Browsing category

Ad or Mad

Advaniji goes further aggressive on digital medium!

February 5, 2009

I had earlier written about Advaniji getting net savvy and his portal www.lkadvani.in. But looks like humare neta, Advaniji toh internet space mein super aggressive ho rahe hai :D. Ah he is not leaving any stone unturned to reach out the online Indian citizens. Here are some developments which I observed recently from Advaniji and his campaign promotion teamJ

  • Blog: Like everybody and anybody on this earth, even L.K. Advani has decided to have his presence on blogosphere. His blog http://blog.lkadvani.in/ got launched in Jan’09 & supposedly Mr. Advani is blogging personally on this space. Well, posts are good but don’t think he is writing it himself. Fan following of his blog seems to be ok with each post having on an average 100+ comments. No, I don’t mean 100+ comments is less but kya karein, celebs like BigB and Aamir Khan have set a very high bench-mark for popular personality blogs with each of their posts receiving on an average 1000+ comments.
  • Online Advertisement / SEM: Oh this was truly a surprise for me, I noticed 2-3 sites as well as Google sponsored search displaying L.K.Advani portal ads. And yeah quite an extensive keyword listing they have done for these ads, you type any election related keyword & you get to see these ads. Impressive isn’t it?

lkadvani_website

  • Emailer campaigns: Personally I have not received this email but one of my associates was mentioning that after pre-recorded voices now people are doing email blasts as part of political advertising. He received an email with subject as invitation from L.K.Advani to visit his portal www.lkadvani.in

Well, I am neither a big supporter of BJP nor I am active into Indian Politics scenario. Most of the times I find it to be so dirty that I prefer to have my involvement limited to reading or watching just headlines and that too not because of any interest but only to be updated about the latest happenings. Having said that, I do find this initiative of BJP a good move and sort of positive change in Indian Politics. At least they are trying to connect to the newer generation; at least they are taking some effort to reach out to educated mass. Wondering if it is Obama effect or the Social media effect on his campaign management team but whatever it is, I must say it is a welcome change J.

Movie Marketing : Promotion “By Chance”

January 31, 2009

As I always say movie marketers are getting innovative day by day in India. Now here are some interesting marketing initiatives which have created quite some buzz esp. in Mumbai for the movie “Luck By Chance”. The production house has directly handled the marketing campaign of this movie and they have launched online as well as offline properties to create an overall impact.

·         Apart from regular reality show presence, production house has created an offline reality property known as “Auto By Chance”. They have branded auto rickshaws in Mumbai with “Luck By Chance” theme and anybody who spots any of these autos gets a free ride anywhere in Mumbai free of cost! Wow, so time for Mumbaikars to get lucky J. They have also branded some bus shelters as well as local trains in Mumbai with the movie theme. One lucky winner of “Auto by Chance” promotion will be interviewed live on Big FM. (Image Source: TOI)

TOI

·         The movie has also created good visibility in online space through different contests and promotions on many portals but what is again different is this online game property known as “Luck by Chance – Lucky Break” on zapak.com. You can choose your identity as any of the actors of the movie and play this luck game. Nice game it is from a promotion point of view and lucky winners get to win some prizes as well.

As per me, they have taken a good integrated marketing approach. Let’s see how lucky this movie gets at BO. Personally speaking I’ve been waiting for this movie for long esp. after watching Rock On and I would have anyways gone to see the movie in theater even if there was no promotion for this movie at all. Yeah, I think that’s the aftereffect of “Rock On” on me J. But from initial reactions it looks like Farhan Akhtar has gone second time lucky in his acting stint as movie has received positive response across theaters.

Gajodhar: New viral campaign

December 29, 2008

Got a mailer from Makemytrip with subject – Worldwide premier of Gajodhar…before time! The first look itself gave a very clear impression that it is some spoof on much-awaited movie Ghajini. Watched the film and found it to be funny! It’s a viral campaign of www.oktatabyebye.com (travel community of Makemytrip) and as most of the other virals of Makemytrip, this also is done by Webchutney.

