Category: Advertising

  • First Life

    MMOGs have always fascinated me, but I have never managed to get hooked on to Second Life. And I’m yet to read Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash, though its been on my shelf for sometime now. But yes, I insist that I am interested nevertheless and still play a browser game set in the middle ages. 🙂

    So, when Wipro became the first Indian brand (or is it VR1? ) to get into Second Life, to me, it was a kind of defining moment. But then, Wipro, to me is a very tech organisation and less connected to a normal consumer inspite of the bulbs and oils. So i wasnt surprised with a “Offshore Development Center (ODC) model campus with facilities like Client engagement center, Learning Center, 3 floor ODC setup with cubicles….Admin, Data center and Library.” presenceon the virtual world. But it was also mentioned that resumes could also be submitted at the virtual campus, wonder what stage that is in.

    And a few days back, Amul also decided to get a life.. a second life. The popularity of Amul’s hoardings is legendary, which is why it was surprising when Amul’s presence was stated to be “…a simulation of its production and distribution facility.” But thankfully, there also seem to be plans for having ice cream parlours which, other than the products, would also feature communication.

    But honestly, I’m still not convinced. Amul is a consumer brand- the taste of India. Also, its no secret that the ‘utterly butterly’ babe on the hoardings played an integral part in building the brand. Isn’t it logical to carry the two components into a virtual platform? Billboards on Second Life showcasing the unique Amul perspective on issues. Isnt it perfectly placed to be a sort of spokesperson for India on global issues? For example, when Bush makes his trademark absurdities (like how India’s prosperity led to a global food shortage) Amul can be the champion of India’s cause, with a trademark oneliner. While I understand that the Bush channel is soon to be closed, and there need not be an Indian perspective on everything, the perspective can be on anything – sports, movies, politics. All of this and more interest the Indian audience. By doing this, Amul becomes the ‘Voice of India’ (not the show, though that can also be done virtually..after all the world does go gaga over Eendian music 😀 ) and is able to showcase itself as a vibrant brand.

    Ah well, for the second life to be good, there should be clarity on the first life. Most brands are yet to reach there. I, for one, would love to have Amul play a much larger role on Second Life, not strictly related to its product range, but more as a brand, with an utterly butterly babe avtar to boot. Whatcha think?

    Meanwhile, this one’s a must read, especially for those of us who are hooked on to 2.0

    until next time, life’s like that?

  • Unsung Heroes?

    The last few weeks have seen a flurry of activity in the nascent Indian ‘celebrity blogger’ space. Most of the action has been around Aamir Khan, and his newly discovered penchant for ruffling feathers. Whether its the name of his dog or his lyrics which was supposedly making fun of Salmaan, his blog is almost a tabloid these days.

    I saw some branding at a mall last weekend that reminded me of AK being the brand ambassador for Samsung. The brand says, ” “The SAMSUNG brand stands for qualities of innovation, change, discovery, self-expression and excellence in performance. And these very same qualities are epitomised by Aamir Khan, whose quality and depth of work as well as versatility as an actor, have made him a much loved and respected actor in India today. We are indeed very proud and privileged to have him as our Brand Ambassador”.

    All that is fine, but after seeing this report (via this) and the claim that Amitabh has a 100 cr deal that includes sniping at co-stars, I’ve begun to wonder about this Samsung- AK deal. Lets twist the brand fit – AK is a niche persona thats supposed to have an element of class. Look at the brands he has worked with – Toyota, Titan. Coke is the only mass brand. AK’s brand persona is (like most celebrities) derived from the kind of work they do. So, in that sense, would it be fair to ask Samsung whether they plan to release only one product a year, and its chances of success would be 50-50. The only reason I am asking is that the creative i saw has AK saying ‘I am Samsung Mobile’

    Given the low key profile that AK had in the past, with the media spike happening only around releases, Samsung, being a mass brand and playing in a visibility intense market that has the likes of Nokia and Samsung would’ve found it difficult to convince itself that AK’s regular media dose is sufficient. So, why not a deal that includes uncharacteristic swipes at colleagues, the kind that makes it to the front page of all newspapers, and keeps the brand ambassador in the news?

    until next time, next is what?

  • One up

    While watching the nation’s current pastime yesterday, those irritating screen-side-and-bottom takeovers started happening, but there was one creative that made me smile. It had two popups (both with what looked liked an actress caricature). The first said “I will expose if the script demands it” and the second said “I will expose if i get enough money”. Guess the brand….. Sprite – Seedhi baat, no bakwas.

    I read an interesting post the other day on tag lines, about their ownability, and how integrating the brand name into the tag line makes it more powerful. What struck me when i saw the ad yesterday was the tagline of Sprite, and that also got me thinking about its competitor- 7up. As i’ve said before I was a huge fan of Fido until they started using for such nonsensical stuff as this and this. I did enjoy the female leads though. 🙂 And while this was definitely better, they regressed with this. I really wonder what they were drinking when they came up with ‘Bheja Fry, 7up try’. Why stop with Bheja, i say, maybe you could do some ambient stuff in restaurants with ‘Pomfret Fry, 7up try’ and ‘Chicken Fry, 7up try’. The possibilities are endless. 7up, keep trying.

