Design with a purpose

Design has always fascinated me. Especially when it's sensible design with a meaningful purpose. Here is BU Potato Chips. The pack unfolds into a Chips bowl. Isn't that wow. Designed by three young designers Edda Gylfadóttir, Guðrún Hjörleifsdóttir, and Helga Björg Jónasardóttir, the pack looks like a Chinese takeout container and works like origami. Strategic design innovations often contribute a lot to the bottom line. A fine example here. Great job from Co. Design.

Account Planning School of the Web - Cultural Strategy

Northern Planner Andrew H, has a very interesting project up for grabs. All you budding planners, do read the brief and am sure you will find it interesting too. Account Planning School for the Web is one of the most challenging thinking exercise for all planners. In the past I've taken part in several assignments and my work got assessed by great planners like Russell Davies, Gareth Kay, Rob Campbell. Understanding the underlying cultural tensions, the cultural differences or cultural nuances that binds people in society often becomes the most powerful tool for creating an effective brand strategy. Especially so when you live in India. And here's a great assignment which does exactly the same. Infact I'm thinking of participating this time too provided I can take out time between my relocation, moving house and taking up new challenges of the new job.

Give it a try. Do participate, doesn't matter whether you win or not. Atleast you'll get your work/thinking reviewed by great minds. And you'll make new friends. All the best. Cheers.

Cleartrip with a Purpose

Wish I had done this work. Awesome work. But let's first see it through the lens of my sarcasm. Client asks agency to do a qualitative consumer research. Planner writes DG. Asks a question - What is the purpose of your travel. Does vox pop. Shows the vox pop to CD. CD bulb is turned on. Positioning - Every trip has a purpose. Edits Vox Pop... Bingo!! You've created magic. Anyways. Let's talk about the magic later.

Every trip has a purpose - great thinking. Communicated in a series of TV Ads, very pleasing to the eyes, fresh execution (could have been better though :-) and attention grabbing. Good thinking + nice execution + different format = lethal combination. It's working. Perfect time for the brand to start the conversation. That's the magic I was talking about.

15 sec TVC is a very effective innovation from the media agencies. You get to create a series of content unfolding the story of the brand. More inviting rather than being intrusive like any TVC playing on telly. Vodafone Zoozoo is a great example, Tata Docomo logo animations is another recent example, Nescafe "Neighbours" is the 30 sec format of the same thing am talking about.

By asking travelers to reveal their purpose of the trip, gives you an instant creative freedom to play with three different things - experimentation with formats , creating unlimited content and optimizing media. More purpose I bring alive, more content I create. it can be Renne, Phunchok, Dr. Tripathi, Mr. & Mrs. Khandelwal, Sujoy, Surya, Prosenjit, Pooja, Priya, vaishali... millions of people would love to share their purpose of travel.

At the heart of Cleartrip.com's brand strategy lies a dynamic creative core. A core that can be activated anytime by just listening to people. An outside-in approach to communication instead of the other way round. There lies ahead immense potential in this campaign. Activation, social media, user experience... the magic is here. Creating a content eco-system around the brand.

Well done. Wish I had done this one.