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!

Different by Design

Over the last fortnight or so, saw these print ads. For some commercial-cum-residential property. Quite kewl...Done by an agency called SCION!

With the average quality of print ads in India being quite low, these really stood out!

Planner Tip of The Month

I first tasted McLuhan about a decade back. Most of him went over my head...Then about 3-4 years back laid my hands on a 'kunji/ key' of McLuhan at a Strand book SALE...

Whenever, I feel troubled by the sea of mediocre thoughts(both mine and around me), I delve into his...

Here's a tip for planners from the book.

McLuhan would bristle at the word "connection". He thought that connectivity just like theory, was hopelessly "visual", that is, a one-dimensional and outmoded strategy to understand anything. In McLuhan's opinion, seemingly un-related things could yield an insight once they were brought in vicinity of each other.

In his writing, he was fond of using the technique of collage and juxtaposition, sometimes including pictures and designs, not to illustrate a point but merely to bring out new ones from the reader...

Image sourced from Gettyimages...

Made for Shade and other Thots

About a week ago had visited the SALE at the kids apparel store 'Gini & Jony' at Linking Road!
Each of the junior mannequins was sporting cool sun-glasses!

I find these days the distinction between kid stores and the adult ones are gradually blurring. (Perhaps I over-react as a parent of a 4 year old.) Well the odd thots I had that day...

1. The world of marketed 'cool', 'attitude' and 'style' dominate the world of innocence, fun and colours.

2. The world of children's stories is being replaced by fast-paced animation and hi-tech effects...

3. Children today are getting exposed to a more homogenised global/US culture far more than the Indian/local/ regional one...
While I grew up on stories recounted to me by my Dadi and Nani, most of Neo's stories unfold on VCDs and DVDs with characters from different cultures. I knew where my roots were. Don't think Neo does. Maybe it's not such a bad thing after all!

4. Unfortunately, I find my son believes that 'English' is a cooler language than 'Hindi'. More fashionable. He never talks in Hindi in malls and in air-conditioned environments!!

5. Media exposure, 'mall culture' and time-poor-money-rich parents have made kids more fashion-conscious. They pester for colour co-ordinated dress. They have strong POV on their ward-robe and daily dress codes:-)

Mental logbook : Create a list of words that I would never use for a children's brand, product, medium. I would definitely avoid - cool, sexy, attitude, rebellion...Young Neo with his own shades!!

How far will you travel to catch my eye-ball?

Pic. The Garnier Fructis bookmarks kept at the cash counter at the Oxford-Statesman Book Store in CP, New Delhi. If only there was a nice quote(environment-relevance) or a beauty tip(category relevance), the brand effort would have been so much more meaningful.Garnier Fructis product and logo again on the Railway Reservation Chart on a AC-3 compartment at the Kurla Station!

I think, two equally annoying 360 executions!

While I like the crafted, youthful look of most of Garnier Fructis TVCs and am a medium user of its anti-wrinkle creams, found this surround sound communication quite out-of-place!

Is this what 360deg thinking has become?

Mass Man and the Electric Environment

Was chatting online with a friend about social media in the morning. At night caught up with Neil Postman's book - Disappearance of Childhood...

Let me share this excerpt pp 69-70 from the book...

It is alleged that upon being told that through the telegraph a man in Maine, could instantly send a message to a man in Texas, Thoreau asked, "But what do they have to say to each other?" :-)

In asking this question, to which no serious attention was paid, Thoreau was directing attention to the psychological and social meaning of the telegraph, and in particular to its capacity to change the character of information - from the personal and regional to the impersonal and global.

A hundred and twenty years later Marshall McLuhan tried to address the issue Thoreau raised. He wrote:

When man lives in an electric environment, his nature is transformed and his private identity is merged with the corporate whole. He becomes "Mass Man." Mass Man is a phenomenon of electric speed, not of physical quantity. Mass man was first noticed as a phenomenon in the age of radio, but he had come into existence, unnoticed, with the electric telegraph.

So, what have we become now? As many of us seamlessly connect to a global community, conversation, brain...As we think in bytes, live under the tyranny of 'perpetual immediacy' and twitter 24 X 7 X 365!!

(Picture sourced from Gettyimages!)

