Procter & Gamble: Thank You, Mom The great thing about the ‘Thank You, Mom’ campaign is that it is brand action, not just a brand message. Procter & Gamble was one of the first companies to figure out ‘new media’. At the heart of today’s advertising is brand’s doing something share-worthy and not just stopping at merely conveying a message though an ad. In fact, marketers like P&G would have done just that a few…
Between bookmarked sites, Twitter and RSS feeds which showcase advertising, I come across many new creative ideas every week. As with advertising in real life, only a handful are memorable. Here are my picks for the week ending 22nd April, 2016: Mosquito Killer Board, IKEA and more. Mosquito Killer Board The lines between the erstwhile ‘mediums’ of advertising – outdoor, PR, activation have all blurred now. An outdoor campaign was once about pasting vinyl skins.…
I love short duration ads – the ones which are 20 seconds or under. The ad commercial is a challenging audio visual medium – telling a compelling, engaging story that too with a business objective in 30-seconds is fascinating. And to do it in even shorter duration is no mean feat (Miller Lite ran 1-second commercials during Super Bowl in 2009). Shorter duration commercials also have an advantage from a media investment POV – the…
Between bookmarked sites, Twitter and RSS feeds which showcase advertising, I come across many new creative ideas every week. As with advertising in real life, only a handful are memorable. Here are my picks for the week ending 15th April, 2016: Snickers, HelloFlo and more. Snickers: wrapper It takes a bold, confident brand to approve such an idea: in which advertised brand is made to look like competing brands in terms of pack graphics. Of…
In advertising & marketing circles, there is unlikely to be an universally agreed definition of ‘insight’. Yet, it is common for marketers to ask of their research & ad agency teams: ‘what is the insight?’. In turn, the creative teams in an ad agency are likely to ask their planning and account management teams the same question. All this is usually in the context of planning for an ad campaign. So what is an insight?…
Between bookmarked sites, Twitter and RSS feeds which showcase advertising, I come across many new creative ideas every week. As with advertising in real life, only a handful are memorable. Here are my picks for the week ending 8th April, 2016: SK-II’s Marriage Market takeover in China, Milka chocolate and more. SK-II: Marriage Market Takeover Brand’s associating themselves with a cause and creating a touching video which tells a story (usually with a surprise or…
Brand awareness as a metric has limited value. New brands in a category or brands overshadowed by dominant brands can be satisfied with ‘increased awareness’ as an objective. But awareness alone means diddly- squat. The marketing stimulus has to effect a behaviour change (purchase) or a mindset change (brand for people like me) as a measurable metric. If a marketing stimulus motivates someone to take an action – click a link, call a number, cut…
BBC: Ronnie Corbett tribute Who says obituary ads can’t bring a smile? Here’s one from BBC paying tribute to Ronnie Corbett – the famous British comedian who passed away recently. He was known for the comedy sketch ‘The Two Ronnies’. His height (5ft 1-inch) was the topic of many jokes – so this tribute juxtaposed with the words ‘showbiz giant’ packs a punch. Agency: RKCR\Y&R. Via. British print advertising has always relied on subtle humour to…
It has become customary for brands to make hoax announcements around April Fool’s Day. Brands in the tech domain seem to do it regularly – Google has been doing this for 16 years now. The hoax seems like a natural fit for news brands too as all it takes is just another seemingly plausible article. Consumer brands have joined the bandwagon too resulting in a surfeit of such hoaxes every year. Such efforts usually involve putting out…