The Fun Gun !!!

A scientist and a philosopher were being chased by a hungry lion. The scientist made some quick calculations, he said “it's no good trying to outrun it, its catching up”.

The philosopher kept a little ahead and replied “I am not trying to outrun the lion, I am trying to outrun you !”

Competition guys... run but have fun as well !!!!!!!!

Expect the Unexpected...

The best of Adformula series....

If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea. ~David Belasco

The client sold chocolates and candies...and was good in that...We ( My second agency which took me to Europe) handled the creatives and the going was smooth..they weren't a trouble making client ..No IKE 's.. no shocking surprises... no tantrums.. a dream client....

They came up with a new type of candy which would cause a "revolution" as per their brand manager ..It was as normal as any other candy form out side and when one starts eating but as you go in.. voilaaaaaaaaa it rocks..it turns sour...funny...shocking.. and then slowly you start liking it...that unconventional taste of this new candy starts slowly tickling you, and by the time you finish it you fall in love with it......oooppppssss..... you even feel that all those sweet candies which you had been having all these years were bland and insipid.

The agency went celebrating...the product as described by the client ( for every crow and for even a crow, its baby would be the most charming, the most attractive thing in the world).. and before we guys could troop to the nearest bar for the success that was going to be ours ( the ad guys are bad guys---we celebrate the success that may come, will come , most likely come, shall come ,is coming, come, ohhhhh it didn't come...anything is a reason to celebrate..), the client gave the One liner that was what was going to be the brief....

Expect the unexpected...It said simply...

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..but nothing evolved except crap and holy crap......

Finally the one evolved, did so from a junior client service guy who had just joined, who had an Egyptian father and a Danish mother ( he looked like Menses 2 the Pharaoh of Egypt..and we called him MUMMY...) it was some story which some one somewhere had told him which had this climax.....

It was simply stunning....


( to be continued)..................

ITC- class mates - big ideas !!!

Class mates as a brand is advertising on TV after 6 long years and it indeed left a smile in me.. Not the fact that they didn't show their ads for 6 years but the fact that when they did , they did it in style...This new ad is fun, creative and different, in spite of two celebrity's whose presence looked artificial for me...

All of us who have been students have gone through a phase where books, especially note books become our essential companions , a kind of soul and place to vent out feelings and yet when it comes to choosing a brand , I guess we didn't care. At the most one looked was the cover page, for his or her favourite actor smiling from the cover was reason enough to choose a brand.

ITC class mates made a difference in this category and has made stationary products also anchored in brand thoughts of the target groups and hence make them ask for a class mate next time they buy a note book... I have ( I am sure all of us have) gone through similar situations/ scenarios that this ad shows in the Library... I have a bundle of such instances to quote and the moment I saw the ad I liked it (and I repeat I liked it) ,in spite of the celebrity presence.... The witty idea to use book titles and pass the message across without harming the decorum of the library is NOT out of the world and never seen before but I guess that is what was required for the brand, to talk to its TG at this juncture...

Classmate has recently expanded its portfolio with the successful launch of a range of complementary stationery products such as pens, pencils and geometry boxes and have made made sure that the famed distribution magic across India through its vast distribution network works in this case as well..... as far as Classmate is concerned , it is the leading player in the Rs 5000 Crore market for stationery products comprising notebooks, pens, pencils & scholastics which is today growing at a rate of 9-10% .... Now that is phenomenal... ads , promotions, customer contacts and all such stuff to follow.. IMC in its best form for otherwise what was a habitual buying product.. Good job guys... But now let me ask the question which is paining me...

Why Yuvraj and Soha? I have nothing against this two amazing people.. per se I have nothing against celebrity endorsements as well.. But see this ad again.. once more.. If there was no Yuvraj and Soha, would it have made any difference? I even feel it would have made that ad even more watchable and all attention would have been in the fun/theme/situation than on the celebrity... Here they don't steal the attention and lead to a vampire effect but they for sure divert attention for the first time viewer and stand between the ad and the viewer every time he sees the ad........

