United efforts

 During the National convention organised by FSMF on arriving at accountability standards for Civil Society Organisations in India, there was a reference made TWICE to an old advertisement that appeared both in print and in the television. It was the NECC ad titled, Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao ande!  

The context was the need to have a unified narrative that is strong and clear.  The NECC ad was about the egg, not about one poultry farm or a particular shop.  It was about eggs!! It was a lead up to the 1980s. It was a difficult time for Indian poultry farmers and Mr B.V. Rao of Venkateshwara Hatcheries decided to unite all poultry farmers into a cooperative model, similar to the one of Amul in Gujarat, spearheaded by Mr Kurien.  He, then along with his team, came up with the NECC and the subsequent ads.  

A similar ad was run about milk, the benefits of drinking milk.  

I guess there is always a great benefit in seeing the unity and collectively working towards something good than making individuated scattered attempts.  That said, there are invariably several issues that prevent this from happening. But if one is willing to see and grow out of these petty dividing issues, the benefits are large and extensive.   

Emotional marketing

Great ad... based on emotional marketing. 

But truly a genius idea and thought behind the campaign! 

Bata

I always thought that Bata, the footwear company, was an Indian brand.  Only recently I stumbled upon the fact that it is not of Indian origin at all!  

Fact:

The T. & A. Baťa Shoe Company was founded on 21 September 1894 in the Moravian town of Zlín, Austria-Hungary (today in the Czech Republic), by Tomáš Baťa, his brother Antonín and his sister Anna, whose family had been cobblers for generations. (From the wiki)

Their USP: 

They localise themselves in the place where they open their stores, to such an extent that every place, wherever in the world it may be, appears 'local'! 

Irony of Christmas ads

By any modern management and commercial standards, the following advertisement is late - way too late! And yes, liturgically we are still two weeks away from beginning the Advent season!  But with Halloween behind us, it is time to boost the Christmas sale!

Nonetheless this headline of a rather populist newspaper caught my attention.  The irony being, the ad speaks of a 'stress-free Christmas' and what actually causes stress is what the advert is peddling!  

Raising quality

While driving to Slough this afternoon happened to notice this large truck ahead of me with this very creative ad for Invopak (a packaging firm, I guess).  Impressive ad!  The tagline itself was good.  But then the background pic, elevates those words to a totally different level!

Advertising vs election campaigning

Advertising of products and services is actually to 'seduce' the customer in a race against competitors who are out to outdo oneself, by way of quality and quantity. 

Election campaigning, although a form of advertising, is different.  It differs in as much as the race is not to outdo the other in quality or quantity of service.  It is basically to offer possibilities of the least corrupt of all available possibilities.  It is about downgrading the other, rather than an endorsement of evident progress.  One gets to promise the moon and advertise fake achievements. 

Advertising leads consumers to choose the most useful from the best options.  Election campaigning is all about bluffing the electorate into choosing the least corrupt of the worst options!  

Election campaign

India just witnessed a massive wave of election campaigning in view of the ongoing national elections.  In parts of UK local council elections were held yesterday.  The whole notion of campaigning before elections is a global phenomena.  Nothing new or strange about it.  Really??

I find this concept of campaigning, especially the amount of time, energy, personnel, resources, and finances spent on it, ridiculously irritating.  If only they were spent on actual progress and fulfillment of the party agendas, none would require any campaigning!  That's my simple reasoning.  That minor parties or those who haven't yet had the opportunity to show their expertise need campaigning is something I perfectly agree with and whole-heartedly support.  But others, especially those already in the limelight, the opposition and mainly the ruling party or candidates, really need not do anything other than their best during their tenure.  People who actually see the good they do, will naturally vote for them based on their past performance.  The very fact that they spend sleepless nights canvassing and advertising and doling out speeches and promises, during the election campaigning, is an obvious proof that they haven't really done their best during their time in power.  If they honestly do their best when they actually have the possibility and power to do so, all that they need to say or point to, prior to elections,(if at all) is already evident achievements! Not bloated figures or promises.  And certainly not the drawbacks or failings of others (one does that when one does not have anything good to say about oneself!).  If only politicians would work as hard and as dedicatedly as during their campaigning spree, while in office or tenure, progress and growth would automatically appeal to the voter. 

