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Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Rahul Ki Life Badalni Padegi
After writing about a couple of great adverts, I just thought I'd flip. So here's a TVC, which in my view, would surely win the 'Advertising is a Joke' Award, had there been one. And I am sure that the agency, Percept, will still be happy to get an award, doesn't matter which one.
Watch this one and laugh out loud for all the wrong reasons.
Let's start the autopsy now. The commercial starts with Deepika consoling her friend, Rahul, on the phone (notice the thrills, courtesy: terrible background score) and then telling us how 'non-happening' is his friend's life. Non-happening?? Yeah. And then the viewer is introduced to what it means.
Situation 1: Playing a board game with his younger bro, and his younger bro complaining that Rahul never plays video games with him. You little poor kid, why did you sit with your elder bro with some board game in the first place. So that you can whine during the advert???
Situation 2: Girlfriend complaining that Rahul never shows her any movie. Madam, get a life. If your idea of spending time with your boyfriend is watching a movie on a cell phone, then he has all reasons to be 'non-happening' (arghh, i hate this word!)
Situation 3: Office, boss, tum kab sudhroge Rahul
Situation 4: Friends, party, let's go friends, he's so boring
BSNL 3G to the rescue..dhen ten den..it really changed his life, and mmm, should I say made it 'happening'. And hey, we didn't know that spectacled people get a pair of contact lens with every connection - may be that's why they used that ugly blue ribboned box.
The advert neither communicates to urban crowd, nor to rural junta. Terrible performances. Equally terrible score. Worse story boarding. And I can go on and on. Overall, one of the worst adverts I have come across in recent times.
@BSNL: Logon ki life badalne se pehle apni agency badlo !! It's time for you to wake up, like one of your PSU siblings, SBI, did to some extent.
Watch this one and laugh out loud for all the wrong reasons.
Let's start the autopsy now. The commercial starts with Deepika consoling her friend, Rahul, on the phone (notice the thrills, courtesy: terrible background score) and then telling us how 'non-happening' is his friend's life. Non-happening?? Yeah. And then the viewer is introduced to what it means.
Situation 1: Playing a board game with his younger bro, and his younger bro complaining that Rahul never plays video games with him. You little poor kid, why did you sit with your elder bro with some board game in the first place. So that you can whine during the advert???
Situation 2: Girlfriend complaining that Rahul never shows her any movie. Madam, get a life. If your idea of spending time with your boyfriend is watching a movie on a cell phone, then he has all reasons to be 'non-happening' (arghh, i hate this word!)
Situation 3: Office, boss, tum kab sudhroge Rahul
Situation 4: Friends, party, let's go friends, he's so boring
BSNL 3G to the rescue..dhen ten den..it really changed his life, and mmm, should I say made it 'happening'. And hey, we didn't know that spectacled people get a pair of contact lens with every connection - may be that's why they used that ugly blue ribboned box.
The advert neither communicates to urban crowd, nor to rural junta. Terrible performances. Equally terrible score. Worse story boarding. And I can go on and on. Overall, one of the worst adverts I have come across in recent times.
@BSNL: Logon ki life badalne se pehle apni agency badlo !! It's time for you to wake up, like one of your PSU siblings, SBI, did to some extent.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs...
Then
Never kill the goose that lays golden eggs.
Now
Kill the goose.
Extract the last litter of golden eggs left in her stomach.
Divide her flesh into a thousand tiny portions.
Sell every portion, at a premium, claiming to turn consumers' normal geese into golden ones (the wow! factor).
Auction all but one egg from the last litter at a super premium.
Retire to some exotic place with a ton of bucks and the last golden egg.
Never kill the goose that lays golden eggs.
Now
Kill the goose.
Extract the last litter of golden eggs left in her stomach.
Divide her flesh into a thousand tiny portions.
Sell every portion, at a premium, claiming to turn consumers' normal geese into golden ones (the wow! factor).
Auction all but one egg from the last litter at a super premium.
Retire to some exotic place with a ton of bucks and the last golden egg.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Rosy miss ka doggy mar gaya...
