Goodbye 2007

What a glorious year 2007 has been. Phew. Life has never been so good. So before I end the year with a big bang in the evening, here's something that'll brighten up your day for sure.

Time's 50 Best Websites of 2007.

PC World's 100 Best Products of 2007.

100 Best Music Album of 2007.

The Best of Physics in 2007.

The Best of 2007 Podcasts.

The BusinessWeek Best of 2007 Product Design.

The Best X Box 360 Games of 2007.

2007 in Review: The Best of Best.

The Best Animated Ads of 2007.

The Best Visual Illusions of 2007.

Goodbye 2007. Bring it on 2008. Wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008.

Cheers.

Tissue that gets you through everything

Ha. Kleenex is the "Tissue that gets you through everything."

Co-Marketing - The new mantra

The industry is heading in the right direction. Here I mentioned how co-marketing can redefine marketing in India, if only our noble marketers did some serious thinking. With so many good examples floating around I can't help but think optimistically about the future of co-marketing in India.

If you thought LG & Prada's KE850 was an object of true desire then Ladies and Gentlemen, hold your breath. Bang & Olufsen has joined hands with Samsung to bring the ultimate music phone of the year. The Serenata. The website says "Two icons of excellence come together in Serenata, a music player and a mobile phone in one. It's high quality on a higher level, with the advanced acoustics, interface experience and design ingenuity of Bang & Olufsen combined with the intelligent mobile phone engineering of Samsung."

To take the Serenata, a step forward, B&O and Samsung has roped in ECM Records (I'm a big fan of Jan Garbarek whom they launched in the early days) to provide some pleasing music to the ears. Now this is what I call 'Innovative Thinking.' Co-creating meaningful products by sharing each others strength and expertise. And then marketing it together.

This is a bigger Marketing Ideal. It is about understanding the need and then finding a right partner to develop the right product for the right audience. I'm looking forward to some more examples of co-marketing and co-creation. So with the new year approaching us, can we expect to see some innovative marketing from India Inc.? Or is it we will still look at west, read their case studies and try to follow their foot steps? Co-marketing according to me has huge potential in India. The recent "Diamond Bride" commercial on air is decent example, unfortunately its only an advertising idea. Not a big marketing ideal. Will there be a change in the 2008 marketing mantra? Let's keep our mind open. We might just strike gold. And many thanks Harshal for sharing the link with me. Keep sending more examples like this.

Update: Here is another exciting news. Media join hands with Airline to provide in-flight magazine. Exciting times ahead.

Cheers.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who visits this blog.
And Merry Christmas to everyone those who don't.

Contagious 2007

Those lovely people at Contagious has published a sum up of all the cool stuffs that happened in the year 2007. Its interesting. Insightful. A ready reckoner. And it gives you a perspective of where we're all heading towards.

Click here and read Most Contagious 2007.

Cheers.

ICICI Prudential ki naya Beta #1

This is the new viral launched by ICICI Prudential Health Insurance. Concept by Contest2Win. The same old 2D flash animation and rip-off of a Bollywood Film. Blind spot once again. Neither entertaining nor very exciting. Grow up guys. Do something different. Its not funny anymore.

Happy Birthday Choco

Its Choco's birthday today. The four legged lazy bastard is 1 year old today. Horrible creature to live with but at times I simply can't do without him.

How clients are going mobile

I wrote about the future potential of Mobile Advertising in India. The beautiful Mansi Trivedi send me some brilliant examples, which I think you should know about. Thanks Mansi.

The Regeneration from Virgin Mobile in partnership with Youthnoise. They created a text message based episode - a story of a football player called Ghost. Something really unique - a mini mobile text sitcom kind of stuff.

Then there's Northwest Airlines experimenting with QR codes in Japan. Well, techno-savvy Japanese have special readers in their mobile phones which might take few more years to hit the Indian market. But the point here is clients like Northwest Airlines are experimenting. It's interesting to find out how clients have started giving importance to interactive channels. In this case Billboard and Mobile integrated together to create a communication platform.

Finally, to know more about mobile marketing and effective use of the mobile medium for greater benefits of your client and agency, frequently visit - Mobile Magazine.

Remember we are talking something beyond SMS campaigns.

Absolut packaging.

This is a direct copy-paste from Rob's blog. Sorry Rob, but I think this is worth mentioning here. Packaging can indeed change the fortune of a brand. Absolut is real example. Pure genius. And I want one of this. Can someone please buy me or gift me a Glitter Bottle of Absolut for Christmas?

Cookie in Court

Remember you read it here on Tissue Issues first. I knew it's coming soon. Smart cookies die fast. Finally it did come with the honourable court deciding to stop the good to great cookie propaganda. Britannia Good Day has sued Unibic Cookies for its alleged advertisement. Smarter cookies lives long. Question is - Can Unibic make a smarter move to get out of the trouble?

Clients Go Mobile

Is mobile advertising the next big cash cow? In a ‘tell-me-new-touch-point’ starved media industry, will betting big on mobile advertising generate value eventually more money? In a recent discussion with the CTO of a MNC who is doing just the same, my belief got stronger.

