Pappu Vote Nahi Karta: Delhi Elections 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

Oh Award for my blog!!!

Thanks Sindhu for giving me this award…:-) In fact this is the 1st award for my this blogspot blog, so all the more special for me. And yeah getting a blog award just like that is definitely a very sweet and pleasant surprise. Now I need to follow these rules if I have to accept them!

Put the logo on your blog
Link the person who awarded it to you
Link the bloggers you are about to honor

Hmmm if I would have got this from someone else I would have definitely passed it on to Sindhu as her blog is really the coolest and my favorite one :-). And next in my list would have been Nautankey. But it’s through these two chains only that I got this award. So, let me pass this on to some of other blogs which I think are really cool:
So, here I pass on this award to:
Rhett: For those lovely and soulful poems!
Abhishek: For his cool blog where I hang out often
Chhavi: For those lovely pics and such a cool photoblog!
Clap Clap Clap for the new recipients. May I request all three of you to accept this award please?

SMS Marketing or Bombarding?

Yesterday I attended a session on “Mobile Marketing and its immense concealed potential in India”. While I agree to some of the points and as a marketer I am absolutely aware of the potential and different channels of mobile marketing in India but when it comes to execution I can’t help myself from heaving a frustrated sigh on this term known as “Mobile Marketing”. I will not go into deeper details of why and what, I will just cite few examples of my recent experiences with one of the most basic tools of Mobile Marketing which is SMS based promotions:

  • Date: 23rd Nov’08. Sender: Orange Holidays. Text of the SMS:
    • FREE LCD on booking today to Bangkok / S’Pore / Malaysia / Dubai @ 2500 including Airfare, Stay, B’fst, S’seeing. Taxes Extra. FREQUENCY of this SMS: Got the same message 4 times in 45 minutes! Well, it’s from Orange and it had to be this loud I guess.

 

  • Date: 24th Nov’08. Sender: 12900. Text of the SMS:
    • Searching for a Friend?? Call 12900 & say MUJHSE DOSTI KAROGE to make New Friends. FREQUENCY of this SMS: 2 every day for almost 1 week now! Wish there could have been a short code to reply and I would have replied: NO NO NO! Mujhe kisi se dosti nahi karna hai!!! Huh, what a wrong targeting, age as well as profile wise!

 

  • Date: 24th Nov’08. Sender: Some unknown number. Text of the SMS:
    • Kerala Holiday packages, House Boats, Tree House, MUNNAR, Backwater / Beach resorts/ Taxis.CNT-elaecoland.com. FREQUENCY of this SMS: 7, yes 7 in 1.5 hours!!!

 

  • Date: X, Y, Z…1,2,3 (list is so huge that I’ve lost the count). Sender: Airtel. Text of the SMS:
    • Are you aware of your Mobile rates on Roaming? On your rateplan, roaming & local calls cost the same! Receive / make calls while roaming across India at Re 1/min. FREQUENCY of the SMS: Phew!!! Infinite I guess… including 2 reaching me at 2 and 2:30 am in the morning! Now how am I supposed to react??? I just wanna tell Airtel guys that not only I am aware rather by now I have remembered this SMS by heart, thanks to the non-stop bombardment from your side!

 

  • Date: 24th Nov’08. Sender: WIN. Text of the SMS:
    • WIN WIN WIN! Answer this simple question & take home 1 kg of gold and a brand new FORD IKON car! SMS A or B to this blah blah blah number. FREQUENCY of this SMS: Infinite, trust me infinite times on my Tata Indicom number. Oh, how I wish winning 1 kg of gold would have been so simple as these crap SMSes show. Gawdddd I see a WIN as first word and immediately press DELETE! I DO NOT want to get the same moron question everyday and neither I wanna win a ford ikon or 1 kg of gold at all!!!

