Tag: Max Newyork

  • Bigg Loss?

    At the beginning of this season of Bigg Boss – Bigg Boss 2, I had wondered how many brands would involve themselves in the reality show. I was hoping that they’d not stick to obvious brand placement and make themselves a part of the story. I noted about eight brand plugs, though there might be more, since my viewing waned towards the end. I had some uncomfortable introspective moments when I caught myself watching four guys in a reality show. Now, its difficult to figure out whether brands got a good value out of these associations, since we don’t know the kind of financials involved. So, I’ll restrict myself to my takeouts as a viewer.

    • Airtel – Airtel gave away tees for the Delhi Half Marathon, a very clear case of ‘Here, wear’, but salvaged a bit by making a task out of it – all the inmates asked to run (combined) a distance of 21 kms without stopping. I think there was a charity link too. 175 comments generated here for the episode, I didn’t see Airtel there. Airtel also had its ringtone as the wake up tune on many days. But the one that worked best for me was the scroller that happened whenever two inmates who were sulking with each other started talking to each other. It read ‘Barriers break when people talk’. Of course, when Sambhavna and Payal were involved, it usually led to more fights, but I wouldn’t take it against Airtel.
    • Fevicryl – I remember Fevicryl only from one episode, but it left a mark. As a task, the inhabitants of the house were asked to make gifts for their fellow inmates, using some basic items and Fevicryl. The interesting part was how the inmates made stories out of the various things they made for each other. A few of them still remain with me like fevicryl decorated diyas being given to “light up someone’s world”, and a very ethnic design made to ‘remind someone about India’ always. The offering of Fevicryl was weaved into the narrative of the show, and it resulted in some good conversations. Impressive stuff, Fevicryl.
    • Dettol – sigh, ‘what can you do with dettol’ was the question asked as part of the task. How imaginative! The task fizzled out even before it started. The ‘babies’ track was boring as it is, using Dettol to wash the nappies was a force fit.
    • Vanish – Hey, someone actually came up with the idea that I’d proposed for Tide, starring Rakhi Sawant. The task was to wash clothes with vanish, and Monica mentioned the dirt removing capacity of Vanish. Actually, they should’ve got Payal and Sambhavna to do this, they washed the maximum dirty linen in public. Not bad, not great.
    • Kinetic Pleasure – With a generous sprinkling of ‘Why should boys have all the fun’, this task had the girls riding the vehicle around inside the house. Impossible to miss, but depends on how much was paid. If visibility was the agenda, consider it achieved.
    • Max New York – I’d already mentioned their good use of the ‘Shandaar Budget’ board. Since everyone ends up wanting more budget, the line ‘Karo zyaada ka iraada’ fits well there. There was also a task, based on the line, in which the inmates had to give a speech on how they were best suited to win, and what they’d do with the prize money. In fact, I noticed that later, when the inmates discussed their plans (after they got outside) they invariably mentoned the line too. One of the better usage in the show. Good work, i thought.
    • Mainland China – A few days before Diwali, they sent dinner for the housemates. It was a pity that one of the inmates (forget who) complained about the food. Ouch!!
    • Chevrolet – Chevrolet gave away an Aveo U-Va car for the ‘Bade Dilwala’ of the house. Turned out to be Rahul Mahajan. Since this was given away only in the end, but was discussed on every eviction day, they did get some good visibility. The product connect (Saif’s Chevrolet ad focuses on the interior space) was decent.

    In this context I have to also commend in.com for the exclusive online tieup. While some of the efforts were decent, there is still a reluctance on the part of brands to refrain from one way communication of their message. Tang (in the first season) was just there, the story and the communication happened organically. I would have liked to see brands weave themselves into the context and have their communication as a result as opposed to the start point.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if all the brands were happy to just ride on the popularity and viewership of Bigg Boss, and just have themselves seen in the show. So, what did you think of the product placements?

    until next time, karo zyaada ka iraada? 😉

    PS. If you can remember any more brand placements, please let me know via the comments section.

  • You are here

    Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

    I picked it up because it was written by a fellow Indian blogger. And yes, I prefer Indian fiction. But I’m guessing I am not exactly the target audience 🙂
    Considering the author’s profile, I’d say the book is at least faintly autobiographical.
    Arshi, the protagonist, is a twenty something, 21st century Indian woman, who lives (or at least tries to) live life on her own terms, only she doesnt seem to be sure what they are. A potentially interesting premise of self discovery in an urban Indian milieu.
    But in that sense it disappoints. Here are a couple of things that put me off. While it could be an attempt at stark portrayal, i felt that a lot of things had a force-fit twang, added to get a “yup, am with it” effect. Also, the title was very ironical in the sense that the story seemed to be going all over the place. A very lifestream flow which didnt work for me because of its predictability.
    However if Indian chick lit is your scene, you cannot afford to give this one a miss. And having said all that, I’m still happy that a blogger has become an author. 🙂

  • Tele Visions

    Its been a while since I saw impressive ads on the tube, and that added to the negligence towards the brands’ part of the blog. So, here’s a look at three recent television commercials that had my attention, in an increasing order of liking.

