buster . It now seems that for every one ....just almost every one, she seems to be the apple of their eyes and even more.....
Not to be left behind, our poor world of advertising too is in the fray.. every brand wants her to be the endorser horse to pull the brand cart from nothing, something,or even everything, to where she goes, wherever it may be... It looks like a pity to an outsider but news reports suggest that the gal is smiling with the long queue outside her home inspite of her raising her price from mere 10 -15 lakhs per ad to some 5 times the amount close to her OSO association. She has been an endorser (even before OSO) for a range of brands like Liril, Close-Up, Levi’s Strauss Signature ( the ad that you saw up there ), Limca and Maybelline. Parachute advansed used her in a reasonabily good move via a campaign titled Gorgeous Hamesha which now has ran into uncertainity with the stars new reach and range....

Kingfisher Airlines got recently added to her portfolio , with Dr Mallya jumping in to sign her as the second face after Yana gupta ( Yana is old ,this is fresh) and Mallya can smell ( not literally I guess ..or is it..? im not sure ...) success when it is associated with women and Deepika is not new for him, she was one hot property used in Kingfisher newyear calender.

While along with the star,Bling Entertainment, celebrity management agency for Deepika Padukone also has all the reasons to smile, how healthy is the trend? well I know, as long as it is hot now, it sells now and as long as it sells now, it does bring smiles... but what later? no one seems to be bothered..... except the fact that ,what is getting the ad worlds attention more than just the curiosity over a rising star, seems to be her pedigree.. Her being the daughter of the legendary Prakash padukone and she almost being one, and both succesful by their own right and merit in two totally different fields ( now I know what you are thinking... Tiger pataudi, Saif, Sharmila.... Am I right? ) well nothing is wrong but I guess the art of Marketing communications should be more creative and bit more out of the box....

While keeping sniffing around the starlet, who can even be just a one film wonder, I hope my beloved industry is not loosing smell of better things around....

The Fun Gun

An advertising team is working very late at night on a project due the next morning. Suddenly, a Genie appears before them and offers to each of them one wish.

The copywriter says: "I've always dreamed of writing the great American novel and having my work studied in schools across the land. I'd like to go to a tropical island where I can concentrate and write my masterpiece."The Genie says, "No problem!" and poof! The copywriter is gone.

The art director says: "I want to create a painting so beautiful that it would hang in the Louvre Museum in Paris for all the world to admire. I want to go to the French countryside to work on my painting."The Genie says, "Your wish is granted!" and poof! The art director is gone.

The Genie then turns to the account executive and says, "And what is your wish?"The account executive says, "I want those two assholes back here right now."

PS: God loves this kind of fun. And so we are not born as advertising professionals, yet we become. Happy weekend folks!

Some ads are not bad!!

Some ideas are intimidating. Some are the results of hours of brain storming. As one of my teachers used to say " some questions are simple, but the road to get simple answers to them is more complex.".

I feel that in this ad, a simple and subtle idea is executed well with a combination of nice words in the copy and fitting imagination.

A cliched imagination, but a creative result. Although the idea of charming the surroundings is not new, we can't help it nor we can ignore it.

This advertisement has got an idea into it. Stare at it closely or you will miss it!

Redtape... old style seduction!!

Now this is my answer everytime I find a Marxist/anti liberalisation expert (self declared or other wise) waxing about how after the 90's with the influx of foreign ideas, the whole of India got corrupted, its values saw a fall and how Marketing and
Advertising( foreign style) landed you up in your bed with strangers !!!

Invading the content ...(Part 6)

Continued from part 5...>>>>

The elements of the audience intolerance threshold quadrangle can be analysed one by one :-

1.Prominence

Prominence to the product(s) as long as it doesn’t question the common sense of the audience would be tolerated but once the prominence crosses the threshold, toleration too does it and clash of interests occurs between the
advertiser and the TG. Undue prominence may be counter productive or at least may be equaled by the TG as another form of advertising which is clandestinely imposed on them. Cristel A Russel, (the author of “Towards a framework of product placement: Theoretical propositions in advances in consumer research”) , has identified three major types of product placements- i.e. screen placements, script placements and plot placements .In TV, all the three can be dangerous if used with undue prominence to the product. It may vary from society to society and from programme to programme and the TG but it surely is a reason for audience intolerance threshold.

