My first experience of Apple was through the Mac OS 9. Compared to whatever Windows version we were using then (’98, ME, 2000 etc.) I found it far more elegant, trust worthy and classy. Yes, one had major compatibility issues when it came to file transfers, network sharing etc. I even bought a copy of DAVE – a software that helped Windows & Mac share files and printers. Now of course, such problems don’t exist. The…
‘We also make steel’ was an iconic campaign during my growing years in advertising. A 2003 article said that the company rode high on the effect of that commercial. And now comes a campaign that positions Tata Steel as a company built on strong values, captured nicely in the base line: ‘Values Stronger Than Steel’. Both the campaigns imbue the ‘company brand’ with a certain sense of scale and evoke pride. And works like magnet…
When I first saw the new set of Old Spice ads featuring Fabio, I was disappointed. As with movies, one always compares sequles to the original. In this case, Isaiah Mustafa was a hands-down winner, in my view. The Fabio ads were funny alright but lacked the certain something in execution – the Isaiah ones were delivered with more style, perhaps. Anyway, what followed is now fast becoming a marketing legend in the making. I…
‘The new Creative Person is T-shaped’ said Luke Sullivan (author of ‘Hey Whipple, Squeeze This’ and ex-agency Creative) in an intriguing manner. The concept he put forth was interesting: T-shaped is just a funny name used to describe a person who has very deep skills in one area (the deep vertical stroke of the T) as well as the ability to collaborate across disciplines they’re not an expert in (that would be the horizontal stoke).…
‘Have you had your Weetabix?’ was a classic ad slogan. I remember seeing several wonderful ads with that tag line – most of them using humour to great effect. The attempt was to exaggerate the consequences of not having Weetabix (‘Someone’s ad their Weetabix’ was another version of the base line). A new ad for Weetabix – first one from BBH since winning the account – is now doing the rounds of ad blogs. What I…
Most people who choose to join advertising and more importantly, stay on (!) do so for a reason: passion for the business. You’ll hear stories of Engineers from the IITs, MBA’s from IIMs actively choosing Advertising as a career option arising out of an innate passion for the advertising business. The founder and Managing Director of Trikaya , the late Mr. Ravi Gupta was a Mining Engineer from the University of Wales. There are several…
In 2009, I had written about the Denver Water Conservation campaign. The campaign urged Denver residents to water their lawns for 2 minutes less. Ah, the problems of a first-world country, a commenter noted. In India, sadly, basic amenities are not available to millions. So this may seem odd to us – we are still in the mode of urging people to conserve electricity and save water. We can’t afford to worry about our lawns.…
This is not a review or a ‘future gaze’ of Google+ – tech experts and several bloggers have already already done that. Nevertheless, herewith a few random observations. On the launch day of Google+ my Twitter timeline could be divided into two groups: those who gushed about Google+ and those who were non-plussed. My first reaction on seeing the interface was positive – it was minimal, pleasant. Apparently one of the engineers involved is an…
What is common to a blog post, an article in an online daily or magazine, a Facebook post, a Flickr photo and a news item on the web? In fact virtually everything on the web? All of them place the obligatory share buttons – urging you to share the content via email, Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper or Delicious. When you take the effort to bookmark it or share it (on Twitter or elsewhere) with a comment,…