Macheads, football maniacs and F1 fans have one thing in common: a sense of community and bonding. And the World Cup is what an Apple event is to Mac fans. Over the next few months, scores of brands will associate themselves with football, as a build up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Kicking off the proceedings as it were, is Visa in this lovely spot.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, UK

Apparently, the ad was shot over 12 days in Morocco, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Saatchi & Saatchi’s Executive Creative Director Kate Stanners conceived the idea of a ‘couch potato’ football fan, getting up off his couch and running across continents to reach the World Cup stadium in South Africa. It’s interesting that this campaign did not use any CGI and the actors did there own stunts, including running with wild animals in Africa!

The ad is directed by the celebrated ad film maker, Chris Palmer of Gorgeous, UK. You can see some of Palmer’s other work (including the Skoda cake car ad)  here and here.

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I was scouting the web for great newspaper ads recently and was pleasantly surprised to several Newspaper Marketing Associations in UK & Australia which not only encourage newspaper advertising but provide case studies and tools for better utilization of the medium for both advertisers & agencies. Wonder if there are similar bodies in India? The Indian Newspaper Society whose site looks so ’80s publishes a brochure for agencies but nothing more.

After much scouting I was able to get copies of some classic print ads, many of which I have seen in The Copy Book – How 32 of the World’s Best Advertising Writers Write Their Advertising. Here are 16 from that collection (I have left out the popular ones like Volkswagen’s Lemon and attempted to share the lesser known ones):

1. Albany Life

Imagine you are married (if you are not, already) and reading the papers. Would you get past this ad without reading it? Unlikely. Awesome headline, riveting copy.

2. Chivas Regal

I am sure this ad inspired many young men & women to get into advertising, specifically copywriting.

3. DDB – recruitment ad

I hadn’t seen this ad before and I was struck by the wonderful perspective of the writer (was it the brief?) to ask himself: I have to work with the Account Man hired through this ad; how can I make both our jobs easier?’

4. Health Education Council

The birth control ad is telegraphic advertising at it’s best. I have heard other copywriters refer to the ‘Flies can’t eat solid food’ headline – sounds even better now.

5. McDonalds – Supersize Me

One may not agree with McDonald’s stand on how it was portrayed in Supersize Me, but makes for great copy.

6. NSPCC

Classic ‘call for action’ headline, coupled with an arresting visual. Enough said.

7. Pilkington Glass

I remember seeing the classic TV commercial and a print ad whose headline referred to the fact that much of Pilkington’s export to Japan, was sent back promptly (in the form of Japanese tourists, since the glass was used in their cameras!). This ad too, is classic stuff.

Years later, Fallon McElligot created a similar headline for Murray’s restaurant, which went something like: ‘Around the world, every great city has a restaurant like Murrays. In Minneapolis, it is Murrays’.

8. Sainsbury

Will our target audience get it? Why can’t we say it directly? Such questions don’t seem to apply for British advertising.

9. Smoking – If Only

Remember seeing this in The Copy Book – etched in my mind forever.

10. Stella Artois

Imagine expressing the Stella Artois proposition of ‘reassuringly expensive’ in a 4-word headline. Awesome.

11. The Economist

How can this list be complete without an ad from The Economist?

12. The Samaritans

Arresting headline, an immediate clarification, nuggets of information – all nicely weaved into one compelling ad.

13. Volvo

One of the classic Volvo ads – not as copy heavy as the others in this list. But just as effective.

14. Volkswagen Polo

This campaign had a series of classic TV adverts for the theme ‘Surprisingly low prices’. For me, it was also one of the first examples of implementing a campaign idea in a 360-degrees fashion.

Great examples in the craft of copywriting alright. But I think it is facilitated by a whole lot of things: lucid thinking, clear strategy, inspiring briefs, great Art partners and of course, clients who believed in great advertising and had the balls to back it  up.