Product placements in current affairs programme or a ‘Walk the Talk’ may not be a good idea, especially when too much of prominence is given to the brand to be placed where as in a game show it would be largely over looked. Pepsi, for instance, launched its new product, Pepsi Cafechino, on Sony's ‘Indian Idol’. Its brand ambassadors Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra appeared on the show wearing the same clothes that they had worn in the ad. This is called as hyperactive placement, as the brand is not just present in the show, but the brand ambassadors also appear and use and refer to the brands and its symbols manifestly.

Some time back, in an agency faq's article,Atul Phadnis of TAM India had described three kinds of product placement in film content – Hyperactive Placements, Active Placements and Passive Placements. Hyperactive Placements when mixed with the additional trigger, lead to a 54 per cent increase in brand awareness, a Passive Placement in a film along with an additional trigger (in the cinema environment) led to a whopping 191 per cent increase in brand awareness. Active Placements, on the other hand, are like showcasing a product to its fullest, such as a man talking about an Audi and later driving away in one. An Active Placement, when coupled with an additional trigger, leads to a 17 per cent increase in brand awareness. This may be by and large applicable to TV product placements as well, but the dissimilarity in cinema environment and TV viewing environment is to be kept in mind. Moreover in the long run when too many such shows use too many such product launches, intolerance threshold point will start appearing.....

to be continued >>>>>>>>

Happy diwali !!!

A warm Diwali wishes to everyone in the advertising community ,readers of Adformula and others !!!! play it safe....

Creative courtesy :Vivek nair of Adformula team

i-pill ...now what next?

President Clinton looks up from his desk in the Oval Office to see one of his aides nervously approach him.

"What is it?" exclaims the President.

"It's the Abortion Bill, Mr. President - what do you want to do about it?"

"Just go ahead and pay it."

"But its the bill that has been returned by the senate ,not the one you think sir.." says the aide

"oh I thought you have bought the Pill I had ordered for after last night" exclaims Clinton.

***************************************************************
The best contraceptive is a glass of cold water: not before or after, but instead, said someone, but there seem to be less takers for that cold concept..... Everyone seem to be craving for sex, pre marital, post marital, extra marital no matter the mode, it seems the Indian populace has thrown out the garbs of hypocrisy and the Come on-we-are-Pure-ethical-Indians and we-dont-have-sex-whatsoever pretexts...Adformula seems to be the last to write on the topic ,in the context of the latest wave in the sex obessed Indian urban place named as i-Pill ,a tab from cipla, intented to avoid unwanted pregnancies, espcially after the "high voltage performance" last night, neverthless I thought its never too late to say what I feel on this topic...

Now the wonder pill ,allowed to be sold as an OTC drug, with no docs in between, the young and the old alike,seems to be all awake with an upbeat mood (the pun is intended) to do it, today and now.....

The world's second most populated country( we are postive bunch of people and hence, call it as the largest growing market) is on the verge of an AIDS epidemic. Can we afford to be coy and casual aboutsex and contraception? In our towns at least people have started realising that if used properly, condoms can deter the spread of HIV/AIDS and prevent pregnancy and now comes this pill, which I am afraid will end up in more casual sex and more HIVs and the like.

Not that The urbanite, including me, go for buying condoms(if at all)with a blush that spreads across the shop and sheen that lights up the whole street. Often we buy them under cover of night, anonymity or, maybe, even disguise. If you ask me,I can't go to the shop at the end of my road to buy a pack of condoms. I usually stop at places where I'll never go again and I am better off considering the fact that I know N number of men, who cant ask for a box of condom when their wife is with them..... Well that is a lot of secrets being told but mind you that is what we are... the normal Indian.... now with this i-pill even that is gone... outright we can indulge,(because we know that the suryadev(sungod) will not rise up suddenly in the middle of the night),if we just dont forget to get the i-pill the nextday morning...

