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Monday, March 31

The Week That Was

If I had any notions that I would travel less in the new job, they got blown away in week 1 itself. With trips to Delhi and Chennai(actually the lovely beach at Mahabalipuram) looks like 2008 would be a near repeat of '07!!

The week-end itself was most memorable for some blue-sky chats with a close friend on 'new business ventures' in the 'hospitality space'...Something to really look forward to in '08...

Saw Rajat Kapoor's Mithya. Quite enjoyable. Ranbir Sheorey is very good. Though, I found Naseer Saheb & Vinay Pathak wasted in smallish roles. But Naseer was enjoying himself as the flashy gangster with snake-skin shoes and red glares!!

Read a nice write-up on the return of Chitrangada Singh by Nisha Susan in Tehelka(please subscribe to this mag if you haven't). You can catch up on this story here!

And finally Hal Riney, the maverick ad legend passed away earlier last week at 75. Check out Jeff Goodby's finely written piece as he reminisces about his mentor's friendship, complicated nature and 'The Moment' at adage.com here. Another write-up on the creative giant here...

Funnily, while re-arranging the stuff(physical, emotional, transactional) of my life to fit into a new job, the blog plays the role of that stable repository of thoughts and feelings that's contiguous. A placeholder that knows no boundaries of WPP or Omnicom...LOL

This week - Goah!!

Friday, March 28

C.I.D - Co-creation, Integration and Digital

Hey guys, have just moved to Mudra Marketing Services. Will be handling strategic thinking for their digital agency - Tribal DDB, the OOH group called Prime Group, the promotions and events company Kidstuff, Mudra Health and Lifestyle and the DM agency Rapp Collins!

It's gong to be somewhat different. Hopefully more co-creation, more integration, and more digital(C.I.D)!!

And hopefully as a planner an equal daily dose of action shoes and thinking hats:-)

Indiadrant will have a more digital flavour to its raves and rants in the next few months...

Friday, March 21

Digital Media - Banyan Tree

The world's biggest agency groups are battling to expand their presence in Asia's fast-growing digital industry. After a series of big-money deals and big-name hirings, who is leading the pack?

Check out the complete story on DigitalMedia website here...

Thursday, March 20

Lin-storm : the new digital model!

Among the first signs of a formal analog and digital media company courtship(to my knowledge) is the tie-up between Lintas Media Group and digital agency Pinstorm.

Linstorm will offer a pay-for-performance model for digital platforms like the internet and mobile phones. This will mean that the client will pay for the advertising only if the campaign meets pre-determined targets which could be in terms of the number of clicks, impressions or conversions.

You can read the complete story here.

Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm, had this to say- “The idea is to bring the share of digital in the total Indian advertising scene to the tipping point of 7% from its current levels of 3-4%.”

The Linstorm model would be interesting to watch for the nascent digital advertising market in India!!

ActiveAds

A while ago while browsing through a WIRED issue had come across a Canon/Nikon ad(sorry can't remember which brand exactly). It was an example of what I term as an ActiveAd.

It had no fancy art, no tag-line, no hyped brand promise, just an equation of DIY features, some benefits and a link to know more about the product. Many tech brands I have observed follow this format of an ActiveAd.

Maybe we could follow the lead in FMCG, durables and other categories as well!

So what makes an ActiveAd.
1. Obviously it will lead the reader/ browser to some action.
a. Goto www.checkoutthisstuff.com
or b. Try the product demo at physicalspace.com or virtualreality.com
or c. Cut this ad and get 10%off at physicalstore.com

2. ActiveAds can do without taglines...They show the product, they talk about the benefits. They excite you about the technology without geek-speak!

3. Information is more/ equally important than the brand 'image' art/ layout. Don't keep on repeating the headline. Behave like a retail environment. Tell me more about the product ingredients, the underlying technology, the benefits, the sourcing story, the environment stand of the company, the packaging stories, etc. Throw me a new nugget/ factoid instead of irritating me with the same baseline...

4. Active ads allow participation. Our current TVCs are not active. They are passive bombardments on our senses. But with a little bit of imagination and digitisation, all advertising forms can be made more active!

and 5. ActiveAds aim more at behaviour change rather than worry about awareness and recall scores only.

These are still WIP thots. We should aim at making all the ads more active! It's better ROI.

If you come across any blog posts, articles around this subject, please lemme know!

Happy Holi...Maybe no more posts till Monday!

Wednesday, March 19

Time-Poverty : Jame Raho!!


Got an early morning mail from Jo who now works for the Henley Centre Headlight Vision(the WPP global trends and insights company).

