Ad Agency Thinking

Disclaimer : This aerial snap-shot is not entirely true for all the ad agencies except the ones that are dying from the inside...LOL

Small Big Idea

The soon to be launched in Mumbai - the all woman Taxi service!!This woman's brain child!!

Nostalgia Brand

Neo went to a birthday party...And got these Camlin Flora pencils in his 'khoi bag'- the goody bag which kids get(I hope I got the name right...)

Hey Meraj, these Camlin Flora pencils haven't changed since I was a kid and that guys was almost BC LOL

I tried stealing some of the pencils...Neo kept thwarting my efforts...

Just a thought - it's such an un-explored area in India - the creation of Nostalgia brands...Is there a big enough market for them?

Cars, music systems(Imagine launching a really retro-cool Murphy radio with the calendar FREE!!) or Binaca toothpaste with the plastic small toys only for 30+ guys...LOL

Guess age is catching up with me...sigh

Last Mile Stories

These days many agency conversations are about the last mile...Many theories, some obvious stuff power-pointed as 'gyan' by last mile experts and lots of CRM and technology...

But in the end last mile in retail is left to the store managers, the sales staff, the durbaan and the stink-quotient of the store loo:-)

Some last mile experiences I had in the last one month.The first was this message in the loo of a home decorations store in Andheri...A small detail but it lifted the last mile score(LMS)to near 100!!Next was this 'saunf' and 'chat-pati goli' tray at Papa Panchos. After an otherwise very ordinary lunch, I was willing to give an LMS of 70! As a culture, I have experienced Indians to be quite forgiving whenever bad service meets genuinine apology.(Lesson- you can get away with bad food, as long as the saunf/ pan/ meethi goli is great!!)And this was an LCD screen at a bar in Singapore(Pink Elephant or some such name...) which kept on displaying sexually loaded jokes( some good, some PJs)a brilliant idea but since the number of looped jokes were limited, it became a blind spot and an irritant after some time. LMS = 35!!

Mental note: Keep collecting these last mile samples...Will come handy one day:-)
Anyone, any last mile experience to share??

The Rules of Mallvertising

Was at the Inorbit mall, Malad the other day...Saw one of those increasingly ubiquitous LCD screens - some in-your-face locations, others tucked in corners...

Had some thoughts and observations on the increasingly relevant subject of Mallvertising!

1. Treat them as more electronic hoardings than TVCs.Which means LARGE FONTS, clutter free, very less copy and visually engaging....Lets not forget the LCD screen is nestled in a Mall environ with many more distractions!

2. From WIIFM to WIIFMN. That's What's in it for me NOW? Saw couple of TVCs playing on the LCD screen . Would have preferred to see where the SALE is, which store on which floor has a new range, any contests, promotions, trial offers...
Last mile communication must be about WIIFMNOW...

3. Mute Check. Another test that we could subject our messages to, is to see if they are comprehensible on 'mute'. The Mall has it's own decibel level and the LCD messaging might get lost unless it is 'Mute-Checked'.

4. It may make more sense to model the last mile communication on Cinema Slides.. Focussed, fast and 3-sec long(not 30sec).

5. Think catchment not catch-phrase.Related to points 1 & 2 above.
Slogans, what's the big idea, brand propositions could be suspended at the mall. It's a different buyer mind-set that we are looking at. In a hurry, the mood being part-indulgent-part-VFM.

Although I hate the word - eye-balls, Mallvertising is made more difficult as we are addressing travelling eye-balls! And the last thing people need is some esoteric brand advertising...

As mobile, digital screens, sensors, blue-tooth, RFID technologies develop, I am sure the science of Mallvertising will be more focussed and engaging for the customers...

McTV with McMUJRA

Was at McDonalds Linking Road last evening. Saw this McTV sprout over the steps to the first floor. Playing McMUJRA(fully faltu item number on one of the SONY channels).

While the marketer/ agency/ OOH house was right in placing this LCD to get all the 'climbing kid eye-balls', it's a dangerous place to put a screen(the paranoid father in me thinks...)

Any McThots...

The City In A Loop

BPL's now not so new 'In the Loop' campaign grows from strength to strength. It's grown from the teasers to a multi-media(print, radio, OOH; haven't checked the net for any sound bytes though...)

