I guess you must’ve seen the latest ‘Think Hatke’ ad from Virgin Mobile for their SMS product. This one is bound to get the laughs too, like their previous ads. But compared to the first two efforts (Goa trip, cop, Candy Foxx) this is several notches lower in my opinion. Yes, kids today seem to live on SMS. But that’s not a blindingly new insight. However, ‘live your alter ego’ is an idea with creative possibilities. It is insightful…
Fanta’s last ad that I recall is the Orange Blast one – where nothing gives more kick to a man than his Fanta Orange blast. It focused on the ingredient and attempted to exaggerate the zinginess of orange. Now comes the ad for Fanta’s Apple variant, with Genelia as it’s brand ambassador. Haven’t we seen enough of this ‘getting one up over the other’ and ‘outwitting another person’ stuff across categories? You can outsmart an…
I’m a not a big fan of marketing & advertising books. I have read only a handful of them and among them my favourite is John Steel’s Truth, Lies & Advertising. In that book, John writes about American astronauts discovering that they could not take notes with their ball pens in space. Result: the astronaut pen, made after millions were spent in research. The Russians too faced the same problem and they too came up…
In a development reminiscent of Minority Report, we may soon see technology that small cameras to be embedded on TV screens – tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. Developed by TruMedia Technolgies and Studio IMC, this is seen as one more step towards towards sharper targeting of ads. Thanks to facial recognition software, the sensors can almost accurately detect the gender (unless you are dressed in drag, of course) and can…
Here’s fresh competition for our Creative Directors: the consumer. Continuing with the annual Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest (in it’s 3rd year now) consumes created ads for the brand, which were then voted for by consumers. A consumer-created, ranked No. 1 in USA TODAY’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter. And it won the creator Joe Herbert, US$ 1 million. Envious? Eat your vada-paav out. Nationwide consumer votes placed this as the No.1 spot amongst…
Among the ads released in yesterday’s event, this particular spot for Hyundai stood out. Not because of it’s laugh-out loud plot or jaw dropping visual effects.
One of the measures of brand popularity is the extent to which it gets mentioned in social media. Virtue has released their list of Top 100 social brands of 2008 and it’s no surprise that iPhone tops the list. Among the top 10 brands, Apple has 3 – the iPhone, iPod and Apple itself. The Vitrue Social Media Index calculates scores about the brand’s social conversations. They then apply a series of algorithms to reflect…
Tata Safari Dicor has been at it for quite some time, urging you to Reclaim your Life. I vaguely recall seeing at least 3 different creative executions of this idea over the past 4 years. The last attempt was metaphorical and slightly tangential, like linking it to lines that you leave behind. The new version is far more direct and attempts to shame you into taking to the great outdoors. The question asked is: what…