Chain Ki Neend

Was browsing through the fashion/ lifestyle mag 'M', when I cane across this photograph. It's from the book - King, Commoner, Citizen - a selection of photographs by Prashant Panjiar..

"It's a collection that blends the somewhat incongruous contemporary lives of erstwhile Indian princes with the incredibly diverse, layered, euphoric, despairing and paradoxical existence of the common Indian"

A welcome relief from the sanitised picturescape of the glossies and large sections of the dailies and the 'advertised India'!

Visual Post-Its

Since the time I got my Nokia E50, have switched to mobile life caching! My old faithful - the Nikon Cool Pix is lying mostly un-used. I guess it's the sheer convenience and a decent resolution that works in the favour of a camera phone!
Mayawati's fairly clear and ambitious vision statement on the road near Bandra Kurla Complex.
I hate both the term - 'Big B' and this senseless communication!
Neo's first digital painting! Little fingers fearlessly explore digital technology!The Lilavati Hospital lift-man and his ultra fancy cell-phone...Now what SEC is he?
Cell-phone ownership might be playing havoc with the traditional SEC classification in India! Looks like there is a decreasing/ un-predictable co-relation between the handset price and the MHI of the owner(at least in the metros)!

The table-top sticker at Barista. Simple and effective communication!

How to Read for Planning - Tips for future planners

Disclaimer.I am no expert on reading. Well nor an expert on (account)planning for that matter:-)

This post is in response to Kapil's query on how to read for work in a time-starved world.

Here are my rules. Basic, simple but if practiced with discipline hugely effective! At least they work for me:-)

1. Book-vesting. Invest in books. There are no short-cuts. Cut down on beer binges, branded apparel but never on books. And everything of use is still not available online.
My own collection started more than a decade back with second-hand ones, bought regularly and recklessly and at the expense of music and entertainment.

2. CrossWording. Of course you can't buy every book. But quick-flip you can and you must. Every week I go to the CrossWord at Bandra and at the price of a Coffee or Assam Tea or just plain water:-), flip through fat, expensive tomes. Make sure you take copious notes...

Speed read the book. First get a sense of the book quickly by looking at the content page. Then read the chapter summaries. Most 'management' type books have them these days...

3. Book-BumpingThis one's a Tom Peters tip I came across many years ago. He advises to bump into books. So place them in your office, at your study table, carry them for commute... Books are great fillers during waiting times. Upto half the time in an agency can be spent waiting if you are in servicing!!
And it's okay if you can't read cover-to-cover...There are more un-read books in my library than read ones...The trick is to get a sense/ feel of what can be found and where!

4. ReflectingIn these days of immense change, information-overload and CPA(continuous partial attention), it's very important to reflect what you think. So make copious notes while reading/ reflecting. Always carry a pencil with you...
Don't be embarrassed scribbling while commuting... I have gotten over stranger stares at the air-port or elsewhere...
Write your questions/doubts/thoughts in the margins of the book. Revisit them. You will be surprised how you can solve most of them on your own!

5. Out-ZoningEvery person has his/ her comfort zone areas. It's very important to frequently step out of that and read stuff that's difficult, that's not your area. Plan serendipitous discoveries LOL

6. Concepting A planner's world is about new concepts. While you are at it(reading), keep looking for new concepts for your brands. It may just spring up in the middle of an article in India Today, a novel or an old National Geographic issue.

7. Post-it-ingWhat started as an exercise at TBWA with Meraj and Pooja has now been perfected at Bates. Post-it every single idea, great line, interesting thought that you come across...Charge the Post-its to your agency:-)

8. Multi-datingIt's okay to read many books at a time. Try co-relating stuff from one book to the other. This mental yoga(sort of) helps thinking!

9. India-CentricIt's important to first know India, Indian culture, popular culture, Bollywood, mythology better rather than copying a global(US/ UK led) reading taste palette...Our communication needs to have an Indian flavour and for that we need to revisit our roots frequently...

10. Multi-laning Reading for planning/work is a multi-media activity. The book may lead to the blog or vice versa. The web-site might lead to a particular chapter or Google talk...We must learn to process information across many platforms...Don't worry, it may sound complicated, but actually it's quite fun and you may actually be doing it already!