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An ad for the movie, Alice in Wonderland in the form of a cover-wrap in the front page of L.A. Times created a furore recently.  Some called it a shame on LA Times for selling it’s masthead. Reports said that the top editorial staff were initially against such a move but gave in to commercial considerations. Times of India would have wondered what the fuss was all about it – ‘if there is space, it is meant for ads’ is their motto. Consequently, we in India are used to 4-page ads acting as a full wrap for the daily or those annoying vertical shaped ads that make the front page unwieldy.

I have a soft corner for print ads that use the print medium to their advantage. Ads when planned well, can give precedence to editorial, respect the reader’s intelligence and yet make an impact for commercial purposes. They all need not necessarily take odd shaped ads or intrude into editorial to make an impact. There several creative ways to use the newspaper medium, chief among them being the topical ad. The best recent example, was the Australian ad for Veet depilatory products – clever and memorable. We also had Aviva Life Insurance thanking Sachin’s coach (guru) they day after he scored a double century in an ODI recently. Topical ads have a cheeky quality about them – done well they can have an impact much beyond the one-day shelf life of a newspaper.

Among the other kind there is the innovative or odd shape, clever placement, using the newspaper’s structure etc. Toyota Prado took out an interesting ad in the Sydney Morning Herald recently. It wrapped the daily in a transparent sheet (almost like a cellophane, I guess):

This may be too close to what we are used to in India, what with an extra sheet in front of the newspaper and all that. But you don’t need an extraneous element always to make an impact. Some of the most effective ones simply use the newspaper’s structure. This ad simply used the page numbers on top of every page to link them with statistics pertaining to AIDS; for example on Page 6: million people in South Africa are living with HIV.

Click here for a higher resolution image.

And then there was this ad from Australia which aimed to create awareness about cancer. All they did was to create a bump at the bottom of the page in printing. Next to it was the message: if your mole starts to feel like this, see your doctor.

Even straight forward ads can go long way with the right placement. Check out these two ads: one for the launch of Toshiba Netbooks in the UK and the other to announce ‘borderless’ TV for LG, in Australia.

Sometimes, editorial from the newspaper can be linked to a brand’s promise. Continental soup positions itself as a cure for ‘three-thirtyitis’ – much like Snickers’ 4pm positioning I guess. They used clipping from the newspapers for this ad:

An ad inside the newspaper can serve a dual purpose, like this one for McDonalds, Australia:

Of course, you can create an effective print ad without resorting to any gimmicks – as many of the legendary copywriters did for centuries. When you have an opportunity to innovate it doesn’t necessarily have to be at the expense of the reader or the editorial content.

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Why do we love  lists? Here are 10 Reasons Why. We are surrounded by lists of all kinds: Top 10 movies,  ’25 examples of this’ and ‘15 examples of that’. Lists that rank things (‘Top 10 freeware programmes’ or ‘20 must-have applications’) are liked even more on the web; magazines like Time and Fortune have also made brands out of lists. A lot of creative work is presented in the form of lists on the web: ambient ideas, car ads, celebrity ads and so on. I have attempted a few in this space: 30 great print ads that tell a visual story,  19 print ads with attention grabbing copy and a follow up to the visual story post. Why not add to the list of ‘list posts’ and look at a compilation of ads that showcase cool advertising photography? Herewith a few examples:

1. Adidas – F50+

A mega production of a TV commercial, captured beautifully in static media.

Agency: 180 Amsterdam. Photographer: Finlay Mackay

2. Adidas

Based on the insight that a whole nation is behind the performance of athletes at the Olympics, the campaigns features several athletes from around the world. Here are 3: Russian polevaulter Jelena Isinbajeva: “Alone I jump. Together we soar”, Chinese Taipei Taekwondo athlete Chu Mu-Yen: “No one gets up when a whole country kicks.” and USA sprinter Tyson Guy: “Ever seen a nation fly?”

3. ADESF

Anti-smoking ads are meant to be shockers and Associação de Defesa da Saúde do Fumante, Brazil or ADESF, has consistently produced work that delivers on that count.

Agency: Neogama/BBH, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Photographer: Robert Polidori

4. Amnesty International

Scores of children, recruited as soldiers, can only dream of simply being children. That’s the cold, direct message from this campaign.