Men are a selfish lot. That is the simple reason why the condom guys have to do so much of hardsell to make him buy the thing. Give her pleasure, add to the pleasure, take her to the heights of pleasure platforms work with them,infact only these things work if you want men to sheathe themselves, since most men are (inspite of all the pretensions) insecure about their ability to perform and deliver the result...when it comes to the bedroom....Oral Contraceptive Pills (OCPs) for men are being reserached but men are men and they simply would not volunteer to go on the pill and it is slowing down research on the male pill. Many men 'willingly'(how gracious we are to be allowing 'ladies to be first') put their wives through a tubectomy (female sterilisation) rather than subject themselves to a far simpler and safer process - the vasectomy (male sterilisation).......

Now that being a fact,at least we have to be playing safe ( aha ...did I say that?) and follow the dictum "Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion" . But to be a bit serious it only about avoiding a birth? is it not about diseases too for which and for the prevention of which this i- pill can do nothing? I would be the last person to accuse the advertiser for Corrupting the other wise sane and highly ethical Indian youth... long ago this two siamese twins.. preventing unwanted pregnancy and preventing STD's/AIDS were seperated...and of course the i-pill guys havent intented to substitute or replace in theory and practise the use and utility of condoms with their pill ,but the Indian mind, the shameful, egotic, inconsistent, hypocritic ,insecure and non confident Indian mind, will interpret it that way and that worries me....

While the ads are communicative and simple with the idea being conveyed short and sweet and more importantly not ending in a mess with sex and bedrooms depicted , I believe that they should be talking also about the ill effects of over using this pill in the female body with hormonal imbalances as an after effect as discussed in the media and also about the fact that the sooner (I am told that within 12 hours is the best)it is taken ,the better rather than glorifying the 72 hours selling point to woo the lazy youngster.....The advertorials seem to be more justifiable, but the TV ads hide more than they reveal....

Ethics isnt my cup of tea, but yet considering the fact that the marketer has always been accused of promoting promiscuity and manipulating people to be materialistic and what not, being a bit more facual can save i-pill from a lot of issues, unwanted pregnancies included... Now the men pill may be the next.. and that is fair. After all it makes more sense to take the bullets out of the gun than to wear a bulletproof vest......

Invading the content ...(Part 5)

Continued from part 4

The Audience Intolerance .....

Product placement can be active or passive or in other terms obvious or subdued. Not withstanding the sponsor’s (the product owner) pride on his product and his desire to see and hear his brand again and again in the programme and prominently, too much of use of product placements will see a slope in audience attitude to the whole idea. When audience feels that products are infringing on their pleasure of watching TV, it can be termed as the Audience Intolerance Threshold Point, where the TG steps into a zone of intolerance to not only the products so placed but also the programmes in which they are placed. They start abhorring the programme itself, in a typical case of spontaneous trait transference. Research has proven that many consumer groups have felt that product placements is a form of deceptive advertising which will cause purchase intention in movie goers, who are unaware of the persuasive intent of brand placement .

The after effects of the TG entering the intolerance threshold can be diverse and manifold. Of course the audience apathy to the programme as well as the product(s) in question is the most apparent one, but other effects like inflicted damage to the editorial integrity of the programme, and the collapse of the perceived trustworthiness of the media may also result.The causes for such intolerance are summarised in the figure below



The four P's of audience intolerance ,as I would call it, in a summary ...............

to be continued.....>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Greenply- the reincarnation game !!!

If its greenply, this cute lil sardar kid would come to your mind for sure.... They have after this classy sardar ad in 2005, rose to eminence and ever since, grown as an interior infrastructure solutions provider that currently manufactures a host of renowned brands such as Greenply Plywood – ‘Chalta Rahe', Green Club Premium Ply, which comes with a life time guarantee, Greenlam Laminates, ‘Dikhane Ka Jee Kare’ and Green Decowood, ‘Visibly Superior Veneers’. The brand and its variants excel in their communication and seems to be clear and concise in what they want and what they want to tell.Now a befitting sequel to the Janam janam ka saathi Idea has come up and seem to rock the TG....



