Much has already been said about the MakeMyTrip ad released on the day of the India-Pakistan cricket match on Oct 14, 2023. While I saw some social media posts praising it, many were trashing it – calling it inappropriate, in poor taste and unsporting. Some have sought to bring in a political angle claiming this reflects the India of today (unsaid part meaning ‘all this is happening post 2014). Some others on LinkedIn have ‘cancelled’…
Last week I was at an event organised by Ahmedabad-based Zero Gravity Communications discussing various aspects of advertising & marketing pertaining to regional brands and content. The day had some interesting conversations pertaining to the rise of regional content, OTT and influencer marketing. Here are some thoughts gleaned during the day. Regional brand – no barrier for scale or ambition: just as there is no real case for adding the prefix ‘digital’ to marketing (as…
It’s that time of the year again. An Apple event announcing a new lineup of iPhones (among other gadgets) is just over. And like clock work, all that we have come to associate with such events have happened: rumours about what is going to launched, leaks of product features, media commentary and so on. The live event on Sep 12 had its share of opinions on social media platforms. I was amused at the snarky…
Last weekend, I got a chance to take part in an audio event to discuss ‘The Changing Landscape of branding’. Here are some points which I attempted to elaborate and a few others which struck me as relevant later: Branding: what is it? Over the years, I have heard the term branding being used in different contexts. When a client says ‘branding is weak’ it could mean that they fear that the viewer may not…
Air India revealed its new logo and livery earlier this week. The change is anchored on the ‘window of opportunity’ theme: According to the airline’s press release, the new look is shaped around the reimagining of the iconic Indian window shape into a golden window frame, which became central to the new brand’s design system that is intended to symbolize the “window of possibilities”. Source https://twitter.com/airindia/status/1689658623516102656?s=20 As part of the launch, there is also a…
I have been out of ad agency life for over 10 years now. As a consumer and as a mere observer of goings on in advertising, I can clearly the see the priority given by brands to what has come to be known as moment marketing. Aside from occasions such as Women’s Day or festivals, brands are putting out social media posts (which have become mandatory expectations from a digital agency) anchored on whatever is…
Apple has doubled down on promoting privacy on the iPhone for years now. The benefit presented is in contrast to the Google ecosystem where advertising revenue garnered through user’s personal data is the business model. A new ad dramatises the pitfalls of the ‘other’ ecosystem in the context of health data. Privacy on the iPhone: the Waiting Room It’s quite likely that we all must have witnessed an instance of data ‘tracking’ us across the…
Jingles have been part of advertising for decades. When done well, they have the potential to create a memory hook for the brand. In India too, jingles have been popular for several decades. Consumers seem to love them – especially those from the 80s and 90s, going by the several nostalgic posts on the web & social media about ‘those were the days for great jingles’. The common characteristic of popular jingles over the years…
Ask an average 25-year old advertising or marketing professional in India if they have heard of Ravi Gupta, Mohammed Khan, Kersy Katrak, Suresh Mullick or Alyque Padamsee and chances are that responses will be in the negative. My point is this: new entrants to the field of advertising & marketing are not taught anything about the history of Indian advertising. If someone chooses to make a career in architecture wouldn’t the curriculum and the ‘system’…
An overdose of anything is not good. Does that apply to the amount of what passes of as ‘content’ put out by brands too? The word content can refer to any piece of paid or unpaid creative across platforms: TV commercials, print ads, YouTube videos, Reels & Shorts, social media posts, blogs, WhatsApp campaigns, webinars, videos culled from such events…and so on. ‘A content piece a day’ seems to be the norm. There was a…