Agency: TBWA, Paris; photographer Michael Lewis

5. Audi

Pure energy, is the claim. May take a fraction of a second to figure it out but sure makes the car drool worthy.

6. Audi Quattro – 25 years

A series of images were published (as a calendar, I think) to celebrate 25 years of Audi Quattro. Drool.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi

7. Citizens Crime Commission, New York

I am sure there is digital touch up involved in this but the visual imagery of guns as the familiar NYC skyline makes it an arresting ad.

Agency: DraftFCB, New York; Photographer: Julian Wolkenstein

8. Cordaid

Making the rich feel guilty of their lifestyle in relative terms is a brilliant strategy in itself. The photography brings it alive.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Amstelveen, The Netherlands; Photographer: Calle Stolze

9. Discovery Channel – Dirty Jobs

To promote the Dirty Jobs programme on Discovery, the creative agency presented a visual resume of sorts of the anchor. Brilliant.

Agency: Discovery Communications, Washington DC, USA and RPA, Santa Monica, USA; Photographer: Roger Hagadone

10. Domestos

In a movie poster like claim, ‘You are not alone’ the idea comes alive. But the photography imbues a creepy air to the scenario with the prospect of germs watching your every move.

11. Fraich Fries

I am sure we’ve all been through this. The 70s-style photography gives it a sitcom like feel. Awesome.

Agency: Grey, Paris: Photographer: Achim Lippoth

12. Hermes Air de Paris

High end fashion advertising relies so much on unconventional photography. The ads here, appear like works of art.

Agency: Publicis EtNous, France; Photographer: Camilla Akrans

13. IKEA

Free home delivery is the claim, brought alive by some awesome art direction and photography.

Agency: DDB, Berlin; Photographer: Mikael Strinnhed

14. Koleston hair colour

Kissable hair, thanks to Koleston. The classic visual pun.

Agency: Leo Burnett Milan, Italy; Photographer: Studioros

15. Lamborghini

I had written about these ads earlier. The corporate reminded me of Indian ads in the early ’90s and the ‘Born in Italy’ ones made me laugh out loud.

Agency: Philipp und Keuntje GmbH, Germany; Photographer Jürgen Berderow

Agency: Philipp und Keuntje, Hamburg, Germany; Photographer Arthur Mebius

16. Land Rover

Makes work play is the claim. This apparently uses tilt shift techniques to transform photographic subjects into what appear to be miniature objects.

Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, London, UK; Photographer: Nadav Kander

More advertising photography goodness soon. Hope you liked this collection; do comment in about the ads you liked most.

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Yes, you can view this ad on YouTube too. But do yourself a favour and go watch the Tositos ad on Vimeo. Get ready for an amazing experience.

YouTube has traditionally been the preferred destination for uploading commercials and branded content by advertisers & agencies. Vimeo’s edge: better resolution of videos and relatively less commercial content. The former has been negated by YouTube of late, where lots of videos have the HD option. But with customizations like this for Frito Lay, will Vimeo become a worthy competitor for YouTube? Tweaks and customizations of videos have been around in YouTube – remember Boone Oakley? Since it’s a rare one for Vimeo, this ad is doing the rounds of ad blogs. Not to mention the awesome CG.

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Man, what a campaign. The recent ads for Old Spice body wash released in the US, seem to have hit the sweet spot, big time. Unashamedly positioned as the macho man’s body wash, the ad cleverly stokes fantasy in women and jealousy in men. This double barreled approach is evident in this spot, where a hunk (actor Isaiah Mustafa, a former NFL player) is ‘the man your man could smell like’:

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

In another ad,  ’Did you know?‘, the same man (again on horse back) continues the macho theme. As the copy in Old Spice’s YouTube Channel says : ‘Don’t smell like sunsets and baby powder. Smell like jet fighters and punching’. The third spot smartly reinforces the blurb, ‘Smell like a man, man‘.