Anyways, few clicks later I was reading this post by Josh Hunt on the HCHLV site on time-poor consumers! Read the post here...

Marketers/ advertisers often lament about consumer time-poverty but the fact is most often clients and agencies are equally time-poor. Of course this is largely a case of self-infliction.

We have a chk-list in our minds and we want to tick-them off asap! Whither listening, whither deep probing, whither better questions:-)

Kas Ke Joota Kas Ke Belt, Khons Ke Andar Apni Shirt
Research Ki Chali Sawaari, Planners Pe Bhaari Zimmedari

Haath Mein Brief Man Mein Dum, Insight Nikaalke Rahenge Hum
Har Eyeball Se Takrayenge, Tas Se Mus Na Honge Hum

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho, Boss Ka Ishaara Jame Raho
Planning Ka Naara Jame Raho, Clients Ka Ishaara Jame Raho

Ye Sote Bhee Hain Attention, Power-point Ki Hai Tension
Mehnat Inko Pyari Hai, Process Bilkul Sarkaari Hai

Ye Research Par Hi Jeete Hain, Ye Insight Saare Peete Hain
Deadline Pe Sote Deadline Pe Khate, Taan Ke Seena Badhte Jate

Research Ka Naara Jame Raho...

(Sincere apologies for bastardising TZP lyrics...But hey it's UGC and I can surely get a reprieve and a laugh:-)

Monday, March 17

Unilever : Digital Khiladi No.1

Unilever is the Adage Digital Marketer of the year(2007). You can read the article here...

Post-its for personal archives...

-None of Unilever's campaigns was purely a digital campaign. Each was woven inextricably with other media and marketing tactics, such as TV spots, PR, content integration and shopper marketing.

- Digital is today a critical part of the storytelling for our brands - says Rob Master, the North American Media Director.

- The key to the digital efforts is what Rob calls "superdistribution," the idea of getting web programs, most often video, picked up by other media - most often for free.

- Reverse Repurposing : We used to repurpose things from television for the internet. Now the ideas we have are so rich and creative ... we're able to feed that into all these other channels from digital.

- A 30-second ad is a story we pull together for consumers on TV. Digital is an extension of that storytelling in typically longer format. And the richness of the stories we can tell is a very important part of the strategy!

Sunday, March 16

Are Advertising & the Web Disjoint Sets?

There is this excellent article on Adage.com about - Advertising and the Internet. Check it out here...

Notes to myself peppered with stray thots!

- When you look at how the media and marketing business packages the Internet - as just more space to be bought and sold -- you have to worry that the history of mass media is just trying to repeat itself.

And what an utter waste of time, money and effort that would be. It's so very easy to escape banner ads and the ilk on the web. Am a fairly heavy user of the net and I have developed advanced screening faculties for every kind of conventional ad. On the other hand, when a marketer succeeds in engaging me through content or 'value-added-ads', I not just consume it but help seed it in my limited way!

-Rarely a fortnight goes by without some new bullish forecast for ad growth that works to stoke digital exuberance within media owners that often drowns out critical thinking about the medium itself.

Am yet to hear a conversation on digital/ internet advertising among mainstream ad folks in India. It just doesn't exist for them!! In fact an exuberant NCD of a large agency was quoted in DNA saying who needs digital? While the size of internet ad might be puny in India, the learning ground for the next level of messaging/ marketing/ communication has to be the web...

-Here's the issue: The internet is too often viewed as inventory, as a place where brands pay for the privilege of being adjacent to content, like prime-time TV and glossy magazines relics of the pre-blog days when getting into the media game actually required infrastructure and distribution.

The presumed power of that adjacency has provided the groundwork for the media industry for decades and long ago calcified into an auspicious economic reality the big media companies are trying to take with it to the digital future. For the media seller, ads and ad revenue might be all that's left.

- The marketer, once at the mercy of a locked-up media landscape, can now be a player in it.

- "The big difference is that marketers are in the same competitive set as media owners," said Matt Freeman, CEO of Tribal DDB. He cites Pepsi, one of Tribal's clients, as an example of a company that could be a giant media player if it wanted.

It doesn't want to because the big traffic it gets at its corporate websites has nothing to do with how it's valued. But the twist on media and marketing convention is clear.

"Before there was an investor and a recipient of that investment. I think today you have much more of a triangulation where marketers can invest directly in going to consumers, obviating the need for media owners. They are not necessarily the client of owners and, in some cases, they are their competitors."

