Pulsar 220 DTS-i -The Fastest and confused Indian ...

The wife came home early to find her husband making love to a beautiful sexy young woman.

"You unfaithful, disrespectful jerk! What are you doing? How dare you do this to me the faithful wife, the mother of your children! I'm leaving this house and I want a divorce!"

The husband, replied, "Wait! Wait a minute! Before you leave, at least listen to what happened."

"It'll be the last thing I will hear from you so make it fast, you cheating creep."

"While driving home this young lady asked for a ride. I saw her so defenseless that I went ahead and allowed her into my car. I noticed she was very thin, not well dressed and dirty. She mentioned she had not eaten for three days. Out of compassion, I brought her home and
warmed up the food I made for you last night that you wouldn't eat because you're afraid you'll
gain more weight".

"When I served them to her, the poor young thing, practically inhaled them. Since she was dirty I asked her if she'd like to bathe. While she was showering, I noticed her clothes were worn-out and full of holes so I threw them away. Since she needed clothes, I gave her the pair of jeans
that you no longer wear because they're too tight on you; I also gave her the blouse that I gave you on our anniversary and you don’t wear because I don't have good taste. "

"I gave her the pullover that my sister gave you for Christmas that you won't wear just to bother my sister and I also gave her the boots that you bought at the expensive boutique that you never wore again after you saw your co-worker wearing the same pair. "

"After she dressed, I walked the young woman to the door where she turned around and with tears of gratitude streaming down her cheeks, she asked me,

"Sir, do you have anything else your wife doesn't use?"

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The above said story strikes me every time I see this Fastest Indian ad from Pulsar 220 DTS-i bike, which is the latest evolution from the good old Pulsar that put our very own Bajaj back in the two wheeler map of India.

For some one who saw the definitely male postitioning and was awed by its total difference (points of parity and yet the points of difference) with which it was conceived and positioned and storm that it created in the Indian two wheeler market, and in the process churning up the so called performance segment which was lying underperforming with the hero Honda CBZ, this new ad is not that striking…

For some one who saw the macho ness in the pulsar design ,the tagline, the ads and the sales rocketing, for some one who saw the client ( Bajaj) jumping from O&M to Leo Burnett who screwed up the positioning and the ads (Digital Biking was the new tag I guess and then to distinctly ahead and then to.. OOF!) which was a big disservice to the old one (the best in the two wheeler industry I believe)

For some one who have seen the Pulsar and the DTSI and then the Pulsar 200 and the 200 DTS-Fi and now this and having had a ride in all of them, the old one still is the best…Not the product ,its evolution is wonderful, I am here talking of the communication..... Not because I have suddenly joined the old school of advertising but cannot understand why a brand should oscillate its positioning and confuse people, with no valid reason.

If competition from the likes of YZF-R15 and the FZ-16 TVS and Apache RTR 180 etc is the reason, I would say… take a break and take a long walk.. Oscillation is not the answer….

As a product Pulsar is doing well and is constantly upgrading itself … and I love Pulsar than the Yamaha FZ that I get to drive from my brother every time I want to feel young… and why not? Bajaj Pulsar 220 cc with 21.04 PS of power and priced at Rs. 70,000 is nothing less than a wonderful product (Mind you FZ will take some 74000 Indian rupees..)…. It is the communication that is screwed up …

Where is the product shown?
Why not the product which is the best and hence showable..
Why not the product which the market would love to see at least in a frame running for 5 seconds?
Why the Psychological positioning which totally ignores the added features of the product that makes it class apart?

The ad that we saw here makes no sense… it may get a metal in some ad fest where equally arrogant creative guys will celebrate their ignorance but for the common man, who has to buy his bike, this is simply a non seller….. the tag line rocks- the fastest Indian -but clubbed with the ad it fails… it doesn’t connect .. it simply evades my common sense…. From Pulsar mania to Pulsar vacillation?

In spite of the ad screw up’s Pulsar sales are still on the high side… the proof…? Read this latest industry review …..