Here is the company logic ... Chand Das, chief executive of ITC’s Education & Stationery Products Business (ESPB) says , “Classmate aspires to be the leading and most trusted student education and stationery brand. It’s a brand that believes in and nurtures the “big ideas” that reside in each one of us and encourages young minds to realise them through exploration & perseverance. Both Yuvraj & Soha are vibrant icons for the youth of today. They have believed in & pursued their own “big ideas”, and today, both stand tall in their professions with multi-faceted personalities."....

Ahem ! Now that is something that we get to hear every time a famous face is signed for endorsing a brand... Even Mysore sandal guys said similar stuff when they signed Mahendra singh Dhoni....

Good ad, no creative brilliance but stands out... Kudos to Rediffusion Y&R Chennai and the ITC Class mates team for the come back.. Hope to see more ... !



Credits

Project: ITC Classmate's TVC
Brief: Encouraging young minds to be original and think BIG.
Client: ITC ESPB
Creative agency: Rediffusion Y&R, Chennai.
National creative Director: Minakshi Achan, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar
Creative director: Kishore Karumabaiah
Copywriter: Kishore Karumbaiah
Client servicing: Nachiket Sant
Production house: RDP (Ramesh Deo Productions)
Director: Shujaat Saudagar
Post-production studio: Pixion
Date of publication / release: April, 2010

The Fun Gun !!!

A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor's office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone.

He said, "Your husband is suffering from a very severe disease, combined with horrible stress. If you don't do the following, your husband will surely die."

"Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, and make sure he is in a good mood. For lunch make him a nutritious meal. For dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him. Don't burden him with chores, as he probably had a hard day. Don't discuss your problems with him, it will only make his stress worse. And most importantly...make love with your husband several times a week and satisfy his every whim. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely."


On the way home, the husband asked his wife, "What did the doctor say?"

"You're going to die," she replied.

Ad agencies are like wives - in all senses !!! have a gr88 week end folks !!!!

The Fun Gun !!!

Old man Joe limped into the doctor's office and said, "Doctor, my knee hurts so bad, I can hardly walk!"

The doctor slowly eyed him from head to toe, paused and then said, "Mr. Joe, just how old are you?"

"98!" Joe announced proudly.

The doctor just sighed, and looked at him again. . .Finally he said, "Sir, I'm sorry. I mean, just look at you. You're practically one hundred years old, and you're complaining that your knee hurts? Well, what did you expect?"

The old Joe said, "Well, my other knee is 98 years old too, and it don't hurt!!!!!!!!

Logically yes, but then as in life in advertising too Logic do not have a place often !!!

Enjoy the week end folks !!!

Adspeak- BOGOF..!!!

"Buy one, get one free", or "Buy one, get one" is probably one of the most common forms of sales promotion… If out of 10 ads, today 7 are of sales promotion type( three of the brand building type), atleast 5 would be of the buy one get one type… Customers may not know this acronym but every where and in every shoping situation, they come across this format of sales promotion….. It is regarded as one of the most effective forms of special offers for goods but only as long as your competetors don’t copy you ( which they often do) ...

It would have started off as an abrupt end of the season stock clearance method used by shops and merchants who were still with a large quantity of stock that they were looking to sell quicklyfor want of stocking space and changing season… But as in various practices in Marketing, later on it become a popular, planned and considered marketing method...

I think the pioneers had been the gramaphone record companies right from the older days to the DVD/CD guys of today. Last day I was buying a DVD and it said free DVD inside.. When I asked the shop sales man can I know which is that INSIDE DVD , he stared at me as if I had asked him something quite strange..

Why should you know.. It is anyway free.. You are buying one and you are getting one free…

The success of this promotion lies in the fact that for the price of one, two items are being sold. The price of "one" is somewhat nominal and is typically raised when used as part of a buy one get one free deal. Whilst the cost per item is proportionately cheaper than if bought on its own, it is not actually half price…. But who cares.. I guess people fall easily into the trap… My friend who is a Market research analyst was telling me that most people buy things that they don’t want just because they think they are getting it free….

