Thank you for smoking

Good work from India.Don't know the name of the agency though. I smoke and I want to quit.

Star Work - Heineken Star Player

You know what, I'm super impressed with AKQA. This agency is breaking barriers every time and their work is simply amazingly breath taking. The best part, Heineken is indeed one brave, clever client who believes an buys into great bold works. You can read more about the work here.

AKQA developed an application for Heineken which can be played online on Facebook an on mobile phones and allows players to bet live on actions during Champions League Games. Now this is truly exploring an integrated multi-media and making the brand culturally relevant with trends. Borrowing from Adverblog, "In the US alone, to understand how web, mobile and social channels are changing the TV viewer experience : 74% of consumers say they multitask while watching TV; among them, 42% browse online, 29% talk on cellphones or mobile devices, and 26% send instant messages or text messages, according to a Deloitte survey."

Good work AKQA. Wish I was part of this campaign.

Blue Star's cool thinking

Summer can be horribly hot and sweaty in India. Temperatures sore and so does heated debates and egos. Summer is a time when the AC brands in India also get active. They spend millions trying to persuade consumers to buy their AC's. But like most categories, the AC category, which is a sub-class of the White Goods category has its own conventions and cliches. You will notice that the moment you turn on your TV. Brands like LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Voltas, Onida are all fighting for market share with some really boring, unexciting propositions. Nothing much has changed over the years. The creative executions are even more pathetic.

The top three propositions are often:

1. Equal cooling at all corners of the house.

2. Anti-germ, anti-bacterial and clean air.

3. The most energy efficient AC for your home.

Cut to Blue Star. Blue Star, the AC brand has been the market leader in office cooling or air-conditioning solutions for commercial complexes. They created some memorable advertisements claiming their expertise in cooling solutions.

Blue Star recently ventured into the home cooling segment. And they brilliantly integrated their proposition of being an "cooling expert" from offices to home. Now that's the brilliance of good strategic thinking. When you're positioned as an expert, you build on that. You don't look for lame propositioning which leads to boring creative communication to persuade consumers. Blue Star found an excellent proposition that builds on their expertise at office and smoothly integrated that with the task at hand - home cooling. The result - Get office like cooling at home. Now thats refreshing. A nice execution helps you stand apart too.

Good work Blue Star. Look forward to some more refreshing creative work from you.

Messages for Japan

Excellent initiative by Google. Go to Messages for Japan, share your message, make a donation, do good. That's I love'em so much. Good work.

Who's using your picture online?

A very interesting campaign by Save the Children in Sweden that teaches young people the dangers of posting pictures of themselves online. The project called Picture Protect lets young people share and spread the word to their friends and other young people. Great effort by Save the Children. Have a look.. brilliantly done.

Even Bollywood can re-define distribution

Just read this interesting stuff - Mobile Cinema. Nothing new but I was wondering, this can become a new distribution channel for Bollywood producers or even INOX, Big Cinema or PVR Cinema wanting to expand their footprints in rural India. Villages in deep rural India hardly have any entertainment zones. So this can become an alternative channel altogether.

All you need is an old bus, comfortable seats for 40 - 50 people, a projector, 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound System and a big screen. Viola.

Random thoughts.

Google - how thoughtful.

To everyone in Japan, to everyone who has someone in Japan. Please try this new Google Person Finder. Google - you're a good brand. And we love you.

The Economist & why Ogilvy understands them better...

The latest TVC's (via Campaign India) of The Economist made by Ogilvy India is another example of Branded Content. Excellent music, great execution and clear simple message said in the most interesting manner. Ha. This is one agency that gets it right all the time. How?????

Let me see if I can simulate the Strategic Planning effort of the agency and how they are building brand Economist in India. And I can be horribly wrong, might even sound like crap... but what the ...

It is important to know however that somewhere in-between the game plan lies the glue - The the insight, the creative idea, flawless execution, tone of voice, reason to believe ...

Anyways.

The Game Plan (3 yrs plan): The Economist way to enter India

Step 1. Launch The Economist and create awareness - (Print/ press, Outdoor, OOH)

Step 2. Create awareness and generate more subscriptions - (Digital, Activation)

Step 3. Hold back and observe - (Data Analysis, Research Findings, Return on Involvement Measurement)

Step 4. Reach out to a larger audience - (Television, Cinema)

Step 5. Hold back and observe - (Data Analysis, Research & RoIM)

Step 6. Interact with Audience - (Digital, Activation & Events)

Step 7. Dominant Media Vehicle - (Debate Forums, Digital Forums, CRM)

Naah. Can't be so easy.

Anyways but I do believe the issue lies in the tissue.

On Time - Indigo Airlines

Another refreshing work from W+K, Delhi. Indigo Airlines. On time flights that makes the economy run on time. Wonderful take. Great execution.

Awesome Case Study

Bloody Brilliant!!

