charukesi May 20th, 2008
On the same say, in agencyfaqs, two articles about advertising on vehicles - Rickshaws: No longer just a transport option and Taxi advertising: It’s an ad-cab world . You can get away from television, but never away from advertising?
On a related note, Chennai looks so much cleaner, greener, thanks to the fact that those giant hoardings, and yes, even gargantuan cut-outs and posters (both cinema and political) have all come down. You can actually see trees now, said a friend who’s always lived in Chennai. As this article says, Hoardings disappear, Chennai reappears.
Of course, now in place of hoardings, there are kiosks lining the road along the side and the middle - step out of the airport and you are told (you cannot miss it) - if it is Chennai, it is the Hindu - oh really, what about Times of India then? you may well ask… In response, Times of India has kiosks (squeezed in wherever the Hindu has left space) saying -Times of India - Changing Times (or tunes?)
As I drove out of the airport and made my way towards Guindy, I was reminded of Delhi say, eight years ago when ToI and HT had fought a similar kiosk war…
Related posts : Advertising to invade textbooks
charukesi May 19th, 2008
Has anyone noticed this latest trend in TV ads - three word end-lines?
The first time I saw it was when Maruti launched SX4 - with this rather forceful campaign around the theme - Men are back. Alright, I said. SO where have they been hiding all this while? And which car were they driving then?
Then in the middle of the IPL matches, this cryptic line from a bank? insurance company? - Change is here. Which brand is this for?
And now, all these posters with Aamir Khan in a balding-middle-aged-rapper avtaar - for Samsung - and the ad says - Next is what? Just what I am thinking, Samsung.
Said the client to the ad agency - will you not whisper those three magic words to me?
charukesi February 29th, 2008
Some odds and ends for the weekend…
A compilation of Indian blogs on marketing, social media and advertising. Good weekend reading. I know / know of many of these people but not their blogs, or even that they had one, so it’s been a nice surprise to discover some of them…
And from The Chasing iamb (who also admits - and why blog names should not be picked in a hurry) - sound advice for the freelancer. Where was the iamb when I needed this advice when I was starting out as a naive, will-cringe-and-die-before-I-discuss-money freelancer? Possibly chasing something else.
Heck, I may as well admit, I am still that way. Earlier as a researcher, now also as a travel writer. So this stays bookmarked and becomes daily reading. Repeat after me, you are a freelancer for the freedom and choice it affords you. Not so you get desperate and panicky if no work comes your way for a whole week, month, year. Okay, maybe not year. Go read now. There is a reason I have linked to it twice.
And while on this (rambling without purpose - and is there any other way?), today’s Mumbai Mirror, reporting on the Deshmukh son’s wedding (notice the url ends with english-skin-custom. So nothing. Just thought I’d point it out. I told you I was rambling) in Mumbai says among other things - The state Cabinet was represented by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil and his colleagues. Marketing Minister Harshwardhan Patil was playing host for the Deshmukhs.
Marketing Minister? What does a marketing minister do? Does he have weekly / monthly / quarterly targets? And sales support? What about business development? And most importantly, what does he market?
charukesi February 26th, 2008
I came across this piece on how advertising agencies position themselves - most of it seemed rather obvious or desperate to me (but that is the cynical advertising-industry-watcher in me speaking) - for instance a brand’s best friend? hey, isn’t that supposed to be the customer? And hey, that is anyway why you are the chosen agency for that brand…
I was trying to find positioning statements of Indian ad agencies and haven’t made much progress so far. But driving back to Bombay from Pune, I spotted this on the expressway.
A bold, provocative statement. Written by someone with great confidence and plans for the SMG brand. And as risky as the proposed business decision…
Personally, I found it the kind of attention-seeking statement that immediately raises my heckles - for I was reminded of this signboard on a shop window - Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come to us. What do you think of such a statement?
More : As Apu points out in her comment, none of these is really a ‘positioning’ statement - at best, they are tag lines, much the way keeps my skin smooth is for a soap brand - that is the very least I expect from a soap. And going by the tag lines, there is little to differentiate one agency from the other.
Given that, I think the Starcom statement is atleast, well, different. Provocative, as I said, cheeky and makes you want to stop and think about it. So what makes them so brashly confident? What is it that they can offer that makes the risk worthwhile… I wonder if an additional line about the risk-benefit pay-off would make this whole ad more balanced, acceptable…?
charukesi February 19th, 2008
Pepsi does it again. Proved that when you hit rock bottom, it is still possible to plumb newer depths. And there I was, thinking it couldn’t get worse than Oye Bubbly. Following that, John Abraham appeared with Shah Rukh Khan in a mercifully brief Chacha-Bhatija campaign and with winter came blessed relief from Cola advertising.
And out of the blue, this. Youngistaan? And just in case you start looking on the map for it, Youngistaan is not a place, it is an attitude. Ah, ok. Not a newly formed state, adjoining Chattisgarh. Youngistaan, a (moronic) state of mind.
As the name suggests, it represents a world of the youth, where the young generation likes to be in control. It brings forward their never failing attitude, their desire to take on challenges and the power to turn things around. Right. I am still trying to figure out which part of the name suggests all this to the brains (heh?!) behind this campaign. What it does suggest to me is a slight desperation…
Look at me, I am young. At heart. Eh, Speak up, will you? I don’t hear very well these days.
Give me steady sensible thanda matlab Coca Cola any day…
charukesi September 22nd, 2007
Bingo - some of the most delightful ads I have seen in recent times. Not just for the sheer enjoyment value but also the fact that the ads do not make the slightest effort to take the brand seriously - if anything, the reverse. And that is so refreshing - some one in the creative team at the agency, and dare I suggest it, even a brand manger or gasp! marketing manager, who realizes the brand is meant to be taken lightly, the product being what it is - fun and completely incidental to the lives and diet of consumers.