Bajaj Auto, which recently launched their flagship product, revamped Pulsar 220 DTSi, which is India’s fastest bike currently, along with revamped Pulsar 150 and Pulsar 180, are also going great guns selling 1,68,471 two wheelers this month (June 09) . Although there was a decline of 4.52 percent in sales compared to June 2008 sales (which were 1, 77,112), the sales are growing month after month. The company sold 1,65,697 two wheelers last month and the sales grew 29 percent Quarter on Quarter, primarily due to the successful launches since February 2009 of the XCD 135 DTS-Si, Pulsar 150 and Pulsar 180 DTSi 2009 editions.

Moral of the story…..?

Advertising beware….

People don’t essentially buy seeing ads… and worse they buy in spite of seeing bad ads.. They buy in spite of your screwing up and offering funny reasons for the screwing up….

Isn’t that a bad news for the industry?

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also read :- the b school blog and continuous confusion...

Ad Funda --- Ambient advertising ?

"Ambient advertising is advertising through an unusual medium”.


Instead of advertising one's product through TV, radio, prints or hoardings on the pavements, these ads creep before the viewer when he least expects it. The whole idea of ambient advertising is to be clever and catch the eye of the target even before they realize that they are a target…..

The mouse pad user above, is going through a state of ecstasy for being able to browse under a micro mini with his hands and even click and squeeze, when slowly but surely the AXE brand name is squeezing into his mind, in a process of passive learning...

Newspaper, TV and other main stream (above the line, as they call it) advertisements usually cost a huge amount for one insertion,( If the size of the newspaper advertisement is not significant, it goes unnoticed) but when it comes to ambient advertising, it helps in establishing individual connect( to an extent that is), and is more reasonable in terms of cost ( but cost effectiveness is always questionable).

The idea of gifting apple baskets with a company's logo stuck on each apple to their premium clients, helps build a personal connect, and also builds good business but among a selected group of people.. After all …..how many Apples?

Even though ambient advertising has made a place by having massive shock value, it is not strong enough to force out the more conventional forms of advertising.( not that I am a devil’s advocate here and is ALL for the Advertising as we know it, but..) For branding we still need to rely on print and electronic media and that is true.. after all conventional advertising is like marriage, there may be a better option but what is it? Can some one say?





The amounts of advertising and marketing, people are exposed to daily have gone beyond belief …. At the petrol pumps, in the movie theatre, in washrooms and lavatory, during sports and even charity shows —advertising is impossible to avoid….. even space is not left…..the Russian space program launched a rocket bearing a 30-foot Pizza Hut logo, and some companies are investigating the possibility of placing ads in space that will be visible from earth.

Marketers are pressed to find even more pioneering and insistent ways to cut through the "ad clutter" or "ad fatigue" of modern life. Some accuse such efforts into getting ambient as "environment pollutants." Others worry that this deluge of advertising will create a backlash with consumers and they may walk off….

And why not... ? when a brand stares and hangs on to you from 23 different outdoor media formats like billboards, bus shelters, elevators, Volvo bus wraps, complete train wraps, LEDs at railway stations, and national highway boom barriers and where not, like sprite did in its sprite express campaign, people may feel trapped and that cannot always make the desired result.

If it is done in an optimum dose it would be taken well I guess..


Here is what I saw in the net....

A good example of this is the outdoor campaign Euro RSCG has executed for Good People India, a job consulting company based in Gurgaon.Good People India has stayed away from advertising since it was set up eight years ago by Neena Sagar. Initially, the company handled job profiles mainly in the field of advertising.

Both Sagar and her husband, Vidhu, have worked in advertising, Sagar for 10 years. So, they were well networked in the field. Now it is also getting into job profiles in marketing and, thus, feels the need to be more visible.As a result, when its creative agency, Euro RSCG, came up with an innovative outdoor idea, Good People India decided to talk about itself, spurred on also by the lower advertising costs induced by the prevailing recession.