1. It's very colourful and loads of gettyimages but what's the point!!

2. Don't think the young TG that it's meant to woo are really buying it. Had a chat with a couple of them. Small sample, but they think it just isn't true of BPL. All this loop hype...

3. The other funny thing is that brand BPL is completely lost. All the ads promote is Loop. Unless they want to kill BPL and construct LOOP. Then it works:-)

Must talk to more BPL consumers and figure out how they view the campaign. I might be a bit too biased. Although, I like the art direction. It's fresh. But still a lot out of loop if you ask me!

Indiadrant is 1 year old 2day

Hey guys...Indiadrant is a year old today! It's been a journey of 223 posts!! Not a bad statistic at all:-) (Back-slapping) Long, fun-filled, at the expense of a lot of family-time and some work time...

But been good. Much of my learning in web 2.0 has been thru Indiadrant. Many contacts, friends, a hire, few spam, many many useful comments and learning/interactions...

Was planning to write an anniversary post with bells and whistles and multiple thank yous, but feeling drained out. Five days of boot camp and a 6th of the strategy council day-long meet has left me blissfully empty!

Am catching up on all the lost sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

P.S. Here's the Aug 18th post from 2006 on Memes in case you don't believe me:-)

Last Bytes from the Boot Camp

And finally the Boot Camp ended today amidst a lot of last day excitement, business card swapping and photoclick sessions!The day's summary:
1. When it comes to spends on the net, there is a marketing confidence gap that exists...

2. Chris - our guest speaker from Microsoft reiterated that people increasingly wanna watch video content which they want and at their chosen time...Many of them in advanced markets are saying - We don't want advertising to interrupt us anymore.

3. Important figures to remember : Global software mkt = $135bn;Ad market = $570bn...But the geeks are meeting the creative!

4. Another very interesting comment by Chris: Reason leads to conclusions, emotions lead to action.

The day ended with all of us singing a rap song - penned by Desiree and yours truly...Goes something like this...

Slog thru da week, enjoy da WEEK-END
If u don’t make in this life, der will always be a SECOND

U don’t need Java or any other SCRIPT
Just b urself in the digital world to be a real HIT

Friendster, myspace, facebook, ORKUT
All guaranteed to get you real HOOK’T

And there is youtube, blogger , flickr, ETC.
When you chatter, gossip, twitter, they call it UGC

Upload, download, search, tag and SHARE
Be wer your consumers are, listen what they CARE

Sms, mobile, QR codes, CONVERGENCE
Being digital is learning with a VENGEANCE

And for all of us in the AGENCY
Digital opens POSSIBILITY!!

The video soon coming to a youtube near you:-)Sangkyu in the making of the videoDavid in the video shoot!

Day 4 - Boot Camp Bytes

And today, finally the meat of the boot camp. The often mis-understood, mis-managed, and 'black-box' subject of digital creatives...

Just came back meeting my college friend and his cute 3 year old son Yash. He reminded me of Neo!!My friend's adorable son - Yash. High-point of the day- Yash's squeal of delight upon seeing his new toy car...

Back to the workshop...Some of the key observations/ learnings of the day, in no particular order...

1. Digital creative, UGC, content in general forces us to ask the question - what business are we really in? Or more specifically what business do we want to be into...

These convergence days are exciting times. Bollywood meets MTV meets advertising meets Web 2.0 meets mobile content meets UGC meets PR meets something new every day! So, where do we want to go today:-)Paul and Brian from RightClicka, the social media experimental lab epicentred on music!!

2. As an industry and as my specific discipline(account planning), we have always been obsessed with the study of popular culture. But now with digital technology and democratisation of creativity, there is this huge opportunity of inventing popular culture...But are we ready as an industry to harness it. Don't think so:-(

3. The digital creative companies of the future need to be open-sourced. Their structures must be more collaborative and experimentative. And they must model themselves on software companies - projects, teams, constant learning and open to out-sourcing!

4. Digital Creative also demands that many of us wear multiple hats. Strategy and creative hats, project management and IT hats, strategy, creative and tech guru hats, project management and story telling hats. Successful models will have to burn their silo walls is what I feel.Our two Chinese interpreters for the day(at the back). I am liking the multi-culturalness of this boot camp...

