Over the last few days, couple of ads from a deodorant brand Layer’r Shot caused widespread outrage (and rightly so) in India. Both the ads are anchored on cheap word play around the brand name and lewd. In one ad, four men at a department store aisle look in the direction of a woman and ask, “Hum char, aur ye sirf ek? Toh Shot kaun lega?” (‘There’s four of us and just one of it? Who will take…
Contrary to popular perception, people don’t hate advertising. They only hate advertising that’s annoying. Worse still, they ignore most of the advertising and commercial…
A majority of the ads suffer a fate worse than being disliked – they are ignored. Creating advertising that is noticed, remembered and liked…
Advertising, by definition, is meant to grab people’s attention. If a campaign goes un-noticed, it’s just waste of money. In that context, what has come to be known as ‘shockvertising’ – the attempt to deliberately shock or even offend people into noticing (and discussing) an ad has come into vogue. It is certainly not a new phenomenon. A common example of such an approach is the ‘United Colors of Benetton’ campaign featuring images which were…
Advertising competes for our attention. We tend to ignore it as we have more important issues occupying our minds. Add to it the general…
The most important measure for any ad is not how well it was liked – it is noticeability. When an ad goes unnoticed it…
If we meet someone who speaks well we tend to form a positive opinion of them: we equate articulation with intelligence. It is pretty similar to how we react to likeable ads – subconsciously we transfer this affinity to the brand. Similarly, we admire those who write well. As David Ogilvy said, ‘People who think well, write well’. When it comes to good writing, what gets our attention and keeps us engrossed could be anything…
Most ads go unnoticed – a bigger problem for the industry than creating ads that are disliked. Only a handful of ads are noticed…
‘Is celebrity advertising an effective strategy?’ is a topic of perennial debate in advertising & marketing circles. While opinions vary the use of celebrities…
Advertising competes for our attention. We tend to ignore it as we have more important issues occupying our minds. Add to it the general clutter of media and we have to appreciate creative ads which get noticed and stay memorable. My weekly compilation of clutter breaking creative ads is a small tribute to such efforts. Here are a few creative ideas which caught my eye this past week: Lumo: flight shame Many years ago I had taken…