A bright yellow sign with the message, 'Jobs Available – Goodpeopleindia.com', was attached to the window cleaning trolley of Infinity Towers, a glass façade building in DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon. A cutout of a hand with a pointed finger was attached to one side of the trolley, pointing towards the various company signs on the building. These signs included those of Orange, WNS, STAR Sports, STAR Cricket and ESPN. The maintenance staff move the trolley up and down the building in the afternoon as they clean the glass.

As a result, the finger points at various floors at various times, indicating job positions available at these companies and at all levels from the top management to the welcome desk.The campaign was ideated by Euro RSCG and executed in association with MPG Active.

I just hope that at the end of the day this serves the purpose and it is not over done !




Nothing kills love and marketing like an overdose of it !!!!

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also see for more of the same topic .... here...

My other blogs :-

continuous confusion & business of B schools

The Fun Gun !!!

The irate diner raised his hand to catch the attention of a passing waiter.

"Excuse me," said the man, "but how long have you been working here?"

"About a year," replied the waiter.

"In that case," continued the diner, "it couldn't have been you that took my order."

Guys in client servicing often get to hear such cruel jokes and punches and their creative partners play chess and carroms in the pretext of ideation and humbug !!!!

Week ends but are for fun... Enjoy folks !!!!

Benadryl - sneezing creativity !

It is a war on summer allergies. An outstanding creative idea is complimented by some brilliant sound design and eye catching music ….JWT, Grand central and Benadryl in UK is behind this appealing ad where a countryside scene is accompanied by the sounds of warfare, as speeded-up film shows falling sycamore pods, daisies bursting with pollen and a variety of other plants having their pollen spread by wind and insects. A screen message advises 'win the war against allergies' before a pack of Benadryl is displayed. And for a dust allergic like me, it appeals with its simplicity, packed and appealing visuals and the sound!!!!

For Benadryl, the 55 year old brand which once was a synonym for the category, and later lost to the new players, the revival is happening now….this new one is in the right track !!!

Cheers to the guys who made it…

Credits:-

Client
Sarah Barker - Senior Brand Manager, Benadryl
Alex Pitt - General Marketing Manager, URT

Brief:-The brief was to reinforce Benadryl's effectiveness credentials and superiority at speed of action in a category where few claims are permissible.

Art Director-Andy Smith
Copy Writer-Ryan Lawson
TV Producer-Anna Church
Planner (creative agency)-Ian MacDonald
Media agency-Carat
Media planner-Greg Patterson
Director-Steve Cope
Production company-Rattling Stick
EditorTim Hardy @ Cut and Run
SoundMunzi Thind @ Grand Central

And thanks to Anne Maria of Lowe London for the info and the details !!!
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Also see my other blogs:- chicken curry & continuous confusion....

Garnier men- perfect match !

What is so great about this ad?

I would say nothing except that it has John Abraham in it….. But that makes all the difference. Garnier for men ( a new extension from Garnier ) from International cosmetic giant L'Oreal has roped in Bollywood hunk John Abraham as the brand ambassador for its new product Garnier Men and the ads are going around catching the eye balls everywhere and everytime .( good media planning I must say)… Garnier MEN will "take care” of the tough male skin with a line of products that combine a high performance and unique formulae that fuse nature, science and technology.. ahem.. sounds great….

Why John?

Its simple..

The brand stands for “natural energy that fuels your skin”.

The brand want to be seen as “youthful and edgy” (in a positive sense I guess !), “that emanates positive energy”. It believes in “Taking Care – taking care of yourself and the world around”. John Abraham represents this value (and why not!) for Garnier. He’s got the charisma, and the attitude. He is the face of the new Indian man who is confident and has got tremendous self-belief. I know many young lads in my GYM where they come for working out just because their Girl friends LOVE JOHN…

Garnier is young and edgy, and John is an icon for the youth who is edgy as well. He wants the best for himself but he is also fun, someone who enjoys being himself, and same with the youth the GEN Y kids……. I feel a right connect and the celebrity-brand match looks perfect …

Where is this taking us?