Am sure many of you might have your own tips worth sharing! Do that...Kapil - hope this helps:-)

PS. Picture source : gettyimages.com

Addition By Subtraction

Read an excellent post by Neil today. Gotta re-read itd 'Deep Commute-Think' about it!!

Am always conscious of the fact that very few of my posts are on design or designers...Fact is very less of my time is spent in the company of designers or on design thinking!

Had gone to Chennai some time back and at Landmark picked up this book. Design Your Self by Karim Rashid.. Karim Rashid is a famous industrial designer whose clients include Prada, Umbra, Alessi among others...

Had no previous knowledge of him. But am finding the book quite inspirational and useful for planner thinking as well! His other books are Evolution and I Want to Change the World.

Buried among the chapters I found the one on Addition By Subtraction - Ways to have more with less.

Some real gems there are! So applicable to Planning and life in general.

1. Streamline your possessions.
Analyse each object in your home and ask yourself when was the last time I used that object? Why do I have it? Do I need it? Does it bring meaning, memory, love, function, experience. pleasure, humour or energy to my life?

Most brands can earn from this. Very often we carry sacred vestiges from the brand past. Holy brand cows that better be junked

2. Live with a real reflection of yourself.Remove anything that doesn't add to your experience.

3. Downsize your technology.
Beware of over-gadget-ization!!

For planners the equivalent would be getting lost in the tools and the templates. And the jargons that we keep inventing to say the same trite stuff!

4. Stay away from junk.
Junk briefs, junk creative, junk thinking, junk meetings/tele-cons:-)

This entire book is a visual treat and a how to manual to simplify stuff! While on the subject of simplicity, must share a quote of Freeman Thomas(one of the designers of the new VW Beetle) which I read in the morning- "If you distill Mickey Mouse, it's three circles. The Beetle is three arcs on the side".

Devdas, MMORPGs, Hentai and the Inter-generational Conversation

It was a Sunday spent in the hospital as Neo was down with a severe bacterial infection...Amongst the umpteen trips to Lilavati, two things caught my attention. A front page story in TOI on the gaming obsession amongst the young(The New Devdas is a Gamer) and the snatch of a conversation between a 6 year old girl and her grand-parents in the lift!

I know the world of gaming exists. I watch and wonder about it from a distance. Too old, too weary, too fascinated with it...

1. Had initiated a research few months back. With little supervision, didn't really get to the bottom of either gamers or gaming . Must do a ver 2.0 soon!

2. "Unable to face the realities of heart-break, outright rejection, and other humiliations of love, youngsters today are seeking refuge in addictive multi-user games, a whole parallel universe where life is boy-friendly." - Sunday TOI

3. Looks like these MMORPGs(Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) are filling in for real life relationships, sexual fantasies and other fetish. And the legion of obsessive admirers is growing by the day!

4. There there is something called the Hentai(Japanese term) - these are cartoon games which involve sadomasochism and paedophilia!!

5. Amidst all this general knowledge I gleaned, I heard an exasperated 6 year old girl explain the Gameboy to her grand parents. Who kept on asking why the boys play gameboy and not the 'gamegirl?!@' LOL

In another few months, I can envisage a similar conversation between Neo and my father or worse still between Neo and me!!

Jeetey Raho

Some of the better ads on TV never get the due attention because many of us are busy debating the craft and the cleverness in our business! I have the ICICI Jeetey Raho TVC in mind...Maybe it's a little late in the day but let me finally park the whirling thoughts in the head...

Saw it 1-2 times on TV. Loved it for the following reasons.

1. The interplay between a modern day husband and wife is very nicely captured...I am tired of the old cliches that are no longer true! Ever so quickly there is a gender role shift happening in our towns and our lives...Accelerating every year!

The bread-winner, the decision maker, the influencer, the soft task and the hard task master, the dreamer and the doer are all roles which are getting re-defined, re-negotiated and re-packaged. Most TVCs once again lag LIFE!

2. Just the other day, was watching an old Sanjeev Kumar flick, where the heroine in a song sequence is touching the feet of SK. Fast forward to this defining imagery and the line 'Jeetey Raho' with the wife giving the 'token ashirvaad' to the husband.

3. Again it's hearting to see a girl child in the TVC. Looks like a nuclear family with one kid. And this time it's not Rahul or Karan or Ravi bete...
There is an underlying code in TV advertising which is mostly respected. When it's one child, show a boy, if it's two show a boy and a girl...