Well, these are just few of the SMSes which I received in last two days, not to mention that while I was attending this session on mobile marketing, I received not 1 or 2 rather 11 promo SMSes. I as a customer am so distressed with such SMS barrage that most of the time my only reflex reaction with these SMSes is DELETE! I had earlier also written about Fate of SMS Marketing and with increasing instances of such forced SMS nuisances I can’t stop myself from expressing my distress yet again. I really doubt on the so called potential of this mobile marketing in India. Isn’t this marketing channel getting over-abused the same way as email marketing in India?  Don’t you think that not only content of such promotion lacks innovation but execution needs some serious attention as well? We are anyways listed as one of the top email spammers in the world, I’m wondering when we are going to top the list of SMS spams as well!

 

SMS Marketing or Bombarding?

Yesterday I attended a session on “Mobile Marketing and its immense concealed potential in India”. While I agree to some of the points and as a marketer I am absolutely aware of the potential and different channels of mobile marketing in India but when it comes to execution I can’t help myself from heaving a frustrated sigh on this term known as “Mobile Marketing”. I will not go into deeper details of why and what, I will just cite few examples of my recent experiences with one of the most basic tools of Mobile Marketing which is SMS based promotions. Read More At Marketing Chit-Chat…

Aaj Ka Arjun: Sulekha.com

[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

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…

DOSTANA: A Laughter Riot!

With this new product launch on my head, weekend was again a working one 🙁 (God, when will it get launched completely!!!) and but obvious choice to unwind for us was MOVIES. Watched two movies over the weekend – Closer on a DVD on Saturday night followed by Dostana on Sunday in theater. So, shall I start with Closer as I watched that first? No, I think let me start with Dostana…well I know not many people have liked the movie (few of my colleagues in fact HATED it) but honestly speaking I liked it! Yeah I can see some frowns raising but I seriously think it’s at least a one-time watch. First half of the movie in fact was hilarious; we just couldn’t stop participating in the laugh riot in theater. The story is of two guys Abhishek and John who say that they are a gay couple in order to stay as tenants in Priyanka’s apartment which otherwise would not have been possible to get as Priyanka has got an aunty who wants her baby (Priyanka) to stay with only babies and not babas :-)…Rest I will not reveal as that’s for you to go and watch in theater :-).


I think this has to be Abhishek’s one of the best attempts at comedy, some of the scenes like that Venice scene or the one with Boman Irani was too funny! Priyanka looked cool and John looked hot. This year definitely is of Priyanka Chopra with not one – two rather 6 releases in last 6 months! First 4 doomed at box office but I’m sure Fashion and Dostana are going to be hits of the year. Now whatever be the fate of her movies but the lady definitely looks glam and absolutely gorgeous these days! Second half of the movie was bit boring and some of the scenes looked dragging but still it was bearable except for that gay kissing scene…Ummm that was bit too much and the rationale behind the scene was not at all justified. Though I do have a major complaint about one of the aspects of the movie – the movie plays with child psychology which influences the most important decisions of central protagonists but at the end they don’t show anything about the issue at all. John and Abhishek manipulate Veer’s (Bobby’s son) innocent mind to influence Bobby’s decision of marrying Priyanka and they actually succeed in their manipulations but at the end they didn’t show anything about that important issue and about that kid at all! Rest of the actors like Kirron Kher, Sushmita Mukherjee are as usual good. Music of the movie is ok and hummable with my favorites being “Jaane Kyun…” and “Maula…”. And I agree to Karan Johar’s statement which says it’s a HAPPY & GAY movie, yeah there is this gay angle to the movie but its shown in a very different way. Over all the movie was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anybody who is willing for a light flick with some insane and real crazy moments.

Other Details of the movie:

  • Duration of the movie: 3 hour +
  • Best to watch it with: Spouse / Partner or Friends. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT watch it with Kids or Parents at all. No kids as they won’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks and no parents as they can’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks 🙂
  • Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher, Boman Irani, Sushmita Mukherjee
  • Director: Tarun Mansukhani
  • My Rating: 3/5 (good)

I think I will end with Dostana and will leave Closer for my next post later.

Don’t know why?