- In other words, marketers can build website that do cool, useful stuff. There are any number of marketers, from Amazon to Papa John's, working to monetize their corporate websites traffic by selling ads there, but that, of course, is only the most mundane way. Better examples include Johnson & Johnson and its BabyCenter, a deep repository of information about raising a newborn that's a clear competitor to Bonnier or Meredith, the publishers of Parenting and Parents magazines respectively.

Nike Plus, whose sharp interface connects runners all over the world, is a real threat to any traditional media owners who wants to engage with that running population.

- Although Mr. Freeman often sounds like he's borrowing from the lexicon of PR, his idea of "earned media" or "earned engagement" isn't the same as landing a client brand in the New York Times. It's a more varied concept that encompasses everything from branded applications and services like the Nike-Plus program to videos passed along through sharing sites. These programs, now exceptions, could actually work to redefine advertising.

- "People have to think about advertising differently," said Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Schematic, the interactive agency recently purchased by WPP Group. "Advertising is becoming not just about messaging but providing value to customers. Functionality has often not been the role of advertising."

I have been arguing with some of the brightest ad agency copy-writers. Think beyond 'taglines'. Think about usefulness. Make your ads 'active'. Give more information about the brand. When we repeat the messages, the consumer filters them all.

- For marketers and agencies it's a sea-change in how you do your business. "It's easy for clients and agencies to think about banners and email because buying banners is like buying outdoor and email is like direct," said Mr. Kaufman of ad agency Schematic. "That is very different than nurturing the community of your customers, providing great content or executing transactions."

- Web designer Jakob Nielsen adds -'The basic point about the web is that it is not an advertising medium. The web is not a selling medium;it is a buying medium. It is user controlled, so the user controls, the user experiences.'

Friday, March 14

Just Tag It!!

Was having coffee with my Slovenian friend, Alen on mobile, digital and other stuff! When he showed me the Tagit barcode. I have known about this company(Ranjan apparently has some stake in it:-) for some time now...But have never seen anybody use it...

Check out the demo video on the tagit site here...

-Tagit offers marketers a way to establish interactive relationships with their consumers. Adlabs is a client!

-Simple, low-cost solutions to businesses for inventory or asset tracking, identity verification and data management.

-Useful applications for government services, such as security access control, personal or vehicle identification and information dissemination

-When a display screen was added to the first mobile phone, a new media was created. The additions of a camera and Internet access have created a whole new way of interaction with the physical world.

Mobiquity(Mobile + Ubiquity) is here...We must know how to Tagit to our brands and communication in innovative ways!! Need another coffee with Alen session.

Thursday, March 13

Prose is for Lazy People

Read this very absorbing interview of Prasoon Joshi in Tehelka. Am becoming a big fan of both Tehelka and Joshi Saheb!! You can read the interview here

Thot post-its from the same...

1. We don’t choose ideas. Ideas choose us. We can’t grab a thought. A thought grabs us. You have to be receptive, ready to receive thoughts.

2. In Rang de Basanti there was no place for the song, “Lukka chuppi.” The scene is a son’s funeral and his mother experiencing a terrible loss. Rahman and I used the idea of a mother and son playing hide-and-seek. The sad reality is the son is hidden forever.

3. If there’s a particular word that doesn’t fit the tune, I tell him: No, I need this word. It’s important. It’s like a paperweight, if you remove it, everything will fly away!

It is rather crass of me to compare poetry with presentation/ power-point. But for a recent pitch, we were adamant on 'one' word. And it did make all the difference. We won the business. 30 slides, 40 units of creative all hinged on that 'one' word...Okay that was an unseemly detour.

4. The finest creativity is when you draw a dot and yet everyone can see the circle. If you allow the listeners to participate, they will complete the thought.

5. "I like writing songs featured in the background. What is happening in the mind of the character, but he’s unable to express."

6. It’s important to understand the overall context and then forget it. The mind has absorbed the essential. If you continue to refer to the lead-in situation, you start to mirror it, whereas your song must add another dimension to the narrative.

7. How does poetry express thought better than prose? Through its economy. Take this example: Navak andaz jidhar deeda-e jana honge/ Neem bismil kai honge kai bajan honge (Wherever the eyes of my beloved fall/ Some are wounded, others slain).

The idea is so precise. If you had to explain this in prose, you would have to write an entire page. And prose allows less participation.

8. Why do you think prose is more loved? Because prose is for lazy people. Poetry is for people with a fertile imagination.

Poetry is like a buffet. You must serve yourself because the meal will not be served at your table. It’s a pity we have mostly lost the passion for poetry.