 

The film shows a character Gajodhar who is out on a holiday and has a very different rather weird way of noting down all his experiences. Whatever he experiences like “room achcha hai”, “food is good” etc. he gets those tattooed on his body in a nearby tattoo shop. At the end of his holiday, he comes back and copies all those experiences on www.oktatabyebye.com. I liked it but honestly speaking didn’t like it as much as other viral campaigns of Webchutney. Well, maybe my expectation bar has been raised a lot as far as funny viral films from Webchutney are concerned. No, it’s not bad but found it to be bit dragging and elements to be repetitive.  But what is good about this viral is the timing (well what you can call as chance pe dance karna J) – currently everybody is caught with this Ghajini fever and hence this whole Ghajini look and feel and spoof on tattoo will definitely raise some curiosity and garb attention of viewers. Secondly it’s a holiday season and considering Oktatabybye is not that popular till now, I think it’s really good to be reminded of such site during this holiday season. Anyways many people write about their travel experiences in blogs, travelogues etc., and if told about a dedicated travel community portal in an interesting way along with a review writing contest announcement wherein one can win vouchers, cameras etc, I’m sure people would like to explore the portal further. I think this viral will work for the portal in getting some more eyeballs.

 

In case you have not seen it till now, you can click on the following image to have a look:

 

img1

Pappu Vote Nahi Karta: Delhi Elections 2008

November 26, 2008

While surfing some news channel yesterday, got a glimpse of the ad, “Pappu Vote Nahi Karta”. It’s a film by Elections Commission to attract voters for its Delhi Election on 29th November’08. Somehow it caught my attention as it was sort of different from the normal government or political campaigns. Instead of being preachy it was bit youthful, instead of being drab it was bit catchy and instead of looking like those same old social awareness government ads it looked bit new. Maybe it was that very famous song “Pappu can’t dance” or the animation or those vibrant color schemes or that last sentence – Delhi’s latest fashion statement, which made it look so. And the ad was clearly targeted towards youth. Well, looks like all the political advertisements this year are targeted towards the younger crowd and first time voters.

Low voter count has been a big problem in most of the elections and it’s mostly the current generation youngsters who don’t bother about voting and such elections at all. In fact, as per a recent statistics, voter count has seen a steep declining curve in last few years – in 1993, approx 66 per cent of the electorate voted for the state’s first assembly in Delhi. In 1998, the percentage went down drastically to only 49!!!  And in 2003, it declined further with only 47 per cent voting in the third assembly election. Let’s see what’s the count in 2008? With campaigns like “Pappu”, which is not only being shown in television rather at important public places in delhi, Election Commission hopes to get a higher voter turnout on 29th Nov’08. It’s good to see youth targeted and newer kinda messages from Electoral Officer and hope to see some increased % of voters this time in Delhi. Those who have not seen this film can check it out here:

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=crnJw938TFo]

Youtube link in case the film is not opening here: http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=crnJw938TFo

Aaj Ka Arjun: Sulekha.com

November 19, 2008

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UPtfEkl_o]

I got this link from one of my professional acquaintances. The mail said it’s a new viral campaign from Sulekha.com. Hmmm, new viral and I immediately clicked the link. First reaction – I liked it! Looked interesting and easy to understand at the first glance itself. Presentation also was different, very unlike from the normal illustrations, cartoons and caricatures used in most of the virals these days. And the message gets communicated quite clearly. They have used a form of art to present the characters. This film titled “Aaj Ka Arjun” is showing today’s generation Arjun who is hassled but manages to get everything done at one click of arrow. Till end they don’t show the source where his arrows are targeted and from where he is managing to get everything done. The film ends with Arjun and his whole family targeting the same source and the source is Sulkeha. Quite a catchy way of showing everything happening at a click J.

