Newspaper Falls for con-artist's fake Gucci Ad
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What would the name Switzerland ring in your mind? Is it beautiful landscapes, watches, chocolates, women, secret bank accounts or UN? Well ask Gucci and they will have different words. In what appears to be a great publicity stunt by a con artist, a swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung was called up to book the expensive full page color spread in Sunday's edition. But that's not it, he not only managed to get his own picture for this ad but also made whopping 60,000-Swiss-franc (about $50,000/ INR 2,000,000) bill to be sent to Gucci.
The newspaper later apologized to Gucci and told newspapers that it was trying to get the money back from the guy, but was quick to add that they didn't rate their chances very high!
It wasn't the first time that the mysterious model — a dark tanned, handsome man appearing to be in his late 20s — tried to sneak his way into the limelight. According to the Zurich-based daily Blick, the man attempted to book concert venues by passing himself off as Puerto Rican singer Chayanne. The paper said it narrowly avoided also being conned, but was tipped of the hoax by record company Sony BMG, which represents Chayanne.
You can see the con artist himself in this picture that spelled a dumbness doom for paper.
The newspaper later apologized to Gucci and told newspapers that it was trying to get the money back from the guy, but was quick to add that they didn't rate their chances very high!
It wasn't the first time that the mysterious model — a dark tanned, handsome man appearing to be in his late 20s — tried to sneak his way into the limelight. According to the Zurich-based daily Blick, the man attempted to book concert venues by passing himself off as Puerto Rican singer Chayanne. The paper said it narrowly avoided also being conned, but was tipped of the hoax by record company Sony BMG, which represents Chayanne.
You can see the con artist himself in this picture that spelled a dumbness doom for paper.
Labels: Brand Endorsement, Funny, Print Ad
posted by Jas @ 8:17 PM,
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Cadbury India repeats innovation success
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, India
Creative Directors: Anup Chitnis, Rensil D'silva, Piyush Pandey
They did it with Perk about a decade back and they have done it again with 'Ulta Perk' now. Cadbury brought the chocolate coated wafer category to the Indian cocoa confectionary market with launch of its highly successful brand - Perk, then popularized by brand ambassador Priety Zinta.
Perk was launched in the market in 1995 and has seen consistent growth through the years. The cocoa confectionary wafer market is around 35 % of the total chocolate market and has been growing at around 13% annually. Perk has been one of the best sellers in impulse buy market. