The online banner campaign for Snexy.in has been quite visible on ad portals like afaqs.com over the last few days. Pegged as the Hunt for India’s True Snexy, ‘7 snacks are going head to head with each other over a period of 15 days and 5 rounds to garner most love and vote from people so as to come out as India’s most loved snack’. The campaign, created by Experience Commerce is a brave and refreshing…
In the book ‘Steve Jobs’ by William Isaacson, there is a reference to Mike Markkula and his 3-point manifesto for Apple. Markkula is an American entrepreneur who was an angel investor and second CEO of Apple, providing early critical funding and managerial support. His 3-point manifesto was: Point No. 1: Empathy Apple should strive for an “intimate” connection with customers’ feelings. “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company,” Markkula wrote. Point No. 2: Focus To…
Earlier this month, I noticed a gem of a campaign for Ivory soap. It’s a re-launch of an iconic brand founded in 1879. The brand’s stated mission is: providing freedom from nonsense and complexity by giving you everything you need and nothing you don’t. That essence is beautifully captured throughout the campaign – its appeal lies in its simplicity. I guess the contra approach of avoiding over-the-top computer graphics, huge production values and keeping the execution…
‘It’s got a Zara store!’. A 20-something friend of mine said excitedly, referring to the newly opened Phoenix Market City in Bangalore. The excitement with which she said, ‘Zara!” was palpable. Obviously the mall was considered cool because it housed a Zara store. Many years ago, Benetton perhaps evoked a similar reaction in India. As a rookie in advertising, I remember coveting a Benetton shirt – its logo on the shirt pocket a loud testimony…
Loved the simplicity, focus and mood of this commercial for McDonald’s fries. No, no debates here on junk food or whether these fries offend vegetarian sensibilities. Agency: Leo Burnett Worldwide The only questions I have: (a) did a Brand Manager ask: ‘how would the viewer know that people are jumping into the lake for the fries? I mean, they could be random lake-jumpers, right? (b) How did the agency tackle such a question?
Here’s a confession from an iPhone fan: the Nokia Lumia 800 seems impressive. I think it will help Nokia regain some of its lost sheen in the smartphone arena. While some have called it a refined N9, the reviews have mostly been positive. Aside from the unibody design, the tiled Windows Phone screen adds to the sleekness of the phone. The ’tiled’ look is also a visual cue for the advertising too – with each…
The latest British Airways anthem commercial ‘To Fly. To Serve’ got a lot of mentions on ad blogs and was discussed on social media platforms. easyJet, the budget airline from UK served one up on British Airways recently through a print ad. Agency: VCCP The Awards for National Newspaper Advertising (the ANNAs) in the UK nominated this as the ‘Ad of the Month’ for Sep 2011. While nominating this ad, judge John Roscoe, Innovation Marketing Director, Diageo says: If you haven’t…
This article of mine was published in Brand Wagon – a weekly supplement from The Financial Express. — Nowadays, both ‘new media evangelists’ and ‘new media naysayers’ are getting their share of attention in the marketing & communications landscape. The former champion Digital & Social Media as the future of marketing communications and even go the extent of saying that advertising as we know it is dead. The latter dismisses new media as a fad…
In 1985, Apple ran a TVC titled ‘Lemmings’. It was meant to announce the launch of ‘Macintosh Office’. While writing about the creation of that TVC, Walter Isaacson writes in the Steve Jobs Biography: “Lemmings” showed a dark-suited, blindfolded corporate managers marching off a cliff to their death. From the beginning, both Jobs and Sculley were uneasy. It didn’t seem as if it would convey a positive or glorious image of Apple, but instead would…