Anchor toothpaste - cake and the teeth !

Amrit Maghera, the new face of Lakme is charming the way she is , even when she makes cakes with mehndi in her hands and with fun worn as an attitude.. no matter what made the cake so hard, this ad is fun to the fullest, hard to avoid and makes people turn their heads , sit and watch it and say 'hey that is funny'.....

Anchor has always grabbed my attention- not for the success stories in their kitty , that they have in any case, but for the audacity with which they faced the titans and gave them shivers, and the brave new venturing out to all new (unrelated) areas ( from electric wires and cables to tooth pastes..) with a big scorn at the basic fundas of business theory which talked about core competence and the like stuff.. The infamous ad wars with the mighty Colgate (with a 48% market share) and this guy with a 7 % share defying all rules and what the teachers teach in B school classes , stood tall and from tooth pastes ( whites and gel) slowly proceeding to make soaps (Dyna- Katrina kaif claims her beauty is a by product of Dyna) they amuse us till date...

It is not a perfect case of Marketing that needs to be emulated.. it had its own flips and flops ..Kajol endorsed Anchor toothpastes for a time period during 2008 and then disappeared..... It may soon come up with Anchor biscuits and cakes and shampoo and skin creams and yet get some market share in all this..( soon we can see a Khan or the other munching the cookies, Kareena saying my fairness is all thanks to Anchor etc etc..).. that is future , as of now see the ad again.. it is a hyperbole but am sure you will like it too !

For more of Anchor ads see here ... http://www.anchorglobal.net/galleria.php ....

Adfunda... Tease and Reveal !!!

Tease and reveal campaigns are nothing fresh. Traditional marketers have been implementing this type of campaign since the dawn of time, particularly in outdoor media and often in print….

The concept is a simple one: (For those who haven’t done it or experienced it before)

The tease phase raises the attention of an audience to a particular brand, service or product. Primarily this is achieved by giving away a little, but not too much about the product or brand… The imagery is often unbranded as it makes the consumer question what it is for and what brand it represents… the consumer curiosity is taken to a level where the consumer can no longer wait… Teasers comprises of a series of intriguing and some times confusing ads that are supposed to make people wriggle in inquisitiveness….

The reveal phase presents the product to the already raised wave of interest. This will theoretically result in an unrelenting and longer lasting importance and murmur around the product or service.

Teaser campaign works better in outdoor, as the number of registrations (or visibility) is more due to many touch points across outdoor formats; hence, it creating impact in consumers minds. Outdoor uses consumers’ dead time or free time, like while they are on the move, when their mind is free, and hence the relevance. A couple of registrations on the way to office or to shopping create curiosity, if the content is attention grabbing

This is a concept that is now applied to online marketing as well with people implementing it via Facebook and Twitter. In particular the Twitter platform allows clever marketers to drip small messages in only 140 characters and make people follow you for more..

Stolichnaya vodka case and the LG case can be taken as good cases for students of Marketing communication while to my mind the best Indian case is that of the Hutch ‘HI’ campaign when Hutch launched in Chennai … For me it was mind boggling and the tension that many people I knew went through those days of teasing was just awesome.. Hutch to Vodafone and years later this remains fresh still in my mind…

Union Bank of India’s brand transformation also employed an outdoor teaser campaign. (not every old one but really gold ) The teaser consisted of a three-step process, where the first ad displayed the old logo with a bird peeling off the top right corner of a hoarding just slightly…….. The second one was the same, but the top layer was peeled off a little more, revealing a portion of the new logo; while the third step showed the complete new logo…..

Idea cellular when in launched in Mumbai during August 2008, came up with an exciting outdoor teaser campaign, which showed people from different backgrounds and cities like a Bengali woman, a Canadian man, a Delhiite, etc all with corresponding lines on the creatives, like ‘Yeh Bengal ki hai, Mumbai ki nahin’, or ‘Yeh Canada ka hai, Mumbai ka nahin’. The reveal and launch campaign showed the same people with their Idea Cellular connections, smiling and saying, ‘Mera number Mumbai ka, toh main Mumbai ki’, and so on… I remember going around the city looking for more of such teasers when I saw one or two and wanted more…

Once upon a time, the entire city of Mumbai was plastered with the ‘V’ symbol. Now, at that time, a movie called Vijaypath was to hit the theaters, which starred Ajay Devgan and Tabu. Many thought it was promotions for that; but turned out it was for the launch of Channel [V] in India!.. Brilliant it was and still quoted in the ad circles…

I am not forgetting the Balbir Pasha ads or the Digen Varma (Frooti) ads..

However the problems associated with Teaser ads are not simple..

The plan is to cause intrigue plus the relevance that the teaser has in the context of the brand is very vital.. if you get it wrong it can be fatal….. In other words it can’t just be a gimmick that can boomerang….

When it is revealed it should be finally worth it.. the disclosure should not let people down, because after all, they have put in time and energy looking, investigating these teasers and trying to guess what it is. This is a huge risk and if the audience feels like some one who got a cheap , also ran treasure at the end of a one day treasure hunt, they may start hating you !!!