We mirror our society's fondness for boys...It might be a small thing in a 30sec commercial, but most of us fall prey to it. This ad doesn't and that's why I loved it!

Like with everything around us, ads with 'Batti Gul Ho Gayi', 'Hawa Nikal Gayi', 'Pant Khul Gayi' often end up being the most debated commercials with ad gurus voicing hoarse their coarse opinions, while its commercials like these which make the mark both in terms of sales and sense! May their tribe increase...

(Read Ankur Jain's nice analysis)as well!

P.S The hoarding near reclamation shot through the window pane of a moving cab on my mobile camera. Am ignoring my Nikon these days:-)

Being Digital

Many years ago, I was sitting in the engineering college library. Dejected. I had just flunked in a digital related subject. (By the way, I have a Computer Engineering degree:-)

I felt getting into engineering was the worst decision I had ever made...I was reasonably good at theory but when it came to practicals and problem solving, my brain never worked!

I had reached the conclusion that engineering, computers and any thing digital was not my cup of tea!

And then I remember I read an inspiring article about/ on Microsoft(Back then Google and Apple were not the heroes!!) And I decided to give digital one last shot. Put in some rigorous hours. Slogged my butt off.

The results were mixed. I still managed some very average marks but scraped a distinction in the last semester!

But at least I had gotten over my fears of computers/ digital. I wisely decided to do course correction. Did an MBA and then quietly plugged into the analog world of advertising. But gradually over the years I kept my interest alive in things new media and digital.

I still have more interest in human psychology than plain technology. But the persistence gradually paid off. Recently, I got some additional responsibility to look after new media and digital in the group...

Actually on Saturday picked up this Nicholas Negroponte classic - 'Being Digital'(a must read for anybody interested in digital) and got swamped by this flood of old memories amidst the swelling Mithi...

Some Negroponte nuggets from Being Digital and elsewhere...
1. Computing is not about computers any more. It is about living.
2. Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy
3. Learning to program is a way of thinking about thinking, and when young people get into it, that way of thinking about thinking can change their perspective.
4. “I’m not interesting in training. Training is what we do for dogs, I’m more interested in teaching people to learn”.

Re-reading 'Being Digital' is actually turning out to be far more interesting than I had thot:-) Even after 12 years( first published in '95), it's quite mind-bending and lays a friendly road-map for surviving and prospering in the digital present and future!

Kal Aaj Aur Taj

It's been there for quite some time now. This entire vote for Taj Mahal movement. I have had ambivalent views on this entire saga.

Increasingly, many of us have been exercising arm chair voting on various topical issues. Be it the NDTV initiated voting on the Jessica Lal trial or now this Taj Mahal(Top 10 wonders of the world) vote.

1. As an Indian, maybe I should feel proud about it. Somehow, I don't. I would rather not scribble messages on ASI protected monuments. Or litter on bandstand/ Juhu Chaupati, than indulge in littering but still sms to a short code for some global rating of ancient monuments...

2. Conspiracy theory - Maybe all voting patterns are initiated by mobile phone service providers:-)After all they are the biggest beneficiaries!!

3. Why does most voting happen for dead glamorous models and/or beautiful monuments. It rarely happens for road rage and drunken driving victims and poor farmers committing suicides!!

4. I feel more and more we are part of a larger matrix where bigger issues, real problems are sidelined by the topical TRP-hugging ones. Be it Prince, Buddhia, Shilpa Shetty, Chappell imbroglio...

5. More than a year ago, I had picked up a book on 'manipulation by media' by Noam Chomsky. It was quite a heavy read and I never got around to reading it much. Must dig into it for insights and answers now...

6. Well coming back to the 'Vote for Taj' ad. It actually worked. With all the ambivalence and cynicism in my head, I felt like finally voting for it:-)

Hindustan Ka Dil Dekho

I quite liked the print avatar of the MP Tourism film!

Folk song meets comic book strip meets print ad.
Wish they had done a full pager:-)

Friemily : Friends Become Family

While the TRP obsessed saas-bahu serials still revolve primarily around the family, in urban India amongst the upper middle class, friends are the new hub of life! Well the phenomena is not entirely new.