Behind this tongue in cheek humour (‘We’re not saying this body wash will make your man smell into a romantic millionaire jet fighter pilot, but we are insinuating it‘), is a great time-proven insight and tonnes of subliminal messages. For a man, being called a sissy or having similar tastes as women (using women’s body wash in the shower for example) is a huge insult. Once that is insinuated he is likely to swing to the opposite extreme and do all he can to prove his machoness. Never mind if he is nowhere as good looking or well built as Isaiah Mustafa. But the killer part of the strategy is to aim the communication at women too. With some brilliant writing – ‘Look at your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me‘ – it’s got women’s attention. And oh, innuendos help – what with strapping men on um, er…well-hung horses.

The campaign has become an internet rage  - more than 3.9mn views of the theme ad on YouTube, 500000+ fans on Facebook and so on. But the ultimate boost for the creative ego is this tribute from consumers: a couple has set the words of the Old Spice commercial to ‘You fill up my senses’ and posted a video.

Over the last couple of years, the marketing & advertising effort behind the Old Spice brand  - be it Hair & Body Wash (‘Is it right for me?’), deodorant (‘Swagger ‘ as the brand promise) or anti-perspirant – points to:

• focused on building a clear positioning & personality for the brand.
• building products based on consumer insights and leveraging those insights in entertaining, relevant advertising
• garnering a new consumer base (some may still see the brand as the old after-shave brand) by creating content that appeals to the new generation – be it the website, TV commercials or promotions.

Great lesson in rejuvenating a brand and content creation. Really, man.

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The latest offensive from Rin – a TV commercial claiming to be better than Tide by not just naming but showing the competitive product, has brought the debate on comparative advertising back in focus. In my view, comparative advertising is permissible if it’s based on facts. Advertising Standards Council of India, has this to say about comparative advertising in it’s Code of Conduct (link to pdf):

In the Rin ad, the claim is limited to a whiter wash- ‘Tide se kahin behatar safedi de Rin’ (Rin gives better whiteness than Tide), without getting into specific, feature-to-feature comparison. Almost all detergent ads promise a whiter wash – except that they used to refer to ‘ordinary detergents’ leaving the consumer to figure that they are talking about her brand. The only difference here is that a competitor has been named, and shown brazenly. According to this article: ‘this claim is based on laboratory tests done through globally accepted protocols in independent third-party laboratories’.

Comparative ads aren’t new to India. Many years ago, Trikaya Grey created an ad for HCL Photocopiers which directly named Modi Xerox in their ads. The comparison was feature-to-feature and specifically mentioned why HCL was better. I don’t have the ads, but you can read about it in this 1989 article from Economic Times (link to pdf file).There have been others too – the recent Horlicks vs. Complan ads come to mind.

Without solid factual backup, comparative ads only serve to create a ruckus and bring the advertising and the brand(s) into the public eye. It remains to be seen how Tide will react but reports indicate that they may not respond directly. The ads remain on air with a high frequency for a short period of time, creating a lot of buzz before ASCI or a consumer complaint forces the advertiser to pull the ad off the air. Sometimes it may backfire on the advertiser – like in the case of Fusion water tanks. They released an ad (around the same time as the HCL ads) which said: ‘Bad news for Sintex’. It was based on a claim that Fusion had 6 new features over Sintex – the generic name for water tanks. I am not sure if it benefited Fusion; the HCL ads on the other hands helped increase shares dramatically. It’s a double edged sword since it reminds the consumer about your competing brand – just as the Surf Lalitaji ads reminded consumers of Nirma. It may also repulse a few consumers who don’t like brand bashing preferring for you to speak about your positives rather than the negatives of the competition.

Globally, comparative ads have been around for decades. There’s this classic ad for Penn Tennis Balls from Fallon McElligot which was endearing simply because the comparison was tongue in cheek. And then of course, the ‘Get a Mac’ ads for Apple which take a dig at some of PC’s features and also highlight the positives of Mac OS X. In this light, check out the latest effort from Audi of America. On the back of Car and Driver comparison tests, Audi took on it’s competitors – Lexus, BMW, Mercedes et al.