    And while that was happening, Sprite obviously thought about the entire thing, and came out with this positioning. And as though following a script, Pepsi played into their hands and they came out with a killer spoof, that fitted their positioning completely. Sprite has to be commended for a wonderful follow up to their earlier ‘Sprite bujhaye only pyaas, baki sab bakwas’. Remember that, in turn that evolved from ‘Sprite –clear hain‘, and take a look at this. The wonderful thing for Sprite is that they have taken a completely generic positioning (Mumbai Mirror and Bangalore Mirror launched with a ‘Lets cut the crap’ line which is saying the same thing – seedhi baat, no bakwas, but with a different set of words) and made it into their own.

    With so much of beating around the bush/implying/connoting happening, they can take any subject and make a creative around it, and across media, because they have a brand promise which they can easily fulfill – quenching thirst. At the same time, note that they’ve evolved a very appealing proposition from that basic drab premise that every soft drink can make a claim for.

    Notice that both brands have their names in the tag lines, but look at the difference. I really would’ve loved to see Fido playing the brand ambassador for the Sprite line (he fits really well because that’s where he started out), but that, i guess, would be asking for too much.

    until next time, upstaged

  • Brand new lock

    We’ve seen Vodafone going through a massive exercise, we recently saw Ceat going through a painful exercise, and softly, quietly, like the brand its always been, Godrej has unveiled its new look recently.

    Godrej, Can I Win My Ex Back for me, has been about locks. That’s the product in which I’ve seen the logo the maximum number of times. Although Cinthol happened to come a close second. (Cinthol has also gone in for an entire rebranding exrecise, about which i wrote earlier.) The Godrej TVC is decently executed, with the brand shown as shaking off a stern fuddy duddy image and moving onto a more ‘likeable’ and trendy avtar. The total spend on this exercise seems to be in the tune of Rs.30 crore. But are they making better locks now might be a badly timed question, i guess.

    I’ve always wondered about the kind of money that brands spend on such exercises. The attempt is obviously to change the perception about itself in the consumer’s mindspace. But how much care do they take to ensure that the attitude change percolates down to the lowest level, and specifically the departments that interface with the customer? And as a customer, do i really expect the Vodafone employee to suddenly become chirpier and more pleasing in their interactions after their new customer care ads? The other point is that I rarely have that interaction because i can do all the things that needs to be done through the net. Similar is the case, with say, financial products.

    When i see a Shoppers Stop, a Megamart, all changing their colors/looks/shapes and going for a complete overhaul, and spending massive amounts of money and energy on these efforts, I always wonder whether the end customer really cares about it at all. Is ‘rebranding’ an exercise that’s done when brands get tired of the % off, new schemes and other tacticals and have no more stories to keep themselves relevant in the mind of the consumer? More importantly, in a constantly changing landscape, where one wrong YouTube video can wreck your brand’s image , should you be putting such a lot of eggs in one basket? Shouldn’t the focus be on customer touchpoints, be it real or virtual?

    until next time, kuch to log kahenge, logo ka kaam hai kehna 🙂

    Can I Win My Ex Back

  • Insurance Maxims

    I bet all of you guys who’ve been following IPL would know Sanju by now. Sanju, who just gets lost in his iPod music, can’t hear his wife calling him, and ends up scaring the living hell out of her. And she’s not easily scared, judging by an earlier Vodafone ad 😉 In case, you really don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at it here.

    The Sanju situation is something that could happen to us at any point of time, and i think their understanding of the consumer mindset has been bang on target with this one. All of us, who know we’re not exactly in the healthiest of states, but haven’t done much about it since we believe in our immortality. The ad execution keeps you glued to the storyline, expecting the worst and finally delivering a ‘Oh thank God’ moment’, but leaving the message behind loud and clear. Its a story that I can identify with, and that makes it powerful.

    Its part of a series of communication from Max New York. The other two that i have seen are this and this. Though the ‘child’s dreams’ path is a heavily trodden one (HDFC’s ‘Haan, Papa’ comes to mind immediately), the other two themes were pretty good and managed to strike a chord, at least in my case. And they’re definitely a good context led follow up for this.

    The last one is the guy who’s been giving up his own dreams at various times and having his decisions forced upon him by various things like parental approval, family, its stability and security, children’s future etc, and finally during old age. The implementation is classic, as every time he almost takes a decision he sees his ‘responsibilities’ appearing before him. This one is for pension plans, and ends with its message to finally end those compromises. Again, very easy to identify with. Much better than this, for instance.

    While its easy to say that most communication these days aims for slice of life scenes, its something very difficult to execute, especially since most brands like to hog footage. The difference in this set is that it gives the story most importance, gives a context and then shows how the product offers a solution. Incidentally, I also liked the humour pitch that was in vogue earlier –  this from TATA AIG, and HDFC’s take on other financial products like Savings or Mutual Funds. I wonder why HDFC didn’t adopt this tone for insurance, maybe they felt it was too serious a subject?

    All well and good, but i always wonder about the role of brand vs performance as a factor in decision making as far as financial products go. Yes, you wouldn’t choose it if you didn’t know about it, but is heavy TV advertising the most optimal way to build equity?

    until next time, i guess TVC works as some kinda insurance 😉