Advertising Opinions

I was happy to see that one of my favourite TV commercials is once again on air; it is the ad for Usha sewing machines. This commercial makes use of live action as well as stop-motion animation very beautifully. Live action shooting is about shooting action using a movie camera and in case of stop-motion animation a still camera is used to capture movement frame by frame. In stop-motion animation a huge number of pictures need to be shot. The story of the Usha sewing machine commercial is quite simple; a family has just moved into a new house, the husband receives a phone call and leaves for work immediately leaving his wife to do the unpacking and putting the house in order. The young wife removes her Usha Janome sewing machine from a packing case and begins working on it. She uses Usha Janome to make various art works to beautify the house; in fact she transforms the house completely to the utter surprise of her husband who returns home in the evening. What I observed in the commer...

Advertising in India has indeed come a long way. It is no longer about an ad being created in English and sometimes in Hindi and then being translated into various regional languages. For many years now ads are specially created for the regional language audience and the best time to see some excellent ads is during the festivals.  The Thums Up commercial in Bengali telecast during Durga Puja – the most auspicious festival of the Bengalis – had a concept which immediately drew my attention. It takes the celebrity route; although I am not much of an advocate of celebrity endorsements, here the presence of Soumitro Chatterjee — the much revered, legendary actor of Bengali cinema --- in my opinion adds to the overall appeal of the commercial. The concept of the commercial is inspired from the old and new traditions of the festival. The old tradition finds expression in the household Durga Pujas organized by the zamindars (landlords) and the very r...

The Aquaguard ‘Paani Ka Doctor’ TV commercial (TVC) is a clever concept aimed at reinforcing the brand. Aquaguard (from Eureka Forbes) from its inception has been has claimed to be an expert in water purification. In all Aquaguard TVCs, as far as I can remember, features a character who is supposed to be a representative from Eureka Forbes, he visits a home and educates the household regarding dangers of drinking unpurified water and explains benefits of using Aquaguard. When Aquaguard was first introduced the consumers did not have much of a choice; they could either buy tap filters or the storage type filters which only filtered the water and did not do anything else, the filter pores actually became breeding ground for harmful bacteria. The other alternative for people was to use Ion Exchange’s Zero B or filter the water and then boil it. Since Aquaguard was the first purifier in the consumer segment to use sophisticated technology the product/brand proposition was very clear: We a...

These days we have become accustomed to the concept of brand ambassadors to promote products and services, even some states of India have brand ambassadors, this is relatively a new trend, but a brand ambassador for a Durga Puja is not what one would normally expect. In this year’s Durga Puja the organizers of Sarbojanik Durga Puja, D.N. Nagar, Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai appointed Rituparna Sengupta, a well-known actress of Bengali cinema, as brand ambassador. The first thought that came to my mind was, where is the brand? This puja does not even have a logo and this is only their second year. Advertising at the puja venues are common but having a brand ambassador is new to me. It was reported in The Times of India (Mumbai edition) dated October 13, 2010 that the organizers chose Rituparna Sengupta for the “connect she forges between Bengali and non-Bengali audiences”. Although I did not see a single banner of the actress inside the pandal, there ...

David Ogilvy – advertising guru--- once said that when advertisers run out of ideas they take the celebrity route. I couldn’t agree more. With celebrities indiscriminately endorsing everything and anything I soon lose track of the product and only remember the celebrity. While the celebrities laugh all the way to the bank I miss commercials which have a good script and most importantly actors who are not celebrities but excellent performers. Here are a few commercials which I for one rate as unforgettable. The naukri.com ads - well one doesn’t need to discuss them in detail the script and the performances say it all. While the actor playing Hari Sadhu became a legend (if the word legend is considered an exaggeration then I confess I do not mind exaggerating) of sorts portraying the grumpy boss, the two employees, even the one in the background who is desperately trying to please the boss by preparing his tea but at the same time suggesting S for Shameless , are a treat to watch. This ...

Yesterday morning I was in for a surprise; as I pulled out the copy of The Times of India from the door handle I heard somebody talk, I looked around but there was no one nearby, I then realized that the voice was coming from the newspaper. When I opened it what I saw was a full page advertisement of the new Volkswagen Vento and found a small black object stuck to it from which I could hear a recorded voice. What a superb and innovative idea to draw attention to the brand Volkswagen! The objective obviously was to create a buzz around the brand. We are likely to see many more such ads in future but Volkswagen was the first to do it and I am sure they have been able to get maximum advantage.  Most press ads and TV commercials for cars appear to be more or less similar after a point, Volkswagen have hit upon an idea that would set them apart from the rest. It is just not about being different but this talking press ad has people talking and discussing it. In order to stand out from t...

Twenty four years ago on 5th September Neerja Bhanot who was senior flight purser with Pan Am sacrificed her life to save the lives of several passengers in a hijacking incident, the news of which shook the nation. But why am I talking about this in an advertising blog? As many know Neerja worked as a model before joining Pan Am. She was seen in several advertisements such as Charmis Cream, Forhans Toothpaste, Krack Jack Biscuits, and many more. She also featured in a press ad campaign for a product whose marketing was my responsibility. Here is the story. During the early 1980s I worked as a product manager with Muller & Phipps (India) Limited and was in charge of marketing and advertising a set of products, one of them was Tiny Tot polycarbonate feeding bottles and silicone nipples. My company had allocated a very small advertising budget for Tiny Tot; advertising for feeders and nipples was permitted those days. My task was to get the best results from this limited ad budget. A...