A tremendous launch and then an expansion and surge in grooming products for men, happened in the last few years with the launch of brands such as Elder Pharmaceuticals’ Fair One Man, Saka Bleach Cream for Men, Emami’s Fair and Handsome, HUL’s Menz Activ, and Nivea for Men and the likes… (Have I left out anything…? ). Not that men didn’t care about looks before but largely had to depend on products aimed for the fairer sex…The Indian male grooming market now is growing faster than the global cosmetic market,and as per the industries estimate, the Indian male grooming market is around Rs 750 crore (without the shaving gels and brushes that is !)..,,,, The market is growing at a rate of 30-40 per cent annually and could keep growing at the rate and with increasing number of men wanting to look and feel good its just a non stop express. Now that is quite phenomenal for a category that didn’t exist some 10 years back.. aint it?

…Last to, jump into the male narcissism bandwagon is Garnier Men…. the market is tough, if not saturated and one will have to wait and see how far the new brand will capture the share of the voice and the noise and the market….If my knowledge is right, John is the first major celebrity and the first one to make a connect with its intended target audience and the brand. What more does a brand need? ( It is not that I did not see Bipasha basu and her miserable endorsement of Fa men, I prefer to ignore the ignorance of the agency and the apathy of the client and the perfect mismatch) . Now I am told that, Surya the Tamil actor and the King Khan SRK have endorsed male products well before John did, but the match factor still remains a question

Last but not the least: -

John is an icon for the Gen Y and the modern kids for sure,

…..and an icon to the metro sexual (fashionable guys who live in clean apartments, they have chiseled abs and thighs, they are mom loving, man scaping but not a gay himself, they are hair styled- cant live without gels, creams and the stuff and groomed to perfection and likes to be noted and admired by all ,including men )

……and an icon to gays as well.. (With the repelling of the controversial article 377 the LGBT movements will be more active and more faces will move out of the closet and for them john is the ultimate sex symbol) … Remember Dostana and the awe it created. Being a metro sexual himself, John loves the attention he gets, including from gays….

Simple and good !! Kudos to Garnier and Publicis India for the great marketing communication !!!

Also read :-

Hire the star..Rent a bath tub..

Jyotika weds Surya...ahhaaaa...!!!!!

The Bermuda Triangle !!!!

Lights...camera..action....

Abhi, ash and all the cash!!!

Clinic All clear...Kiss of good bye !!!

Wow! Wow Sports Brands!

celebrity circus...

Tail piece:-

In a hospital, a gentleman had made several attempts to get into the men's restroom, but it had always been occupied. A nurse noticed his predicament.

Sir, she said "You may use the ladies room if you promise not to touch any of the buttons on the wall."

He did what he needed to, and as he sat there he noticed the buttons he had promised not to touch.

Each button was identified by letters: WW, WA, PP, and a red one labeled ATR.

Who would know if he touched them?

He couldn't resist.. He pushed WW. Warm water was sprayed gently upon his bottom.

What a nice feeling, he thought. Men restrooms don't have nice things like this. Anticipating greater pleasure, he pushed the WA button. Warm air replaced the warm water, gently drying his underside.

When this stopped, he pushed the PP button. A large powder puff caressed his bottom adding a fragile scent of spring flower to this unbelievable pleasure.. The ladies restroom was more than a restroom, it is tender loving pleasure.

When the powder puff completed its pleasure, he couldn't wait to push the ATR button which he knew would be supreme ecstasy.

Next thing he knew he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed, and a nurse was staring down at him.

"What happened?" he exclaimed. The last thing I remember was pushing the ATR button.

The nurse said softly ..."The button ATR is an Automatic Tampon Remover. Your penis is under your pillow."

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See my other blogs as well :- chicken curry & continuous confusion...