Timing is important for the launch of the TEASE and the launch of the REVEAL .. if you drag too much in hope of building up the intrigue, you may end up no where as the famous case of the DNA teaser campaign that ended up in courts of law.. DNA’s for its Mumbai launch in 2005 put up hoardings in Mumbai showing faces of people with their mouths pasted over by grey tape and the tagline, ‘Speak up: It’s in your DNA’… the tease went on when a series of advertisements appeared in all the Times group publications. These showed people peeling grey tapes off their mouths, with the tagline, ‘Speak up, it’s in your DNA - Maharashtra Times’.

Dirty ? I felt its smart hijack and it happens when you drag your feet with a teaser…

Microsoft XP - the unexpected experience...

As the tagline suggests, this 2006 ad gave unexpected experience to many people... shock and dismay for many, smiles for some... and need less to say the moral police were out with all the hell and fury ... but that is past... I rate it as a good ad.. especially for the climax...

Metlife Dada & Dadi Ad - Simply Sweet !!!

A drunk wanders into a bar and yells, " I think all insurance guys are crooks".

A man quickly rushes up to the drunk and shouts "You take that back."…..

The drunk replies, "Why ....are you an insurance agent?",

The man, in a rage, hollers back, "No, I'm a crook".

One ad that really did amuse me and would find irresistible to see again and again is this one, this real delightful and lovely Metlife ad … in the heat and sweat, the dust and din of the IPL season and the influx of ads into channels, on every category from atta to underwear and from mobiles to 3D TV’s this one for me, stood out… no great announcements, no bombastic discoveries and no VAS or ATTRIBUTES standing in line to catch your attention..

Just a simple and plain fact of life that “who knows when will this regular income game come to an end ?” ("life mein regular income ka khel kab khatam ho jaye- kaun jane?”) said in just the colour and tone that happens in every family… the dad, the mom ,the parents, the naughty, brainy , blackmailing and finally disappointed kid.. I loved this ad for its simplicity for sure and for keeping the KISS rule alive and kicking but more for its lack of creative pretensions that make most ads of today either look like art films ( made for metals) or like worn out, also made creatives that come out of exhausted and underpaid ad agency labour camps…

Ever since they had (guess its was in 2001-02) this "have you met life today?" ads, MetLife as a brand has used a combination of hope, humour and humanity to talk about its variety of offerings for financial needs of ordinary people which are often complex (including life insurance, long-term care, banking and annuities) and hence often avoided…. The beauty is that through their approach they made it look simple but the needs were put forward to us as so inevitable to be left unattended…

Some time back to make sure that their voice is heard above competition Metlife took the same campaign outdoors….a mascot by the name 'Calendar Man', who did hold a cheque, signifying a guaranteed monthly income to the investors and meeting people from billboards and bus shelters in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh made a good impact… The campaign was devised by McCann Erickson (the longtime agency for Metlife) and executed by Platinum Outdoor, Madison's OOH arm.

Now this ad has come in regional versions (dubbed ones) too and thankfully they too look and sound good and the song is retained, at least in the Malayalam version I saw.. would love to see the Tamil version...

Using premises like "create your own pension plan" and "guaranteed income for life," these ads stands and sticks exclusively with the economic apprehensions of baby boomers - individuals between 35-55 years old - who may be troubled about outlasting their nest egg….. Since I fall in the category may be, I loved the ad, it stayed in my mind for long and even after all the TV watching, it started pricking the spend thrift in me who lives for today, so much so that for the first time in 36 years I thought of some savings and I told my wife that ‘we need to start some saving’ … ‘who knows when will this regular income thing come to an end..?’

I haven’t bought the product yet but have made the first step, have asked an executive to meet me.. I guess if I am a sample, this ads are working… and that’s what they make ads for..

Three cheers to the Suhasini Mulay (the actor who portrayed Dadi) ,team Metlife and McCann-Erickson Delhi for the work…!!!

Tail piece :- "The insurance guys keeps us poor all our lives so we can die rich"

Camlin permanent marker - Perpetually amusing !

Sometimes, television commercials can be so hilarious that we favor to stay back on our couch during commercial breaks, and go for the lavatory, during the shows we’re trying to watch. Camlin Marker – Vermillion ad entertained me a lot from the first time I saw it to every now and then when I use it in lectures and training to drive home the point why ads should be simple, precise and direct….

It opens with the information that in India, vermillion, bangles and a locket are signs of a married woman, and that when a woman loses her husband, she is stripped of these symbols. The husband applies vermillion to a wife’s forehead daily as it is supposed to be connected to his lifeline.

Right from that opening note to the rudalis (professional mourners) who were waiting for the man to die to the man who dies and then comes back are awesome in their expressions. And then the flash back which says why and how the vermillion got fixed there and then the man’s dramatic come back..

It has won hell lot of awards, both in house and outside but more than that it for sure has helped the brand in its branding and sales…

The concept is so Indianised and the execution is brilliant... Everyone from the miserable deadpan expression, makes the start look like an award film but in the end one can’t help but laugh. A serious situation is turned around with such ease and the climax proves the rule that the last 10 seconds is very important…kudos to Lowe and the team who made Camlin brand....Hence this ad becomes the first of the perpetual amusers in adformula….

Peugeot607- Giving shivers !!!

Peugeot 607 , the executive car which rolled out in 1999 to replace the 605 was a brilliant car in its styling and function... Both the 605 and this new version was a hit and was admired of rits executive style and looks.. (Except in some parts of Europe where I have seen it being run as a taxi) I love this ad for its attitude, and for the shivers that it gave to others... After the ad many copy cats came , not only in the business of making and selling cars but also in other businesses.But then that itself is the biggest testimony to this ad !

