The Contra entry - Part I

Contra entry: -
In the journal entries, some of the entries are reflected in more than 2 related ledgers are called the contra entry. That means it is the entry that will decrease the amount in one account and increase the amount in the other account …..

This article is written by an ex student of mine and a successful advertising professional of today. He will reveal his name and details later as he has some other plans in mind.....It comes to you as a parting read from me as we bid adieu to 2009.
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Here is a story of deception of a studious business school student who aspired to make it big one day (of course in business and nothing else) and the deceiver is your favourite author/blogger of Ad formula.

To put the story in to perspective and to obtain clarity you need some character portrayal, here are the characters .....

Victim aka vee
Deceiver aka dee

The victim:
A studious guy with middle class values, partially open minded, confused as any youth, good at numbers but overall a down to earth and a simple human being!

The Deceiver:
Tall and well built, Charming, Humorous, witty and of course intelligent, students would love and long for his classes (at least that is what the girls say)

Things are in perspective I guess and now let’s hear the story ...

Once there was a conference in my college and I was in my first year (as of now I have not met the deceiver or Dee) hence it is made compulsory for all the first years to attend the same. I did not get seats in the first row so i had to compromise sitting in the last row, you know it is very difficult for a studious student to sit in a last row with a bunch of jerks..Well I had no choice that day , it was a fabulous talk on retail banking and corporate banking which I was trying to listen amidst the disturbances by the jerks .

The speaker was talking about an article in business line, having missed the article on that particular day ,it made me curious to read the same and hence opened the paper…bang …Dee was staring at me and called me outside the conference room and embarrassed me for nothing in front of others. When I tried to explain the situation he did not listen to the same … he decided to report the same to the director of the college for misbehavior and sheer indiscipline… this college punished me for the same …this college has a weird way of punishing students

Instant and short term punishment
Long term punishment

I was asked to read the paper loud in front of the students who welcome the guests at reception (they are usually good looking) and I am too a human, young. with all biological senses active …felt embarrassed but had to read in front of them loud ..really loud ..no other go … that was instant punishment ...

I had to even write business line, Hindu paper headline and my opinions on the same daily and submit it to de and that is short term punishment. I wrote it for a year!!!

Days passed by when ever I pass by he would give me dirty looks…I always felt he did not like me..and Dee came to my class one day as I said to myself (Now what!!). he was our professor for advertising .. I got a shock of my life and thought that my life is doomed and I am gonna fail. But as I have mentioned earlier I am a studious student so I had no problem in classes . within few days he liked me as I had brilliant answers and I even excelled in his paper..

He would inspire the whole class talking about bernbach, fallon, Ogilvy and crispin porter bogusky .. this subject fascinated me and I even specialized in advertising..

He was charming and with his sense of humour he can even make a stone laugh , hence he was always surrounded by girls (even the one who I was hitting on ) It sucks when professor becomes your competition…damn!! I sacrificed it all because he inspired me to get in to a fascinating profession Advertising.. it went to an extent where I even threw my campus placements to get in to advertising..

When I called him up one day to tell him that I got a job in an ad agency he smirked…I wondered why he did that… the meaning of his smirk came in to light after a few months in an agency “It was my long term punishment”!!!!

Ad Speak - Big Idea !!!

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.- Victor Hugo

Much is being talked about the BIG IDEA.. every ad man says this… every ad lecture touts it… what is it in actual?

The big idea is one which makes the BRAND or product PROPOSITION relevant, clear, distinct and memorable. Agencies strive to merge their strategic analysis, their MEDIA choices and gut feelings into an elusive big idea, combining the place a product occupies in a Consumer’s mind, the appearance of the advertisement and the SLOGAN that encapsulates it............ the crux is that the big idea should be big and stand much above the rest in cluttered markets.. The Vodafone Zoo Zoo is an example in the last year of Indian Advertising ..it was relevant, clear, simple, distinct , memorable and hence BIG…. They didn’t take it to where they should have but that is an entirely different thing ….

One classical example from UK is from a 1980s ad for the Volkswagen Golf. They could have relied on the usual checklist of performance criteria, quoting magazines or touting boring fuel economy statistics. Instead, it featured an charming Paula Hamilton storm out of a house after a lovers’ quarrel, throwing away her fur coat and pearls and then, after a masterfully measured pause, holding on to her keys to sweep off in her beloved Golf. The message was that all other pleasures are transient, momentary, superfluous and dispensable, but a VW is a lasting pleasure; if only every-thing in life was as reliable.

An American example of the big idea is Snapple, a non-carbonated soft drink that began life as a niche brand. Its strategy was expressed as “100% natural marketing” which originated from the company appreciating that consumers loved their product. Consumers were encouraged to write in, send photos of them, and tell the company how much they loved Snapple. The agency, Kirshenbaum Bond in New York, answered these letters via TV, magazine and outdoor advertising. One campaign became known as the “love letters” campaign and drew acres of free PR in the national media. It launched Snapple into competition with leading brands such as Coca-Cola. The ads always featured real employees and consumers…..

Now the BIG IDEA need not be an out of the world IDEA… it could be simple and existing.. it could be the daily seen dogs and boys.. it is how the ad man gets to connect them to the brand and its problems in the market place…

There are many examples where such big ideas have been discarded by brand managers and advertising agencies some times without realising that in many ways they are actually tearing out the heart of the advertising communication and some times for availability of better choices and some times due to extraneous factors like fashion and generation changes,,,Some Big ideas start great and get funny later making the viewer feel like why don’t they stop it..? Surf “Daag Ache Hai” and its recent ads are an example…,,

Some Big Idea’s made strong come back after testing other waters, like the Mint with a hole and the Onida Devil.. but gone forever are the Liril Girl, Wah Ustad! Wah Taj !, and the definitely male ……The list is long but I am sure the enlightened reader is aware.. The fact is that our agencies are brilliant in that they come up with wonderful ideas that are big, but they don’t sustain them… the sad fact is that agencies and brand owners fall into boredom with their Big Ideas even before the Target audience does…

Any rejoinders?

Dead End :-
It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea.
-DavidOgilvy

Merry Xmas..

Adformula wishes a heart felt merry Xams to all its readers !!!

As only an Ad guy can do it !

THis is not a piece of fiction.. this happened in real !!!!!!!!!


LOST: CANNES GOLD LION
Date: 2006 06 21
Time: JUST AFTER THE AWARD SHOW
LOCATION: MSN BEACH PARTY


I was drunk and I regret it. Imagine yourself waking up the morning after you buried your employer’s Cannes Lion on some beach in Cannes. Sounds like a lot of fun until you realize you don’t remember where it was. Anyhow, that’s me, stretched out in bed with hangover-angst pumping through my veins. (groan) To make things worse, I’ve only been with the company for three months. A company that was generous enough to send me on a 3-day vacation to claim the prize and bring it home. Now it’s buried somewhere on the beach of the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes. Please help me get it back. The cost of replacing the lion is what a fast food employee earns in two months. Okay, I earn more but still, it’s a lot of money. I tell you what: If you help me find the lion I’ll give you $1000. No questions asked. Just return something resembling a golden Cyber Lion and I’ll happily hand you a thick wad of cash. The most regretful employee on earth, Tom Eriksen P.S. This is not a prank. This is not a game. This is not a clever campaign (like Pjotro.com). This is just me, wanting to put things right. Help me.



http://www.farfar.se/ The Awarded Campaign lostlion@farfar.se http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdqy_gM70QE



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