Maaji.. kahan hai meri "keo karpin"? ..

The best of adformula series....

It is a tale of an evolution, ...

Ad makers kept ads in between programmes and made life tiresome for the idiots glued to the their boxes...they got angry and then they thought of sponsoring programmes and make people less tired by" passive learning".. remember Closeup Anthakshari, and Ujala Geetmala...? Remember Rin Makalirmatrum, Pepsi Ungalchoice and Lalithavin Pattukku pattu..?

Big guys could only afford sponsoring and then came the idea of product placements. Poor things -- the heros and heroines of our funny looking TV programmes, now would be inserting the brand names of the guys whose money has flown into the balaji's coffers, in their long dialogues..

Films set the trend... passpass and yaddein shall be remembered.. what a flop it was... I even wonder whether the film bombed on the producers face , due to his insatiable greed for money.. more money.. even more money..

Top gun and MI 2 are often quoted for its product placement wonders, and the effect on sales of such products.. but it went together well.. it was natural.. Tom cruise, the sexy hunk in an Aviator or an Oakleys, would look even more sexier and would only add charm to the story and the situation where the products appear. Thums up in the famous bollywood masala 'Kaante' was a natural fit, as the product espouses a macho image and so did the film....but these are clearly exceptions and not rules.....

Greed is a human attribute, no easy routes.. no escaping formulas..

But this never satisfiable apetite for money would slowly but surely make the dumbos locked on to their idiot boxes and multiplexes , realise the big game.. realise that the cinema that they had bough ticket for, is nothing but a series of ads, with some story thrown in , in between..

The day of reckoning will come when the gluttonous trio- the marketer, the agency( creative and media planning.. and now ,product placing) and the programme producer will have to ponder over the sword of democles that looms over their very existence....when our 'warriors'with invincible swords, in mirth over the breach of walls between the editorial content and the commercial space ,would regret that they have won over uninhabited lands...

In the mean while let me see the latest edition of Kyonki Beti Bhi Kabhi Maaji Banegi....

The heroine appears on screen..

Maaji---she cries...

Haan beetiji--- appears the old maaji

Aap ne meri keo karpin dekhi?-- laments the over made up heroine

Nahi to beti ji-- replies maaji...main to apna Dabur amla kesh tel hi istemal karti hoon...

Buaaaji--- appears the young trendy metrosexual grandson ji ,who bumps like a rubber ball

Mere Pulsar dtsi bike ki chabi kahan hai..? ---asks the lad

Muche to nahin pata---replies the Buaaji--I think it is near to my Pudin hara bottle.. dekho..

Now tell me guys... how long this will go on...

You can fool every one for some time, some for ever.. but not every one forever..

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also see my other blogs....chicken curry and continuousconfusion....

The Fun Gun !!!

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices a beautiful blond woman wave at him and says: "Hello!"

He's rather taken aback, because he can't place where he knows her from. So he says,: "Do you Know me?"

To which she replies: "I think you're the father of one of my kids."

Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says: "My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that got me so excited I had to lay you right there on the pool table with all my buddies spraying whip cream on us?"

She looks into his eyes and calmly says: "No, actually I'm your son's maths teacher!"

When did this foot in the mouth syndrome happen to you guys last.. guys in client servicing in particular?

Have fun guys......Its week end again !!!!!!!

LUX- the soap of film stars ( old is gold series..)

The hope of the endorsers’ tinsel dust getting attached to the brand is not new. In case of LUX however it is true the other way round as well. Every star, generation after generation, cherished a desire to be the LUX endorser. Stars, if one could believe the industry sources, have always been ready to quote much below the market prices, to be part of Lux, since it gave the I HAVE ARRIVED feeling to them








































It started with this famous Leela Chitnis ad dated 1941 and then went on to have Naseem Banu, and later her daughter, Saira Banu….Madhubala, Mala Sinha,Hema Malini,Zeenat Aman, Parveen babi, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Aishwarya Rai( along with Juhi Chawla, she holds the honour of having endorsed Lux for a longer period of time), Amisha Patel, Kareena Kapoor and Tabu have all been past brand ambassadors and been the charm of LUX and lux their charm… …

Priyanka Chopra currently appears and in between Shahrukh khan appeared in what people thought was a brand fiasco !!!