Its nostalgia for me to see this ad again and my appreciation to the creatives that thought this idea and for the brilliant execution... Proud that I too had a past in Euro RSCG Europe and have seen this ad in the making !

Crouching audiences, hidden products - Part II

My article as appeared in the Advertising express magazine of February 2010......

Why YES and why NO to product placements?

Belch and Belch identifies the following advantages and disadvantages of product placements in TV and Cinema 4 which in Indian circumstances will be applicable as under.

Why yes?

1). The number of TV and Cinema viewing populace is ever on the increase (in1999 the Indian spend on movies and theatre was just 1 % whereas by 2003 it rose to 4.6% of the total spend) and this results in more exposure for the products thus placed. Combined with this, the ratings of individual programmes if high also makes sure that, the so placed product falls in more eyeballs. If the programme is a popular serial, more people see it again and again and thus the opportunity to see (frequency) also goes up.

2). Products that become part of the silver screen or the TV screen acts as a supportive media in promotion. If the in programme product placement is followed by an Ad of the same product in the next commercial break, the possibilities of a brand recall is quite a high than in a simple ‘commercial break advertising’.

3). Source association is one prominent advantage of product placements. The star or the programme and its appeal will automatically transfer to the product placed with the star in the programme. The tales of Tom cruise wearing the Rayban Aviator and the Oakleys in Top gun and MI –2, and the effect it created in the sales of the brand are oft discussed and celebrated.

4). Recall and acceptance among the target audience have been proven to be high in case of product placements. Media planners note that brand recall in case of a normal advertising scene is 18 per cent, but it is three times more – 53 per cent – through product placements in films. Studies indicate that the acceptance of such product placements on western audiences of Cinema is high when the placement is prominent and not hidden (Gupta & Gould 1997).

5) Product placements (if done with common sense) can achieve the best of passive learning and that is proven to be the best to sink in with a brand name into the Target Audience’s mind. People go to cinema to see cinema and watch TV to see the programmes in it and not the commercial breaks. They may tolerate the commercial breaks but not the Commercials that are squeezed into the programme in whatever garb and pretence. In films since there are no commercial breaks the problem is even acute. Slight attention like the way SBI atm’s and its availability in every corner , in the film “Jab we met” and Fevicryl being used by every one in the film “Tare Zameen Par” are beautiful examples.


Why no?

Prohibitively high costs that the production houses charges, without much justification whatsoever is one basic disadvantage in this field. Of course the one main selling point is the CPM rates due to the high exposures, but many times the high cost isn’t valid simply because there is no proof of cost effectiveness. This however doesn’t mean that people are reluctant to be part of such marketing activity but on the contrary are too very happy to be part of it.

The time of exposure is another disadvantage, in product placements. Long drawn scenes, just to make sure that the product on scene is shown long enough, will be precarious. Even otherwise, long exposure is not a guarantee for strong recall. Some times prominence plays a key role and the time of exposure doesn’t matter at all. Media planners are yet to derive a solution for this perplexity.

The advertiser should have a control over when and where his message is placed in a media vehicle. Unfortunately in product placements, it is not possible and lack of control is evident. The producer of the programme, because he has accepted money, from the product owner, will place it ‘somewhere’ but that may not be effective. For instance, no soft drink major would like their products (after having spend a lot of money) placed in the villains den, where the ‘bad guys’ are planning next round of activities, accompanied with liquor or some times even inspired from liquor.

Competition and clutter had made this advertiser breach into the editorial space necessary, but now the ghost follows it there as well. The combine of voracious Programme Producers, insatiable Product placement agencies and naive Marketers has made it all clumsy and clutter is visible here as well. A serial where the hero uses particular denim and a specific brand of hair gel and sufficient care taken to ensure repetition of the brand name, and even a discussion of the virtues of the said brands will cause a chain reaction. Audience apathy will not be that far as the producer and director thinks.

5). Lack of professionalism in the circle is very clear the way things are being taken for a ride now. The more the product is placed, the more prominence for the brand(s) is thrusted upon the programme; the better is the assumption which may turn to be disastrous.

6) Lack of measurement indices is one thing that should make the marketer think twice as to how effective all that throwing in of money will help the marketer to achieve his ROI and that too in testing times like this. Measuring product placements in TV is almost next to impossible. In cinema the results can be judged more, as reported by the western media that when Tom Cruise wore a Ray ban aviator the sales went up by 40 % and with his Oakleys in MI 2 the sales shot up by 80% (Time, January 1998). This is because, cinema gets audiences who are there having made a voluntary choice of exposure, and having spent money for entertainment, unlike television audiences whose involvement and degree of attention is questionable. Moreover, research suggests that people in a cinema hall, no matter what their age and movie going frequency is, actively participated in viewing experience and actively interpreted brands that they encounter there (Delorme et al 1999). But a time tested, believable mechanism to measure the effects in quantitative terms is yet to evolve....

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

My Pepsi... My way !!!

