Karo Zyada Ka Irada... It is normal to be greedy !!

Forget Frederick Keonig and his pure thinking like , “we tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”


This ad which focuses on the human need or even greed ,has craft in it, a beautiful chain of events that sells the idea in a simple and yet compelling fashion…He who is greedy is always in want and who knows it better than the marketer… the gap of thought is always there and here it strikes …in the right gap….


There is a simple insight that “people always want more”..the same need and want game…and the gap between the two…. The right product, and a right positioning with a right communication strikes a right chord with the TG….


You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place said Sir David Ogilvy, and here this brand and their agency seems to have got the game and the tricks to play it…

See this stuff...an egg box...…done by Equus Red Cell and Swapan Seth .....




…In a cluttered market such ‘differential thinking’ does work and this brand seems to have got it …

The older versions of their Karo Zyada ka Irada campaign also prove it and for my eyes, the newer one stands a bit taller and stronger than the older one…
See it here…



Not the best of the best ad till date but as of now, it is an eye catcher…


So Marketers.. better Karo Zyada Ka Irada…

It is normal to be greedy !!

The Fun Gun !

Now for all the bulbs that burn, many ad agencies are still roving in darkness...
It is week end again... have a blast people... see u on Monday !!!!

Get out-the world is waiting ! The Outdoor advertising story Part I

A peep into the ifs and buts of Outdoor advertising ....

Being different makes all the difference they say and here you are seeing some Out Of Home ads that follow this dictum in letter and spirit.. eye catching they are ...brevity is a theme across and the message and hence strikes the viewer like a thunderbolt... when world over Billboards are making a come back as OOH and other forms of outdoor media, such creative experiments that give wonderful results to the advertiser and the audience is a welcome change.



Long gone are the days when a bill board was a boring job for the executors, a pain in the ass for the advertisers and an eye sore for many a target audience member. This statement is notwithstanding the fact that there were beautiful exceptions that made history but exceptions rarely made the rules....



Outdoor advertising grows at an astonishing pace as one observe and it is ringing alarming bells for the ones who brushed this media down as not good to be seen in their media mix. As more people become mobile, as more cars and vehicles get into the street driving miles, to and from work and business, the number in the TG of the medium is going up dramatically. It is not the same old bill boards any more. It is a multiple choice and it is there everywhere. From billboards to street- furniture, from transit media such as buses, railways and mobile-vans to new alternate media such as mall kiosks, building boards and you name it.. it is there everywhere…The media planner of today has a problem of abundance …It is just his problem of choice depending on the type of TG that he wants to reach out….



A 2000 crore industry (as per the industry estimates) by 2010, Outdoor is not adding up to about 6 percent of total media spent (abysmal you feel? but it is getting better year after year) New players ( Clear Channel, News Outdoor Group, Kinetic, Aconda SA, Out of Home Media SA, Posterscope etc) are coming in giving a tough fight to the existing ones( OOH agencies like Ogilvy, Bates 141 (Wall Street), Jagran Engage, Primesite, Serve & Volley, Percept OOH, Aaren Initiative, Portland etc to name a few ). It is not easy but and even the seasoned players have been thrashing it in black waters…Clear Channel the world leader in Outdoor is in India for almost 8 years now and not making any significant change to be able to write back home.



Why is it so?
Problems galore…. Measurement ,the ROI element, creative limitations, flexibility, use of technology and the cost involved, the fragmentation ,non accepetance by the marketing community as a primary advertising
media ..it seems to be endless…

This story takes you through the saga…

To Be Continued>>>>>

Open your eyes !

This superbly crafted film was made for the Eye bank association of India by Code Red films that emerged as a dark horse and made awe in the Cannes fest 07. It got rare reviews, ravishing feed backs and some metal but more importantly it opened many an eyes, to the reality that not all see the colours that we the more fortunate ones see and don’t see that easily in our hectic life.. It pricked the conscience of many who (I bet you did that as well) enjoyed the blush and imagery, swayed with the amazing music, got dissolved in the acting, saw the colours and had mirth in them, had laughter, relived past in a joyous nostalgia when the real point struck like a sudden fall of lightening…the climax… and then it pained…. A good communication indeed it is, for it does the basic work - communicates, simply and stunningly …

More communication is required here, India in particular, where the awareness ( basic info about eye donation) is abysmally low in spite of all the Aishwarya Rai’s and Amitabh Bachans who have done high-quality (and free, I am told.. HMMM!!!) work they have done in acting and exhorting in ads that told people to donate their eyes…In a recent survey among some 577 people across various Indian cities, a pathetic 22 % was aware of the eye donation and various options available…blissfully ignorant !!!