Joshi Saheb, you make me want to read poetry in my attention-deficit, time crunched corporate life...And pick up the threads of the long buried dream(under the debris of trivial pursuits) of learning Urdu all over again!

Wednesday, March 12

Divorced from News TV!

A couple of months back, I divorced TV News...I couldn't take it any more!! I ended this relationship of many years...

I knew News as important, relevant, informative, timely...With a sense of purpose and perspective.

But the TRP happy, eye-ball hungry, entertainment-saturated, retarded news with dollops of tantric treacle, crime concoctions, horoscope horrors, XXX sex scandals. irrelevant, inane trivia garnished with gore & a messianic gumption finally weathered my patience and passivity!

So, I dumped Star News, CNN IBN, NDTV 24X7, Times Now and their ilk... These brands and their corporate owners have collectively reduced News to a market driven commodity! So, please chase your trapped eye-balls. Get their attention for free even as they pay a hefty price!!

But I want to pay for my News. I can afford it. Am willing to pay for quality. Am willing to pay for information. Am willing to pay to stay sane...I don't want your dumb feeds for free...

I know I am a minority. And have little idea of the size of this minority!! But my gut says there is a growing demand in the market for premium News TV. Or even a weekly Newstrack like DVD. Or maybe news clips on my cell, or youtube. Or video RSS feeds. The platform is not that important anymore...News is.

I think, I am one among a small breed of people in India who can be classified as 'News TV Divorcee'! LOL. Are you too?

Monday, March 10

Mobile Talk 1 : Rajesh Jain

Read a decent interview of Rajesh Jain, the man who almost single handedly brought on the dotcom boom to India after selling off his Internet venture, IndiaWorld.com, to Satyam for Rs 499 crore in 1999, on agencyfaqs.com!

Nuggets from the same...

1. Other than email, classifieds, trading and ticketing, not much has happened there. What I think of as the N3 web – Now, New, Near Web – hasn’t really happened. Part of the problem is that access is mainly from cyber cafes, so the Internet has not become a part of people’s lives.

2. There are two aspects to the Internet – the PC and the mobile. PC-based access is very much around the 'reference web'.

The mobile has the opportunity to be the primary mode of access and interaction for the 'incremental web'.

So, I can use the mobile to find directions and similar day to day activities. There are life's 'empty moments' and life's ‘know now’ moments. When you are waiting for someone, for example, you are in an empty moment and you can use your mobile to check stock quotes or text someone. In the ‘know now’ moments, you want to know something immediately instead of going and searching on the web. Now, if you can overlay mobile services with permission, you can give consumers only the information they want.

3. I think in the next few years, when you mention the Internet, it will primarily mean the mobile Internet.

4. Just like on the Internet, the search box has become the starting point for user interaction and monetisation of the web, my belief is that on the mobile phone, it’s going to be the SMS subscription with a brand of your choice.

So, if there’s a special promotion at the mall in the neighbourhood, you want to know. It's called 'invertising' – advertising that consumers invite into their lives. This is a marketer’s dream (come true). For example, if you buy a new Nokia phone, you can get free updates from them about the features of the phone and about upgrading to a new model

5. Why not enough innovations in the mobile industry? Because something has worked very well in the industry... because ringtones, wallpapers, Bollywood, cricket, etc., have become a Rs 4,000 crore industry, where users are spending on consuming this content, we are not looking beyond.

6. SMS subscription is the best way to provide bite-sized content.

7. As we think of roads, airports and power, we need to start thinking of the digital environment as core infrastructure for this country. I think there is no reason why we cannot have state of the art innovation in services here in India. That's going to spur entrepreneurship and will create the next set of large companies in India. Once we make that happen, it’s better for advertisers, marketers and businesses.

Friday, March 7

Absolut Disappointment


The Ad Club Bombay's, year end ritualistic Ad Review today was a dampener! At 900 bucks, one expected more bang!

You can read a reportage of the evening on afaqs here...

Sonal started well with all the panache of a great showman/presenter, but all he did was run a reel of the best Indian TVCs(his selection) in 2007 peppered with some firang commercials, which were at least 1-3 years old! All Ads, Little Review!

Kishore Biyani, the other speaker of the day, never delivered a speech or his trademark insights separately, but chatted with Sonal moderated by Anuradha Sengupta of CNBC. Regular stuff recycled at low decibel...

Xerox, the main sponsors comically(at least I thought so) decided to thrust a printer at Alyque(for life time achievement)!!! Imagine Alyque's ordeal when after spending some 5 decades in advertising, all he gets is a bloody PRINTER(yikes)...