Dhoni, Sehwag, Uthappa, Robin Sharma and another cricketer together doing what they are the best in doing....no no.... not playing cricket but acting in an ad film… Dhoni after being voted as the richest celebrity from endorsements has become a better actor, no matter what and how his talent in the cricket field goes… The setting is rural Kerala and the young (?) Icons (?) of Indian cricket plays cricket with a group of local kiddos on top of a kettuvallam ( a boat which is big and has large flat surface)…. The plot is simple.. the kiddos get to see the holidaying Indian cricketers and challenge them to play a game of cricket on the boat ,much to the arrogance of they masters of cricket , but much to their disappointment later as the kids win by getting all the Pepsi in a cheap but smart trick !!!!

Ahem !!! From the Pepsi 'Youngistan campaign that featured Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor( and also and ageing SRK as Deepika’s Brother ) in an attempt to create a nation called Youngistan on the lines of the classic Marlboro country. Marlboro made it for sure while the Youngistan is still a doubt… Remember that Sachin Tendulkar was dropped by Pepsi as its brand ambassador after fifteen years. On the reason that “Sachin does not fit into our brand value and our Youngistaan campaign anymore.”….The younger the better, and there came in the Kapoor boy with his sexy looks, shape age and what not… the Saavariya dance made him a national icon (?) and yet the youngistan campaign wouldn’t take off from that butt show…

It was but (not butt) fun, not the Ranbir, SRK, deepika show but the spoofs, thanks to the Pepsi/JWT idea bankruptcy India had a laugh courtesy Sprite… see it here…

Well getting back to this new piece…which is called as My Pepsi My way which I assume is a passing out of the youngistan campaign....is more expensive ( all the stars, their trip to Kerala, stay in 5 star resorts, shooting in a lake, the boats, the security the blabla, the crowd.. ) unimaginable and one should say seeing all the efforts and the brouhaha this one is not better than the first one… J ust W asting T ime is a passion for certain agencies and with clients who are never cash stripped, why not… eat drink and enjoy.... tomorrow you may die.. !

The team who made it :-

Agency: JWT

Creative team:

Team JWT - Soumitra Karnik Executive Creative Director;Amit Wadhwa, Client Services Director

Production House- Corcoise Films

Director - Prasoon Pandey

Producer - Cyrus Pagdiwallah

Just to copy an old slogan of Pepsi with a slight variation….

This ad is nothing .. Nothing overwhelming about it …. Just another ship that will pass, in the night silent and unnoticed….

Cadbury's Diary Milk- In No man's Land... !

What are the different ways of experimenting with a brand and taking it from place to place and market to market…? Ask O&M, or just sit and watch the ads they make time and again for Cadburys Diary Milk, which once was good in connecting to its right TG but has slowly lost both, the idea of who is their TG and how to connect to them….

The new ad is about celebration again (that has been the platform for years now and it is extended here again) with a 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… this ad is getting a lot of recall for the money being spend… the media agency is doing its job(!) .. a hell lot of road blocking and the ad is there everywhere....... the idea stares from the newspaper and blares its horn from the TV of course….from FM radio’s and as SMS’s every first day it pooh-pooh’s ( they have tied up with BSNL, MTV, Star channels, with HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to send out text messages to account holders on pay day etc etc)….. But the big question is: - what is the big Idea?

Cadbury’s is the undisputed leader in the Rs 2,000-crore per annum chocolate market and Cadbury Dairy Milk is its warhorse with some 34-35 % market share….. Though it is strong in bars (Five Star) and tablets (Cadbury Dairy Milk), Nestle has made inroads with its light offerings like KitKat and Munch. Worse now is an increasing health awareness, among the larger public which is attracting consumers towards lighter chocolates — a trend that will only get stronger in the days to come.

In this given scenario is this a strategy?

The conception of this new ad relates more to the old India which was socialist, stupid and loved the license Raj and famed protectionism….. Come on guys….. Take a long walk….…. The India of today doesn't wait for salary day to do a bit of indulge and that too on a piece of chocolate…. I have nothing against any brand going down the socio economic ladder as DM is doing with every new ad trying to sell to more masses, but the question is- are you retaining the original buyers..?

Is this an endeavor to move this product which is of variety seeking nature to a habitual category… Can it happen?

Is it just an effort to break the clutter? Then yes they have broken it.. but what next… is it making more people buy more than they bought before?

Is it an attempt to get synonymous with the Mithai category after being generic with the name chcolates…? If yes ALAS.. God save you guys….

Pay day is surely an occasion to celebrate but that is all? You want people to stop buying on other days… ? like I do.. every week end.. every time I walk in to a friends home, every time I visit a super market with my Kids… From every day buying to one day (JUST ONE DAY) buying? I sure don’t belong to the SEC to which you now talk to, but does that mean that I cannot be your buyer…..?

Diary milk and its ads by O&M have enchanted an entire generation and that provokes this outburst when I see the world’s most creative agency parading the wonderful brand as Radha and Miss Palampur ( in a gross under utilisation of the great Big B) and now this one.. This one for sure is better than the Radha and the Big B ads which was probably the biggest disservice to the brand….here at least (as compared to Radha) there seems to be an idea (no Big Idea still) which is let out half baked and it will lead to indigestion…..The celebration platform was and is kept intact all this years but….. See these ads from the past and then let us continue….






Now….can one compare these ads made in 1993 (or 94?) with the Radha ads? With the Big B ads where Pappu passes his 12’th grade, the Kenya ads? With the new Pehli tarikh ones?… The celebration platform is intact but isn’t the big idea missing….?