This ad has to be seen in that context, even though it is again a basic awareness ad and India needs more of reminder ads and ads aimed at families, who after the donors death comfortably disregard the promise, either because of ignorance, or misperception …The social ad makers have to take the communication to the next phase where it will strike the family unit and make it a culture, and slowly a custom ,to not only sign the donation papers, but also follow it when the good soul has left the body !!!

And the reach is a pointing question.. how many people would have seen this ad? or for that matter other ads with a social cause in mind? Why is it so?

How I hope that more people got to see this ad !!!

Next time when some one quotes Advertising as the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need show them this ad…

Credits goes to :
Lyrics : Gopal Datt
Singer : Ravindra Upadhyay
Music Director : Rajat Dholakia
Cinematographer : Amitabha Singh
Concept & Script : Manish Bhatt & Raghu Bhat
Producer : Subrat Ray
Project leader: Gajraj Rao

Old is Gold...Mother of all scientific copies !!!

It looks like market for organs was not really flourishing those days, but marketer had to sell it nevertheless and hence they pitched many such stuff to be thrust on at the Scientific American audience with the assurance that actual empirical principles under girded this organ. See the use of graphs to prove the point. Now which scientific community ould have possibly resisted this advertising
copy?

Smart, one has to admit!!!!

The Fun Gun !!!

A man walks into a pharmacy, buys a condom, then walks out of the store laughing hysterically.

The pharmacist thinks this is weird, but, hey, there's no law preventing weird people from buying condoms. Maybe it's a good thing.The next day, the man comes back to the store, purchases another condom, and once again he leaves the store laughing wildly. This piques the interest ofthe pharmacist.

What's so funny about buying a rubber, anyway?

So he tells his clerk, "If this guy ever comes back, I want you to follow him to see where he goes."

Sure enough, the next day the laugher is back. He buys the condom, starts cracking up, then leaves. The pharmacist tells his clerk to go follow the guy.About an hour later, the clerk comes back to the store.

"Did you follow him? Where did he go?" asks the pharmacist.

The clerk replies "Your house."

Next time your client laughs.. beware you advertising guys out there....

Happy weekend folks !!!

The MAD agency -Part 1

While on a car trip, an old couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. The old woman unfortunately left her glasses on the table, but didn't miss them until they were back on the highway. By then, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around.....
The old man fussed and complained all the way back to the restaurant, telling his wife how she needs to be more responsible about her belongings.
When they finally arrived, as the old woman got out of the car to retrieve her glasses the old man said, "While you're in there, you may as well get my hat, too."
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Ram panicked!!

He wanted to tell it to some one about this new googly that their real estate client ( whom they had won after a gory pitch-ing battle with other majors, minors, creative hot shops, creative labs, boutiques and who not in war with daggers and swords drawn out… ) was now throwing…

Dream homes had been a demanding client ever since Ram and team won the account for their agency who off late had been seeing a lot of client turnover and hence the wrath from their management sitting at distant Mumbai. This as usual let to a scramble for clients, big or small, good or bad… anyone who had some money that was left out after meeting their expenses was a client. Business development was a function that the client service execs were expected to do, the logic being “what to service if we do not have clients?”

Ram was a seasoned player and why not ….
As the director of client services, he had seen most of them, dealt with the good, the bad and the ugly pigs...
Had been through the whims and eccentric fancies of the clients whose demands many times had less to do with their brands in question and their future , and more to do with persons simple and stupid idiosyncrasies ...
Fought with them knowing very well that it was he who was getting dirty, and not the pig ,also knowing that the last laugh is not going to be his…
Had been tortured by the simple “change the colour demands” to “make the logo bigger” tothe worst "I Know Everything" and "what the bloody FUCK you think YOU are doing with MY brand" ? types…
Have survived his impulses to quit the gruesome thankless job were dreadful and blood thirsty clients shouted and shouted often for no reason and sometimes for foolish reasons…
Have grown above the old ramblings and grumbles as to how unrealistic clients could be….

