January 2010

Apple iPad: what it could be is more promising than what it is

January 29, 2010
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And so the iPad has been announced. And the sun still rises in the east. I was glued to my Macbook,  following the various live blogs. I also managed to catch the live television coverage on CNBC’s US feed. The last time a similar thing happened in 2007, during the iPhone launch, I was elated. [...]

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Barclaycard roller coaster: taking the idea higher

January 28, 2010
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When you have a hit in your hands, like the Barclays Waterslide commercial, the pressure to go one up with a sequel is huge. Barclaycard and BBH, their agency, have taken this literally and have put a man on a roller coaster ride across New York in their follow up commercial. When you have such [...]

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Best of the Apple Tablet wish list: computer as an appliance

January 26, 2010
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In January 2007, Apple announced the iPhone. Pitched as a breakthrough internet device, it kicked up media & consumer frenzy for a good 6 months. When the iPhone was finally launched in June 2007, the consumer anticipation was so high that people lined up days ahead of the launch to buy it. The pre-launch hype [...]

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Seen and noted: The Resort at Paws Up

January 25, 2010
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This reminded me of the scores of ads from the early ’90s in India when print was still king. The kind of ads made famous by the likes of  Trikaya, Enterprise and Ambience. Agency: Neiman Group, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Via: Ads of the World. Rest of the ads are here. An upmarket resort, upscale target [...]

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Is it time for agency creative & media to sit together again?

January 24, 2010
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In the  early ’90s, agencies hived off their media planning & buying divisions into specialist units. Several of them, with control of billions of dollars in marketing monies, have gone onto become media powerhouses with incredible clout – after all, money is power. In mature & developing media markets, there are media heavyweights who match [...]

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PSA ad on cyber-bullying: cool use of YouTube

January 24, 2010
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When it comes to posting videos on YouTube, usually there ain’t much difference between most advertising agencies and the average YouTube user. Both post videos and that’s that. Agencies are expected to be power users and all that but usually they don’t even disable comments but get miffed if about adverse comments on their ad. [...]

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Diesel Be Stupid: a counter point

January 20, 2010
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Diesel, the fashion brand, is no stranger to controversy. In 2008, they used ’70s sleaze to celebrate their anniversary. Dubbed SFW XXX (as opposed to NSFW) Viral Factory created a video where the offending bits were blocked out with animation and the stars (ahem) were seen playing the harmonica or shaking the maracas. Their latest campaign, [...]

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Apple Jan 27th invite: product leads the marketing

January 19, 2010
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It’s official. Apple has sent out an invite to the Press on Jan 18th, via email. The invite,  with a simple ‘Come see our latest creation’ has confirmed wild rumours about the event and has fuelled even more speculative frenzy. I loved the simplicity and intrigue of the invite. The ‘tease’ of not revealing what [...]

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Britannia NutriChoice: changing habits needs some prodding

January 19, 2010
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Maggi introduced a new kind of snack to India. Kelloggs introduced the cold breakfast to us. And now Britannia has vowed to replace unhealthy snacks with NutriChoice. The memorable TV commercial tapped into the insight that when one’s hungry all one can think of is food.  The surround campaign urged people to replace their oily [...]

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