When I first saw the new Bisleri Monster TV ad, my reaction was pretty much similar to what is being said by a majority on Twitter. Over at the YouTube page, the handful of comments are quite positive though. The reaction from the general public remains to be seen and they may pretty well love it. As someone who grew up in advertising in the ’90s, Bisleri is a classic case study brand. Many of…
In mass media, stereotypes are everywhere. In movies – an Indian call-centre employee, the loud Sindhi, the perennially drunk mechanic Pinto, the vibhuti-clad South Indian are all stereotypes we are used to. Advertising too isn’t far behind with these kind of images – the eternally exuberant Sardar being just one of them. The attempt, I guess is to ‘connect’ with the audience by portraying them or an aspirational group on screen. This ‘connect’ business comes…
India has been referred to as the land of contradictions, the land of extremes and so on – referring to the diversity in almost every sphere of our lives. A recent film, created for The Times of India won a Gold Spike at the recently concluded Spikes Asia Awards, Singapore. The film directed by Shujit Saudagar is a simple, yet riveting tale of everyday India. Loved the twist.
A 2001 TV commercial made for Disney is often shared among agency folks as a classic. The ad, part of the Magic Happens theme defies conventional story telling for brands in many ways. For starters, there is no real story with a problem setup and resolution through the brand. It is just about human interaction and how magical transformation happens between them through little gestures. The viewer invariably breaks into a smile when the man…
Now that my 6-year old daughter has begun to recognize 3-letter words and is curious to know the spelling of any new word she comes across, I am hoping that she will pick up the habit of reading. Reading printed books, not the e-book kind. That hasn’t stopped me from helping her with some interactive learning books & apps on the iPad. My earlier list of must-have iPad apps for kids had a few activity based…
There was a time when a 360-degree campaign was wrongly interpreted by creative teams as (a) creating a TV commercial (b) taking a static image or a screen grab from the film and plaster it on static media. Thankfully we’ve come a long way since then. The last Tanishq ad featuring Amitabh Bachchan was quite a hit. It did a neat job of ‘educating’ consumers on diamonds and for once, the choice of celebrity seemed…
The ad for Vodafone Blue seems to be creating a buzz with most praising its production values. No doubt, it’s a slick, well-executed film but I couldn’t help thinking if there’s a huge disconnect between what the advertising projects and what the product actually is. Priced at Rs.5000 (approx) it is positioned as the phone for Facebook lovers. At that kind of pricing its likely to attract entry level phone seekers. However, since it is Facebook-centred…
A retail analysis firm recently published a report after studying 160+ US retail chains. In terms of sales per square foot, Apple ranked No.1 with sales of US$ 5626 (approx INR 258,000) per square foot. With that number, Apple is almost two times ahead of their closest competitor (Tiffany & Co), and almost five times ahead of the closest technology related retailer (GameStop). When the first Apple Store was launched in 2001, it was ridiculed…
The paid news phenomena in Indian media has been a subject of debate. The focus has largely been on journalists selling out to politicians by creating positive stories for a price. Brands have also done opted for this route with celebrity endorsements and brand launches dressed up as ‘news’. The belief is that the unsuspecting reader will see it as genuine unbiased reporting thus leading to positive perceptions about the brand. Of late steps have…
There were a series of posters created by Noma Bar for IBM which made the rounds of ad blogs last year. In what seems like a continuation of the same theme and visual grammar, I came across this ad for IBM in the Aug 12 issue of The New Yorker. Design envy strikes again.