Buy one get one free is neverthless a popular sales technique because it can be used legally at any time, unlike many other offers…. It is a great tool to attract new users but to retain them , this may not be enough ….

Tail piece: BOGOF sounds so very similar to BOGUS as in fake… Now , is that just a coincidence?

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A salesman was demonstrating unbreakable comb combo sets in a department store. He was impressing the people who stopped by to look by putting the comb through all sorts of torture and stress.... HE held both (BOGOF) combs and did all the tricks... Some protested and said when two combs are held together, it will not break in any case.. so to impress the skeptics in the crowd, he took one comb out, bent the comb completely in half, and it snapped with a loud crack. Without missing a beat, he bravely held up both halves of the 'unbreakable' comb for everyone to see and said, "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what an unbreakable comb looks like on the inside."

The Fun Gun !!!

On a visit to the United States, Charles de Gaulle was honoured at a banquet in the White House. Seated beside his wife was an official who spoke no French, but who tried to engage her in conversation by asking

"Madame de Gaulle, what do you think the most important thing in life is?"

"A penis", she replied.

The crowd was stunt at the audacity of the guest....

Overhearing, her husband said frantically "I believe, my dear, that in English it is pronounced 'appiness."

Language and its nuances are very important in relationships.. especially between clients and their agencies...

Blast your week end folks...

The Fun Gun !!!

Worried because they hadn't heard anything for days from the widow in the neighboring apartment, Mrs. Sharma said to her son, "Viky, would you go next door and see how old Mrs. Agarwal is ?"

A few minutes later, Viky returned.

"Well," asked Mrs.Sharma, "is she all right?"

"She's fine, except that she's angry at you."

"At me?" the woman exclaimed. "Whatever for?"

"She said 'It's none of your business how old she is,'' snickered Viky.

I know some guys in Ad agencies who do the same, neither do they understand what the client wants and speaks about, nor do they come back and brief the people back in the agency about the whole thing !!!

Happy week end folks !!!

The Fun Gun !!!

On their 40th wedding anniversary and during the banquet celebrating it, Tom was asked to give his friends a brief account of the benefits of a marriage of such long duration.

"Tell us Tom, just what is it you have learned from all those wonderful years with your wife?"

Tom responds, "Well, I've learned that marriage is the best teacher of all. It teaches you loyalty, forbearance, meekness, self-restraint, forgiveness --and a great many other qualities you wouldn't have needed if you'd stayed single."

Agencies and clients would agree to this point I guess !!!

Happy week end folks !!! God bless ...!

The Fun Gun !!!

A 7 year old kid walking home from the park sees some teens at the basketball course, he hears one say, "aww you f**kin id*ot!".

When he gets home he asks his mom, "Mom, what does f**kin mean?"

Mom says, "Well honey, f**king means roasting".

So the kid goes about his business until dinner time. The doorbell rings, and since mom and dad are too busy with the chicken, he answers the door.

"Grandma!! Grandpa!!" says the kid.

Grandma asks, "Oh how are you deary, where's mommy and daddy?"

The little boy responds, "Mom and dad are in the kitchen f**kin the turkey!!!"

Now have fun people..Until we meet again !!!

Ad Funda --- Account review

Account review is by definition ,the process undertaken by an organisation to review the quality of service that it is getting from its ADVERTISING AGENCY ,with a view to determine whether it can get better or more profesisonal service from that agency OR A NEW ONE .The phrase often in practise disguises an ardous, tedious and tiresome (and costly too) process that is emotionally disturbing and draining , the end of which a winning agency is selected...

There is no standard set of rules and do's and dont's as to how to conduct an account review. Accounts( clients) generally compile a list of outside agencies ( the ones with which they are not already doing business) and scan their work to know their expertise, experience and reputation. They can also include other agencies that are handling their other brands( one client like LEVER has many brands and each brand is dealt with a different agency in a system called 'Roster') and ask them to pitch for the brand whose advertising is in review. the incumbent agency is required to fight against all these new ones...Questionnaires are sent out, a lot of discussions with peers of the marketing world happens and some 4-5 agencies get shortlisted for the final game called as 'pitching'. The end of which in theory clears the air, but in practise again more vagueness remains...