5. We need 'cool scouts' - guys who are constantly on the look-out for 'cool content' & 'Cool Inventors'. And many of our current agency creatives may not be the guys who can invent 'cool'. These guys are scattered in music, movie, gaming industries...We need to hire/ work closely with them on digital projects.

6. I also strongly feel that 'the One Line proposition' led thinking has to give way to 'Multiple line/ context conversation' led briefing...Small ideas will coalesce to form the Big Idea! Digital Creative might also be of a 'Shoot-then-aim' mould!

This is the most complex topic as any real change demands structural changes in our business without disrupting the regular work and revenue streams. Balancing deep change with quarterly revenue targets:-) Tough task because as an industry, with all the back-slapping and PR around new tools, our fundamental structure( am restricting myself to mainstream agencies/ networks) hasn't changed in decades...

But if we need to change our core/ DNA to digital then we will have to disrupt our work, thought and administrative structures...Else the smaller, nimbler, smarter 1st generation digital shops will always enjoy a lead over the agency...

Of course much of this change might be messy, evolutionary, revolutionary...or forced upon by business imperatives...

But whatever be the outcome, digital content/ creativity/ market/ business model is an exciting playground. I am loving it!!

Boot Camp - Day Three - UGC & Digital Media

Digital Sparks

I have maintained for some time now that 'digital' is less about the technology and more about the psychology(client's, consumer's, etc.)

And today's session was mostly about this. The morning UGC session by Ajit was quite kick-ass...Some of the main carry-away thots were:

1. If you really love your brand, find out your way of letting it go...

2. Brand thinking must accommodate non-linear thinking. The best ideas have an element of surprise. Strategy is tactics today!

3. UGC insight : None of us is as smart as all of us.

4. English is no longer the dominant language of blogs/ expression/ conversations on the web!More of our Digital SparksBetter lunch than yesterday:-)

5. Interestingly 'Letting go of content control' also sits with massive control of traffic/ content through web 2.0 tools and other technology.

6. The new media signals a shift from the age of deference to an age of reference.

7. Ad agencies need to be prepared for the fundamental shift from 15% commission to 15 minutes of fame of their consumers!!

8. Media is social currency. if it isn't worth forwarding it, it isn't worth much:-)

9. Kids/ audience don't need another web-site! They need content and applications to make the digital space their own.
Ajit in Action

10. We had a very interesting talk by Ian Stewart, the Sr. VP, Viacom as the guest speaker for the day! He made a crisp presentation on the new digital generation!The impressive 'sensor-based interactive display' at the Funan Mall.

A packed day ended at the Brewerkz...The local micro brewery-in-a-restaurant where we downed beerJohn and his indecisiveness:-)...

Followed by a round of beer at Crazy Elephant...and another in John's room...

10. The 1% rule is all pervasive. 1% of the guys create content, 90% are passive viewers. The film maker, the critique and the viewer: the rules haven't changed much...Maybe they will never!

It's zzzzztime again!!

Boot Camp - Day Two - Digital Platforms & SNS

Brian Gyan
Actually missed breakfast...Mental note to myself...Web 2.0 surfing is addictive...Be careful!

The day was hectic but more interesting than Day 1. Morning was about digital platforms. Our colleague from Japan once again had some amazing case studies...DoCoMo's Tokyo rocks...Those mobile platform examples were really kick-ass and from another world!

Brian Tiong, ex MTV was the guest speaker for the day. Speaking on my favourite topic - UGC. He chucked his MTV Marketing head job some 18 months ago. Has been a portfolio worker since. Creative catalyst, trend analyst, strategist & new media evangelist as his LinkedIn profile says...Gave a brief over-view of the web 2.0 noise and action!

Curtis, from 141, then had a detailed presentation on DPOS( digital point-of-sale)...Again good cases and a systematic approach.
My colleague from 141 - Ajit, enjoying the hurried lunch-break...
Had scribbled notes...Here are some of my observations/ take-outs from D2...

1. I need to look at Japan more closely, more often for mobile learnings...Tokyo seems to be a decade ahead of everyone else...

2. We must try to hide the technology from people. Often that's the only difference between success and failure of a digital initiative.