Guru…. He shouted from his 5*4 cabin where the whole world seemed to have dumped its garbage, and from where he tried executing his ideas on strategic branding and positioning on the brands at his disposition, often in vain being shot down by the brand managers who had thousand reasons versus one or two that his team would demonstrate …

Yes Ram … pat came the reply…. I am busy in a game…

Ram banged out, just to see his protégé, Guru the CSE, who also doubled up as the BDO engaged in a serious round of bridge game with the beautiful and young copy writer trainee whose days in the agency was just handful…

What the fuck? Ram lost his temper…

Guru… Dream homes want to see us….

Bloody losers .. Guru whispered in scant attention to what Ram said …

And we will loose even that bloody looser unless we put our acts together…. Rambled Ram…

What man? Guru lost interest in his game with the gratuitous aggression launched by his senior and the belligerence with which Ram seemed to be persisting…

And what happened to the eat n pack hotel copy? Ram asked the damsel who, had by the time learned the tricks of the trade, inspired by the likes of Guru ...

Its going on …she said with a smile as Guru chucked in mirth happy at the development that the girl had in a weeks time…She had come to write and write and was happy at the writing skills that she thought she had possessed, and was even more happier to get her dream ad agency job, in spite of the pittance that she would be taking home at the end of the month….

No one works here…shouted Ram…. bloody goofers….

As he thundered back to his office Guru followed him signaling the girl to go back and pretend to be working, until he gets back and restart another game…

Now what boss.. Guru asked feigning gravity, sitting in a chair opposite Ram whose face looked like a harvested field with worries and qualms, written large as wrinkles and lines…

You look older than what you are.. said Guru in a pacifying tone… and that is because you get worried unnecessarily ….

WHAT? Ram almost stood up, this time really frightening Guru ...

Are you selling some anti ageing crème to me? asked Ram sarcastically... and what the fuck you mean unnecessary?

Guru sat grim faced, waiting for his Boss to take the actual topic….

Dream homes have sent back the latest copies that we send …. the Brand Manager says kuch masti nahim aya … kuch rang missing hai !!!

ah… guru gasped for a second and then tried for words… it was he who had at last managed to get a verbal approval of the worst client in the history of advertising ( according to Guru himself who was the frontline army from Rams team dealing with the account)…. Is that a reason Ram ?...... masti ….M%%^&&*

Anything is a reason man… why should we debate over that again? Said Ram who sank into his chair…

Now what? asked Guru…

Ram sat there like a question mark literally and figuratively …

What are the changes that they want? Asked Guru the bold, he knew the answers but he also knew he had to face it….

Every time an ad was made..right from the vague client brief dissection to ideation ,brain storming and blame storming to the execution of wild ideas, the brains cluttered together, confused, confessed and confined, astray and astute, wild and vivid, varied and voracious, vocal and vociferous....everyone thought thought and thought.. crap and holy crap evolved and some sense was churned out at last which went to the design stage......

Now to get back to the same process again was unthinkable for guru… it was a circus, a MAD one at that.....every advertising agency… the monkeys and the bears and the parrots and the lions and the ringmasters… you should live in one to know it…..

To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>

KISS the viewer!!!

Haatz, Inc. manufactures hoods and built-in kitchen appliances primarily in South Korea. Its hoods include stainless steel chimney and coated chimney hood. The company's built-in products principally comprise cook top, oven, dish washer and drier, laundry drier, and refrigerators. Haatz also offers residential, commercial, and industrial ventilation solutions.

Here this ad is for Air suction range hoods which strikes the TG with amazing precision of the idea and to a very large extent the execution....Ogilvy and Mather South korea is behind this work...

Simple advertising !!!

KISS rule... smoking out !!!!

Happy Onam!!

Onam -the harvest festival of Kerala is here and so is all the fun and nostalgia...
Life is going to take over and away for a week from the regular stuff and that includes advertising and blogging...
Enjoy this piece of traditional Kerala chendamelam and then you will know what I mean FUN in this part of the world...
Let me immerse in it in real and come back recharged....


Happy Onam !!!

The Fun gun !!!

A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local golf course. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer.
His friend says: “Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You truly are a kind man.”
The man then replies: “Yeah, well we were married 35 years.”

Well to me that sounds like rickety relationship between clients and agencies in advertising

.... Blast this week end folks !!!!