Dissatisfaction with a client or turnover in the chief-marketers/brand manager's post at the clients side may cause a review but in some cases it happens as a routine also.. yet other cases as I have seen the Marketing team would be glad at its agency but the others will have a problem that will lead to a review !... In the first scenario, the decision to participate in the review is one heck of a pain for the incumbent agency because the chances according to some studies, to hold back the account is just 10%...

As some one said..

"if you have a shitty relationship, and the business goes up for review, it’s going to be difficult to suddenly become something great for them from that starting point.....If the relationship is good, then, of course, you defend it with everything you’ve got.”

And shitty it will be unless the relation has been total, permanent, and equal.....

The famous case of Crispin ,Porter & Bogusky getting back with 'thanks but no thanks' when Volkswagen invited its agency of four years to repitch its $200-million-plus ad account last month, raised many an eyebrow........ the agency logic :-“As a rule, we do not participate in reviews for our current accounts, and this will not be an exception.” The outsider may be a little perplexed at this refusal to DEFEND its creativity but for the agency it is a question of pride ,made to look like practicality. The raised eyebrows because, declining to defend when the consequence is waving goodbye to a fat and prestigious ad budget in a poor economic environment is simply and audacious statement that an agency makes... critics apart, when the pitch and review is unjustified from the agency point of view, then why the farce of a pitch and presentation again....?

And when the fact is that nine out of 10 times, defending is a waste of time and money the incumbent agency either says a 'thanks but let me go', or participates 'for the heck of it'... If the agency has failed to demonstrate its value in a way the client appreciates during their normal relations,then when a review happens, you’re staring from a much deeper hole than the bright shiny new objects of desire that a pitch offers....

Some times ( or is it too often ?) the clients go over board to review and review ,again and again in vain attempts to shift the blame and balls for its own failures or simply to proove 'who is the boss'..... the recent case of 'Reckitt Benckiser forcing Euro RSCG (my former agency), its incumbent global agency, to defend a chunk (the Nurofen account) of its £800 million advertising business twice in last four months.....!!!

As they say..."What counts in making a happy relation is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility."

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For a related article click here .......................

The Fun Gun !!!

Two guys are moving about in a supermarket when their carts collide.

One says to the other, "I'm sorry - I was looking for my wife."

"What a coincidence, so am I, and I'm getting a little desperate."

"Well, maybe I can help you. What does your wife look like?"

"She's tall, with long hair, long legs, firm boobs and a tight ass.What's your wife look like?"

"Never mind, let's look for yours!"

Reminds me of agencies who run behind what others have ,no matter how old and ugly is the one in hand, it is better than two in the bush !!!

Have a funfilled week end folks !!!

Amul- being topical !!!

Amul undoubtedly gets the first in being topical, always !!!

The Fun Gun !!!

The woman behind the senior citizen certificate counter asked him for his driver's license to verify his age. He looked in his pockets and realized he had left his wallet at home. He told the woman that he was very sorry but he seemed to have left his wallet at home.

"I will have to go home and come back later."

The woman says, "Unbutton your shirt."

So he opens his shirt revealing curly silver hair.

She says, "That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me" and she processed his application.

When he gets home, the man excitedly tells his wife about his experience at the social security office.

She says, "You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability too."

No matter how boasting the agencies can be about their silver hairs, the clients NEED NOT buy it....

Have Fun people !!!

Ad Funda--- Account Planning

Account planning is supposedly an agency department which ensures that understanding of CONSUMER attitudes and reaction is brought to bear at every stage of ADVERTISING development. Account planners use MARKET RESEARCH data to guide the process of devising advertising strategy and producing effective CREATIVE WORK. They have ultimate responsibility for the strategy and CREATIVE BRIEF. Their mantra is “relevant plus distinctive equals more effective”.

The best way to describe the role of the planner is as follows.

The FINANCIAL DIRECTOR says: “My Money”.
The CLIENT says: “My product”.
The ACCOUNT DIRECTOR says: “My client”.
The CREATIVE DIRECTOR says: “My ad”.
The ACCOUNT PLANNER says: “My consumer”.

