Cup Choir

Nice Campaign from La Senza. Get Interactive. Go ahead, create your own tunes with the cups. :) ... Makes for a great Christmas carol.

moods please

Moods - 'My Man' is very hot these days. Err... I mean , they're doing a good job in the digital space. All new website. Interactive. Interesting. And playful. Moreover Olivia promises to answer all your questions. Pack of condom that comes with a vibrating ring. Ha. I'm lovin' it. Check it out here. Finally marketers in India are waking up to the digital medium. They are experimenting with new stuff. I say the future looks bright.

Do share some more examples (ofcourse in the Indian context) if you come across.

When dads and sons fight for attention

Wilkinson has a launched a new campaign which I found quiet bizarre. Making dads and sons fight for attention and kisses of their wives and moms. As Richard put the insight as, "The new dads can feel neglected, even feel jealous about their offsprings" seems interesting, the execution remains poor. Maybe they've given a movie trailer like look and feel on purpose.

And then they created this site which has some cool stuff to download. Seems like all experimentation is only possible in the digital space.

Via Adliterate

Have fun out there

So the new campaign of Jeep is creating news for all the good reasons. Another great example of how marketers can benefit from using Youtube, FaceBook, MySpace, Flickr effectively. Check this out here. Since Social Networking is attracting millions of consumers, it makes sense for brands to be present there. You need good data mining skills, you need to identify and tag the right target audience and Bingo. You have a success story worth sharing with others. What better way than communicating with a large base of captive audiences available in social networking sites.

Not a open mind behind closed doors

The big daddies of Indian advertising are all knowledgeable sods. They are the harbingers of change, disruption, integration, activation, three sixty, holistic ideas who can sway clients in their boardrooms. They create ideas which sell products in millions. They create brands which are always energized. They are those pathetic passionate professionals who will do anything to solve a client’s problem. They have a brilliant websites which has a long list of client and the creative portfolio. Yet none of the Indian advertising agencies have a blog. They don’t have a point of view about their own work. They have nothing to say to the world at large. They have but agencyfaqs, where they explain about ads they just created and why it is so unique. Why? Because no body in the focus group during the pre-testing of the concept understood it, so they need to explain it and generate PR, post the ad being on air.

So the forefathers of the most open minded profession lives behind perpetual closed doors in India. True reflection of the closed door policy in our industry. Indeed open minded they are. They fear if they talk, others might steal their unique concept. Their ideas will become public. Their clients won’t be happy. Or let’s just put it this way, they are too busy doing an offline for a 30 second TVC that they don’t have the time to do any faltu kaam. Advertising industry in India was always a closed door industry. So frightening the scenes behind these closed doors are most young people find it difficult to enter. Now there’s a dearth of talent. Huge tantrums about not finding the right person with right experience to do the task. Head hunters are running like headless chicken.

On the other hand, as I keep reading W+K’s blog, LB’s blog, Russell’s blog, Rob Campbell’s blog, Richard Huntington’s blog, Jon Howard’s blog, John Grant’s blog I realize how much these agencies and these people benefit from sharing their thoughts with unknown others. Open Intelligence Sharing is not a Linux concept. There’s nothing techie about it. It’s all about gathering collective intelligence and then refining them to produce and create bigger and better ideas for the benefit of all, sometimes even including the client. You have a marketing problem to solve, post a live brief/assignment on the blog. You get 100 replies. Filter and measure them based on the objective, you have your campaign ready in 7 days flat. But then, they are also the most interesting people on web. Thousands like me look forward to their next post, just to know, learn and contribute more. Selflessly. That’s why they create stuff, which we look at and say Wow.

I guess it’s high time for our big daddies to understand these basic principles fast and act upon it. No point going and selling User Generated Content to advertisers unless you start practicing it. No wonder GOG has become a case study.

Long live blogging. Long live planning.

Get the glass

Am sure you all remember the famous Got Milk campaign by Goodby Silverstein . Now the latest campaign from California Milk Board is this new online Interactive Board Game called Get The Glass.Brilliant. And everything centered around life without milk. Now this is a real good example of interactive web2.0 work by a brand. All kudos to Goodby.

Our very own Amul can do so much. Huge potentials looming large. The Amul Girl is such a wonderful brand property which can be taken to new heights. Alas they don't think like me ;-) Maybe you (Amul) should hire my agency and give us the task to create something interesting.

Mail me soon. Am waiting.

Lynx - The UGC Effect

UGC (User Generated Content) is touted as the new baby of the marketing world. Alex Wipperfürth's book Brand Hijack is a great read to understand the basic working principles of UGC. Well, at least it provided those basic seeds to me. And I am fan of his work. Visit his website here and you will find some very interesting white papers worth reading while getting bored at work.

This recent videos on Youtube is a great example of UGC at work. The Brand - Lynx.

Lynx Effect on Married Man


Lynx Effect in Real Life


I regret the quality of the video. Makes me wonder if put in the right context UGC has the true potential to bring people together. Any marketer in India, bold and wise enough to take it forward?

I also found this interesting Lynx Blow page.


Enjoy.

Web Power

Finally marketers in India realized the potential of worldwide web. “Something interactive karna hai,” is the common cry in all client corridors. Most big agencies have set-up their own interactive department and clients are very excited the moment they hear interactive. Therefore, communities building, post a blog, share a picture, post an opinion, invite or send to a friend etc. are fast picking up, marketers and their advertising agencies have decided to do something meaningful with the medium.

The latest in the bandwagon is Mentos. Quirky but err interesting.

Gang of Girls was a break through piece of interactive work while Being Girl was an immediate answer from P&G since they didn’t want to be left behind.

No doubt, the web is a powerful branding tool. Since there’s lot of information about it on the internet and several books by renowned branding gurus, I thought I’ll let you know few practical things to keep in mind (which I learned while working on an interactive project) while creating a powerful brand experience on web:

• Express the brand’s personality as effectively as possible. Being an interactive medium it actually gives you that freedom
• Think about the content first, technology, html, flash etc. can wait
• No one likes to wait for eternity for your page to open. Try to grab the attention of your visitors while the home page is being downloaded
• The website should reflect the brand’s core values because it gives that opportunity to the visitors to forge a meaningful relationship
• Give out interesting information about the brand which will keep your visitor engaged and allow them to dig deeper
• Try to put photographs of real people. Gives authenticity to the message
• Feedback is important, it provides you with valuable information about what they like and what they not

Axe is one brand which has always been at the forefront of web experience. They have always managed to keep visitors engaged.

Nike is another brand which offers a similar experience. TicTac in USA is another good example.

Marketers in India are truly experimenting in the virtual which is a good sign. Well, will someone also try experimenting in the real world, please?