Maybe Bollywood tapped it first in 'Dil Chahta Hai'. The cover story of Outlook(Jun 25th issue) is on this theme. Some highlights from the issue mashed up with few of my thoughts, in no particular order...

1. "With joint families being dispersed around the country, sibling and parental ties weaken and reliance on friends grows."
There is a limit to which family ties can be maintained even on the low cost mobile telephony available in the country!!

2. "Families many-a-time are judgemental and inhibiting. Friends largely respect your independence, individualistic mores."
In a time-pressured society, young couples do not have the patience to deal with relatively more constricting familial mores.

3. "Family relationships can be hierarchical, weighed down by baggage of old feuds and quarrels. Friendships offer more liberating, guilt-free relationships."
The rapid changes in lifestyles, work-patterns, adoption of new social behaviours are better accepted, accomodated and enjoyed with friends than family.

4. "With the pace of change all around, parents fail to keep up with the new life and experiences of their young children however hard they try or liberal they try to become. Friends fill the gap!"

5. "Traditionally, the family was the inner core, while even the closest of friendships still stood outside that sanctum. But now it's all mingled, with friends becoming a part of one's family, often standing in for the family itself."
I remember while I was growing up, my father would take pains to explain the difference between 'dost' and 'bhai' even though the 'bhai' in question would be the 'second cousin' and the 'dost' - the closest buddy!

On the flip side, one may argue that family is the new friend. Blood brothers, fathers, father-in-laws/ mom-in-laws act, behave and accommodate more and more like friends...

There is a casualisation of relationships not just at the work-place but also at home. Age and experience are no longer setting the rules of the family.

Technology, first distance and dispersion and then a death-of-distance and other frenetic changes all around are re-inventing most of our social institutions and mores...

P.S. A bit of factoid. Just discovered when I type 'Friemily' in Google sesrch, my post is the page 1, item 1 search back:-)

Expectation Management in a Brand Fatigued World

I remember at the Carnatic Music & Business Creativity work-shop that I attended some time back, my friend Ram had posed a question to Sridhar if brands can create excitement by controlling the supply.

In the past few days, two cult brands have demonstrated it. The first one is the most over-used power-pointed case study in the world(ipod) and the other the greatest 'children's rage' of the century(the Harry Potter series. Both have immaculately created an unprecedented hype around their launch!

It's a clever use of pre-launch PR and expectation management...
The Harry Potter count-down poster at the Crossword next to Neo's day care!

The iPhone fan-atic in NYC!

Happydent Makes A Dent At Cannes

A round of applause for the Happydent film. It has won a Silver Lion in the sub-category, Sweet Foods and Snacks, and a Bronze Lion for Best Use of Music.

World class execution with an Indian ethos...
3 cheers to Prasoon and the Mc Cann team!

Monsoon Wedding

It happens only in India...

Picture courtesy : Hindustan Times

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:-)

Sunday, Strategy and Serendipity

I always wonder how one phone call or a sudden change in plans can change the shape of the day, a year or even life...

Sitting in cafe Moshe at Fab India near fountain, watching the pubescent monsoon drizzle, I just called a friend of mine(who is into film production). It was otherwise a routine, quiet, complete home-chores-on Sunday kind of day!

By chance, my friend was in Colaba. So, we had coffee and a long conversation together.

Caught up on Bollywood gossip. Discussed 3 business ideas(one of my favourite subjects for the last 2-3 years), got some leads on good designers!!

I have realized lately that almost all of my better ideas come from serendipity...Be it a chance conversation, a google talk thread, a news item buried in a magazine section browsed at the airport...

And that I have realized is perhaps the best way to capture good ideas...Over time I have been trying to perfect the art of archiving/ storing/ referencing these random ideas.

Strategy in an uncertain world is a lot about serendipity. Even when handling big and small brands, I feel we spend far too much of out time over consistency. Whereas it would really help the brand if we focussed on surprise and serendipity...

Divine Intervention

Saw this banner ad in Delhi. Translated in English it reads - Lord Shree Rama's setu(bridge) is being demolished. Do attend the historic mammoth rally in defence of 'Shree Rama's Bridge'

Amusing, isn't it!!

The Irony of Choice

A while ago I bought our new refrigerator. An LG frost free 330L from Vijay Sales.

