Before you wonder how come I refer to the Ford India TVCs as hatke, let me clarify: this one comes from Y&R, Toronto. Yes, it has its share of ‘romancing the car’ shots but there is a curious anticipation of ‘what next’ right through the film, it makes for compelling viewing. And oh, the ending is a nice twist. Find more videos like this on AdGabber Refreshingly different from ‘invented’ features and forced claims like…

Weiden & Kennedy have developed this TVC for Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice Hair & Body Wash. It’s premise is a simple question: Is it right for me? I thought it was brilliant given a descriptor like ‘Hair & Body Wash’ – I guess do wonder if its a shampoo or a body wash? The TV effort is matched by an equally amusing online effort. You are asked to use the hair mound to ‘accurately…

If you have heard the term viral marketing, you must have seen the Cadbury’s Gorilla advert. The sequel to this ad, much hyped even prior to the airing is now out. The ad sucks. Er…I didn’t ‘get’ it quite frankly. Like in the previous one, this too has a popular song as the sound track (Don’t Stop Me Now from Queen, this time). The similarity ends there. This one is not half as interesting and…

In 2007, the recurring theme of articles on Indian advertising scenario was: talent or the lack of it. The interviews with CEOs read like MAD magazine’s DIY articles. They lamented the churn at all levels and moaned about the inability to attract the right talent. The attraction & pay packets of BPO units, media channels and IT services were blamed. There is some truth in this, but the industry has to take concrete steps about…

It is that time of the year: of seasons greetings, celebrations and Top 10 lists. For some reason, we all love lists – the Billboard Top 100, The American Top 40, the Fortune 500 are all brands in their own right. At the end of every year, magazines like Time too bring out their ‘best of’ list. Herewith some of my favourites among Indian ads in 2007 (one tends to recall stuff closer to the…

For years, creating ads for regional channels (sometimes referred to as ‘vernacular’ advertising) in India meant dreaming up a TVC in English, having it translated into Hindi and then giving the approved script to various translators.Ironically, this triple-distilled process made things murkier as far as the end product is concerned. Since I know Tamil, I would cringe every time I viewed a ‘translated’ ad that was so artificial & forced in its translation. Despite this,…

The popular perception about South India has always been about conservatism and ‘everything shuts down in the city by 8pm’. The rest of India, particularly the North was seen as more hedonistic and by extension, darlings of marketers & agencies. There has been a subtle change in the South of late. Bangalore, thanks to its IT associations has been seen as a cosmopolitan city – leading to it being the test marketer’s haven. It’s Chennai…