Recently, there was much furore on social media over an Instagram post from Kent RO Systems for their atta & bread maker. The ad asked: “Are you allowing your maid to knead atta dough by hand? Her hands may be infected”. As is wont in such cases, it was a free for all in terms of criticism. The brand sent out an official apology and pulled the ad. In my view, the intent behind the ad...
Many businesses are likely to face an existential threat thanks to extended periods of lockdown across the world. Small and medium enterprises or local businesses such as retail would have had little or no income during this period. Even after the lockdown is eased or lifted consumer attitude and behaviour towards many categories is not likely to be the same as it was just a few months ago. Even...
The advertising industry had it relatively easy for many decades when media clutter was nowhere near what it is today. The media choices were limited and commercial messaging did not try too hard to be clutter breaking. Ads which were pretty direct & straightforward (‘Surf washes whitest!’) were the norm, as they did not have to fight for the consumer’s attention. In an...
There’s a lot more to marketing than just advertising. Pricing, product portfolio strategy, segmentation, packaging, distribution and more as intrinsic to marketing as advertising. But thanks to media attention many equate marketing to be just about planning and implementing ad campaigns. As Mark Ritson points out in this brilliant article, says: Marketers have been gradually but...
In 2016, consulting company R3 Worldwide carried a report on ‘40 client-agency relationships that have stood the test of time‘. While the average length of the top 40 relationships was a commendable 22 years, the benchmark was 3.2 years. It would be interesting to see if there have been any major changes four years hence and know of the average client-agency tenure today. One can...
Ex-ad man. Love advertising, Apple, tech, digital, design and all things creative. VP - MarCom, @Robosoft. Views personal. See disclaimer for more.