Idea and Abhishek - language doesnt matter.. !

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

IDEA Cellular has launched this new ad under the popular What an Idea, Sirji! Campaign series, to demonstrate the power of telephony, in a country where 850 mother tongues and 22,000 dialects are spoken…most of you would have seen it for sure and when I saw it amused me for the fact that it is so far the best in the series… remember all those various avatars such as the sarpanch, tourist guide, school principal, politician’s aide, doctor, and even a tree…... 

Sirji this time has come up with an idea to sell Idea to people who have lucrative job offers (from far flung cities in India- most jobs these days are far flung...) The setting is quite familiar and all of us have gone through the same scene, in spite of the offer exciting us, the thought of living in a place where a different language is spoken, makes one unconvinced and uncomfortable. 

Adformula had been a critic of some of the ads in the series (in the past) but this one for sure catches the attention of the average viewer in the TG….. India and its possibilities/ opportunities for the young, PLUS the challenges (language barrier for instance) is ably displayed in this ad. The diversity and vastness, at times, create an impediment in the growth of this country…. Not that Sirji has a solution for all that but it is one ray of hope for a nation kept purposefully fragmented for narrow political gains…

The new ad is yet another improvement in the series of Idea’s campaigns with the popular tag line – What an Idea, Sirji! ,this campaign has all the elements of what a picture perfect campaign should have… a new Idea (which keeps improving every time), a tagline which enjoyed such massive recall, and a celebrity who matches the brand and its charm ( except for south where the small B isn’t much of a charm). .. no wonder why the subscriber base of Idea has hit such heights in the last few years…

The happy brand said so… (as per media reports). “Almost every Indian has gone through a situation where one has struggled to communicate with another fellow Indian just because of language. The new Idea campaign offers a Champion idea to address this concern of our society, through the power of mobile telephony. We are confident that the new brand campaign will build a strong connect with the audience and further grow Idea’s over 70 million subscriber base” and why not… as said again and again, the longer clients stick on to its agency, the trust base gets stronger and the quality of its creative output goes up…… there is no substitute for long lasting and strong client – agency relationships in advertising… Here the credit goes to the client an well as Lowe , the agency behind… 

The preceding campaigns – ‘Championing a world without caste’; ‘Championing a world in which no one suffers from the disability to communicate’; ‘Education for All’, ‘Participative Governance’, ‘Walk When You Talk’, and the recent ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign – all abide by the essential brand promise of providing a simple, fresh and imaginative solution to a complex problem of the society… and now this one which is no different and in fact better…

In a campaign , each succeeding ad should be better than its preceding one… It is like having beer… the second one should taste better than the first one , and the third one should taste better than the second one and so on…… As said by John Steinbeck … .Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

What an Idea Sirji !!!

Expect the Unexpected...part II

The doctor said, "Joe, the good news is I can cure your headaches. The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition which causes your testicles to press on your spine, and the pressure creates one heck of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles."

Joe was shocked and depressed.

He wondered if he had anything to live for. He had no choice but to go under the knife. When he left the hospital he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself.

As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life.

He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need - a new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit."

The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long."

Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?"

"Been in the business 60 years!"

Joe tried on the suit. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?"

Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure."

The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see, 34 sleeve and 16-1/2 neck."

Joe was surprised, "That's right, how did you know?"

"Been in the business 60 years!"

Joe tried on the shirt, and it fit perfectly.

As Joe adjusted the collar in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about new shoes?"

Joe was on a roll and said, "Sure."

The salesman eyed Joe's feet and said, "Let's see...9-1/2 E."

Joe was astonished, "That's right, how did you know?"

"Been in the business 60 years!"

Joe tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly.

Joe walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?"

Joe thought for a second and said, "Sure."

The salesman stepped back, eyed Joe's waist and said, "Let's see...size 36."

Joe laughed "Ah ha! I got you! I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old."

The salesman shook his head and said.........................................................


"You can't wear a size 34. A 34 underwear would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one heck of a headache."


dummmmmm.................................


ALWAYS get a second opinion......