Pehli taarikh (the first day of the month= salary day) is important, I admit......I am a salaried guy and live life on the first week of ever month.. But I would rather plan, prepare and purchase a pair of jeans or a shoe on the Pehli taarikh and sing a song when I buy it…… a bar of chocolate is intuitive for me… and it has to be that way for the seller.. Or is it not..?

When you feel like eating chocolate you will have it & you wouldn't for sure wait for the pay to come to buy the chocolate......it is not such a big deal to buy a chocolate and no decision or planning is required for it….

It is surely a big deal to market chocolates.. the big players have bigger headaches... Next time when I have a celebration -Will I buy a diary milk? is the question.

Aegon Religare- Present-ing the Future...

A couple had been married for 50 years. They were sitting at the breakfast table one morning when the old gentleman said to his wife, "Just think, honey, we've been married for 50 years."

"Yeah," she replied, "Just think, fifty years ago we were sitting here at this breakfast table together."

"Yep," the old man said, "We were probably sitting here naked as jaybirds fifty years ago."

"Well," Granny snickered, "What do you say... should we get naked?"

Sure enough, the two stripped down to the buff and sat down at the table.

"You know, honey," the little old lady replied breathlessly, "My nipples are as hot for you today as they were fifty years ago."

"I wouldn't be surprised," replied Gramps. "One's in your coffee and the other's in your oatmeal!"

****************************************************************
Currently, only 13 per cent of India’s workforce is covered by some kind of retirement or pension plan…. And the retired oldies are all not happy sitting together around a breakfast table re-living the past with or without clothes….. and to put it simply, it is a vast unexplored (?)… I will say less explored market as far as products and services aimed at this market is concerned.

Some time back a teaser campaign ran across Indian media in a brave and bold new attempt to put an end to this marketing myopia of sorts… they called it KILB… or Kum Insurance Lene ki Bimari. …..The teaser campaign KILB later unveiled the identity of its brand: AEGON Religare Life Insurance. The campaign where Irfan Khan, portraying a doctor who, in various moments such as in the train or in a lift, asked people around him how much they are insured for. The answer was a low figure… DISMAL !!!!.

He then lamented that” people will buy small things such as groceries for daily use according to their need, but when it comes to buying insurance for their future needs, it is always ignored”. The whole KILB campaign was designed by Contract Advertising, produced by Apocalypso Filmsworks and directed by Pradeep Sarkar…..

The team has struck again with this ad which is making waves in Indian air space now. This time the objective of the campaign is to make consumers realise that saving systematically for retirement is as important as earning for today and provide them with definitive solutions.. this is important in the Indian scenario where people generally invest for today; therefore, life insurance is easier to sell. In the case of pensions, people have to do it for themselves and they would need it after some 20-25 years so they don't pay much attention…. Here goes the ad….



The Idea is striking and the execution is innovative as the protagonist / advisor who sets up the problem and then reveals the solution switch between the present and the future with ease and with enough drama and suspense maintained to the core.

Inflation( ever growing), increased life expectancy and increasing privatisation ( no Govt pensions here after) etc have boosted the requirement for individual pension plans but people are hesitant, and those who are not simply do not know where to start… this dilemma was well addressed and it seems this ad has done to cater to both this issues… to be run over 6 weeks and with a budget of approximately Rs 10 crore and with the wonderful creatives from Contract that is taken into the TG with good media planning and buying by their AOR, Mediacom (I saw in various channels, saw a different and good form in the newpaper this morning, saw it my mail again in a different execution, saw it as a pop up... same idea but not repetitive in execution) ,they are as of now in face to face combat with equal spenders like SBI Life Insurance, Aviva Life Insurance and Max New York Life.

Huge spenders like ICICI Prudential, HDFC Standard Life and Reliance Life Insurance will have to now wake up and notice this small fry who looks different for sure and talk different as well. Needless to say..in a clutter of verbose monotony when some one talks different, attractive, simple and sensible it will make a difference

To Inform and Impress..... if that was the objective of this campaign,I guess they have done it….The communication at least is getting the consumers to call up the given numbers to figure out their pension amounts…

The proof?

I did it just this morning…I, who never ever thought of pension and retirement plans before.... Now I realise that one day even I have to retire and sit at the breakfast table…

The Fun Gun!!!

A man doing market research knocked on a door and was greeted by
a young woman with three small children running around at her feet.

He says, "I'm doing some research for Vaseline.
Have you ever used the product?"
She says, "Yes. My husband and I use it all the time."
"And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?"

"We use it for sex."

The researcher was a little taken back. "Usually people lie to me and
say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain or to help with a gate
hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I
admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you
tell me exactly how you use it for sex?"

The woman says, "I don't mind telling you at all. My husband and I put
it on the door knob and it keeps the kids out."


NOW Close those doors and have fun buddies..!!!!!!!!!

Find those elements Which makes an Ad impressive!

"Since you can do it, go out and march against FARC." says the Advertisements done by Sancho BBDO Columbia. But I feel I would like to put to a careful study is because it has some suggestive elements- a lonely women suggesting depression, and fear of terrorism, a milling crowd that begin to bother as they observe the board as well as the woman, and a copy which says, we must stand together against terrorist groups. Haven't we ever tried to advertise ourselves in a helpless situation? Never!, but to bring people together for a cause, even if you were a victim is quite a lot of organising, because we although, with clear eye vision, never bother to observe and react to the needs of others!..