On the back of another fact – Audi is growing faster than Mercedes, Lexus or BMW – they released another ad, ‘The Spell‘, which again named competing brands directly. The Rin ad, compared to such efforts remains at a claim level. What say?

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Apple continues to push the diverse apps as the differentiator – until the Android and Ovi markets catch up, at least. There are two new ones: First Steps and Family Travel. I was intrigued by the sheer  usefulness of some of these apps – I mean, switching off the lights at home remotely from your iPhone?

I am told that in India, Ovi Store has exceeded 1 million downloads per day. Just curious – how innovative and seamlessly integrated are they? Anyone used them?

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At the Annual Shareholders Meeting this week, Apple gave an indication of their focus on new markets. They plan to open 25 new stores over the next 2 years in China. Not surprising, since Apple has sold more than 200,000 iPhones in China already since the official launch and sees a huge potential there. Does it put paid to any hopes of Apple showing interest in India, at least in the short term? I think so. Herewith some kite-flying on reasons why:

Similar yet different: China is the world’s largest mobile market with about 687 million customers. While India is not far behind with around 500mn, the dynamics vis-a-vis the Apple brand is different. While both may have a sizable middle class, I think Apple’s equity is relatively stronger in China. Proof: Mac sales in China increased nearly 100 % over previous year in the first financial quarter of 2010. Apple seems to be for the long haul in China focused on the quality of the point of sale and consumer experience, rather than on sales. Tim Cook says:

“We would prefer to move slow because we are building the brand for the long-term and we are very much focused on the long-term in that market, because we think there is significant potential there”.

Does Apple have a similar confidence about the Indian market? I doubt it. The large middle class and the huge mobile subscriber base remain largely apathetic to Apple. The cult brands in the PC and mobile segments are Microsoft & Nokia respectively. Not to mention Apple’s pricing issues in both these segments.

Ruthless focus: Apple is known to be ruthlessly focused when it comes to product development. Ditto with their marketing strategy. Steve Chazin calls it ‘Do one thing, better‘. Despite the seemingly promising numbers in India, I think Apple will continue to ignore India.

So if you are an Apple fan, I guess it’s status quo. Don’t expect the iPhone 3GS anytime soon. Don’t expect subsidies if and when it launches here. Expect your Apple re-seller to be as clueless as ever. And watch other brands take away the cream of the market.

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Veteran journalist M J Akbar launched the Sunday Guardian (‘It’s a Know Brainer‘) for the New Delhi market recently. Times of India is experimenting with Crest Edition (‘A weekend edition, a weeklong read’) in select markets. TOI says: Crest is for the curious mind; it hopes to be every intelligent reader’s guide to politics and policy, art and culture, environment and education, and more. The idea of weekend papers focusing on analysis and views has been around for a while. Vinod Mehta launched India’s first Sunday newspaper, Sunday Observer many years ago. The relaxed, analytical read for the intelligent is a common proposition for weekend newspapers. Communicating such a position, is quite a challenge.

Recently, W+K, London did a wonderful job of relaunching the oldest Sunday paper in the world - The Observer, UK. Prior to the campaign, there was much speculation about the role of a Sunday paper and the future of The Observer. A support group, Stand Up for The Observer was set up online. The teaser print campaign took actual quotes from the website as headlines, including this one from Piers Morgan (former editor of tabloids such as News of the World & Daily Mirror): ‘I have been abused, ridiculed, reviled, insulted, mocked, derided and trivialized by The Observer for 20 years. But that’s what makes it such an important and valuable national institution‘. The TV commercial is a brilliant summation of the brand promise.

See the full, uncut version here.

According to the W+K, London blog: in an age when readers are increasingly at the receiving end of a media tsunami…there is a role for a Sunday paper that offers increased reflection, discursiveness and analysis. I liked the idea of verbal bombardment that we are subjected to every day – almost reducing everything to a meaningless sound byte. Loved it.

P.S: As an aside, check out Charlie Brooker’s spoof on ‘How to report the News‘.

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