From its beginnings in the UK in the 1960s, account planning has developed into a job function in most advertising agencies. It was imported to the United States, initially by the CHIAT DAY agency and gradually send world over. The initial concept of account planning was devised in the mid – 1960s by the late Stanley Pollitt (one of the founders of Boase Massimi Pollitt in 1968), who felt that as more data became available to agencies it was being used incompetently or inexpediently by account managers.

Pollitt suggested that a specially trained researcher should work with that account manager as an equal partner. The concept was more-or-less simultaneously adopted by J. Walter Thompson, which established a new department called account planning under Stephen King in 1968. When Boase Massimi Pollitt was formed in the same year, Stanley Pollitt introduced a slightly revised version of the concept there.

According to MT Tainey, a planner and managing partner of the agency ,"Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe", three caricatures of planners emerged in the 1980s......

1) Ad tweakers, planners whose skill lies in helping their agencies develop and sell increasingly entertaining, unexpected and colloquial advertising that appeals to the sophistication of the consumer.

2) Storytellers, planners who focus on the front end of the process, giving the fullest possible picture of the product and the consumer in the belief that the secret lies in some quirky detail that will inspire the CREATIVE TEAM.

3) Planners who are knowledgeable about the brand, its competitors and its market structure, who have a close relationship with the CLIENT (who consider them to be the fountain of all wisdom), but who are comparative strangers to the creative department.

Since EGO’s run haywire in the industry, account management (of which planning is a part of) is one of the main tasks in advertising agency business. Maintaining a good relationship with the client is the prime job of the department but long term planning is a prime requisite to keep on that relation for long… and long term planning is done by the account planners whose expertise will jump from industry to industry..... they should and is expected to know all about all industries … from cars to computers and cookers to condoms…most of the account guys in practice , begin at the lower level as client executives and bear the brunt of all ego’s but with age and experience climb up and reach the glamorous positions of account planning….

Grow Up bache...!!

The best of adformula series !!!

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's artwork.As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."

The teacher paused and said, "but no one knows what God looks like."

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, "They will.... in a minute......"

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There are few types of agency- client relationships.. the most familiar one being the parent- child relationship. Here (for the uninitiated) the agency tells the client to do this and do that,,, lead them, bully them, love them, pamper them.. give them logic...Here are a few key things that your parents teach kids! Granted, most of you will say that you learned these things all on your own - but I can challenge you that your parents had a hand in there, as well.Parents proved the theory of all LOGIC.

"Because I said so, that's why."

Parents gave you the gift of FORESIGHT....."Make sure you wear clean underwear, you never know if you'll get into an accident."

Parents were always good for teaching IRONY."Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

Even before biology class parents taught you the fundamentals of OSMOSIS."Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

They are always ready to suggest a career - even as a CONTORTIONIST."
Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

They taught that we even could control the WEATHER."This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

They taught us the basics principles of BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION."Stop acting like your father!"

Parents were the first to make us know ENVY."There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

Parents gave you that butterfly feeling of ANTICIPATION."Just wait until we get home."

They taught us what a marvelous gift it was to RECEIVE ."You are going to get it when you get home!"

Parents studied MEDICAL SCIENCE."If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

They were the first to instruct us HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT."If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

Mother was likely the one skilled in GENETICS."You're just like your father."

They were the very people that taught us WISDOM."When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

Long before we knew the laws of the world they instructed us in the ways of JUSTICE."One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you."

and last but not least...Loving mother and father - they taught you how to walk and talk until you were three or four, then ever after, ordered you to sitdown and shut up..

Now ....Can we apply the above model in every Client Agency Relationship?..or atleast in every Parent-Child type of relationships...?

what about parents who are bullied by their kids?
what about parents who treat kids like outlets of their frustration?
what about kids who are dull and dumb?
what about parents who are so? what about parents who are inconsistent and quarrelsome? what about kids who remain kids and refuse to grow up?
what about parents who treat them as kids even after they have grown up?
Too many questions?

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

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."