I was talking to this colleague friend of mine who said “why am I so silent these days? Is it introspection or is it sadness?” And my answer was, “silent? Nahi toh”. He again asked, “you don’t seem to be in your lively mood for past few days and I simply shook my head, “pata nahi yaar.” He smiled and replied “if you are introspecting, it’s ok. Maybe another great idea is going to come out of your mind and if you’re sad then too it’s ok as one cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often, so it’s good to be sad sometimes”. This quote from Erich Fromm was like a soother for me today.

Hmmm I think it’s one of those phases when nothing seems to be right in life, when optimism looks like a theoretical word, when your rational brain goes for a toss, when despite good things happening to you at work you don’t feel like working, when you find all this race of career, life and money worthless, when even small things upset you a lot, when despite your immense patience level you don’t feel like tolerating certain people and certain circumstances, when hope seems to be a far cry, when everything around you looks just so irritable, when even if you try you can’t find the reason of your sadness…ah my “when” list seems to be a never ending one, so better I should put a stop here. Well, I think it’s just another bad day when certain things have triggered me into my gloomy and contemplative mood and all I want to do is just be silent! Wondering if I’m tired or is it just my one of those cancerian mood swings? Whatever it is, I hope something good happens and this phase ends soon…

Political Advertising: Advaniji on web!

Just last week itself, I wrote about Political Advertising in India for 2009 elections and here comes another surprise of the same. Now after celebrities it’s the turn of Politicians looking up to the mighty web world. Joining the league is none other than L.K. Advani whose website http://www.lkadvani.in/ got launched on his 81st birthday on 8th Nov’08. BJP launched this website for their Prime Minister candidate Advani with an objective to reach out to the young and first time voters in India. As per BJP, this is the first website of its kind by an Indian Political party and is yet another step towards reinforcing the forward looking and futuristic attitude of their party.

The site opens up with an intro note and welcome message by L.K. Advani and is available in two different languages – Hindi and English. It’s an interactive website with loads of photos, videos, speeches and forums wherein visitors can participate and post their comment / suggestion / grievances. Overall the site looks neat and very 2.0 types except for the first landing page after home page. I think it’s too boxy, maybe they could have used some tabs and made it less cluttered. But content wise I liked the site. In fact to be honest I never expected it to be this deep esp. their “issues” blog section…quite nice and interesting posts there, though I think there should have been a section for users’ comments on each of these posts in order to make it truly interactive. I’m sure they have not allowed comments to avoid nuances and mud-slinging by opposition parties but then if you want it be interactive you need to provide the facility of comments and expressions, see some cool examples of Bollywood celebs like Big B or Aamir Khan. The forums allow posting and comments but as of today I don’t see much participation from external people over there. The home page content is definitely getting updated as I can see a difference between yesterday’s and today’s content, have a look at the scrn-shot:

lkadvani

Overall a neat website and considering the fact that most of the first time and young voters are digital natives it’s definitely a good step and modern approach towards reaching out to Indian youth. It’s good to know that Indian Prime Minister candidates are going high-tech, but wondering is it their own thought or is it Obama effect 🙂?

Also my fundamental question about Political Advertising in India remains the same – is it worth spending so much money before the elections in communication campaigns when most of the Indians know the realities of Indian Political scenario? It’s good to see such interactive platforms getting launched but is BJP going to take any step to solve the real-time issues or grievances being posted on the website or will these just remain as comment counters to prove that the website was a successful strategy with X number of comments and Y number of hits in Z number of days? Will it actually help in a building a “Strong, Prosperous and Self-Confident India” or will it end in just being yet another marketing gimmick?

 

 

Political Advertising: Advaniji on web!

Just last week itself, I wrote about Political Advertising in India for 2009 elections and here comes another surprise of the same. Now after celebrities it’s the turn of Politicians looking up to the mighty web world. Joining the league is none other than L.K. Advani whose website http://www.lkadvani.in/ got launched on his 81st birthday on 8th Nov’08. BJP launched this website for their Prime Minister candidate Advani with an objective to reach out to the young and first time voters in India. Read More At Marketing Chit-Chat…