Its not an out of the world ad, this new one where an Indian court room and the way cases are dragged for ever , is depicted of course with filmy melodrama and trappings woven into it. It is not even out of the box and nothing great so to say, behind the creative, and yet it is simple ,funny and close to people. Moreover, the brand and the benifit is carefully weaved in..

Kudos to
LOWE for being consistent, communicating and creative...

Thanks to the brand managers at Greenply for transforming the otherwise commodity gutter, into a garden of brands....

The fun gun...!!!

Now that is what is called as flexibility... Surprisingly and sadly, the ad and the marcom industry seem to be loosing it in its quest for micro specialisation.. People of the old order atleast, are hoping for the all under one roof era to come back... Hopefully !!!!

Enjoy the week end folks !!!

We Are Crazy About Pepsi.

It is not just we who are crazy about Pepsi. This would have been a challenge for the makers of this advertisement . These pachyderms are unpredictable-gentle at times and ferocious sometimes. Kudos to the makers! It was worth watching!

PS: Are they thinking that Pepsi drinkers are thick-skinned? or Are they targeting the zoo population? These questions are meant for a joke.

The Fun Gun!

These are some of the 21st century insights. One day, we would see from a road from Washington D.C. to South Dakota, something like this:

People may not often get scary of bombs, but might become exhausted with something like this!..
Don't yell...we haven't still reached to this brink to fail in advertising

'Coke' Side of Life

These colourful bottles are tellling stories about Coca- Cola brand. A brand which lives! and stays No.1 couldn't lag behind others. Will the new packaging tricks work?







Haven't we ever thought of 'Coke' being just another cola drink? if there are plenty of substitutes in the market, can this cola brand become inconspicuous, being one among the crowd?.. These were the questions which the marketing team of Coca Cola had been pondering over the years. The poster on the left was one made by me, using the coca-cola aids at cocacola.com site. The interactive website carries a lot of tools and games along with information about how the coca cola brand came into life.

But wasn't it losing its personality lately, when lot of blunt ads were shown in televison, with pretty young things flaunting Coke in their hands. But the team realised that somehow the essence had disappeared from the brand.

This is an art of 'Peter Blake' identifying pop icons with Coca Cola. The "Happiness Factory" advertisement of Coke, represented 'Coke' side of life as positive and optimistic. The agency Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam have done their due, under Executive Creative Directors-Al Mosley and John Norman!

The polar bear commercial was more encompassing and shown Coke as a token for acceptance and joy. They haven't missed the identity now! The brand is a stand alone hit!

What an idea?

Idea had been saying " an idea can change your life" for quite some time now........
For 12 years they have resisted the 'celebrity route' and yet remained good and got noticed. The jingle and the tagline contributed but Lowe Lintas has finally dragged them into the clutter and din where already there are too many players, all looking the same with celebrities vying and vouching and vomiting for the brands....Idea somehow remained away but alas, now they too have jumped into this grinding machine....

I hate this ad, inspite of its seemingly good ideation which may look creative on the surface but will not do anything much for the brand.

Abhishek is over used and has himself become a brand who stands for everything and thus has got diluted.. No..... he may not create any vampire effect per se but he may not sell the brand either...Like father like son, how good it was if we could associate him with only a couple of brands.. but then who am I to decide how much money he should make?

But Lowe..? have they all gone bonkers? what is all this hype about"leveraging the actor’s cool quotient" when there isnt any existing in the first place and even if some is left to be extracted, does the brand require this U turn now?

Idea’s brand qualities – youthfulness, spunk, energy, irreverence, smartness and intelligence – were found to be the same as those espoused in Bachchan’s screen persona. The brief from the client was rather open-ended. Lowe was encouraged to reinvent the brand, taking off from the last thematic campaign in 2006, ‘Monkey’, which leveraged significantly on the Idea tune.....reports the media... From Monkey to Mr Bachan........Three cheers to the brains behind this....