Who would want to achieve anything in advertising henceforth...LOL

At least the food was decent and the bar was open through-out the evening! The Taj Lands End lawns were a perfect setting for some fireworks...but alas it took 4 Patiala pegs of Absolut + company of old rogue friends to get over the review or the lack of it...

Tuesday, March 4

Think Hatke. Think Widgets

Am trying to learn a little more about widgets and then maybe write an article on the subject - How brands and marketers can use them. Are there some examples of Indian brands using widgets?

Widgets are mini-Web applications that are downloaded onto a desktop or transported into personal Web pages, blogs or social-network profiles. For users, they are a source of constantly updated information, from weather and sports scores to personal photos, which can eliminate the need to visit multiple Web sites.

Stumbled upon these links while I was in google-yahoo mode!

1. This is a 2006 post on OpenGardens blog. It's about how advertisers/ marketers/ brands can use widgets?

2. Then there was this piece on imediaconnection.com - The what, who, why, how and wow of widgets.

3. And then there was this article - Marketers Wend Widgets Into Interactive Tactics at brandweek.com

Okay going back to my learning mode...

Monday, March 3

Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

Pepsico delivers another advertising dud. The new 7UP commercial, BBDO's opening shot is quite a let down. You can view the TVC on youtube here...

Though, I like the Bheja Fry. 7Up Try tag-line, found the plot bland and straight from the 80's! Countless fizz and non-fizz brands have done similar stuff to death...Don't know why they couldn't get a smarter rendition...

The little that I know of youth brands...
1. 38 trying to be 18 won't work.
2. Cool and dumb don't bed together!
3. Recycling works well for the environment, not for ads.


4. We live in an age where 80% of the brands are young. So, the really young@heart brands must lead the conversation. Through new stories, fresh insights(a la Sprite), new technology...Or simply a great(expensive) execution like the 2cr Thums Up fillum!!

But, maybe BBDO deserves the benefit of doubt. It's their maiden over.
So, Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

Saturday, March 1

The Joy and Despair of Flying

Disclaimer: I like/okay love XYZ Airways. Last year I made 83 trips...I am their platinum card member...And the free air miles financed my Kerala trip in December:-)

So this rant against their public address system(and many other airlines) is just one peeve among the many joys!!

Hey guys, do something about it...The more I hear, the more I hate!!

Sample this(of course hugely contrived and exaggerated for effect:-)

1.This is your captain speaking from the cock-pit.
Oh great I thought you were making out in the loo...

2. Whether you are in business class or economy, I have pleasure in announcing that all of you are flying to Mumbai. Window, middle, aisle seats. All of you guys...
Thank you so much captain! I was waiting for that re-assurance from you!!!

3. It's a pleasure having you on-board.(Actually in a 2 hour flight this message often comes after 90minutes of flight...LOL

4. The temperature outside is -38.673 deg Celsius. This is 2.456 degrees less than normal. Mind it!!

3. But we have somehow managed to maintain the temperature inside the cabin at an annoyingly high 26 degrees...Since we love playing with the temperature knob. And pushing down our otherwise high consumer satisfaction scores!

4. We are now flying over the lovely city of Jaipur. If you manage to strain your neck 254 degrees from the aisle seat, you will still not be able to see anything...It's just a practical joke we play on the aisle seat passengers!!

5. The aircraft is flying at 854km/hr. But we will still be late by 55 minutes. Please ponder over this meaningless statistic. We get joy at throwing random numbers at people.

6. As per the current report from the control-room, we are number 12 in the Mumbai air-traffic-queue. But you know the fickle minded, twice-divorced air-traffic controller...By the time we approach Mumbai, he may put us at number 21!! So, don't take any of these announcements at face value...

7. I hope you followed my delayed, mostly irrelevant information read from a script outsourced by the legendary Rapidex guys and delivered in our trade-mark English which only frequent flyers can understand or so we think...

(We at XYZ airways have collectively failed the 'Lagey Raho' speech improvement programme...But Hum Honge Kaamyaab Ek Din...)

Finally the last of these messages put you to deep sleep despite the insidious 'temperature knob playing tactic!!!

I don't know who looks after the public address systems of most airlines...But they are uniformly crappy and banal...

For all brands, specially the service brands, the last mile customer-exchange/ conversation/monologue is quite important...

No, I wouldn't ever change my airlines because of this. I have far too many reward points to take care off:-)
But there are no diminishing returns for a service brand for being interesting, witty, human and sensible even at 45000ft up in the sky when the temperature outside is -38.679 deg Celsius...LOL