But then that is better than oscillations that brands suffer from….

Old still is gold !!!
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Lux in the past in Adformula....
the black magic, Hire the star..Rent a bath tub..

Also read my other blogs *****************

chicken curry and continuousconfusion ....

Liril 2000- history repeats !!!

Every time history repeats itself; the price goes up, said some one. Guess when he said it, whoever he was, had Brands and their tryst with confused positioning in mind…..

Liril has been a favourite brand, not only because of the Indian factor but also because of my Lintas (Lowe) connections. It is sad to see the fall of the brand but as it has been discussed here and everywhere (this time around it seems I am the last to write on it) let me keep away from all the slung mud.

It is easy for researchers, bloggers and arm chair academic critiques to sit and write, give dictates to “do this and do that”, ultimately it is the parents and to an extent the ayah who is responsible for the upbringing of the brand. The child grows the parent way and hence when HUL( then HLL ) wanted the old ad, imagery and the laah-la- la -la- laah jingle to go (since Liril stood for freshness and how illogical it would be to go on with the old jungle thought HLL…) and bingo it went off air and came a new music inspired from an Ilayaraja track. No matter whether the jingle served as the most memorable mnemonics of the brand for years and large generation grew up with it.

The blue ICY cool Mint and the Orange splash are all the bye products of the client’s insistence. Who can convince the pushing father that his son needs to be the same and grow up on his own….?

The models in Liril ads, and the brand itself then started saying ‘Uff, yummah… Uff, yummah!' in what many thought and meaningless jumble….the agency (Balki and co) then said and waxed eloquent about its youthfulness, energy and the stuff and why ‘Uff, yummah… Uff, yummah!' is gonna rock!!

Did it rock? History is clear… the splashes didn’t create any splash in the markets… the uff’s gave a HUH to Liril and as the markets walked away the percentage of the market share dipped to 1 %.

May be in its efforts to get back to its original self ,Liril has done it again… Remember that Liril from freshness had wandered into HOT and the couple in the ad was biting a chilly. I even thought that it’s a masala Kurkure ad or a spicy Condom ad until I saw the last frame.....but now Liril is Liril2000 (it’s a month old story and the lazy me is writing on it now?). I was a bit drunk when I first saw it last week even though I had heard about it. I preferred to ignore it because for me Liril now looks like a rape victim about whom every one has written and spoken and yet she is being raped day in and day out. I thought that HUL has extended Liril to beer and alcohol and is trying to capitalize on the HOT and SPICY imagery that it tried to build for the good old COOL and freshness brand.

Not that I recommend a going back.. HUL and Lowe are full of seasoned people and bloggers and writers need to understand that when they do it, when they do it again and again, they would surely be knowing what and why they are doing it…or are they blissfully unaware ?… If that is the case then it is worse than a crime, because it is a blunder.

The problem for the brand that created the LIME category (read the freshness category) was multi faceted. Cinthol and its Lime variant- Lime fresh which came in 1980’s threatened the Liril supremacy over the category and then came NIRMA lime, to counter which HLL did the JAI lime and then even the NIMA lime….need less to say, first the LIME soap market was soaked, and then it began to sink.. The guys who cry “Freshness and bring back the nostalgia”, are forgetting the fact that the category has sunk in total and hence the dilemma for Liril… Me included.. How I hope I could see Liril in the format of the good old Liril ads…. again!!!



Liril is like the proverbial drunkard who went to Himalayas to become a sadhu. Neither he could become one, nor could he get back to his life of drunkenness!!! Robert Frost said famously; don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up. The HUL and Lowe guys seem to know it better than anyone else and hence the problem!

