Author Archive

Lack of will to accept new ideas?

Here’s the ad in SET MAX for IPL 3.0. View the ad by clicking this link.
Just check this Coca-cola ad for Beijing Olympics 2009 here.
What do we lack in India? Creativity? Or the will to accept new ideas? This is something which has always been eating my head since my advertising days and now on [...]

Religion, Sex & Branding

My professor once made a classic statement and it stuck in my mind.

“Almost any product can be sold if we involve Sex OR Religion OR both”

I happened to believe him. And Indian advertising reiterated that statement way too many times. Many brands in our country have stepped on this path and have been successful either [...]

Tu Tu Mein Mein of Detergent brands

The whole world has talked about it already. Yet another occassion, where I delayed in relaying my comments. Could find at least three significant pieces. Here, here and here. Here are my views:
Showing competition is always a relative issue. Unless there is a clear demarcation on why a product is better than another or issued in [...]

An interesting article by Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm in WSJ

Just bumped into this article by Mahesh Murthy (through his twitter handle @maheshmurthy).
While the article highlights the importance of what I crudely call as ‘online PR’ with a mix of ‘online marketing’, I would tend to believe that examples like the iPad, Google Wave etc, is possible only for brands which have already been established overa  [...]

Facebook is the ‘buzziest’ brand of the year says Afaqs!

Here’s the story on FB being adjudged the buzziest brand of the year both by the jury and by people through a voting mechanism. Congrats FB. Vodafone and Twitter have followed FB as the buzziest brands. Well, this is a sea change from the last year’s list.
BTW, sorry Airtel

Advertising Agencies – II – Account Planning

Account Planning is almost being on the other side of the table to understand the business of the client well. With a lot of research and constant discussion with the client Marketing teams, planners help strategize for the brand from within the agency. This profile requires research skills and a thorough understanding of the product [...]

Advertising Agencies – A series to understand their functioning

Most graduates getting out of premium B-Schools in India would have done a million case studies while in campus, but seldom do they get the knowledge of how an advertising agency operates. Management graduates specializing in Marketing and opting for a career in Advertising almost always find themselves chasing artworks for the first couple of [...]

It pays to be quick!

It is a very important characteristic in Marketing to be quick when it comes to ‘time to market’. And more often than not, it is one of the most difficult pieces to fall in the jig-saw.
I witnessed the chopper flying over the (maxi)Mumbai city with a HUGE (I really mean it kind of huge) banner [...]

Lazy Marketing Worked! :)

I had in my last post chided a financial services organisation for exhibiting some lazy marketing. I have been made to eat my words!
I find the phrase ‘aall eeej welll’ across FB & Twitter and it seems to have clicked for them. Well, they seemed to have placed their bet on [...]

Lazy marketing – A new high

I have not been a great fan of celebrity endorsements. Some categories lend itself to having celebrities promoting the product. For instance beauty products. Honestly, I can’t figure out the difference between a Fair & Lovely, Neutrogena, Olay etc. I must either be blind or a man, and that I certainly am!
But here’s [...]