Advertising Opinions

A series of new TV commercials (TVCs) for Tata Ace are currently on air now, whenever I saw them on TV I found it difficult to comprehend the exact message the advertiser is trying to convey. To begin with I did not realize that there were more than one TVC running on TV for Tata Ace. In order to understand the commercial better I decided to examine it (at that time I thought that it was a single TVC) closely on YouTube. The first thing I realized that there are three TVCs each of 90 seconds duration; the titles given to them are Lalitpur , Malipet and Pehelgaon . The look and feel of these TVCs are almost identical, whatever differences exists among them are of no consequence, the script is essentially the same; if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. The TVCs attempted to be funny, how successfully I am not sure. Two TVCs feature one white man each and the third TVC features a white woman, each of them are shown participating in a quiz show at a rural mela like setting. The quiz ...

Vodafone UFO One fine morning in the month of April this year I looked out into the sky from my bedroom window and saw a strange object moving in the sky. It was surely a U.F.O. -- an unusual flying object. I went to my balcony to have a better look. The object looked like an airship with the brand ‘Vodafone’ written on it. The object was on its rounds and appeared to be remote controlled.. One is used to seeing balloon advertising but this was a remote controlled airship and I have never seen anything like this before. During this period the ‘Zoozoo’ campaign was making waves, this itself was a very innovative campaign. I think it was an unusual, innovative and great way to reinforce the brand; it surely grabbed the attention of the people of the area over which it flew. The TV commercials of Vodafone have always been impressive, that includes its previous avatars (Orange & Hutch) as well, and this outdoor advertising was ruling the skies, quite literally. BRU Coffee - Live Confer...

When the first black and white print campaign of Shoppers Stop broke in 1993, it immediately attracted my attention. It was so different from the other retail ads which were then prevalent in the media. These ads looked less like retail store ads and more like designer wear ads. What struck me about the campaign was: •    It was in black and white --- which until then was unthinkable for ads of retail stores. •    The merchandise was not shown in the ads. •    None of the ads showed the store. •    The ads relied primarily on the body copy to convey the advertising message rather than on the visuals of the merchandise. •    Significantly Shoppers Stop was being promoted as a product or brand rather than as a store. The campaign was so striking that it immediately prompted me do a story on it. It appeared in ‘Perspectives’ the advertising and marketing supplement of ‘The Metropolis on Saturday’ – a Times of India ...