Its a creative blunder with 8 digit mobile numbers paraded and to ask a very simple question which the creative honchos in Lowe and the Brand wizards in Idea never seems to have asked themselves before getting their one ass lift up, for this not so pleasant idea to spread its foul smell.....

What is more easier to remember ..?..A name or the phone number ..?..and that too not of one person but of the whole village....?

And sitting in Kerala, Manipur or Kutch, poor Indians get to see pathetic and pitiably dubbed versions of the ad which stares at us, makes fun of us ... scoff and scorn at us with impudence...

An idea can change your life... even bad ideas can.. for the worse , but.....

Invading the content (Part 4)

Continued from part 3 ..........

Measuring product placements

Measuring product placements in TV is like chasing a mirage. In cinema the effect is more outstanding as reported by the western media that when Tom Cruise wore a Ray ban aviator the sales went up by 40 % and when he wore an Oakleys in MI 2 the sales shot up by 80% ,as per Time magazine.... This is because, cinema gets audiences who are there having made a voluntary choice of exposure, and having spent money for entertainment, unlike television audiences whose involvement and degree of attention is questionable. Moreover, research has revealed that moviegoers, regardless of age or movie going frequency, actively participated in viewing experience and actively interpreted brands that they encounter there . But a time tested, believable mechanism to measure the effects in quantitative terms is yet to evolve. Buyers of such slots will have to succumb to the prices fixed by the seller, many times with no measurable justification. Many such buyers depend on the reputation and past success of the programme producer, the extent to which he allows placements and their own bargaining skills.

The basic premise that the ratings of a programme in TV need not be applicable for commercial breaks in that programme is the reason why product placements have come into prominence. It has been suggested by researchers, that even in programmes with high
Television Rating Points (TRP), the recall of commercials happening during the commercial breaks aren’t very promising, and some times even dismal You and I have experienced that very often .Havent we? When that is the case, will the fame of a popular programme be carried over in full glory, to the products placed in such programmes? It is a question yet to be answered.

Most of the researchers who have worked with Cinema product placements in focus, seem to have emphasized on the power of recall value as effectiveness of product placements and not much emphasis on the power of interpretation and the resultant attitude except a few works . Does recall contribute to attitude change? Those who have gone inside the topic have left it open for future research with the emphasis that, both recall and attitude effects after product placements should be studied . Industry practitioners like Zergio Zyman, also have often commended that “eyeballs don’t equal sales".Considering the fact that TV viewing is more casual and grazing takes place, more research in this area is necessary before any reliable measuring format can be accepted.
Some attempts like comparing the amount of time a product is exposed in the programme with the cost of an equivalent ad slot in the same programme and charging the same money from the client were done. But the authenticity and believability of such measures are disputable. Very often advertisers wonder why they have to spend so much of money for a not very apparent appearance of the product during a programme. Some attempts are made by television audience agencies like TAM(Television Audience Measurement) in this direction. ‘TAM received International Recognition & Appreciation when its Paper on “Evaluating Soft Brand Advertising on Television" (from an advertiser’s point of view) was announced as the Best Paper amongst 22 other strategy papers from various parts of the globe in European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) 2004. This paper was a path-breaking analysis on Product Placements within TV Programs which already is a multi-million dollar industry in the West and worth a few hundred crores in India already. During Mid-2004, the concept of In-programme Product Placement was researched upon from a consumer point of view and presented at the World Audience Measurement (WAM) Conference in Geneva’.

A tool now in discussion is the Q-Ratio or the Quality Ratio from iTVX which delves into the quality of the placement, the visuals, how well it has been integrated into the story, based on which they arrive on the value it deserves .The quality of exposure of the brand is assessed frame by frame and how such exposure helps the brand, and around 50 characteristics of the placement is taken to arrive at the right value. This is an attempt to understand how these placements score in terms of quality and what valuations one can do in monetary terms for these placements....

Invading the content (Part 3)

Continued from part 2..........