But then came the surprise when I got to read it in one of the official releases that this is not a viral rather it’s a television commercial for Sulekha which will be aired soon on channels. They have released the commercial in digital medium first to see the reaction of users before airing it fully on television. Well, I’m not sure if the same creative can work for television medium as well. I have seen a 2 min version of this viral film which by any standard is a long duration for television commercial and I’m not sure if they are going to air the full or edited version of the same. If they are going to edit the film and show it in parts then I don’t think the impact will be same. To me this looks more like a digital film than a television commercial but then you never know what can work in Indian market considering the diversity of taste and preferences of Indian consumers. I for sure would be keen to observe how this film takes its course further. Overall the film surely grabbed my attention and I forwarded it to some of my friends too J

Aaj Ka Arjun: Sulekha.com

November 19, 2008

This film titled “Aaj Ka Arjun” is showing today’s generation Arjun who is hassled but manages to get everything done at one click of arrow. Till end they don’t show the source where his arrows are targeted and from where he is managing to get everything done. The film ends with Arjun and his whole family targeting the same source and the source is Sulkeha. Quite a catchy way of showing everything happening at a click :-). Read More At Marketing Chit-Chat…

Airtel Digital TV Ad

October 13, 2008

Guess BigTV got a nice answer of spoofing Airtel’s teaser by this new ad of Airtel Digital TV. Well, if I have to describe this ad in one word, I will say it’s BIG, it gives the impression of being big, being colossal. What an irony, isn’t it? BigTV kept on insisting “Ho toh BIG ho” through different creatives and through different properties…but the imagery of being big got very subtly and beautifully established by Airtel with just one television commercial featuring 10 popular celebrities! And the interesting noticeable point was that the celebrities are not used as endorsers rather they are shown as representative of different properties of the product. After a long time I think celebrities have been utilized in a very interesting and different way, else most of the ads these days just take celebrities for the sake of featuring celebrities and there are quite some examples of multi-starrer ads where not even one celebrity was required. But in this ad, the celebrities totally fit in the concept and the message gets communicated clearly. If I’m not wrong this is the first Indian ad featuring 10 popular celebrities.

The ad features a normal guy Rahul who is being welcomed as soon as he is out of Airport with “Welcome Rahul” board, it shows some Kathakalli dancers, then Sudha Chandran in her “K” serial avatar, comedy icon Raju Srivastava, youth icon VJ Ranvir, some cartoon characters, movie celebrities like Vidya Balan & Madhavan, sports stars – Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, then sizzling Kareena Kapoor opening door for him at his home, A.R.Rahman on piano and finally Saif Ali Khan waiting in his living room, all these characters having only message “Welcome Rahul”, come home to the magic. Wonderful execution! All these celebrities representing different genres and varied categories give a well-structured impression of WHOLESEOME ENTERTAINMENT & COMPLETE FUN. Here is the youtube link for those who have not seen the ad till now:

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xd5qQgIrLo]

Overall, I liked the central theme as well as the execution style of the ad. And guess the whole effort of picking up Red Sofa by BigTV resulted nothing as in its main advertising, Airtel has not used that Sofa at all 🙂. Good work by JWT! Now lets see if next ad from BigTV is a spoof on “Welcome Rahul” :O

BTW just an afterthought – I’m wondering why these two new DTH players are competing against only each other (atleast in advertisements) and not with the already established players like Tata Sky and DishTV?

Airtel Digital TV Ad

October 13, 2008

Well, if I have to describe this ad in one word, I will say it’s BIG, it gives the impression of being big, being colossal. What an irony, isn’t it? BigTV kept on insisting “Ho toh BIG ho” through different creatives and through different properties…but the imagery of being big got very subtly and beautifully established by Airtel with just one television commercial featuring 10 popular celebrities! And the interesting noticeable point was that the celebrities are not used as endorsers rather they are shown as representative of different properties of the product. Read More…

Link to my full post: http://marketingchitchat.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/airtel-digital-tv-ad/