Dell’s latest marketing initiative, the creation of Della, a site selling netbooks to women had come in for some flak in the blogosphere. The reason: the site’s patronizing tone of voice and stereotyping women. On “Seven Unexpected Ways a Netbook Can Change Your Life,” its tips included, ‘Track your exercise and food intake at free online sites like Fitday,’ and ‘Find recipes online’. After a backlash, Dell revised the site, adding the message, ‘Some of…
Agreed that static media communication from Pringles has by and large highlighted the unique shape of the product visually. They have stayed true to the ‘Once you pop you can’t stop’ theme of the brand – highlighting the taste aspect. The spicier variant of the brands have dramatized it as ‘fiery hot’. Wonder where this one fits in? It kinda implies that the brand is incomparable, because of it’s shape? Rest of the ads are…
Save for the brand name, there is nothing really that links Parle’s 20-20 to IPL. But there is a tactical fit with ‘Short mein niptao’ platform. Among the ads in the campaign, the Hindi commentator one is more of a radio spot since it is an audio idea. For me, the idea is not just about cutting a long story short but ‘getting things over with’ through short cut. Best expressed in the toss ad.…
Here’s a promo ad done differently. 7UP ropes in Bappi da as the apt ambassador for a ‘gold lemon’ promo. His taste for gold chains and rings is known to all and the offer fits in neatly. Bappi was last seen in some ad for a Pizza brand where in the final frame he tells a gent, ‘Hum tumko super star banayegi’ or some such. Good to see celebs not afraid to poke fun at…
An interactive campaign created by AKQA, London for Fiat won the Best of Show in the One Show Interactive Awards held in New York recently. This one is beyond interactive web banners or flashy websites. Think of it as the Nike iPod for cars: The Fiat Eco Drive system uses a PC application and an in-car USB port to gather data of the user’s driving style. It then calculates driving efficiency to recommend ways in…
Ford has launched an interesting campaign in the US, for the upcoming (for them) Ford Fiesta, scheduled to launch in 2010. It’s an European styled car targeted at Millenials (born between 1979 and 1995), according to the company. Ford has created a Fiesta Movement, to which 100 people were selected as agents. One had to apply to become an agent and apparently the applications created a lot of buzz. Ford then selected 100 agents selected…
I remember my first meeting with Ravi Gupta, the legendary chief of Trikaya Advertising. I was a fresher in the agency then and was to meet him at a client’s office. Before joining advertising, I had heard that it is common practice to call your big boss by his first name. So, there I was practicing my introduction to him. Standing in the client’s conference room, I used to mentally picture myself saying, ‘Hi, Ravi!’…
Much has been written about the success of the Axe ‘Call Me’ campaign. The campaign, originally created by BBH Asia Pacific, ran in Indonesia prior to this. Here too, ‘research’ revealed that mobile phones play a huge part in the courting game. Forget the cool, urban, English speaking males – it has even reached the likes of local cab drivers. I was in a cab the other day and I muttered loudly about the Axe…
Continuing from where I left off on billboards, here’s a cool idea for McDOnald’s. Their agency, Leo Burnett has created a billboard campaign, aimed at encouraging visitors at Piccadilly Circus to take pictures against the background of the site. People normally visiting Piccadilly Circus take snaps anyway. They now appear to ‘interact’ with images displayed on a giant LED screen. The images include a birthday cake with candles, a hammer, bowler hat and ‘think’ bubbles…
Clever use of billboard space for a TV show in New Zealand. Please note: no moving cut outs, elaborate motorized mechanisms and such. Via Ad Goodness Wonder how this looks in day time?