I quote - “Yes, today most clients in India slowly understand the potential of New Media. Alas, it took them so long. Techno-phobic brand managers suffering from ‘What-if-I-get-fired-for-my-experimentation-from-my-higher-ups’ syndrome are willing experiment. I mean to say they’re open to the idea. On a happy note it’s encouraging for agencies too. Honestly, I feel client should be willing to experiment. There lies the fun. Allow a bunch of intelligent freaks to do a targeted communication. The client attitude should be more like show-results-and-I’ll-put-more-money. There lay the challenge. As client you ignite their desire to dare among those intelligent freaks. Allow them to drive it with passion to show results.”

He showed me a live demo of an excellent mobile platform. Fone Mine - The power of mobile advertising. How to do targeted communication? A solution that is service provider, demographic independent. How not to annoy consumer by giving opt-in preference? Integrated m-commerce. Data generation. Rich Analysis of the data. Believe me, the possibilities are endless. All it needs is little patronage from clients. It gives creative people direct access to some very funky stuff. It allows media agencies to make money. This much more than SMS campaign plugged into presentations as 360 communication. This is 360 by itself. Imagine the sheer 'reach-potential' of the medium (if you still don't think mobile phone as medium) in India and China. A mobile advertising platform, our industry should take immediate notice. To me this is a live example of - How technology can change media dynamics? Something worth exploring.

SMS <> to 5656 is so 2007 ;-)

GaS examples

As I mentioned previously, I'm working on this non-sense theory of Brand GaS. Gloss and Sign to be precise. Brand Efficacy and Image to be more precise. Brand GaS is not just plain vanilla product shot towards the end but efficacy that help build a stronger brand connect. Brand GaS are small talk points that connects with consumers easily.

Parachute is a one such brand that is applying Brand GaS very effectively in recent times. I'm speaking about the much published "1 Hour Champi." A simple property they managed to create and see how it is coming handy in communicating the brands core benefit. The best part, they haven't restricted themselves only to the the product window. A new product has been developed - The Champi Massager. Now that's brilliant thinking. So send me similar examples if you do come across.

marketing it together

Is Co-Marketing the next big marketing wave to hit India? Two different companies coming together to join hands in creating a new product which is then marketed jointly. A win-win situation for both. Co-Marketing is not to be confused with co-promotion or co-branding. Nor is it a bundling offer. However, marketers in India are skeptical. They are more concerned about their bottom-line and shelf space. They for sure will site issues on profit sharing and budget control etc. As a Poor_Planner I can't stop thinking about the golden opportunities in-front of us. But no one is really taking that leap in India. Of course it pisses me off. Well, with all due respect to the managers of India Inc. I think it makes perfect sense to gear up to this new found opportunity. The key to Co-Marketing is finding the perfect partner for a long-lasting marriage. That's all. It's all about two different companies/brands coming together to create an unique product/brand which makes life easy, simpler, exciting and interesting for consumers. Rest will be history. Believe me. Anyways.

The concept of co-marketing is nothing new. In the past several brands have come together to create a product and then gone marketing it with a big bang. Intel and IBM. F1 is a good case in point. Bridgestone, Shell and Ferrari doing research together to make faster race cars. Nike Plus (Nike and iPod) is a brilliant recent example. Blackberry and Hutch/ Airtel. iPhone and Cingular. Imagine how much Surf Excel-matic can gain by creating an unique detergent that compliments Samsung's Silver Nano technology?

So here are few examples, which according to me can change the way we look at traditional marketing in India:

• Kingfisher Airlines and Hertz Car Rental - Every Kingfisher First member can opt for this special service. Pick up and drop
• Bajaj Pro-Biking and Castrol Bike Zone - Buy a Bajaj Bike and become a member of Castrol Bike Zone for all the after sales service requirements. Re-new the contract after a year and keep riding peacefully.
  
• Kellogg's Cereals and Nestle Slim Milk - Well, Nestle has already launched Cerevita. But still, think of the potential that a special single consumption ready-to-eat pack has where the cereal comes with milk. Call it the Breakfast Pack. Unheard off in the category. Isn't it?
  
• Modern Bread and Amul Butter - Now HUL is planning to sell the Modern Bread business once again (have they sold it already?). Isn't it a win-win situation for both? Modern Bread comes with Amul Butter in special packaging. Modern Bread gets a rub off from Amul Butter and they both can exist happily.
  
• Taj Mahal Dessert Tea and Britannia Pure Magic - Guilt free indulgence. What say? Yeah yeah, Tata Tea Gold is giving a packet, oops I mean a Britannia Treat pack, but thats co-promotion not co-marketing. Britannia Pure Magic tastes great with Taj Mahal Dessert Tea or vice versa - now that co-marketing.
  
• Adidas and Fitness One - Everything is possible.
• Sugar Free and Cipla Diabetes Control Kit - Life is sweet.
  
• Rohit Bal and DTC - They are already doing it. So why not Manish Malhotra and Titan Designer watches?
  

Well, now that you've read all this, do let me know what you think. Also give me two more examples (make it up, I know you can) of brands that you think make the perfect partner for a co-marketing exercise. How they complement each other and why does it make sense in the long run? Go ahead, enlighten me.