3. Brian re-iterated the point - "the audience today is ahead of the marketer in many ways..."

4. He also touched upon the 4F's of marketing - the Filters, the Fanatics, the Facilitators and the Fire-Crackers...New labels but generally he captured the energy of the web 2.0 space...In 30 min, one can only paint a broad-brush-stroke...Some interesting web-sites to check out(zingfu, zwinky, mog.com etc.)

5. Interesting quote on adage.com -" Consumers are spending more money to reach media than marketers are spending to reach them" :-)

6. Very interesting take on Personal Circuits as an audience descriptor rather than the fast-losing-relevance SEC!!

Over-all a hectic Day 2...Saw this road-sign:-) on the walk back to Peninsula Towers.
Went to my cousin Neeraj's house for 'some ghar ka khana'! Was missing my daal-roti in just 3 days! Thanks Archana...

Boot Camp - Day One

Nearly missed breakfast. Last night, after Maggie Thai went to another pub with great live music...There was jamming session after 11pm and witnessed the guest appearance of an Elvis look-alike:-)

The Boot Camp started on dot. At the beautiful Art House venue next to the Parliament. (There was no Indian standard leeway of 30minutes...)
Today was a broad overview of the digital market in Asia.David and John
1. By end of day, we had an over-view of the digital landscape of Asia from an Asian lens. Usually, the view is distorted with US-centricity and/or a Chindia comparison chart...

2. It was fascinating comparing the digital markets - from the virginal Cambodia to advanced Tokyo and in-between India...

3. There was a guest session by a senior Viacom Exec. Good presentation on Secondlife.com...These MTV guys always sex up their presentation. Much to learn from them...

4. Had a good chicken-tarian lunch with samosas thrown in especially for me and Ajit:-)

5. Hadn't had such an over-dose of statistics in one day in a long time...But it's good to browse/ scrimp through data...Good Q&A...

6. Some very interesting examples of mobile and Internet marketing from Korea and Japan...Must chat with Hironobu tomorrow...He sure has a digital lead over most of us...Hironobo Kawai explaining his 'Ask Dylan' case study...

Had a quiet uneventful evening. zzzzzz

Digital Boot Camp and Beer

Arrived in Singapore this morning for the Digital Boot Camp...It's sort of a train-the-trainer programme. My friend, John Lambie,, who holds the lofty designation of Regional Integration Director is evangelising the show along with our CTO(T for Talent), David Meredith...

It's going to be 5 days of intense training. Had been looking forward to this!

Grabbed some sleep. Then roamed Beach Road and the area around the hotel with Ajit. After many square kilometres of walking and hunting for a digital bargain, Ajit finally picked up a 2GB stick:-)End of Singapore shopping...

In the evening, went to a small road-side eatery called Maggie Thai & Chinese Restaurant. There were about 20 of us. But the evening belonged to my colleague Lucy, the beer guzzling creative from our Shanghai office...

It was an interesting conversation. She doesn't understand much English and we didn't understand any Chinese. So, Tiger beer did all the talking:-)Johnny and LucyThe Digital Sparks
Tomorrow and the week ahead holds lots of promise...010101

ROI on Tribes and Other Bakwaas

Was generally checking out other planner blogs here...Stumbled upon the Diginative by Fran Hazeldine, a London planner.

His recent post/rant is on the Discovery Channel Tribe promotion...

I agree with Fran, I don't think Discovery got the essence of tribe.(The copy and the tonality is so outta place) Looks like they have trivialised the concept...While I do not recall an Indian example, this quick ROI approach to youth marketing is a global malaise.

These days I am particularly wary of clients who want to capitalise on 'social networking', do a 'cool' promotion or want to use 'youtube' for their brands...

Many of them are blatantly ignorant of the Web 2.0 spirit, hugely insincere in their intentions and their short-sightedness sucks big time!!

Jo Khaye Kho Jaaye

Another good outdoor campaign is the one for the new 5 Star! Ogilvy is always great with these one word, one-line briefs and the great creative leaps...

This 5 star campaign comes on the back of those slightly fuzzy 'arrey' ads which were not quite making any point! Howvere, I can see JKKJ unfolding in a hundred ways...

FMCG ad space is so cluttered, I don't think consumer insight driven(if there are any insights left to explore)but rational routes work anymore. It's the crazy, inconsistent, surprise brand tactics that are more effective...

