It’s obvious that the internet, smart phone and the rise of social media have had a huge impact on news brands. Both print publications and television channels had to adapt to a new world and changing consumer preferences. The speed of news dissemination, ubiquity of the smartphone and some characteristics of social media platforms (two-way communication, making dishing out opinions easy and viral potential) have forced media brands to make changes to their service and…
Recently I came across a post on LinkedIn which listed key ‘differences’ between branding and marketing. The post got a lot of comments (both positive and negative), was shared widely and debated. It’s another matter that there were several claimants to the authorship of that comparison (which was not pitting one against the other of course, just drawing a comparison. Anyway, I am digressing. Marketing terminology: leaving a lot to interpretation While there are many…
The adage ‘ninety percent of everything is crap’ coined by Theodore Sturgeon an American science fiction author is relevant in the context of advertising where a majority of campaigns go unnoticed. Among the handful of great marketing campaigns which get noticed, recalled and loved there are even fewer number which stand the test of time. I wrote about one such campaign – ‘Live richly’ from Citi a while ago. Another brand which deserves accolades and…
Remember ’30-minutes or your money back’ as a promise for pizza delivery? It was at a time when mobile apps were not the norm and worked through web bookings mostly. It disrupted service delivery in the category and forced all the players to follow suit. What was the problem it was trying to solve? While the consumer may have not expressed the need to have pizza delivered in 30-minutes, the latent problem was one of…
This is probably the millionth post on this topic: ‘should you follow your passion?’ I don’t claim to say anything new here but nevertheless would like to offer my perspective. As with everything else in life, context is important. I guess folks bring up this topic in the context of a career. To go through life and work without a passion is not so uncommon I feel. Most people are like to label what they…
Advertising is meant to either effect a change in perception or behaviour. Sometimes, the former can lead to the latter. Most of the advertising that we are exposed to on mass media – for consumer goods primarily, operate in the realm of changing perception, to build affinity. Communication is also a tool to change behaviour, whether it is about getting consumers to invest in mutual funds or motivating them to quit smoking. Over the years,…
Back when I was in an ad agency, face to face meetings were common. In the 90s, there were periodic meetings scheduled for reviewing job lists, financial status of accounts and brand plans. The job list meeting would usually be held every week and would go over status and next steps of key projects at hand. The finance meeting – a monthly affair in most agencies was dreaded by AEs as they would be grilled…
Titan Industries, known for its watch and jewellery brands, released an ad which evoked a polarised reaction on social media. While one group praised it, another group raised objections and called for a boycott of the brand itself. In response, the company decided to take the ad off air. No, I was NOT referring to the recent ‘Ekatvam’ ad for Tanishq jewellery but to the ad for ‘Tamil Nadu Collection’ of watches which came under…
The ad industry trade portals were abuzz recently on the topic of ageism in advertising following the comments made by the CEO of WPP. The crux of an argument from Bob Hoffman (‘The Ad Contrarian’) is that in other ‘creative’ domains the best work is produced by senior people while the ad industry thinks they can’t produce a web banner. In management consulting, legal practice or medicine the premium is on experience. Since the rise…
Of late, there’s been a discussion in Indian media on the importance of a brand’s country-of-origin in purchase decisions. It has been triggered by the decision by the Indian government to ban a bunch of apps of Chinese origin – TikTok being the most popular of them. Also recent geopolitical developments, tensions between the governments and the media visibility have created a mood of resentment among a lot of Indians about China and as an…