It is one of the biggest puzzles of the advertising industry: the creative pitch. When an agency gets a call for a pitch, it has the ability to fire up the teams and the office is abuzz with activity (usually the night before!). It also has the habit of sucking up agency resources across the board for an activity that may or may not bear fruit. The classic case of pie in the sky. Yet,…
Here’s a brilliant new marketing effort from Tide. It started with a TVC for Tide to Go, a stain remover (in a tube format) from P&G. The ad features a guy appearing for an interview and talking about how he is ‘an organized person’. But the stain on his white shirt is so distracting that it ‘out shouts’ him, leaving the interviewer completely distracted. The ad stands out for many reasons: – a great product…
The trouble with creating a super-success in advertising is that, the expectations are high for the sequels. Perfetti India and its agencies have consistently produced good commercials that are effective in the marketplace. But like in movies, sequels suffer from comparison to the original. Mentos appears to feel a similar pinch with their new ‘missing link’ TVC. I can recall at least 4 renditions of the ‘Dhimagh ki batti jalade’ idea for Mentos (dart boards,…
AdAge has a great post titled ‘How Long Does It Take to Think a Thought?’, on the issue of agency compensation. The author argues that by linking compensation to time, agencies have devalued themselves and their core product: the thought. He says that clients reward us for the execution of the thought rather than for the thought itself. In India, where the media commission (15% or otherwise) is more common than a fee, the need…
One of the debates in the Indian advertising world is the increasing trend to dish out designations to employees. There is concern about promoting employees before ‘time’ because of the sheer pressure to keep them from leaving or hiring someone to a designation before they are ready for it. When I joined advertising some 17 years ago, one was made an Account Director after about 10 years in the business. Today that time period is…
Bullz-I, a firm in the ‘business of finding and developing business leaders’ has posted an interesting article in its blog. The topic: ‘learning’ and age. (Aside: I thought Bullz-I’s description of its business was interesting – more on that later). Having reached the category of ‘old’ in advertising life, I could relate to the topic very much. When I joined advertising, there was an unwritten rule about experience: the more experienced you are, the bigger…
In my opinion, the recent TV commercial from Pepsi does not connect with the youth. Youngistan may be a clever pun but I feel its trying too hard to be clever and the effort shows. As a blogger put it, it is more like Dumbistan. Is it a function of some 40-year olds assuming what is cool with the youth and this is how we should ‘connect’ with them? When working on brands that appeal…
I find the cola ads for this season tiresome already. And its not even peak of summer yet.Coca-Cola: a clever baseline and a catchy jingle does not an ad, make. Or does it? Coca-Cola is the magic passport to ‘good times with friends & food’ is the thought. ‘Food, friends & Thumps Up’ happened in the early ’90s. The jalebis and samosas have more screen time than Hrithik. Even Hrithik has a bored look.Pepsi: wtf…
With the boom in the Indian economy job portals have taken centre stage lately. Global giants like monster.com, careerbuilder.com and home grown ones like naukri.com have been in the public eye. This category is one where the possibility of making the communication insightful is high. Compared to say, a soft drink product where the creative idea and execution take precedence, this category communication has been based on powerful insights. Naukri.com: this is based on a…
Frito Lay has upped its ante in the Rs.1800-crore branded snacks market. Kurkure has always been a visible brand in India and they have increased the noise levels with their ‘Chala change ka chakkar’ consumer promotion. In this promotion, an individual could swap places with the celebrity brand ambassadors of the company for one day. This is a ‘big’ consumer promotion idea which has the potential to capture the consumer imagination. Because its ‘different’ and…