Making Valentine's Day An Event to Market Love!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Bank on me !!!

A biker was riding along a beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said,

"Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish."

The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking.

The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things.

"Take a little more time and think of something that would honour and glorify me."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can I make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied,
You want two lanes or four on that bridge?

I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking", but I don't have that much time.. said some one and that is how I guess many people still perceive banks and their communication. Well for that matter banks never communicated in the the right sense or spirit and customers were non existing entities who once in a while crept in as nuisance crying for money and materials, from the employee on the other side of the counter who was GOD or atleast next to GOD!

Time has changed and it has changed everything.. even the banks... now with the new and improved customer and all the hype and hoopla about customer centric banking, the old style banks seem to be slowly but surely fading into oblivion. Gone are the days when they said 'bank failures are caused by depositors who don't deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement' ...Every coin is precious and so is every clueless soul who walks in and out of a bank.....And when banks have changed can their communication remain archaic? Should they also not change? SBI and the surprisingly SBI campaign
was an eye opener for many a PSU banks who lived life on lethargy and drove life blood from creeping inefficiency and incompetence, and made no attempt whatsoever to change according to the times but instead remained obscurantist and thus out of the real world....With the influx of new gen banking and their variety of products and services and the amazing communication from their side sweeping a large generation of customers off their feet, there was no other way but to change and change was the only option for the PSU banks.

No wonder Canara bank says, we have changed, for you.... A huge laugh escaped my inner self when I saw the candid confession for the first time after the image make over.....Hear it again.. together we can they say of course but also, we have changed, for you and not because we wanted to change... anyways, for whom is not that important as long as they have and they are successfully communicating it....

South Indian bank some time back roped in veteran carnatic musician Dr Balamurali krishna and it was a cool piece of communication which talked about the generation change and how the bank caters to both the gen.....


And now comes Mammooty to cater to the Mallu crowd in a decent ad which sparks class in and out ,done by a local Ad agency in Kochi.. ( beware the big heros...) a new logo and color to suit the changing styles...see what their website says......In the erstwhile logo of the Bank, the unique picture is that of a coconut tree. The fronds of the coconut palm form the basic theme of our new logo. The sharp ends of the fronds are smoothened, thickened and twisted to form a ‘S’ denoting South Indian Bank. Thus the new logo has the continuity from our erstwhile logo. It can also be seen as two hands clinging to a strong pillar in the middle. The pillar is our beloved institution; the upper hand represents our customers and the lower hand symbolizes our staff members. “S” also projects a Safe, Solid, Smart, Strong, Secular, Shining, Schooled, Seasoned, Successful and Straightforward Bank.


.......what more to say, it is almost complete...



Bank of India ,not to be left behind jumped into the we also changed bandwagon and looked quite amused at the change.. their ads were nosy (they still are ..the campaign is still continuing) where it seems they expect the customer to be endlessly thankful and eternally grateful to them for having taught them modern day banking so much so that the customer never visits the bank
these days' .....well.... if you are talking to the new generation kid with money and all that attitude and no bank visits in his history, this comunication looks like a joker who has fell flat on his ass from the high trapezuim..
It has cut some ice with the old customers but are they the real intended targets?


And that was just a sample... here in this blog we have seen it all.....rrrr..... almost all and hence I dont venture to make it longer...The underline is the moneys that is spent on the repositioning exercise... not only the ads but every touch point.. every aperture where the customer eye meets the brand has to change....
Every employee has to change..... huge amount of training has to creep in...
attitudes have to change.....and no amount of training can do that...
The stoic and blunt looks have to change..... the pan masalas and inordinate tea breaks have to change.. the challans and multi colored coupons have to change ..the dull looks have to change.. the I am The GOD stares have to change and what not...?
If you have been to a PSU bank you will know what I mean... Not that the private ones are paradises.. the plastic smiles and hidden charges galore there but they still, are much better... With so many internal branding problems, can the banks actually mean what they say? Or is it just a ritual where they bosses would have thought they all do and why not we?
It is a transition, a journey in search of the new generation customer who dont want to be seen associated with the old generation bank...... in the process if one wins them it is good but if they are loosing the old gen and not winning the new, what is the end result?

When mindsets remain sludge what big difference can stars and smart communication strategy make?

let the Lord decide.. well as it is seen, in some cases even he will have no clue!!!

Tail end : Bertolt Brecht said and I quote“What is the robbing of a bank when compared to the founding of a bank?”

At Crossword, we are not at crossroads!

Crossword book stores, located in major cities in India is were you wouldn't lose yourself. But, you are likely to pick up some books to read. Categorized and well arranged, thinking like a bookworm, the store organisers keep books elegantly, so that we will pick up at least one of them. Allthough their advertisement says "Get Lost", we would always fall in love with books. Just look at that Ad-- is that copy cute? ( no comments, Your comments are more important )

Of Gods ,Chauffers and the devoted....

The Pope had just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport.
Having never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for a while.
Well, the chauffeur didn't have much of a choice, so he climbs in the back of the limo and the Pope takes the wheel..... The Pope proceeds onto HWY 95, and starts accelerating to see what the limo could do. He gets to about 90 mph, and suddenly he sees the blue lights of the State Police in his mirror. He pulls over and cop comes to his window.