Chevy traverse... switching sides ?

The sensitive music, the topless guy ironing (with a pink iron), making a 6 month anniversary reservation…”it’s useful, it’s beautiful, it’s everything you ever wished for and then some” gones the music and the shot is cut to the guy cleaning a toilet.
Ladies, is this really the perfect male?
It is the question that bloggers and critics have flooded the American air space with during the last two weeks...
male chauvinsim -said the women who found the ad cute and why not.. the guy ( hot one, that too) doing all the ironing and cleaning is a clear welcome proposition for them albeit in real it may be a bit too hard to ask for..
The men (predictably)found it hard ,creepy and too GAYISH to be true and got offended by women who said it is cute... Reverse gender stereotyping - the analyst will call it but for the common man its like two ends that simply wouldnt connect......
Chevy went on air during olympics and have for sure got a lot of eye balls to see it again and again thanks also to the discussion ...In fact this is an ad which is much ado about nothing and yet being seen like it is something great.....
Will people buy a chevy traverse after the ad? Or atleast get induced..?
Is their information about the product any better after so much of repeated exposure to the
advertising? who knows and who cares??? As of now the pink guys and the ad is hot and Chevy is having a laugh.....

Last heard some where in the net :-
Don't know who the actor is -- but the commercial is VERY effective. A hunky guy who does laundry and cleans the bathroom! Every woman's fantasy. Makes me want to buy the car even though I know the guy doesn't come with it. Sigh.
offensive or not , when the auto guys every where seem to be bothered and want to sell their stuff of fuel and its efficiency, this is a shock that Chevy gave America and they shall remember it... so will be the guy but was that the objective...???

Is the Ad industry Insured?

This ad had made me sulk for more than one reason...

It was different I agree.....it was a clutter breaker I do admit but was it right to declare and demand that you live as islands...... In its desire to promote its products, here the brand seems to have forgotten the fact that man is a social animal and would at some point if time, however arrogant you are and however much you are INSURED, will have to depend on others... physically or /and emotionally....

HDFC can sell insurance but not arrogance.. Respecting yourself is a great thing but when it goes overboard a halo appears and a self declared holiness shows up.... In the translated versions it sounds and looks even more horrible.... the song and the whole idea, needless to say this now... long after the ad has come and gone (?) but a news item that I have been seeing for some days caught back my attention to the insurance industry and the whole marketing communication confusion that the guys in there seems to be having...

Since the days when LIC was the only player and we had been tortured with Mr Sharma ka dehanth ho gaya.. Mrs sharma bechari akeli... typo ads that made the viewer horrified and reminded him the prospects of an impending death, Indian insurance ad scene has come a long way but to what extent... emotional content is not a bad idea but it should make a soft dent and not a hard cut... slowly but surely it should trickle down the blood stream of the viewer.... like this,,,,,,,,

or even out right emotional like this......

The Thai guys seem to score above others when it comes to communicate insurance by sheer usage of commonsense...

This is not forgetting the good SBI life commercials that made us awe like is it the same SBI? and the ICICI pru ones that finally took the positioning from terror elements to something positive like the SINDHOOR...

This is not forgetting the attempts that appear here and there as good ads and communication but keeping in mind that the industry is still juvenille( growing at 14 % for sure as says the latest figures), the number of players are more and the opening up has happened only recently and hence the clutter is immense and the share of voice and noice is all confusing, the different one will get noted...

Either some sort of consolidation as in the airlines space has to happen or not waiting for that some conscious attempts to be and look different has to happen... Vijender singh the new dude and apple of may an eyes after the Beijing face saver and the alliance with Bajaj Allainz seems to be something of that sort, but the pessimist I am, the charm is to be seen after a while... going by the fact that India is a cricket crazy mob and we even hate any other form of sport it may be a miracle if this handsome hunk of a boxer can actually sell the "power on your side " for a long term...

And the Marketing rules have changed- not only here, and for this industry but in every cluttered market...the more we segment, the more we fragment the consumer landscape and produce more variations of a particular product ....the more we do that the more we end up creating brands and sub-brands and it isnt going to make things better....

Today no one can differentiate their brand by creating one piffy slogan or a single advertisment or by showing in a smiling celebrity.

But is some one listening?

A good one to end the tirade with....

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some related stuff...
the game of probability
vienna insurance group
the thai stuff