FUCA AWARDS 2010 !!!

Hearty appreciation to Sathish Kumar, Joselin John , Ajay , Venu , Thomson, Dhanya , Madhu ,Shyam and Dileep Narayan... 

Kudos folks !!!!

Muslipower Xtra - copy cat !!!

Sex and drugs for sex  have been a category that sells by itself since time immemorial..… and Kunnath C Abraham knew that very well… just another man before he realised his big brand dream, he but had the power of looking to the future…. He is the one with a bit more forethought ....... he knew that drugs like Viagra should run for a hiding because of the many health apprehension these drugs are connected with. That did exactly happen to sex drugs, especially in India, when sales did drop and then… THEN came the now often discussed Musli power Xtra, ‘the saviour of Indian manhood’.. !

His pricing strategies are/were different (you cannot buy a Musli tablet alone, you have to get a pack full and pay some big money for it), facing the allegations (mainly from a jealous competition) he had them issue a threat ad where he (yeah that’s right the man himself) announced that anyone proving that is product has banned substances in it will get 5 crores and the like.. He even won some additional brownie points when he realised that the law is going to catch up he by quickly dropped the impotence-cure tag and adopted vitality tag instead… and then he took it to everyone… selling sex to making you healthy and vital with the one and same drug… One ad said (the old man in the ad said that is..) now even old people can use it… it gives me SO MUCH of ENERGY.. Whatever it means..  

And then this ad, for the weak hearts… 

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Now some history from another part of the world…

Somewhere during Mid 2001,  an ad agency calls a Zurich director, to make an ad for Swiss TV.... The client was Microsoft XP and the idea to sell - password protection......

So what you ask...?… keep going guys.. !

The ad was shot inexpensive, and in less than a day..(ahem).

As far as I can conclude (it’s my assumption and don’t hang me if I am wrong), the ad never ran on any TV and other media (where it should have) considering that it is a TVC. Someone who saw it somewhere posted it online somewhere, somehow and then its history. It went on until Gates saw it and got red in anger and had it pulled.

The content is sexy and even outright lewd for our standards but again was not the case for half of the world... Things are moving along satisfactorily hot (!!!) until the couple reach one of those archetypal tests of manhood, the brassiere disentanglement (or as the Swiss friends used to put it, the dégagement de soutien-gorge.) Even though the gentleman choose for the conventional, competent, better-safe-than-sorry, two-handed release his efforts are unanswered and his desires, so very oathtically dissatisfied….(alas ! )

The fact that the ad makes us smile is testimony to its creative brilliance but nevertheless it wasn’t seen much on public space…Microsoft seemingly didn’t think that it would efficiently sell software, or Microsoft was annoyed that the ad they paid to produce was seized and usurped by the online world….

For me but the video’s winning split second transpire about halfway through the run; watch the devious, nuanced expression on the girl’s face as she realises what is going on, literally, behind her back…. For the ad makers ( Chris Niemeyer- a lessor known Swiss director and her crew) but the winning moment would be now, if and when they comprehend that 'far across the distance and spaces between them' (inspired from the Titanic song) some other unrelated brand had ditto and shamelessly copied their idea which  any ways Microsoft didn’t find much useful. 

Imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery but this has gone beyond the limit.. Even the sly expression of the girl is …!!! 

Tail piece:- The difference between a bad artist and a good one is the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does…..

Diary Milk - Shubarambh se not so Subh anth tak!

Running a campaign is like having beer, it’s rare that the second one will taste as good as the first one, and the third one as good as the second…. (This however is not a rule and even if it is, as with every other rule, this one has exceptions as well…..)

Cadburys diary Milk is a brand that always amused me – and since today (as I write, )I am in a golden hangover of having seen and heard it all from the man himself – Piyush Pandey who came to Kochi and talked to us on how Cadbury's made it .. The hangover is intact even now and yet I cannot resist myself from my humble duty of evaluating and putting my view on ads in the limelight...

Diary Milk and its oscillation is part of marketing history. As Piyush himself admits, brands have to say stories and have to change them (keeping the soul intact) as per the changing TG that you talk to. Some times such change is triggered by the market needs/ marketing needs of the brand (like the DM case when they first repositioned it from just being a kid’s stuff to also for adults stuff… See to here…) And many times even when the market or marketing needs don’t want you to change the communication, the agency does for want to avoid getting bored.. Classic case of you getting bored with your own creation before the viewer does.. Thus Pappu pass ho gaya, Radha and the Miss Palampur ads ( a crime!) and then after a long foray into the ups and downs of positioning roller coaster rides , the Pehli tarik ads with the song 'Khush hai zamana aaj pehli tarikh hai, Meetha hai khana aaj pehli tarikh hai” which just means sing and rejoice, it's salary day today… (Nothing great!) ,,,,

Then came the Shubarambh one - cute, sweet and hitting right at the spot.. There were critiques for this one as well but that’s part of the game.. The first beer bottle for the thirsty (deprived of good beer for long, that is!), it was refreshing and so very tasty.. In fact too tasty to be true and I used to wonder, how they will retain the cuteness element in its successive ads, if they are going to prolong the Shubarambh campaign… Whether it is due to the need that the variety loving market place throws in, or simply because the agency gets bored of its existing work, it takes some guts for a new campaign with a new tag line, tone and tongue to be launched … It takes but more than guts to make it look and taste better than the older one… The cute teenagers in the bus stand was the fresh chilled beer for the thirsty soul, the oldies in jeans was the second one (getting dull) and now the young gal eloping with her beau  only to be encountered in the car with her family, sitting there to share a piece of  DM is the third.. 

The third beer never tastes as good as the first one, but that simile is no excuse for getting it worse than the predecessor every time and this one so far is the worst. How I hope they get back to something sensible and saleable than this or at least stop cobbling up such bits and pieces to question the commonsense of the average viewer…

May be they have met a family somewhere who met her daughter in her boy friends car and saw her off with a DM and thus got inspired!!! 

May be they want to now expand the celebration platform and make even elopement a reason to celebrate!!!

May be after all the gaps and holes that they have identified and ventured into(refer to market expansion strategies by Kotler )this is the only one possible hole where they can NOW sell some chocolate ….

From celebration to celebration of trash .. Bankruptcy at Ogilvy? ….

Kerala Adfest 2010

Kerala Adfest 2010 is opening at the picturesque Ramada Resorts in Kochi with a grand Lunch tomorrow... Big names and a lot of fun awaiting.. Piyush Pandey, Bijou Kurien and Meenakshi Madhvani among others participating..

I am there through out and will be reporting...

Watch this space for more....