Unfortunately I think the general population is still too naive and fickle.  Politicians aware of this weakness, make the most of it, for a couple of months and then rest for years to come!  

Santa paws?

Call it ridiculous or obscene or whatever... but here are some ads for Christmas presents for pets!  Yes, for animals!

Last month there was a whole page ad in the papers for cat-proof Christmas tree!
Now that's going to the dogs, literally!

Eat here!

Came across this particular signboard during one of my tumbling around on youtube videos!  Found the caption quite amusing!

Use less

A creative advert...

Creative ads (vehicles)

Here are some creative ads of vehicles...

Only the best/most original

Another creative ad from Volkswagen...

Don't rely on something just because it fits. (Volkswagen Original Parts)

Only the best original will do!

Creative ads

Two lovely creative ads I came across while surfing the net today...

It's sugar free! (Chupa Chups)

Precision Parking (Park assist by Volkswagen)

Pelli Choopulu

Last night watched the telugu movie Pelli Choopulu directed by Tharun Bascker (his debut directorial venture).  A nice movie about matchmaking in the Telugu context.  No celebrities. No big banners. No mega budget. No action dhamaka. Just plain 'slice of life'.  Of course, targeted for an upscale urban market. Nonetheless, decently portrayed and very realistically presented. It also challenges some of the superstitions and traditional values that have stereotyped men and women into certain moulds and roles.  

I'd heard of this movie long time ago when it was released.  There was no big release or publicity done. It was basically through social media that this movie was announced and advertised. Good creative youtube snippets.  

A perfect mix of what media can (be made to) do and be: value-based, cheap, highly creative, offer opportunities to enthusiastic talent, humourous, new avenues of advertising on existing free platforms...

Exalted impotence

There is so much of advertisement these days,  especially in the newspapers, by way of pamphlets and even booklets, for Christmas.  It is all about household goods, gifts, and much for food and drink!  I'm now a bit nauseated at the amount of "propaganda" being done to get people to spend and that too on food and drink!?  Certainly this amount of spending would not be done on advertising, if there was no real possibility of earning it back by way of sale.  That means, people really splurge... that much on such trivial things as food and drink?

On the other hand, there are also appeals on behalf of the suffering children of Syria, the drowning refugees in the Mediterranean, the aged and terminally ill.  I guess they are feeble attempts of a few noble souls to offset the above phenomena.

What pains me most is the lack of will and malicious ignorance to tackle root causes.  Everyone knows that what is going on is not good for humanity yet those powers-to-be, go about totally unaware of it, leave alone speak about/against it.

And I ask myself, what the -- am I doing here? 

Pre-advent Christmas

In India, there was this repeated reminder by some, not to cut-short Advent and begin Christmas celebrations half-way through Advent.  However, here in UK, even before Advent has commenced, the marketing, advertising and shopping for Christmas has already begun!  For the last two weeks, practically every newspaper, TV, radio and internet channel has ads for Christmas gifts and purchases.  Odd, but true!

Take my hand

A miser was on a vacation and while on a boat ride, the boat capsized.  As he was bobbling, drowning in the water, someone offered to help him out. "Here give me your hand!" There was no response from the miser and then someone who knew him well enough to know that he never gave anything, shouted, "Here, take my hand!"

I guess marketing specialists excel in this art!

Air pack

One thing that I really did not see today, during the sports day of the neighbouring school, was children munching chips.  Usually, children when they have the liberty - and the money - go first for all that kurkure and chips packets.  Perhaps today there was no one selling them in the vicinity. However, I find it surprising that kids - and grown ups too - prefer the tight packed chips to something more filling and healthy, say a biscuit packet or some corn.  That too for the price you pay, there is more air than chips in some of these packets.

Interesting twist (ad)

The other day while watching TV after many days, I was amused to view the above ad.  Truly creative, even though sexist, but mischievous!  Watch it till the end to know the real twist!

PK and lively ads

As I was glancing through the movie posters of PK, I came across these two hilarious pics related to the movie.

 Amul has always done great contextual and vibrant ads. This one is just one of those several! The use of words, pun and crisp nature of these ads is something remarkable.

(Translation: For those who shaved their head, in imitation of the movie ´Ghajini´, PK offers a real test of loyalty!)  ... Aamir Khan appears naked in the opening scenes of the movie!