Liril will now touch me in 2000 places.. Ahem… and touch is key word…the spontaneity of touch in relationships… doesn’t that look like a marriage counselor’s tagline?

What's next? Wait and Watch! The show has just begun... says the HUL website…

Why not?

Let us forget the waterfalls, the lime baths and the sizzling Nymphs who sang laah-la-la-laah.. the Karen Lunel’s and the Alique Padamsee’s …..

Forget the icy cold waterfalls near the Guna caves in Kodaikanal where karen and all her successors jumped and bathed in joy selling freshness.....

Forget the ultra-conservative Indian society and the mouth opened AWE the first Liril ads created and yet multiplied its sales figures….

Mindless it may seem now, dilemma for now it is but then ,haven’t mindless brand extensions and repositioning worked in the crowded Indian market place?

Tail piece: - A king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma…. Marlene Dietrich

The Fun Gun !!!

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel. The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

Recession time money flow is what keeps the world flowing.. anyways enjoy the week end folks...recession will go soon, enjoy the week end....!!!

Ad Funda --- Hyperbole ?

This section is new in Adformula and is here from a class room question I faced.

What is a Hyperbole?

I will explain it but before that let me say that this will be a permament feature in Adformula hereafter....

The AdFunda series.....

Hyperbole as per wikipedia comes from ancient Greek "ὑπερβολή" (meaning excess or exaggeration) and is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is rarely meant to be taken literally.

Hyperbole is used to create emphasis. It is a literary device often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual speech. It is also a visual technique in which a deliberate exaggeration of a particular part of an image is employed. An example is the exaggeration of a person's facial feature in a political cartoon.













Needless to say ,in Advertising hyperbole galore. Adguys are the masters in exaggeration- some time justified but most of the times totally unjustified and out of the world.... BUT it sells...may be I sound like a moron here but it really does ! Being Hyperbolic aint a crime ,at least in Marketing and Advertising it is'nt... It helps to be different, to be seen, to be heard , to stand out in the crowd... but some times it is like farting in public, the moment you do it you are different, heard and seen but that is not what you had wanted ,,,right?

It is not that the Crime is done by Ad guys only....The movie industry also bangs on heavily on the power of hyperbole. Whenever a film or television program is released, the guys behind will use selected quotes to hype their products: "Mel Gibson gives the performance of a lifetime!" They may shout from the roof top.... It really doesn't matter if Mel Gibson gave 'the performance of a lifetime' three times last year.

Without hyperbole, advertisers, storytellers and publicists would probably be looking for other lines of work. People but generally know that Hyperbole or HYPE in a common man's parlance is part of Marketing and its communication...

Hype is a short sighted business choice.

It makes a dangerous assumption that the fool who buys what he buys would not if he is aware of the truth - in which case the sellers should not be selling the product in the first place!

It also assumes that customers are there to be exploited , and not your partners in business.For all the great theories on customer centric marketing, it is disrespectful by meaning and implication, and bestows lower on your customers in comparison to your acumen, when defacto the truth may be the other way round.














It is fun in some products and categories (condoms for instance) but when for more complex products where the buyer is in higher involvement and there is a significant competition between brands for the consumer mind space, HYPE may be counterproductive and lead to a calamity...

Enough of funda, now with a simple example let me wind up... here we go ...



If you are done with it, read my previous posts about the same topic here.....

Tail piece:-
"Ladies and gentlemen, I've been to Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times worse than all of them put together."

The Fun Gun!!!

A man joined a big Multi National Company as a trainee.....


On his first day, he dialed the kitchen and shouted into the phone:


"Get me a cup of coffee, quickly!"


The voice from the other side responded:

"You fool; you've dialed the wrong extension! Do you know who you're talking to?"

"No" replied the trainee.


"It's the Managing Director of the company, you idiot!"


The trainee shouted back: "And do you know who YOU are talking to,you IDIOT?"

"No!" replied the Managing Director angrily.


