Comparative advertising: the debate is back

March 1, 2010
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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 [...] Continue Reading…
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What apps can do: iPhone – Family Travel

March 1, 2010
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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 [...] Continue Reading…
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Apple plans big push in China; no hope for India, then?

February 26, 2010
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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 [...] Continue Reading…
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Pause. Review. Reflect on The Observer re-launch

February 26, 2010
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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 [...] Continue Reading…
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Seen and noted: Suraj Electronics – pixels tell a story

February 25, 2010
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Came across this set of ads for Suraj Electronics, Delhi. Suraj, who? Exactly. Like me, if you haven’t heard the name, don’t worry – this is bound to make the rounds of ad blogs and Creative Awards.  The attempt is to sell the generic benefits of LCD TVs and [...] Continue Reading…
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15 creative ideas from the Gulf

February 23, 2010
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Came across a campaign for Polo – the mint with a hole, in Ads of the World. We’ve seen several executions of the ‘Mint with a hole idea in India’, including this cracking one created by Freddie Birdy & Naved in the early ’90s. I found these expressions fresh [...] Continue Reading…
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Never walk alone, says P&G to mums

February 23, 2010
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The latest in the Thank You, Mom series of ads for P&G’s Winter Olympic effort premiered on Feb 20th. Touching stuff.
The theme effort, brand-specific spots and the web activity all have great synergy and are single-mindedly focused on strengthening P&G’s equation with mums. Investing behind the Winter Olympics makes [...] Continue Reading…
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Aircel’s Save Our Tigers: advertising in CSR skin?

February 22, 2010
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Quick, name 5 CSR initiatives from Indian corporates? Takes a while to make list? It could be partly because of the low profile companies seem to maintain about their CSR initiatives. In my view, the mantras followed by corporates for effective CSR programmes are: (a) first do, then talk [...] Continue Reading…
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HP Mini – is it December already?

February 21, 2010
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Saw this over at Ads of the World and it stood out in the carousel-type listing of new work. The concept is a bit forced linking it to the Mini sub brand; great Art though.
Agency: Publicis India
A few questions come to mind: what is the actual creative that is [...] Continue Reading…
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