At the Annual Shareholders Meeting this week, Apple gave an indication of their focus on new markets. They plan to open 25 new stores over the next 2 years in China. Not surprising, since Apple has sold more than 200,000 iPhones in China already since the official launch and sees a huge potential there. Does it put paid to any hopes of Apple showing interest in India, at least in the short term? I think so.…
Veteran journalist M J Akbar launched the Sunday Guardian (‘It’s a Know Brainer’) for the New Delhi market recently. Times of India is experimenting with Crest Edition (‘A weekend edition, a weeklong read’) in select markets. TOI says: Crest is for the curious mind; it hopes to be every intelligent reader’s guide to politics and policy, art and culture, environment and education, and more. The idea of weekend papers focusing on analysis and views has…
Came across this set of ads for Suraj Electronics, Delhi. Suraj, who? Exactly. Like me, if you haven’t heard the name, don’t worry – this is bound to make the rounds of ad blogs and Creative Awards. The attempt is to sell the generic benefits of LCD TVs and the creative idea is to subliminally cue iconic visual moments – be it films or famous paintings – through pixels that come alive. The claim: if…
Came across a campaign for Polo – the mint with a hole, in Ads of the World. We’ve seen several executions of the ‘Mint with a hole idea in India’, including this cracking one created by Freddie Birdy & Naved in the early ’90s. I found these expressions fresh and unique. Over the years, there’s been seen a steady improvement in idea and more importantly, execution of creative ideas from the Gulf. Here are a…
The latest in the Thank You, Mom series of ads for P&G’s Winter Olympic effort premiered on Feb 20th. Touching stuff. The theme effort, brand-specific spots and the web activity all have great synergy and are single-mindedly focused on strengthening P&G’s equation with mums. Investing behind the Winter Olympics makes sense: according to a 2008 survey by the United States Olympic Committee, the Olympic Games are the most popular sport among American women. Good stuff…
Quick, name 5 CSR initiatives from Indian corporates? Takes a while to make list? It could be partly because of the low profile companies seem to maintain about their CSR initiatives. In my view, the mantras followed by corporates for effective CSR programmes are: (a) first do, then talk (b) getting other people to talk about it is better than talking about it yourself. Sakthi Masala of Tamil Nadu employs disabled women in their factories…
Saw this over at Ads of the World and it stood out in the carousel-type listing of new work. The concept is a bit forced linking it to the Mini sub brand; great Art though. Agency: Publicis India A few questions come to mind: what is the actual creative that is meant to sell HP Mini in India? Would the client rely on this instead? Is it December already?
This should ring true for us Indians, especially South Indians – who are more likely to interact with more than one language. A perfectly normal, ‘randi, randi’ in Telegu (meaning, welcome or come in) to your North Indian boss’ wife who doesn’t know beyond ‘madrasi’ is a perfect setting for this ad. Learn to understand better. Curva is Spanish for Curve. (But in Czech it means Whore). Learn to understand better. In English, Cozy means…
P&G’s Thank You Mom effort is being talked about in ad blogs and trade media. The agency (W+K, London) and the client deserve kudos for brilliantly interpreting the sponsorship of Team USA into a campaign celebrating the effort mom’s put in behind the athletes. In the theme spot, all the brands that appeal to moms from the P&G stable get a mention in the last frame. One would probably see it as a corporate spot…
Stumbled upon the website for a Dutch department store called HEMA (originally an acronym for Hollandse Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, ‘Dutch Standard Prices Company Amsterdam’). Click here to view the website and then do the following: don’t click on anything, wait, watch the fun. Time pass stuff for a little bit of fun and engagement, but such a resource hog.