"Thank God!" replied the trainee and put down the phone.

Have fun guys !!! blast but be safe....

Videocon- Oscillate and be bald !

“Harsh necessity, and the newness of my kingdom, force me to do such things and to guard my frontiers everywhere.” Says an ancient quote…

It seems the latest in the new logo- new identity- me too modern bandwagon, Videocon is a bit confused…. Dull that they always were in their ads and communication, no matter the Shahrukhs and Dhoni’s who danced and exchanged their roles to promote the brand , now this new logo and the logo logic looks more boring and mundane than one could imagine….

In the past we have seen a parade of new logo unveilings and all the logo logic..Everytime I see a logo change, I laugh… the guys behind will have a tough time designing it, placing it, selling it, reaching it to the people, selling its logic and yet the general feel is the same.. all the banks who did such change in the past-Canara bank, South Indian bank etc etc are still the same as far as the customer is concerned…well leaving that and taking on the Logo logic part, the Uniliver logo logic was the biggest one and yet the most convincing… Union bank of India too did a reasonably fair job, Axis bank was wonderful .. Hutch to Vodafone was awesome.. Even India post did a better job than this VIDEOCON thing,,,,




Not that the new logo is bad, but the way the ads are made out, and the way the logo logic appears in media… Videocon ostensibly has poor PR, no media management and absolutely have never heard of 360 degree communication….

Aspiring to get international ..? ahem ahem… !


Until October 2006, Videocon called itself "the Indian multinational". When O&M came on board in January 2007 (taking over from R K Swamy BBDO), the agency opined that the tagline, although suitably corporate, did not strike a chord with consumers. ( New Agency as a matter of rule will replace everything and anything that the old agency has left behind... ) Thus the Indian MNC got the "Whatever role life gives you, play it big’'.. I doubt whether the guys at Videocon understood it because by May 2008 they started searching for a new bed partner.. O&M really became the mistress who fell out of the masters favour.

The reasons were plenty ,including an incredible amount of management churn at Videocon, with an exodus of sorts coming into play. In the midst of all that chaos, Videocon expressed dissatisfaction with its agency and called for a pitch. Even as the pitch progressed, Videocon was struggling to put its marketing team in place... and by the time they put a team in place O&M lost the account and Satchi& Satchi won it...The stud that Videocon is, now I am told that Satchi is sidelined into a few divisions and the corporate brand per se is handles my TAG Mccann... The rest is history...

The new symbol of Videocon asserts its passion for global impact, and the two ‘E’s on either side represent the Group’s wide spectrum of interests ranging from ‘Electronics to Energy’. Along with the steely glint, this communicates the group's global ambition, its strength, sterling credentials and innovative drive. A symbol that proclaims a paradigm shift. A sign that represents the new force that is Videocon. Thus recapitulating our principle of reaching out and touching the lives of millions of people. Worldwide.


Goes the Logo logic……. why is simple thing called life made complex by certain people..

What is that ad all about? What is it trying to say? Will some one from TAG or Satchi or some one new,,,(?) please explain...?


"The biggest challenge for the agency will be to retain the business,” told a friend at that point of time when Satchi won the 250 cr account, because “Videocon tends to be fickle with its agencies. ..."


My kids surely giggled and got amused seeing the cartoon stuff but is it why Videocon spend all the money through their bleeding ass to revamp its brand identity?


Who is to blame?


There was a rich old man...in his late 40's who got married the second time to a young beautiful but poor lady. After the initial rosy days the young lady started repenting....She wanted the old man to look a BIT more young... she plucked his white hairs one by one ,in what she thought as the best idea to make him look young.

The problem was just to begin. The man's first wife discovered this and thought that he should be really taught a lesson... strangely but ,she too saw the man's hair as the problem... she when he lay asleep pluck all his black hairs....

Oscillation, guys make people bald !!!

Some one is listening?

Also read... My previous post on Brand revamps...

Bank on me !!!