Advertising Opinions

I won't be reviewing any ads here but would like to share with my readers some of the old ads I dug up. I have randomly selected some ads, these are not necessarily memorable or path breaking ads but to me they definitely are part of Indian advertising history. Premium Soap: Perspectives 1993 Perspectives was a supplement of Metropolis on Saturday, Bombay edition - published by The Times of India, it does not exist now. Colgate Baby Powder: Filmfare June 14,1963 Half a century ago Colgate-Palmolive tried to get into the baby care business but was unsuccessful, perhaps Johnsons & Johnsons was too strong a competitor for them. Halo Shampoo: Filmfare June 14, 1963 Halo Shampoo was a product of Colgate-Palmolive and was among the top selling even in the 1980s, the sales declined when several new multi-national brands entered the Indian hair care market. I wonder if the company lost interest in the brand. Coca-Cola: The Bharat Jyoti, Sunday, March 25, 1973 The Bharat Jyoti used to b...

 Life insurance companies and banks face similar challenges when it comes to advertising; the plans or products offered by insurance companies or banks are usually very similar so making a distinction depends heavily on creativity in advertising. In this post I will discuss advertising in the Indian life insurance sector; I plan to discuss bank advertising some time later.  There are two dozen life insurance companies in India; possibly in future this number could increase. LIC is the market leader, this financial year it is aiming to retain 82% market share according to reports. That leaves only 18% to be shared by the rest, so the competition is pretty tough for them. Personal selling by company agents is very important in the life insurance business; advertising also plays an important role in informing and educating the prospective buyer about the various plans/products on one hand and on the other hand it creates a favourable image for the insurance company in the minds o...