Monday, January 05, 2009

Interesting Times

I am seeing a lot of unconventional advertising nowadays. Maybe because I have started noticing more, or maybe because the agencies are getting more creative, the companies/organizations are getting more risk-loving and the consumers are getting bored - the need of the hour is clutter-breaking advertising.

Let me start by saying I am not talking about television media.

So what have we? The newspaper that you read everyday for one. Boring, you say. Advertising in newspapers is old hat. Even the shady neighborhood gymkhana does it. Then picture this. You pick up your TOI and it’s as if half the front page has been wiped out. So you get to read only half the sentences and headlines, see half the pictures. It’s not a 100%. What is? Only Tropicana.

Look out for more such creative print ads. I have spotted a couple of others, but there is no way I will be able to describe the impact here. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Then there is Viral. Usually these are quite humorous since you are not paying through your nose for every second that the ad runs. So there is this IDBI Fortis Wealthsurance one which makes ample use of the fact that Rajanikanth is baap of all and no one, I repeat, no one has that kind of fan-following.

This is only the tip of the ice-berg. Digital marketing is exploding in ways unimaginable. Whether it is about catching surfers in a cyber-café, or having voice alerts that talk about giving you a pizza free if not delivered within 30 minutes when you type in ‘Pizza’ into Google search - there are myriad ways of catching attention.

And now, one of my favorites - OOH - Out of Home. The ‘Red Ribbon Express’ was an initiative undertaken in 2007 wherein a train would travel the length and breadth of India for 180 days, housing in it - exhibitions, counseling and medical centers, auditoriums and carrying with it people who would disembark at the stations and cycle into the towns and villages to stage skits and plays on Aids awareness. I hear that this concept has been used by companies as well.

And I end with this. Brand - Hobby Ideas.




















3 comments:

Kavity said...

I was meaning to blog about Tropicana 100% with specific reference to the TOI ad you have mentioned on this post. I just happened to be meaning and meaning for a long time by when the QoM herself has posted on it :(
There was a TV ad which in fact caught my fancy. I was watching a movie on a Tam regional channel. The movie moves on to the climax sequence when the villain is pointing his gun at the hero. When he is about to trigger the gun, a buzz of mosquitoes appears on the screen followed by a harsher buzz of 'Good Knight' spraying them out. The movie freezes for 10 seconds of this advertisement and then resumes. The prevalent disadvantage of the viewer moving on to some other channel during TVCs has been cleverly overcome here.

Shreya said...

I swear. Brilliant, if somewhat irritating, product placement :) And I am no QoM. I am quite the student/slave/servant/critic/lover.

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