However it was the most unsatisfying durable purchase ever!

There was plenty of choice and yet all of them looked alike! Tall, grey and handsome...LG looked like Samsung which looked like Whirlpool which in turn looked like Godrej...

Finally after 10 minutes of point-less comparison, we settled on LG. I wasn't convinced...But then we had to be back home in time for little Neo.

Rewind to 1997, when I bought my first Kelvinator in Chennai. A real beauty - 180litres of quiet direct-cool mechanism! I still miss it...It had character, a distinct identity( with its cherry red colour) and no post-purchase disonace!!

And I have been having these pre-and post purchase dissonance in almost all my white and brown good purchases in the recent past.

- I never know whether I have made a good/ best choice.
- When it comes to last mile differentiation, brands/ companies are relatively inept.
- There is a perennial fear of obsolescence at the back of the mind!!

Looks like the irony of the choice economy is here to stay!

Sandeep Di Gaddi

Saw Oceans 13 yesterday. Full paisa wasool. And Hollywood is so close to Bollywood these days only far more slicker as always...

And in the auto ride back home had the luxury of Sandeep di gaddi...
This guy has the most gizmo fitted auto in Bandra:-)

A functional B/W TV, magazine holder, ash-try, first-aid box,social messages, designer meter et al!

(These are the first images from my Nokia E50...Its handier than my old faithful the Nikon Coolpix compact. It has taken me 2 full months to download the PC suite to my thinkpad...

It's true. At least for me. The rate of technology innovations is racing far ahead of its adoption rates!!

And Now User Generated Packaging

While the cola company is facing trouble in India, internationally it's embracing a design over-drive...Read a report in the ET today. Some pointers from the article!

1. Pepsi has changed it's design a mere 10 times in the last 109 years but it's ready to change it 35 times in the next 12 months!!

It reminds me of Alex Bogusky's comment that today the strength of brands is driven not by consistency but by surprise.

2. The designs include images relating to cars, music, fashion. the work being inspired by consumer 'passion points'.

3. After UGC(user-generated-content) now it's the turn of user-generated-packaging. In the US, Pepsi is launching a 'Design our Pepsi can' contest. Consumers get to submit their designs and even judge the designs of others based on a set of criteria set by Pepsi.

Packaging has always been one of the neglected, rigid and under-tapped areas of marketing. Hopefully, things will change fast. How will it impact the design companies though:-)

And what will happen to the Sacred Brand Manual? And clients and agency guys whose sole job was/ is to ensure the strictest adherence to the logo regime!!

Looks like in the future many logos will have the elasticity, the quirkiness and the topicality of the MTV logo!

Yeh Toh Bada Toing Hai...

As I opened my mail in the morning, I find this news on agencyfaqs. The wise men of ASCI have decided that the 'Amul Macho advertisement was not so obscene as to give rise to grave or widespread offence!'

If the Amul Macho ad is not offensive then I don't know what would be offensive. The grammar, the expressions, the inane double-meaning words/ sounds like 'yeh toh bada toing hai' are all downright vulgar!

I don't think lower middle class families even in UP and Bihar(the major markets for this brand) would enjoy watching this ad either with their kids or with their parents. And almost 100% of the house-holds are still single TV...

And Pushpi's argument that the ad has been well received and the sales have jumped is besides the point. Titillation in any manner will definitely get noticed be it for an ad, a 24X7 breaking news channel or a Bollywood item number! But that's no justification for 'vulgarity' and 'distastefulness!

I guess we have a little responsibility to shape the popular culture aesthetics through the content(ads included) that we create keeping in mind the younger generation.

Yes, the ad is indeed clutter-breaking. But it's also trash-generating! The soundness of the thought ‘Amul Macho. Crafted for Fantasies’, is debatable. But there was no necessity of it being lewd!

Maybe, the wise men of ASCI don't watch TV with their families anymore. If they did, they wouldn't give it the clean chit...

Javed Saheb Ki Baatein

This is my second post in the past few months on/about Javed Akhtar. I am kinda enamoured by the man. Amidst all the mediocrity that floats in Bollywood he still manages to pen down beautiful lyrics, share great thoughts and imbue a poets sensibility to all things around.

In fact some time back when I took an Incubates session, I put Javed Saheb in my top 5 planners list outside of advertising!!

