Advertising Opinions

On November 14, 2011 the Mumbai Mirror carried a rather unusual ad (shown above). It was from an ad agency called Joshbro Communications; this agency wants to recruit people.  At first glance it appears to be an ad from O&M; the ad gives a fairly detailed map showing how to reach O&M but wants job seekers to send their applications to Joshbro instead. I wondered if Joshbro’s office was located somewhere close to O&M’s office, I checked their site and found this was not the case. I found this ad bizarre, why mention O&M? How can this agency compare itself to O&M? The ad undoubtedly succeeded in drawing attention but it was of the wrong kind. I wonder why the agency did not give their own address or at least could have mentioned their website which it did not do; is the agency not proud of itself? When I checked Joshbro’s website I found that some of the work done by them for their clients were pretty good. Joshbro perhaps wanted to present...

I have been toying with the idea of writing about the Airtel – “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” campaign but for some reason or the other was not able to do so, I have decided to do it now; better late than never. The fact that friends are important in one’s life is usually taken for granted although it is a very important aspect of life; you realize its true value only when you are lonely. Everyone needs friends regardless of age, not only does one needs friends one also needs friends of different kinds and abilities, that’s what makes life meaningful, purposeful and interesting. Airtel’s current ad campaign is based on this simple insight; I do not think one needs to do elaborate market research to arrive at the conclusion that everyone needs friends. Something as common as this has been very effectively used in the ad campaign, all the ads in this campaign have been executed very well -- they can really charge you up. When I first saw the ad I had mixed feeli...

  Suzlon, a leading in wind power company launched a new ad campaign very recently called p.a.l.s (an acronym for Pure Air Lovers Society). The campaign comprised television, press and also digital media; a website -- http://pals.in has also been launched. The whole purpose of this initiative is to form a community of like-minded people who believe in keeping the air clean and also the environment clean and can also spread the message to others. The campaign addresses the youth. Suzlon is committed to sustainable development and wishes to go beyond business, beyond making wind turbines and connect with the common people with a message on caring for the environment. With this initiative the company wishes to bring about a ‘Clean Air Revolution in India’ (For more on this please read Suzlon powers new campaign for cleaner air called p.a.l.s ) While I found the press campaign quite eye-catching I cannot say the same about the TV commercial (TVC), in fact in th...

I occasionally contribute to this blog but have been absent for some time now. You see multi-tasking is the buzz word today but I am hopeless at multi-tasking; for me it has always been one job at a time. I sort of get stressed when I have to do too many things at a time. Recently therefore when my co-blogger  and brother Aroop Bose told me that it is time I made a contribution I thought, “Goodness me! I already have my own food blog -- It is tasty ma! and I am also working on a film blog which I plan to launch shortly and not to mention my household chores” …. Even as these thoughts crossed my mind my eyes fell on the Bournville press ad. Though the first Cadbury Bournville commercial attracted my attention I found it a bit bizarre. I however like the current one, a novel way of emphasizing on quality and the press ad is an excellent support for the TV commercial. Usually in any ad it is the tagline which attract...

The Tata Sky advertising campaign which is currently running is one of my favourites. It is a three ad campaign on TV supported by outdoor; these ads have the ability to grab attention, arouse curiosity, engage the viewer by entertaining and convey the advertising message very effectively. The target consumer is the one who has a limited household budget, is a simple person and slightly hesitant to go in for DTH because he perceives it to be unaffordable; this campaign tries to correct this perception. The ads are in two parts, in the first part the characters make strange requests in the most difficult situations and are able to get what they want; the moral of the story being-- Do not hesitate to ask because you never know that you could be in for a pleasant surprise. In the second part the actual advertising message that Tata Sky has affordable options is conveyed very effectively. The first part of the ads is quite dramatic and entertaining and also arouses ...

Online shopping in India is growing steadily after a slow start however there are many who are suspicious about buying anything online, some are not comfortable with concept.  The current three-ad campaign of Flipkart.com deals with three fears people have which makes them resistant to online shopping,  these being: (1)  What if I receive faulty products? (2) Will I get the original product with original warranty? (3) I am not comfortable using credit card for online shopping because of frauds? Flipkart.com tries to allay these fears through their current ad campaign on television. Online shopping is a fairly new concept however ordering things by mail has been around for decades long before the age of the internet; even then the same three fears existed in the minds of consumers which prevented them from ordering by mail. The fears are not baseless, after all people do get cheated when ordering online and same was the case in the past wh...

Wow! they really think up new ideas to get noticed. The latest Volkswagen ad which was a four-page special silvery insert or should I say a pull-out with The Times of India dated August 29, 2011 was to my mind an interesting and innovative advertisement. Some say it was gimmicky but nevertheless the ad got noticed, so it served its purpose. What do you do when there is no significant difference in brands, in this case cars? In such a case the ad agency thinks of some great creative idea which can get the ad noticed and remembered, or a celebrity is used, or expenditure on advertising is increased if the client can afford it. In the case this press ad innovation was made in the medium of advertising itself. The ad was for Volkswagen Jetta and the cover looked like a regular copy of The Times Of India except that it had a silvery metallic look. I guess it had three layers - paper, foil and plastic film; the printing I think was done in the reverse on the plastic film against the foil. Th...