I want my Lady Noire

The Lady Noire Affair. The lovely lovely Marion Cotillard (gros gros bisous, bébe). Branded content at its best by Dior. Indeed content is the king. Am sure there will be a series, coming out Rouge very soon, maybe a Blanche or a Vert or a Bleu in the days to come. You can follow Lady Noire on Twitter here. Or join the Facebook fan club. Or simply buy the DVD's when they are released.

Good content - always leaves you wanting for more. Remember the craze BMW Films (starring Clive Owens) started few years back. I just love the idea of making 'brand cinema,' it is much more engaging and entertaining than a 30 sec TVC. And it is thousand times more interesting than in-film product/brand placement. Why place products for few seconds when you can create an entire brand film.

Though not a strong argument, I agree and you will give examples like Taxi (the film) made Peugeot 406 famous or how after watching The Bourne Identity fans just got behind a Mini Cooper, or the legendary story of Easy Rider and Harley Davidson. But there's a huge difference between in-film placement and Brand Cinema. The Night in the Museum, not only made the American Museum of Natural History famous, number of visitors increased too.

If automobile brands have done it successfully, outdoor gear brands can do it, hotels and resorts can do it, food brands can do it, Pet food brands can do it, heck even the banks and financial sector can get into making successful cinema as part of their marketing communication strategy. its about how open minded you are as a marketer and to what extent will you gamble. Personally, I like the idea of Brand Cinema. Now how well you execute is a different ball game which i won't get into but its possible as long as the content is interesting.

Nice work from Dior and I love that Lady Marion.

Por Un Pelo

Don't know why I haven't heard about this agency or this advertisement before. Created by an independent shop called Santo from Argentina for Broadband Service provider called Arnet.

I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed again. Honestly. Amazing power of a strong creative idea - bringing out our basic emotions and changing our behaviours. Exactly what advertising should be. Simple message but pure entertainment.

Replay after 15 years

Gatorade and TBWA are doing some wonderful stuff recently. Their new website Mission G is fantastic. They did a good piece of communication this year during the Super Bowl. The spirt of sports, competition and challenge - BMX, Skates, Snowboard, Ski, Surf, Salsa, Freestyle Dance, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Football... Gatorade is bringing action into its marketing. Apart from the regular digital stuff, I feel they have hit upon a big idea...rather one Big Ideal.

Talking about the recent Replay campaign (though a copycat idea of Nike Football in some way) Gatorade have managed to involve a local community. Two school team (Easton vs Philipsburg) from the batch of 1993 will replay a game of football after 15 years. Now that's interesting. And engaging. And sticky. That's because they can keep doing lots of stuff around Replay. Bring back school memories. Bond with friends in real time and most importantly bond for something they were friends in the first place. Idea vs Ideal, a great example.

Simplifying maintenance

Noticed this ad in Business Today the other day. Club One Air is an Aircraft Maintenance and Management Program offered to the nouveau riches of the society. You can buy a jet and hand over the same to Club One Air to manage and maintain it for you.

This also seems like a great platform for the automobile industry too. Atleast that's what I feel. I had a similar solution for Rob@Cynic's last APSotW assignment. The insights that I came up with was "Men love spending money on machines that reflect their status, but don't like spending additional money on maintenance." Yes, maintenance is a bigger issue for car owners. If companies can consciously help reduce these cost, customers will actually remain loyal to your brand. Given the fact that frequency of car change is now reduced to 24 months, clubbing your service offering with a similar maintenance program can go a long way in building your brand. Asian Paints Home Solutions is a good example from another product category doing a similar maintenance program that takes away consumer's headache. And it's getting all the good responses.

Probably, brands as part of their extension (or marketing plan) should consider setting up similar ventures that they can leverage upon in the long run.

The best reason to buy an iPhone

Wickrum, my dear friend from O&M send me this:

Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field has achieved a lot in the past, but nothing to rival this. Could the iPhone's most impressive feature be the ability to help treat AIDS?

That's was a young man called Johnny Vulkan hopes . He's first in line outside the SoHo Apple store in New York, waiting to pick up a handset, which will auction on eBay. The proceeds will then go to Keep a Child Alive, which provides AIDS treatment to African children. He is also considering selling sponsorship on his t-shirt, anticipating the media attention his plan would get.

It seems like a great idea. Sure, the handset has its problems but, by being the first in line, Vulkan will surely double, triple or quadruple his initial investment. And, more importantly, he's harnessing all that iPhone hype for a really good cause.

The other people in line for the iPhone fascinate me too. Also outside the 5th Avenue store in New York is retired Greg Packer, who arrived four days before the launch. He was also in line for a PS3 days early. Others are there as paid placeholders, advertising their services on Craigslist for anything from $200 to $1000. Vulkan has perhaps the only sane reason for waiting in such a queue.

Maybe it would be wise for other charities to send their staff out to queue at big product launches. They could make lots of money in a few days. Anyway, let's hope that Vulkan's iPhone becomes the most expensive one sold this week.