SpiceJet pregnant!

Take a quick glance at this ad first. 



A woman making a pregnancy announcement? That's what I thought too! One thing is the model's posture and add to that the red box and the megaphone! 

This is a problem when the agency/client refuses to think beyond the corporate colours. One glance at the ad should have told them to change the colour of the red box. 

Dentsu Marcomm, please see the ads you create before sending them out! 

Just for fun: Did you notice the 'On Time Guarantee' mnemonic on the top right, right above the megaphone!?

Naseeruddin Shah Wasted!

Just in case you haven't seen this ad, please do before you read on. 



Now, tell me something, half way through the ad, what did you think the ad was for? Do you have the habit of guessing what ads are for? I do. Going by the colours, music, actors, dialogue (monologue, here) etc, I really thought it was a surrogate for a liquor brand. Some scotch perhaps! 

You thought so too? Well, It's not your fault. The treatment of the ad is exactly like that. 

Such a dark ad for a financial services company!! Are they referring to our futures (as clients)? ;-) 

Looking at Bajaj Finserv's logo, I would assume that the house colours would be blue and white. So why does the ad show only shades of grey? Why could they not have shot the same ad in bright sunlight? It would have reflected the brand values better and given consumers some confidence!

Plus, I'm sick of stupid word play. 'Would history have remembered Alexander the Good?' Has history remembered Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu? No!!! Because she was known to the world as Mother Teresa. Come on guys, heroes are always described using extreme superlatives. There's nothing more to it! If Alexander was known as 'Alexander the Good', the world would have remembered it that way. Period. 

Way off the mark O&M, Mumbai! I'm surprised! I would have thought it was some amateur agency! 

The sad little Marrybrown logo

Marrybrown was established in the 20th century. Sounds like history? Well at least the logo looks exactly that. The Marrybrown logo has undergone no change whatsoever ever since the fast food chain's launch in 1981. 

I'll now let you in on a secret. One of the many on how agencies make the kind of money they do. The first thing every (well, almost) new agency wants to change is the logo. Every time! (Read this as an opportunity to change every single marketing collateral already created and in use! Don't forget the billing!) Everything else comes later. Trust the agency guys to come up with compelling reasons. What's the connection? All I'm trying to say is that this sad little logo hasn't even got that opportunity.

Consider competition now. See how the other logos have evolved

I'm definitely not advocating a change in logo every whatever years. But styles change, new types are created every day. Different combinations of styles, colours and types are in vogue at different times. If you do not change with the times, all the best! Or should I say, best of luck? 

Grow up guys! Do something about your logo!

Disclaimer (I told you I'm habituated to adding disclaimers!): 

All the pictures used are just taken from the internet. Thank you wikipedia.org, famouslogos.us and ksdesignblog.blogspot.com. 

Kareena ad featuring a Jag!

Why the hell will you use a celebrity to sell a premium luxury saloon!! 

I was always under the impression that you target the aspirational buyer using celebrities. A car that costs 92 lakhs is no way bought by the aspirers! And if you think you can make a man spend 92 lakhs showing Kareena, I'm sorry, you have no clue about the consumer's mind. 

And BTW, the ad shows more Kareena than the car. Looks like the car is just incidental.

You completely lost it Spark44, London!




How do you sell a premium saloon? See this ad for Audi A6.

▶ Union Bank of India 2014 ad

Are good ads becoming rare nowadays? Most often I'm left with a 'Kuch Bhi??!!' feeling. I'm sure you can relate to that. 

Here's a good one that's running on TV now. This TVC is part of a 5-ad campaign featuring a family headed by veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor. 

This is not the first ad of the campaign, but doesn't matter! The ad shows the family at a jewelry shop. It is debatable if such a retired father would take his wife to TBZ Jewellers! The ad opens with the wife trying out necklaces and Pankaj trying to manipulate her choice keeping in mind his budget. The son who realizes this takes his phone and transfers money into the father's account. The father gets a message on his phone saying that money has been deposited. The father immediately understands what has happened and looks at his son in an absolutely touching shot. I'll let you see for yourself rather than typing all these words!

The slice of life ad has no excesses, no 'ewws', and leaves nothing imcomplete.

Congratulations DDB Mudra, good job! 

Say Hello!

I'm not entirely sure how many other blogs like this there are and so I'm not promising any path-breaking exclusivity. But I can assure you that I did search for similar themes and I didn't come across many. 

You might wonder if I didn't find anything else to write about; here's some background dope.  I have been actively following the advertising scene for the last 16 years, a considerable part (10 years) of which I was an entrepreneur running an advertising and brand consulting firm. I currently am pursuing my passion to teach in one of India's finest B-Schools.

If you are still wondering what the connect is, think of me writing a blog on stock market investments!

It has become a habit now after creating thousands of ads to put an asterisk and say 'Conditions Apply'. So, some disclaimers. 
1. The views expressed here are my own, however close to or far from reality they are.
2. The idea is not to promote or put down any brand, company or agency. The blog simply records what I feel about advertisements, logos, jingles etc. 
3. Language is just a medium for communication and I strongly believe that no more importance be given to it. If poets are allowed poetic licence, then I should be allowed what I call creative licence. You will therefore find a lot of unorthodox adjectives, combination of words etc. (I'm sure you would have realized that already!)

Having said all this, Happy Journey! And hopefully it will be!