Brands have used Twitter to promote news (media brands fit in well here), handle complaints & service issues, sell products or simply entertain by offering a witty take on current affairs. When speaking of brands using Twitter well, the oft mentioned cases are Dell, Best Buy and Zappos. In India, Hippo, HDFC Cards and Reliance Mobile have created buzz about their use of Twitter. Perhaps the most ingenious use of Twitter was by Snickers during…
Mars Inc.’s ad for Twix is doing the round of ad blogs. Titled ‘Ideologies’ the idea seems to be sparked from an interesting question: ever wonder why there are two TWIX in every package? The ‘answer’ provided is a tall-tale of droll humor. Agency: BBDO The effort reminded me of the famous 2008 case study on Diamond Shreddies where a 26-year old intern in Ogilvy Canada came up with a new perspective, a fresh angle as…
Until now, Axe was the chic magnet. You spray on Axe and you got gorgeous girls to bed. Why girls, even angels. The execution varied from the tongue-in-cheek to in-your-face raunchy. In India, when Axe, an international brand targeted at the mass market, offered a polished execution (global ads) combined with the promise it seems to have worked. Many other deodorant brands have tried to emulate this formula of ‘get the girl’ so much so…
Amazing what lateral thinking can deliver. Here’s a campaign for Danone’s Bonafont from Brazil. Agency: Y&R, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Via: Ads of the World The human body is 70% water. This brand of water eliminates toxins and purifies water in your body. So you can be 70% pure. The trick is in getting the execution right. The simple yet striking visual device of the protagonist doing that little act of ‘impurity’ as it where, set in a…
I noticed at least 10 people carrying a Samsung Note today, in a span of couple of hours. They were everywhere – at a B-school, around the snazzy offices in Electronic City and even in a not-so-refined restaurant. When it comes to mobile handsets, Samsung seems to be the brand of choice among a wide variety of consumers. Advertising executives whom I have interact with seem to gravitate towards S2 or the new fangled S3…
There was an interesting article on Understanding Insights over at Campaign Planning blog run by John Drake. It is a great read overall; the one thing that stood out for me was the definition of an insight: An insight is a penetrating observation about consumer behavior that can be applied to unlock growth. My first exposure to Account Planners was in HTA (now JWT) where a team worked on the Unilever business. In fact, Planners…
The ‘Thank You, Mom’ campaign by Procter & Gamble continues to tug at heartstrings with their latest version – in time for the 2012 London Olympics. What works for this campaign is not just the wonderful execution but the deep resonance the central idea has with both moms & kids. What’s more P&G demonstrates that they understand what it means to be a marketer in the new media age – they did not just stop…
The Dainik Bhaskar group launched Mosaic, a collection the best Indian print advertising of 2011. This is a wonderful and much needed effort to give print advertising a renewed impetus in India. Here are a few ads from Mosaic (you can download the full issue from here). In the UK and Australia, newspaper marketing associations come together to promote the print medium to advertisers & agencies. They do it by showcasing innovative use of space…
Execution is 80% of the success ingredient – we’ve come across this maxim in our professional lives so often. In advertising, there are instances of some great creative ideas suffering from poor execution or worse still, being unable to execute them at all because of their complexity. Of late, the global creative community has paid great attention to the execution aspect of an idea – be it art direction, photography, illustration, computer graphics or simply…
The Persil UK site says this about the ‘Dirt is good’ idea: Years of scientific study by child health experts shows that experiential learning and playing outdoors is an essential part of a child’s learning and development. We believe it is only when you are free to get dirty that you truly experience life and develop. Dirt is experience, dirt is good. In India, we have seen this idea [‘Daag achche gain’] executed brilliantly by Lowe…