The reasons for the rising level of TV product placements

1. In markets such as the UK, product placements are completely banned, while in Canada, one can do placements only in the general entertainment genre and not in the kids' sphere. In USA it is free and the trend is visible. In 1984 the total TV product placements in the USA was to the tune of 188 million dollars while by 1994 it became 464 million dollars and in 2004 it rose to a staggering 1878 million dollars. If in film and other media placement is also included the figure reached almost 3500 million dollars in 20042. Television product placement in the USA is growing at a faster rate than any other media but still only represents just over 1% of advertising spend.
In India there is virtually no legal restriction over the use of product placements in TV programming and it is in the rise.

2. One of the key principles which govern European advertising is the ‘separation principle’. This is designed to ensure audiences are not misled about the nature of the content – advertising or programming – they are watching. The Ofcom Broadcasting Code, published in May 2005, includes at Section 10 a specific requirement for commercial broadcasters to maintain appropriate separation between programme and advertising content. The principle of separation between advertising and editorial material has been an integral part of regulation since the first commercial appeared on the UK’s television screens in 1955. Indian cinema have had product placements from 1940’s since Coca Cola appeared in the classic ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ but it was an exception rather than a rule. Since it was not a widely used tool India don’t have any key regulations in place .It is one of the reasons for the current increase in product placements in TV.

3. TV advertisements during commercial breaks arent considered fully trustworthy by the target audience. Most ads are not taken in face value or are seen as onesided. Most ot the TG does not absorb ads as a fish would absorb water but instead, they are made to adsorb. Hence products seen or mentioned as part of the content and not part of commercial breaks are taken in more as passive learning. Eva Steortz reported that viewers had an average recall for placements of 38% . The Indian success stories of P&G and the likes with the careful in programme product placement in ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’ ,those tales of Nokia,Airtel, and ICICI bank rising to fame when they got associated with ‘Indian Idol’ and the case of Amitabh Bachan signing a Kotak Bank cheque, with a Parker pen and the famous Airtel jingle going on air during “phone a friend” in ‘KBC’ are all testimony to this phenomenon.

4. Increasing pressures on traditional broadcast advertising revenues makes it imperative for broad cast houses to think in favour of new avenues of money.Potential new contributors to the commercial broadcasting funding mix needs to be given due consideration. Product placement is one potential revenue source that has long been prohibited in television programmes by virtue of the separation principle in the west and by virtue of the controlled economy , anti multi national policies and the media monopoly, particularly in TV, that we had in India till the advent of 1990’s.
From when product placements accounted for just three per cent of the overall ad spends of brands in 2004, it went up to six per cent last year and analysts predict that by 2007, product placements would include almost 12-15 per cent of the total advertising spends of brands4. Clearly the broadcasters and producers are making hay while the sun is out- blaring.Greed as some quarters may accuse it, but the media house’s desire to make more profits is one reason for product placements in TV growing at this rate.

5. There are more than 80 television channels in India, reaching more than 24 million cable and satellite homes and with over 150 million viewers with varying and vivid tastes5. This is described by the familiar terms ‘Clutter’ and ‘audience fragmentation’ which according to researchers are driving product placements, through out the world . Yet advertising budgets climb up every year giving headache to advertisers and ad agencies. Consumer goods companies spend anything between 5 to 15% of their turnover on brand building and advertising. The largest consumer goods behemoth in India, HLL spent Rs 759 crores on advertising in 2003 and others aren’t quite different either. The results however aren’t quite promising. Message A Day index (MAD index) in Indian cities competently equal western cities and registering a products name and features in the TG have become a Herculean task.
In film and in programme featuring of brands and their usage works well than traditional advertising, and studies in the west have supported this finding. Researchers have recorded “strong recall” for product placements. Audience beliefs about product placement and their purchase intention after getting exposed to such placements and their correlation have been researched, even cross culturally and found to be existing by many .
Practicing Media planners have observed that brand recall through advertising is 18 per cent, but it is three times more – 53 per cent – through product placements in films. Also that if the in programme product placement is followed by the product ad in the next commercial break, the chances of brand recall is dramatically higher than simple ‘commercial break advertising’. This phenomenon, however needs more empherical research to be substantiated.........

To be continued >>>>>>>