Twin Twin

Among the most refreshing corporate brand name change campaigns in recent times(India) is this UTI Bank to Axis make-over.

Simple idea that sticks. No verbosity. (Although, my planner Rithika feels(and rightly so), that twins are not the same. And actually it's quite demeaning to them...)

Ogilvy Mumbai does it again!

The World of Adike and More 2

This of course is a manufactured image...Little Neo was fascinated with this making of Adike2 LOL...

8. Every few years/ now months new types of brands enter our worlds which weren't there till some time back. Hi-Technology brands, Knowledge/information brands, Concept brands, Cause brands, the sub-set Green brands, Social media brands, DIY brands, Experience brands, the proliferation of Luxury brands...

And almost all of them play by rules that are fundamentally different from FMCG brand rules of the past.

9. Real, authentic(often contrived-authenticity) conversations are replacing the copy of our advertised messages...It really doesn't matter who starts this conversation. It could be the CEO, the guy-on-the-net, the copy-writer, the planner, the passionate marketer...It's about a collaborative project.

10. It's very difficult for the brand to hide anymore. So little scope for bull-shiting, no hype, consistency in all markets, brands gotta 'walk the talk' or refrain from taking the high ground.

11. Brands got to be all human...have a character and not a laundry list of all 'virtuosity'. Have flaws. Admit to them...Have a sense of humour and play.

12. And lastly, I feel we must somehow devise methods to measure the quality of consumer-brand relationships, not just contact points, eye-balls, awareness scores, foot-falls...
We never measure our personal relationships through eye-balls, foot-falls, awareness scores...Why should brand thinking be any different?
That's all I can collate for the moment...Maybe some-time later will do Adike 3!!

The World of Adike and More 1

Few days ago, I noticed my Nike and Adidas deos jostling for shelf space in the bathroom. It felt strange. There was a time, about a decade back when I was a great Nike loyalist. Fed up on advertising case studies, hand-me down brand myths and real + planted PR stories, I adored the brand!

A few years later, when I was working at TBWA Mumbai, I switched allegiance(though never gave up the Nike brand-citizenship:-)to Adidas. The imagery and some of the more hand-crafted stories of Adidas grabbed the mindspace!

Then came a stage when I wore Nike sneakers. But I loved the Adidas TVCs more. But now when it comes to accesories and apparel. Things like SALE, the shop ambience, the call-of-the-mall urges and last mile communication swings the deal...

The above image of the two erstwhile adversary brands led me to the following thoughts...I felt how I approach brands has dramatically changed in the last 10 years !!

1. Today last mile dictates most of my brand purchases - from toothpaste brands to apparel, durables and consumables!

2. Very often image-led advertisng is for entertainment and aesthetic consumption alone. The purchase is on rational parameters, convenience and value-based offers which have nothing to do with the image.

3. I am not loyal to 'only image' anymore. To a brand, or to its philosophy. In most cases it's a consideration basket of brands that I date. Multiple brands for the multi-tasking mind and the multi-avatars that we don...Brand relationships aren't monogamous any-more!

4. But occasionally I give into 'Flash Brands'. Theses fast rising-from-nowhere people and product brands, backed by manipulative marketing and a combo of PR + Buzz + the shared UGC technology available. Harry Potter, Shilpa Shetty, iPhone can all be bracketed under this cluster...

5. Personally, I value brands that have authentic stories...Decades of image manipulation(and here the fatigue is more because of greater proximity to the branding/ advertising process) have left me cynical about most brand messages.
Tag-lines don't work with me. Neither does hype or manufactured statements.

6. The other thing which has fundamentally changed is that I expect my brands to be inconsistent and surprise me. This is a marked departure from the 'consistency is King' school of thought...
Brands now need to be more creative than consistent in their final expressions...

7. I feel much of the puerile research that happens around us dates the consumer intelligence and evolution by a zillion years. In a digital age, we are trying to measure atomic clock movements of consumers realtionship with brands with vernier callipers LOL

Many a time we ask the wrong questions, in the wrong context, in the wrong way. Then we interpret them wrongly, draw wrong conclusions and recommend wrong things. Then reapeat this chain!!

There are some other thoughts around Adike which I will capture in the sequel to this post...

P.S. I wish to label all the new dichotomous thoughts around brands under 'Adike'