The cop, seeing who it was, says, "Just a moment please, I need to call someone.

The cop calls over his walkie talkie and asks for the police chief. He tells the chief that he's got a REALLY important person pulled over for over speeding and rash driving, and asks how he should handle it.

"It's not Ted Kennedy again is it?" replies the chief.

"No Sir!" replied the cop, "This guy's more important."

"Is it the Governor?" replied the chief.

"No! Even more important!" replies the cop.

"Is it the PRESIDENT??? replied the chief.

"No! Even more important!" replies the cop.

"Well WHO is it?" screams the chief.

"I don't know Sir I guess its God himself,,,,," replies the cop, " Im not sure though...but he's got the Pope as his chauffeur!"


Now that is not just a joke.....
Tell a lie and it remains a lie.... tell it again and it remains a lie.... repeat it manytimes and it becomes the truth nothing but the truth.. said Joseph Goebels, the man whose Marketing Communication Strategy made one cult brand out of a comical product.. I am referring to the one stop, all under one roof propaganda manager that Adolf hitler annointed to make him a brand... Goebels, did it , amazingly well and catapaulted the short and unimpressive Guy( Chaplin could imitate him with such an ease) to a position where the world revolved around him....

Reliance and its history is what made me sit and ponder and draw the poor German guys into the fray. Reliance is famous for their project management skills and more importantly for the money and the wealth that they have created and that too from nowhere.. How the brothers fought and split was fodder for the media for so many days and months and when suspicious eyes watched and breaths held the two brothers grew on their own and made it big.....

The two Reliance empires....the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group or the Reliance ADAG which started with some 45000 crores and three brands made it long and now has many a consumer brands, making marketing a core activity...To foresake its old logo and embrace its WPP Landor designed Red and Blue one, and a moving and emotional testimonial from long time friend, the Big B in his baritone voice, which flood the media, ADAG didnt take much time to set its foot...

Now It is the Reliance power IPO that is the news... a multi media campaign where in the marketing warriors took the ‘more is more’ approach and came out with this emotive nationalistic slogan- “Power on to India On”........ It was across 50-60 TV channels, radio stations, Adlabs theatres and over 500 hoardings; burning up crores ( keep guessing) in just 17 days. Its the old dictum " spend the small fish to catch the big one" that seems to be working......Gone are the Mudra days when the old agency inherited all Reliance brands as a birth right, now a 7 agency roster is in place and it looks like a who -is -who of the ad world with Leo Burnett,Mccann and Rediffusion in the league....



Seven agencies and Mudra is just one, among equals...With a Ray & Keshavan brand guidelines guide serving as the common bible as it was claimed over media, there will absolutely be no confusion, with so many verticals and products....and together they are making money like hell, even as ringtones..Power on to India on... The art of making money for a non existent, hyped up product, no one can beat these guys and market watchers I am sure will vouch....

And the game has just begun...going by this rate, of ad spends and the carpet bombing that is on, cricket association and other stuff, it will not be too far when HUL and the other jaggernauts will have to stand a bit behind the ADAG, in the ranking of the biggest spenders in advertising...climb down after long long years of being there up and top.....

We believe what we see.. particularly when we are shown it again and again.. where ever we go and whatever we do we see it again and again..... the Limousine is here and the poor man on the street is bewildered.....

When the pope himself is driving, who else can be the traveller??

Animated Fun

Is it wise to become animated in expressing ourselves? Some companies feel so. BP had found that fun related animations can convey their messages quickly. I feel that animated ads engage us because of its novelty, freedom in bringing flexibility to script( because we need not work with real characters) , a befitting background music and fun involved.

Look for advertisements of BP like this one. See it here.

Apple Ipod and itunes were most sought after brands, designs and electronic gadgets of 2007. Some of us have felt happy and sometimes unhappy regarding its price cut during Xmas. But they have also used animated ads in venezuela and US to impress the buyers. Watching it is worth it. Take a look here.

Look for Paul McCartney dancing for ipod tunes in a fascinating animation here.

Think small..smaller...and now smallest !!!!

No prices for guessing.... Nano is the name, car is the product, and high is the dreams.. from the taxi guys in Mumbai( with their ramshackle Premier padmini's dreaming of some retirement after long long long tiresome service) to the ordinary vendor and starry eyed commuter on the ever bubbling Indian streets, from the Biking youngster to the cycling retired old man, from the ' forever Planning to upgrade' bank clerk to the young executive, every one is dreaming it small, thinking small ,smaller and alas, thanks to Ratan Nasserwanji Tata and his promise that he seem to be all set to deliver, in the form of Nano..the wonder small car !!!

They said promises are like making babies, easy to make, but difficult to deliver... But for Tata it does not seem to be the case .Lesser traffic jams still seem to be a distant dream, with the three wheelers and two wheelers dreaming to replace themselves with the stylish new small cars,but our roads are gonna look better for sure... Politicians may add a car along with TV and other soaps that they offer, to woo the unsuspecting populace and a car would cease to be a status symbol.....

The Gap Of Thoughts would be filled in where the Marketer, till date used to play, fitting in and sqeezing his bloody ass into your GOT ,where the NEED was forever in collision with the WANTS and trying to confuse you between both... making you buy things you never wanted ,using money that you never had.....

