As part of a monthly review of Indian advertising and marketing which I do for a far-east publication, I have been watching Indian political advertising very closely for some time now. I specifically mentioned the review, because if it wasn’t for it, I would have simply missed/ignored the ads… which is what I think most [...]
Archive for the ‘What Were They Thinking??’ Category
It’s just Economics, stupid…
Posted: May 1, 2009 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Common Sense, Indian Economy, Marketing, Politics, What Were They Thinking??0
IPL Out, Politics In!
Posted: March 22, 2009 by noshtradamus in Common Sense, IPL, Public Relations, What Were They Thinking??Okay, I see Breaking News on CNN that the organisers of IPL have decided to hold the tournament outside India. Simultaneously, I see Narendra Modi slamming the government on the security reasons that have led to this decision. Of course, Modi is not alone with his vulture-like behaviour, as I see the rest of the [...]
Will SBI please stop wasting money?!
Posted: February 17, 2009 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Brands, Common Sense, Marketing, What Were They Thinking??Tags: SBI
“Ouch!” That’s the first thought that struck me as I picked up the newspapers this morning. No I am not referring to the coverage of the FM’s interim budget, but to the full front page ad for State Bank of India in the leading and very-expensive-to-advertise-in newspapers. The full-frontal assault hurt for two big reasons: [...]
Copyright fraud (?) by a “blogger”
Posted: November 7, 2008 by noshtradamus in Business Ethics, Internet, New Media, What Were They Thinking??Tags: Bloggers, Copyright Violation, Link Farms, Plagiarism
Every now and then I spot incoming links to my blog, from a site called Business Way which I discover is using my content as is, to attract traffic. And I am not alone in getting my stuff streamed without credit – there are other sites too – there are sites from the US and elsewhere whose [...]
CEO Brand Ambassadors and the “Main Hoon Na!” syndrome
Posted: October 25, 2008 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Brands, Business Ethics, Creativity, Customer Service, Endorsement, Marketing, Public Relations, What Were They Thinking??The other day I was in small electrical shop in Shakarpur market, and was looking for an power extension board – “give me the best quality” I requested. The shopkeeper smiled with pride, and then with great flourish revealed to me his “best quality” extension board. No it wasn’t Philips, Bajaj, or any such familiar [...]
Indian Advertising and the “billing” tamasha
Posted: October 21, 2008 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, What Were They Thinking??Somewhere towards the end of my career as an “advertising professional” I realised the business of advertising had become more about “getting billing” and less about “adding value” and it was the key reason I switched to being an independent consultant. I don’t blame them really, because most ad agencies are reeling under the double-whammy [...]
Bollywood Celebrity Endorsement in India: Khan you guess who is King!?
Posted: September 11, 2008 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Brands, Common Sense, Creativity, Marketing, Public Relations, Strategy, What Were They Thinking??Tags: Celebrities, Endorsement, Brand Ambassadors, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hritik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Coke, Tata Sky, Titan, Motorola, Idea Cellular, Thums Up, Sony Ericsson, Acer, Parle, HP, Compaq, Nokia, Pepsi, Hyundai
In the battle for mindshare and market share, some companies in India have gone out of their way (way, way out sometimes) and hired celebrities to endorse their brands. While some celebrities have done a fantastic job (as actors and as endorsers), the rest have just ended up wasting a lot of money, and insulting [...]
sensitivity, anyone?
Posted: September 7, 2007 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Common Sense, What Were They Thinking??A couple of days back I commented on a stupid ad by an airline. Now I discovered this amazingly insensitive piece of work by UNICEF Germany, no less! I won’t take up time repeating what these two guys have so beautifully put across at Words & Pictures. Read all about it here.
Is Delta trying to be funny?
Posted: September 5, 2007 by noshtradamus in Advertising, What Were They Thinking??I was checking a few airline sites the other day, when I came across this banner advertisement on the Delta website – obviously targetted at Indian flyers… or is it? I for one, who is proudly Indian, don’t find it either amusing or attractive… “Naan Stop”??! Is this supposed to in jest..? Playing on a bad [...]
Where have all the Writers gone??
Posted: July 6, 2007 by noshtradamus in Advertising, Creativity, Debate, Talent & Assets, Thinking Aloud, Trends, What Were They Thinking??There was a time when reading ads was a pleasure. We could enjoy an intelligent twist of phrase, smile at a clever use of words, and get amazed by the wordsmithery of a writer passionate about the product and the consumer whom he was trying to sell it to. It was a time when names [...]
