Out of Loop

Saw these very colourful, very un-connected - In the Loop- BPL mobile hoardings, print ads, kiosks and banners all over the city!

Obviously an attempt to contemporise, youth-ise the brand. But why did they have to play 'Holi' with the BPL brand beats me?(There are yellow, green, purple banners all over the neighbourhood!!)

I found the 'In the loop' teasers also very 'thanda'!! Personally I feel brand make-overs should mostly be continuous and not 'disruptive' like this one seems to be!

While BPL never really was as desirable a brand as say Hutch, I had always loved it's clean look...I feel the contemporisation should have happened within the broader design contours of the brand.

And if the service, product and customer programmes haven't changed along with the brand design/communication, then it just might be a case of all the money down the drain!

Evolution of our Business

It is heartening to see Dove "Evolution" - Ogilvy, Toronto's viral-video-turned-commercial that re-creates the multi-step process of turning an average beauty into a billboard-worthy babe win the film Grand Prix at Cannes yesterday...It's unarguably a great idea, greatly executed!!

Apparently the TVC first entered in the viral video category...but then the jury took a call and shifted it to the film category as they felt real strong about the idea!

Was reading the write-up on adage.com a while ago. Picked up these...

1. The spot also earned the Cyber Grand Prix earlier this week.

2. "We moved it from one category to another [corporate image] because we felt that strongly about it", said Bob Scarpelli, film jury Chairman.

3. Redefine the categoryScarpelli also suggested that awarding Dove the top honor could possibly lay down the groundwork for redefinition of the film category itself.

"It's interesting that this particular piece of film actually started out as a viral video on the internet," he said.

"It didn't sway the jury one way or the other, but we thought it is indicative of the way our industry is changing. Someday viral films, mobile phone films, should be in this category, because it's not the television category, it's the film category. Maybe that would be more reflective of reality today and in the future."

I feel Evolution was the right choice. Would have been disappointed if Sony Paint had clinched it. Feel 'Paint'is a bold re-enactment of the 'Balls' film...Great craft but somewhat rehashed idea.

Lets hope to see more viral and mobile films here in India as well where at the moment a very substantial part of our creative fraternity is still obsessed with big banner films where the definition of better = more expensive films!

Inch by inch our business is evolving towards a mash of multiple platforms, media neutral, un-silo creative solutions...And it's coming faster than we anticipated.

Next step in Evolution. Revolution:-)