    Chlormint created a very viral term with their ad sometime back-Dobara Mat Poochna. Even the co brandedad with Nokia was quite good. The ads that followed, whether it was a different rendition of the same line, the one pitching it as the anytime mint, the one that launched the new flavour, or using the old line for fresh fills, tried to keep the tone intact. But, though that was managed fairly well, none of them could match the popularity of the original. So the latest Panwaadi ad was a pleasant surprise. It actually reminded me of the old Happydent ad‘s way of storytelling – a very roundabout yet funny way of communicating a message – in this case making the mint a conscious choice for the consumer, and not accepting what the shopkeeper gives him by default. Vijay Raaz, i thought, was perfect for the narrator role. So, in effect, a comeback of sorts for Chlormint.

    From the time of Sanju, I’ve noticed Max New York’s advertising somehow breaking the category clutter. Thelatest one is no exception, as the idea of things coming full circle is caught neatly. The simple thought is of us always wanting more, and the tagline of ‘Karo Zyaada ka Iraada’ is caught well in their other commercialtoo, this one for child plans. In fact what they managed to get the kid to do in this commercial is simply awesome. For those who watch Bigg Boss, you might have noticed their logo adorning the ‘Shandaar budget’ board. If you think of it, its quite a neat association, albeit in a very subtle way. The budget is always less, and the inmates always want more, a perfect fit for the tagline.

    And I was saving the best for the last – Tata Tea’s Jaago re commercial. There was a kind of starter ad earlier, which had the same idea – converting the tea’s ‘wake up’ role to an awakening one, though it wasn’t as impressive. But that’s fine because they have scored with this ad, and how!! A lot of brands make TVCs that espouse noble intentions, but nothing much is achieved after that. We see, we sometimes think, we move on, and brands smugly recount ‘making a difference’ films, which are nothing but lip service. But this initiative gives us the opportunity to go further. Check out their site, which is extremely friendly in terms of communication style. It tackles the FAQs, takes you on a tour of the entire process (including a cool video demo), gives you the paperwork guidance and the details of where you should take them, and in short, does what a responsible state would do. You can also register on the site, and get updates on your voter registration status, voting and election news, and election day reminders. Just awesome. And boy, they don’t stop at that. There is a Facebook group which already has over 800 members, and judging from the way my friends are joining, its not a viral, its a damn epidemic!! This is a campaign with tremendous potential, and for the sake of everyone and everything concerned, i want it to work.

    until next time, wake up !!

  • Train of Thought

    Social media enthusiasts are often quizzed on the ROI that it delivers, and in many cases,  ‘conversation with customers’ is met with a lot of skepticism. which led me to wonder about the kind of ROI this activity would generate.

    “Max New York Life Insurance has signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) pact with the Indian Railways. From July 8, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum Rajdhanis will sport Max New York Life advertising on its exterior.” It would provide upgraded services like high quality flooring, soap dispensers, tissue paper dispensers…. and so on. Great, I have always wanted that in those Harappan age railway compartments, though I always had a feeling Max was into insurance.

    I can understand SBI having a co-branded card with IRCTC, Citi having a card for Delhi Metro etc, but the revenue/communication model that this venture of Max falls in, I fail to understand. Unless of course, Max will send an insurance advisor in the compartment. The ‘potential customer’ is trapped with him for the entire journey, and might buy a policy just to get rid of him.

    Meanwhile, a couple of thoughts came to me when I read this post on Mumbai’s local trains. Every now and then, there is a horror story of how a gruesome accident occured in one of these trains. Doesn’t it make a lot of sense for an insurance company to do some contextual communication here? How about tapping this entire community which is so prone to such occurences?

    The other thought that came to me was from a conversation on twitter on how religion is one massive social network. Unlike schools and colleges, which have a real life basis for networking, religion is spread across geographies with most users unaware of each other, and even has user generated versions springing up every now and then. Even the local trains in Mumbai offer a platform for a social network (no pun intended). I guess there are vertical networks like that all around, the only trick is to satisfy a set of needs and then be able to monetise it.

    until next time, maximising social media

  • 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 😉