Over the week-end read an interview of his. Two of his comments are worth noting from the interview.

Q. What's the flip side of being a judge?
JA. When somebody with great hope comes to me with very little capability, I feel very awkward to break that illusion. On one hand you are irritated by this person's high opinions, but, on the other hand, you feel bad. Is it right to break their illusion and make them unhappy for the rest of their lives is one question I grapple with. In hindsight, I think that's the right thing to do though it makes me very uncomfortable.

It's a dilemma one often faces in work life as well...But it's tough to take a call and pass judgement. Many years back, one of my early bosses advised me to give up planning as he felt I was not good enough. Luckily, it just made a small dent in my pride/ego. I stuck to my conviction:-)

Q. What are the challenges involved in writing for a period film like Jodha Akbar?
JA. - You have to understand the ethos of any story whether it's set in the modern time or the past.

- I try to understand the wavelength of a film, its temperament and ethos, the intellectual and social level of its characters, and then try to bring the right vocabulary to the songs.

I love the way he approaches his lyrics. His nuanced understanding, depth of research never fails to impress me. If you can lay your hands on do pick up Javed Akhtar's Talking Films - his conversations about Indian cinema. I think it's the best 'branding book by an Indian'!

In case you are interested you could have a dekko at my Oct 16 post - Branding Gyan from Javed Akhtar!

Picture courtesy www.bbc.co.uk

Carnatic Music & Business Creativity

Odd combination but this is precisely what the workshop was all about! As with many such lateral diversions from my routine planner life, this workshop participation too was triggered by my friend Ram!

Organised by R. Sridhar( an Ogilvy veteran of 25 years and now an Innovation coach who runs IDEAS - RS), Bombay Jayshree(amongst the most sought after Carnatic musician and concert artistes) and T M Krishna(one of the leading figures of Carnatic music - a performer, teacher, composer, researcher)

When it comes to workshops in general. I am quite a cynic...I think they are largely corporate 'tamasha' and not much! But more about that in some other post...This one was different.

Between TMK and BJ, they played great soulful music. Even though I am a cipher when it comes to classical music, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The loose agenda was to learn from the lives of 7 great Carnatic Music maestros - Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar - who introduced the current day crisper concert format!!

TN Rajarathnam Pillai - who fought to give the nagaswaram it's rightful place

Semmangudi Srinavasa Iyer - who influenced not only Carnatic music but also its organisation and administration.

GN Balasubramaniam - whose style and bani generated a new kind of audience fervour.

Palghat Mani Iyer - the first and last word in percussion

MS Subbulakshmi - who gained Carnatic music a place within India and in the International arena!

and TR Mahalingam - the maverick and the genius who gave a completely new dimension to the flute!

What I loved most about this workshop was the music and the erudite articulation of TM Krishna. Among the finest communicators I have met in along time...

Some nuggets from the worlshop:
1. Ariyakudi's strategy of 'Stop the concert when the audience wants more"...I guess all news channels, most celebrity endorsers cam learn from this insight LOL

2. TR Mahalingam's strategy of 'Changing the instrument'. He made the 8th hole in the flute to enhance the music...I guess often we get trapped in models and the rigid structures of our business. This advice is handy to tool around with rigidity in thoughts!

3. To me Ariyakudi appeared to be a great planner!! As he understood the shift in the audience and culture in the 1930s...

From few listeners to many
From exclusive royal patronage to mass patronage
From elaborate improvisation to briskness and brevity
From eight items per concert to almost twenty!!
From pure reverential listening to concert ticketing.

4. The story of the ever learning MS Subbulakshmi. She would go to listen to a relatively unknown musician in Mylapore if she felt there was something to learn from him/ her...

A great attempt at an unusual mishram of music and business creativity. Hats off to Sridhar and team for pulling this off! The prototype beta version would definitely evolve over ver 2.0!

All in all I loved the humility of these wise musicians. There is a lesson for all of us in the larger marketing and communication community who are often arrogant in our ignorance!!The life and the lessons of the maestros has been captured well in the coffee-table like book Voices within Carnatic Music. Worth a read!

The Adventures Of Makkadman

Soumya just mailed me this link! Check it out!

Yet another example of cool content from the Webchutney guys...