Now people will think small.. (well the leader class is doing it already..show me one leader who thinks big and dreams....) and small will look beautiful.... Well at least ,the Tata dreams are in similiar lines.... When Nano gets labelled (if it gets labelled) as a taxi car, the middle class and their upwardly egos, which are heavily inflated baloons full of inert gases mass produced from false prestige, may stop, wait and may be not proceed.. better to drive in a scooter than have a car which every ' ram, rahim and russel has.... Remember how Reliance mobile owners had a tough time hiding their mobiles ever since the giant, decided to dole it out literally to every unsuspecting stranger on the street... The fisher man came with one and called the customer who was inside his home ,from his mobile, and the next day the man decided to go immobile.....huh ! the fisher man......even he has got a mobile... !

The think small business started long back... with the the brand Volkswagen ( "Volks-Wagen" ("People's Car"), a basic vehicle that should be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) which got the blessings of none other than Adolf hitler ( and a Tata
in India as usual had the guts....) recognising the need for small cars for small and not so well off families.... and the communication which made heads stay up in admiration, eyes pop out as the simple tone hit the eye balls, like an apple did the ever suspicious Sir Issac Newton, is part of the golden history of advertising......well ...It is unique in the history of automobile advertising, if not all advertising.....

Its tone, style, wit, irreverence which have been imitated, mimicked, swiped, copied, misunderstood, and admired more than any campaign before or since.....
It was created by colorful people at Doyle Dane Bernbach and at Volkswagen of America and in fact, it created colorful people by virtue of their association with it.

It was the DDB shot that is still heard around the world.......
It is the classic story of a client with limited funds and unlimited vision, with faith in a wonderful product, who came to Bernbach's agency.......
Bill Bernbach saw the Volkswagen car for what it was: honest, simple, reliable, sensible, different. And he wanted the advertising to be that way too.......
The temptations and pressures to do "mainstream" car advertising were considerable. Bill's resistance was greater. "The product. The product. Stay with the product." Simple.
When the VW campaign became established, there were other temptations at DDB ....Simple.
All the copiers and all the misunderstanders were doomed because they weren't selling Volkswagens and he was.....

Simple....

In the end, the manufacturing philosophy and the advertising philosophy became one and the same. Volkswagen spoke with one voice throughout the world, and people everywhere recognized that voice.... and think small for ever remained one of the best advertising campaigns. No matter how big and pretentious others are.....

Nano of course comes with a huge array of posibilities...its going to hurt many...the two wheleers to an extent but more importantly the three wheelers...the Tata Ace hurt the three wheeler heavy (load carrier) market for sure and now the Rs 1 lakh car may hurt the three wheeler light (passenger) market.....Maruthi and its 800 and the Hyundai Santros.. beware,,,,!!!! but its gonna leave a lots of smiles too...... especially the hype that it seems to have generated, the expectations that it has spun over the Indian mass and class alike and all the talk ,the discussion, the love, the attention and the adoration... its a dream to any marketer and Tata has got it.. and seems to have devised plans to keep it alive and kicking till November when the actual car rolls down and the actual price would be known( the Govt of India had its taxes still high !!)......

From the Markcom angle..its a job well begun and well begun is half done ...... the tempo has to keep going and the agency ( well rumours are galore as to who gets the account...) going to handle it, is gonna have a enviable and not so enviable job at the same time... above all the hopes ,dreams ,prayers and aspirations, when a whole nation is waiting to receive, it may seem easy to communicate, but it may not be the case..... it may be the other way round too...

While we wait for the grand affaire... best wishes Nano.... the cute new car ..the one even before birth they predicted as the change of the future.....

The Brand Economist

The Economist has a brand value as one of the best magazines for general information as well as on business. It covers news from all over the world and puts it briefly and succintly with honesty. But they also do a brand building exercise. See these advertisements. I like them because they have clarity in their messages.

Seriously Thoda Zyada

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

And he had a great fall ( or is it a jump?)

Some advertisements use acrobatics to win people and titillate their eye balls. Some of us have learned our nursery rhymes well, but some of us like to adopt them into ad scripts. In order to explain that we produce something extra ordinary, all "me too" products either create several sub categories and find their niches. Advertisements cannot be true to themselves, they can be imaginative as an Axe perfume ad! ( I would say others have tried to copy the oomph factor from them). But some can be ineffective and similar. Let us look at three such advertisements of last year, which do create a usual element of " audience attention" because of its similarities with each other.

Start...Action.... yes its only about action!.. for a Thums Up bottle. Akshay Kumar does an acrobatic stunt, jumping from one building to other and then to a truck carrying Thums Up. See it here. Now its Juhi's turn for a packet of Kurkure. She is funny even though. If a packet can reduce our gravitational acceleration ( as that in the moon)- woh kya karizma hai. It was "seriously thoda zyada', not because of the attractiveness it had, but because, a brand which wanted to tell itself as a product, that we would have with tea, shouldn't have been so..weightless!.

Cut..Cut it please... If you would like to say that, we have a royal stag advertisement too. See it here. Some of the fellows are jumping again. Oh! Indian consumers are going berserk now. They will start jumping from their terraces or falling like Humpty Dumpty, because they don't have milk or onion at home.