The latest whipping boy of ad blogosphere is WPP’s Enfatico. Right from the time it was ‘Project Da Vinci’ it has been in the news, but almost always, for the wrong reasons. Almost 9 months have passed in the 3-year contract and the agency is yet to release a campaign for Dell. That’s been a source of amusement for news dailies and blogs. The New York Post has a story about it and so do…
This is perhaps the best yet among brands that have created special spots for the Beijing Olympics. Most of them have the expected – sports analogies, metaphors for success, achievement. This one makes a fantastic connection between the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing and a straw! The creative mind sees a connection where none existed. That’s the beauty of an idea isn’t it?. The version with lyrics has words like ‘we build a nest one…
Google Trends have us a glimpse of popular search terms across the world. Google has now launched Google Insights for Search – which is essentially ‘Google Trends on steroids’, as one analyst put it. I have been toying around with it and for marketers, media planners and online agencies it is like a ringside view of what the world is searching. But more than a mere list of keywords, this allows the user to…
A sore point for Mac enthusiasts in India is the huge price differential between the local price and US price tags of Apple products. I have a feeling that the price gap has reduced over the years. Here’s an analysis of prices in the US, Europe and Australia. Based on the products in this survey, European consumers pay an average of 18.7% more for their Mac products than US consumers (VAT excluded!). Australians pay a…
Ask any user of a brand that requires customer care support and you will rarely get rave reviews. Even if the brand has a good reputation on customer service, there will always be cases of customer complaints. True of Apple too. But I have generally read and heard good things about Apple’s customer care. My US based brother had sent in his Macbook Pro for repairs. Apparently he was later told that his machine has…
Though I am not a huge fan of athletics, the news of Abhinav Bindra’s victory at Beijing was truly elating. Not surprisingly, websites and channels are tripping over each other on the story.
The other day I was chatting with a friend of mine who could be labeled as the ideal target audience for an iPhone: gadget savvy, iPod user, upwardly mobile, higher income group. When I asked him if he is going to buy the iPhone, he said a firm ‘no’. Reasons: his Nokia phone has a 5 mega pixel camera (versus iPhone’s 2 megapixel), his phone has an accelerometer (referring to the Accelerometer Plugin for Nokia…
Bangalore witnessed a set of teaser ads of late. Irfan Khan, of Hutch & Bollywood fame asked viewers if they suffered from K.I.L.B. Coupled with him being in a doctor’s lab coat, it set of some curiosity. Is it for some do-good product? A cure? Given that Irfan Khan’s ad for Hutch was popular, some thought it was for Vodafone. Turns out that it is for Aegon-Religare Insurance and K.I.L.B stands for Kum Insurance Lene…
Dear BSNL, hope all is well with you. I hope I am not interrupting you during your lunch time (even though its only 7am now). Have I pissed you off? Did I catch you at the wrong time, just as you were leaving for a cup of tea? Was it my mistake of breaking into English while speaking to you in Kannada? Was it anything to do with last Diwali? I am at my wits…
Just when you thought customizing your creative message to suit various media is tough enough here is news: there is another new medium – the iPhone. I had said earlier that thanks to the revolutionary App Store concept, the way people use phones is going to change. Fundamentally, the user experience with the iPhone is richer and engaging. Regular mobile ads will perhaps mar or dilute the experience. There are many smartphones out there and…