Advertising Opinions

On February 24, 2010 I happened to see half-flap ad of Godrej Protetekt in The Times of India, Mumbai. This was actually the first sheet of the newspaper which covers the first page of the paper, it is a vertical sheet; the purpose of this sheet is to carry a specially designed advertisement on both sides. The width of this sheet is slightly less than half of the width of the newspaper. I hope I have made myself clear, if not please take a look at the photo here and you will know what I am trying to explain. The ad appears to be simple; one may not consider it to be uniquely creative. To my mind it is an effective ad since the message is conveyed quite directly without much fuss. The message here is: You may need to protect yourself against infection by washing your hands but you may not be always able to do so. In situations like this if you use Godrej Protetekt you will be able to protect yourself against germs, after all it is not possible to ca...

In any ad campaign the creative idea plays the crucial role. It is the idea which makes us notice the ad stay hooked to it, even get entertained by it and may make us feel like trying out the product if we are part of the target audience; the ad also differentiates the product/brand from its competitors. When ad agencies cannot think of a great idea they may suggest using a celebrity to draw attention to the product. Celebrities are also used when it is felt that the celebrity’s popularity and status will strengthen the brand. The TV commercial (TVC) made for Himani Fast Relief was said to be the most expensive ad ever made. It cost Rs. 1.80 crore plus the fee paid to Amitabh Bachchan. The idea was interesting; an analogy was drawn between humans and machines. The 60seconds TVC showed a bus and machinery in a factory entirely made of humans, the bus was shown to be moving around in the city roads. There was more, but I do not fully recall the details of the TVC. The makers of this com...

The Mortein campaign reminds me of another memorable campaign which happened in the late 1980s, that was the Onida TV campaign. Most people are aware of this campaign since it is truly memorable and one of its kind, it has been much discussed and written about, and is an excellent case study for students of advertising. When you photograph a product for an ad it is taken for granted that it should look its best but in the Onida campaign it was exactly the opposite, the product, that is, Onida TV was shown with a cracked screen with a stone hurled at it. The devil was the mascot, but this devil seemed more friendly than sinister; he also looked funny to me. Jealousy was used as the buying motive. All this was truly path- breaking. It was a very successful campaign and it made Onida was one of the leading TV brands in India. In a way the Onida devil was similar to Louie the mosquito of Mortien, both essentially being negative characters but used positively.

I have turned a blogger today for the first time and advertising is the subject I will be writing about. Of the innumerable ads we are subjected to some ads do catch our attention because of their uniqueness or they strike an emotional chord and make us remember them even after a long time. Such ads could be reflections of what happens in our lives: our fears, concerns, hopes, fantasies, and so on. The purpose of my blog is to recall these memorable ads and analyse them. Some could be current ads and some from the past which are etched in my memory. At times I might also talk about other matters connected to advertising, so let’s see how it goes. A Memorable Ad Campaign There is one campaign which has had a long innings on TV. The ad talks of dangerous diseases we should be protecting ourselves from and the product advertised eliminates the carrier of these diseases. The campaign has a mascot and guess what the mascot is; it is the very carrier of diseases the product claims to elimina...