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The creative guys in my story ,which I left half last day were as adamant as any other creative in any other agency.... but this time as there think tanks had gone dry, relented to hear the Junior executive .......

He said.... The client just want one message to be delivered... "Expect the unexpected"

The scene is an office.. a tough boss into his late 50's...tall.... fiery ..fiercesome... everyone is afraid of the guy...

The secretary to the boss... hot ..sizzling...sexy..tantalisingly exposing and exposedly tantalising......

The only weakness for the boss is this chik..the secretary...she is crawling in his blood and veins.... as a desire...as a forbidden fruit...


Wow... chuckled the young guys....
mmmm ...gruntled the old guys...

The man couldnt lay his mind open before the girl, for he doesnt know how she will react,,, if it happens to be on the negative side, then his good will may go down the drains....

One day the girl walks in ,as sexy as ever, and tells him... please come home sir, today evening , for a party... and she walks offff...

She turns around half way through and says invitingly... I am going to be alone at home...

THUD... our hero falls flat....He HAS heard what he wanted to hear...finally ( he thought) he has won her over..." tonight I would be rocking that dame..."

He goes over to her place... she is more sizzling , as she opens the door.. and invites him to the large sofa at the hall....

Pls bear with me for a moment .......she says, as she went inside.... im just back....

Our hero gets impatient.... he cant wait... he takes off his clothes and sits ready expecting the heroine to come for him to " rock"...

Trrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Opens the large curtain of the hall and hero looks back from his sofa in expectaion... but gets a shock of a life time......

There is his whole family....His wife..sons..daughters..son in laws..daughter in laws..grand kids.. the whole brigade...

Happy birthday to you...they sing and sing as they advance into the hall.....

And then they see him naked.....

Close up of the hero.. and a punch on his nose...

The caption appears..... XYZchocolates... "expect the unexpected".......

Oh God.... it is simply amazing.... the crowd seemed to be agreeing unanimously......



foot note : Idea..... it can come on anyone ..but not every one can accept it....

creative spirits !

Kazakhstan based advertising agency GOOD decided to take a break from advertising, and have some fun. So they made these eye catching and mind boggling Bike helmets

They definitely made me look and smile! This comes mainly to those who sat in my session on 'creative spirits' and found that they lack something ....

Daz-Out of the Box

This 2003 American ad is finding a place here in Adformula not because it is the best ad in my archive... For that matter, I haven’t yet seen the best ad, as my archive is getting bigger with every passing day.....

This ad awed me for sure for the fun in it. But more than that, it has overwhelmed me for taking the formula out and doing something new... Procter & Gamble and many other makers of detergents has used the "doorstep challenge" method (formula) in which a B or C rate celebrity encounters and persuade a "surprised housewife" that the powder really does work better than other washing powders.. a dirty bucket and some unbelievably dirty clothes which when dipped on the said bucket will prove the point…..Some places and in some situations the formula slightly varies where the celebrity is replaced by a jealous neighbor or even a mother- in- law or daughter -in -law who teaches and the other one gets taught…

As an advertising device, however, it has been living on borrowed time. While it may have proved to be a tried-and-tested way of demonstrating the powders qualities, a whole new generation of housewives (and husbands too) found the idea a bit too out dated and cheesy to be accepted just like that…

Out of the box stuff when the ad introduces to us to Mummy Maureen and son Sean. Maureen finds an off-white bra in Sean's bedroom.Sean's girlfriend is not using Daz, she concedes, but the bra is not her’s either……. Sean looks bashful and the barmaid looks shifty..... TheAd is made by Leo Burnett and was extended into different forms and ideas of which I have one more to show and it is here...

Hitherto, I use this ads to teach “out of the box” concept… but as the saying goes” to think out of the box, one first have to have the box”………

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

Expect the unexpected- Part I (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 werent 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 didnt 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 Pharoah 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...
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As originally published on July 31, 2006 and republished under best of Adformula series...!

Advertising- being simple..

Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.... said Albert Einstien and I use it here to tell how much complex is it to make things simple in advertising.....

Here I go with an ad which is simply shocking, simply marvelous and simply leaving a smile as it is communicative...