The adage ‘ninety percent of everything is crap’ coined by Theodore Sturgeon an American science fiction author is relevant in the context of advertising where a majority of campaigns go unnoticed. Among the handful of great marketing campaigns which get noticed, recalled and loved there are even fewer number which stand the test of time. I wrote about one such campaign – ‘Live richly’ from Citi a while ago. Another brand which deserves accolades and…
A social media post caused a diplomatic incident recently after a severe social media backlash over a social media post…
‘Oh, brilliant advertising, how I miss you so’ is an inspirational series of posts on LinkedIn, curated by Gregg Benedikt,…
Back during my advertising days, not jus the copywriters, even the Account Management folks had to ‘write’ a lot. Minutes of meetings, creative briefs, emails or memos, communication proposal documents were all part of the job. I don’t know what kind of writing is expected of the present day advertising or digital agency folks, but these tips on writing skills – gleaned from an old deck (perhaps from the early 2000s) could be of use:…
As consumers, how often have we experienced a situation where we remember elements of an ad (such as a key…
I wrote a long post about the basics of marketing communications and the recent controversies around festive ads in India…
The fundamentals of marketing communications is believed to be the same, be it in the traditional media world or the ‘new’ digital world. Bill Bernbach, ad legend and founder of DDB said famously: ‘it is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own’. Such motivations are not going to change…
Last week, football icon Cristiano Ronaldo triggered truck loads of media coverage when he pushed away two bottles of Coke…
This is probably the millionth post on this topic: ‘should you follow your passion?’ I don’t claim to say anything…
Advertising is meant to either effect a change in perception or behaviour. Sometimes, the former can lead to the latter. Most of the advertising that we are exposed to on mass media – for consumer goods primarily, operate in the realm of changing perception, to build affinity. Communication is also a tool to change behaviour, whether it is about getting consumers to invest in mutual funds or motivating them to quit smoking. Over the years,…