A brand that has advertising with absurd situations (consciously and carefully created), that laughs at itself, tongue firmly in cheek. Perfect branding - and focus on what makes Bingo special (I HATE the term USP) - those amazing combinations! “Bingo. No confusion. Great combination.” I first noticed the ad with the potato chips and lal mirch combination - a good product and superb advertising - that rare and unbeatable combination - it is little wonder that in less than six months, Bingo has managed to capture 16% market share, giving Pepsi’s Frito Lays a hard run for tis money. Go Bingo!
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While on not taking self seriously, the other ad that caught my attention was the Pepsi MyCan ad - the latest one is even more direct - John Abraham points to Shah Rukh and says, uncle - he called you uncle… Uncle manages to pass the title back to John Abraham and all is well in the world of stud-dom. While I didn’t think much of the ad itself (Apu, I agree), it takes a lot of courage to own up to the aging process - especially in an industry that survives on the “self”. I deeply admire Shah Rukh Khan for daring to take on this ad (notwithstading the fact that he looks in the ad like his stylist desperately wanted him to resemble Abhijeet Sawant).
And to this day I can never understand why I like Pepsi as a brand much much more than I do Coke (and I am a confirmed non-cola drinker!) - despite the fact that I think Coke advertising is consistently far superior to anything Pepsi has made in the last few years.
charukesi September 21st, 2007
Orange went pink, and has now turned red. will the dog be now left dead? wonders adformula. Fortunately, so far the little dog has been romping along merrily, only stopping to sniff suspiciously at his now-red kennel before entering it through the small hole in the red. And then the line - Change is good.
I mean, what? Change is good - what kind of change? why is change good? for whom? Does this imply that customers felt a desperate need for change from Hutch? Seems to be presumptuous, what? Reminds me of Philip’s Let’s make things better. Only time can tell how good this change is.
charukesi August 6th, 2007
I caught the ads for Zapak mail for the first time the other day at a theatre in Vashi. I also found posters in the loo - just above the pot - quick downloads, in bold type, with two block arrows pointing down. Made me pause - and smile - I remember not being very impressed the last time I saw an ad inside the theatre loo. The ad campaign as a whole - what I have seen of the tvc and posters - built on the theme of fast, quick is very entertaining - and interesting use of media.
[Images: agencyfaqs]
But. Two things.
How relevant is quick as a proposition in emails now - is that not the least one expects from en email provider? Rediffmail said quick some years ago - and rediff was quick - compared to other email services at that time. But now, is quick enough - how does it make your service different from any other? And more importantly, if you have a bad internet connection, like say, sify as I used to, how quick is quick?
The other and larger question is, why has zapak suddenly shifted focus to email from gaming? After splashing hoardings across the city with Salman Khan saying inscrutable things, they have suddenly gone quiet on the gaming side of the business - which is their mainstay. This again made sense during the initial dotcom boom - offer email to attract visitors to the site and so on (rediff and indya and suchlike) but now? Why does it seem to me that zapak is trying to live in the past.
I do not understand this whole strategy in the first place - why an email service at all for a gaming business? If the idea is to attract a bunch of adolescents, then what is to say that email will do that better than gaming? And who else will this attract - apart from those with a mental age of 14 - I mean, come on, imagine an email id @zapak.com… why would anyone want it? (The only reason I can think of is to get the user name you want - which you probably cannot find on yahoo and gmail - but I cannot honestly imagine 14 year olds wanting their own name as their user name when there are a million weird handles out there)
gmail gave me all I wanted in an email but did not know who to ask - viz. storage space and more importantly, a series of email exchanges on one page - email as conversation, if you will. I am curious - what can a new email service offer customers? Is there anything that you have wished for and never found in any other service? Reliance has a lot of money - I am sure they have some long term strategy in place, the way the younger brother is pouring money into this venture. But what that is, eludes me for the moment.
charukesi July 18th, 2007
This is the best state tourism ad I have come across in a long time… most states have the same kind of ads… focus on one monument, one beach, or anything else that is believed to attract visitors… and a few obvious descriptors. Madhya Pradesh tourism this neat collage taking the viewer through the length and breadth of the state. The ad is even better heard on radio, a singsong listing of the wonders of the state…
It starts off with Til dekho, Taad dekho, Aankhen phad phad dekho, Sher ki dahad dekho, Marble ka pahad dekho, Chanderi ki saadi dekho…. goes on for a whole minute - yeh dekho woh dekho… and finally hindustan ka dil dekho - marrying geogrphy and history and culture and all the rest of it with one line. The heart of Incredible India. I love this ad.
[for larger size - click on the image on the page]
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cross-posted on my travel blog - Itchy Feet
charukesi May 14th, 2007
I got this on email - several people seem to have already blogged about it but here goes anyway…
I have said this before - it is suicidal for a brand to admit to ‘change’. changed, improved, better, bigger… why, were they not so good earlier? Jet Airways proudly announced its new look - new crew uniforms, new corporate colors, new partner (Sahara) with an ad campaign that read - We’ve changed
Kingfisher Airlines, louder and bigger in every way (if not actually better) put this hoarding up on top of that one - We made them change
And if you are thinking Jet was asking for it, and hey, good for Kingfisher, upstart Go went and did this…
A good slogan does not a good brand make - heck, it does not even make for a good campaign. Go for it, Go! is what I say - Go got it perfect - after all, what does Jet’s “change” mean for the consumer? And Kingfisher’s too, beyond the initial smile it evokes. The only other airline ad I can think of (in the Indian context) was Deccan’s Simplifly, a revolutionary concept at the time it was introduced. (On another note, what does any of this mean to the consumer given the sorry state of Indian airports and the “air traffic congestion” situation?)