This must rank as one of the worst cricket telecasts ever. As if listening to Kris Srikkanth speaking English is not bad enough, we had to listen to him attempting Hindi too, the other day. And less said about the hunger for ad breaks the better. Bloggers are having a field day day talking about it – the best one that I have come across is here. Can’t fault poor SET MAX for the desperation…
I came across this wonderful piece of ambient work for South Carolina Tourism. All the creatives were placed in airports – so they got their media placements right. From the pillars that were made to look like Golf Tees to the escalator steps that were made to look like suitcases, the campaign is an attention grabber. Can’t say much about the press ad though. But the idea of ‘Time to thaw’ and the execution of…
A couple of recent TVC’s that I came across made me think about insights and execution. One is for MAX New York Life Insurance and the other for Maggi Cuppa Mania. The Max NY Life is about this guy plunging into a lake for a swim. NOT a favourite of mine but I thought there was a great insight in there. A lot of us do curb our instincts when we have other responsibilities to…
During Trikaya Grey’s heydays their print ads used to be page-licking good. One such set of ads was for Carysil, a brand of kitchen sinks. This one says: ‘Sure, its a sink. And a Ferrari is just a car’. There were two other ads with beautiful shots of the sink. Ad 2 said: ‘Webster’s dictionary defines the sink as a stationary basin attached to a drain. Should we sue them for slander?’ and the the…
Advertising news makes it to the front page of Economic Times again (after Goafest), but for wrong reasons. Reports say that a set of ads supposedly released for Hanes in the Free Press Journal during the last week of Decmeber ’07 (this has scam written all over it) has landed the agency in international troubled waters. The ads featured a man dragging offensive images and racist words associated with the gay (f***ot), the African-American (n***er)…
Another brand joins the league of logo-changers (Canara Bank, Hutch). According to the company press release, “its inspiration emerges from the idea of ‘raising the bar’. The lines in bright orange give the logo a youthful and contemporary look and combine well with the maturity and stability of the blue letter forms that signify Ceat’s rich heritage in the sector”. OK. Can’t go wrong with this explanation. Compared to the earlier logo, it seems much…
Increasingly, marketers are looking at non-traditional methods to reach out to consumers. Latest proof: P&G is launching a record label in the US. According to this article, they have partnered with international record label company Island Def Jam Music Group to launch a music company tied to its TAG men’s deodorant and body spray. This is seen as an effort by the brand to connect with the urban market by providing opportunities for aspiring hip-hop…
You could not have missed this on TV since it was all over the weekend IPL matches. I guess they had to listen to popular sentiment about the pug. The recent product ads (alerts, songs) did not feature the pug – was it a deliberate decision not force-fit the pug into everything Vodafone did? Or were they simply aligning themselves to the ‘make the most of now’ thought? I think the Helpline feature has been…
I had a Twitter update about Malaika Arora and Arbaz splitting up. I wasn’t interested in knowing more. It appears now that the news made it to the front page of Mumbai Mirror and that the whole thing was a PR stunt for a skin cream brand (Ponds, apparently). Huh? Read more about it here. Wonder what length stars and PR consultants will go to for a stunt? This is precisely the kind of stuff…
It is impossible to club all the four southern states as ‘one market’. Historically this kind of stereotyping led to a lot of angst amongst the people, specially the Tamilians.