A take on yet another brilliant advert. But first, kudos to the person/agency behind the idea which changed Surf Excel forever - Stains Are Good. An idea which is one of the best living testimonies to the concept of 'brand re-invention'. An idea which leaves almost nothing for competitors to exploit. An idea which, besides changing the brand, changes the category dynamics as a whole.
The Indian avatar of the idea continues to impress consumers and critics alike. And the latest in series depicts the story about a school teacher who is upset over the death of her dog, and how stains bring a smile to her face. The story is touching and the music is nice. The kid who plays the lead in the advert is too good with weird sounds and expressions, and it seems that he's actually having a ball in the mud. Cute.
Daag Achhe Hain, and so is this advert. Enjoy.
The Indian avatar of the idea continues to impress consumers and critics alike. And the latest in series depicts the story about a school teacher who is upset over the death of her dog, and how stains bring a smile to her face. The story is touching and the music is nice. The kid who plays the lead in the advert is too good with weird sounds and expressions, and it seems that he's actually having a ball in the mud. Cute.
Daag Achhe Hain, and so is this advert. Enjoy.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
DCS
What do McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Shoppers Stop & Crossword have in common? A difficult question to answer unless you visit them all. I did, and the answer is Dwindling Customer Service.
A coke-float served in MacDonald's comes loaded with a hair strand, and when it's pointed out to the store manager, the manager says sorry. Period. I ask him to give me a feedback form, and he takes full 10 minutes to find one and hand it over. The form says "Did we make you smile today?". Nevermind. I send a mail to the email address given on the form which results in absolutely nothing.
Over to Pizza Hut. Placed my order and asked for water. Nothing happens. The salad and lemonade is served and I ask for water again. The salad is stale and when pointed out to the store manager, he safely assumes that it is my first trip to Pizza Hut and says that the salad is like this, all the time. To prove his point, he asks the waiter to bring another portion of the same salad and asks us to compare both. When the fresh portion arrives which is actually fresh and how it should be, the manager is nowhere in sight.
The water hasn't arrived yet, by the way. It comes while I am about to finish my pizza and is normal, opposed to cold as was requested. Serving normal water (in some cases, even hot) is a normal practice in Cafe Coffee Day, since they primarily want to sell beverages. But here, ordering a lemonade even before asking for water and not being served the same for half an hour is beyond layman understanding.
Similar experiences at Shoppers Stop and Crossword indicate that DCS is not about a couple of stores but a much wider phenomenon than one would normally expect. Has it got something to do with the recessionary times? Is it linked to some kind of a realization that Indian consumers are not used to a high level of customer service anyways?
Or this is just a part of the normal evolutionary cycle wherein new businesses will spring up to exploit such white-spaces and develop those into competitive advantages! And over the years create those white-spaces again. I wonder...
A coke-float served in MacDonald's comes loaded with a hair strand, and when it's pointed out to the store manager, the manager says sorry. Period. I ask him to give me a feedback form, and he takes full 10 minutes to find one and hand it over. The form says "Did we make you smile today?". Nevermind. I send a mail to the email address given on the form which results in absolutely nothing.
Over to Pizza Hut. Placed my order and asked for water. Nothing happens. The salad and lemonade is served and I ask for water again. The salad is stale and when pointed out to the store manager, he safely assumes that it is my first trip to Pizza Hut and says that the salad is like this, all the time. To prove his point, he asks the waiter to bring another portion of the same salad and asks us to compare both. When the fresh portion arrives which is actually fresh and how it should be, the manager is nowhere in sight.
The water hasn't arrived yet, by the way. It comes while I am about to finish my pizza and is normal, opposed to cold as was requested. Serving normal water (in some cases, even hot) is a normal practice in Cafe Coffee Day, since they primarily want to sell beverages. But here, ordering a lemonade even before asking for water and not being served the same for half an hour is beyond layman understanding.
Similar experiences at Shoppers Stop and Crossword indicate that DCS is not about a couple of stores but a much wider phenomenon than one would normally expect. Has it got something to do with the recessionary times? Is it linked to some kind of a realization that Indian consumers are not used to a high level of customer service anyways?
Or this is just a part of the normal evolutionary cycle wherein new businesses will spring up to exploit such white-spaces and develop those into competitive advantages! And over the years create those white-spaces again. I wonder...
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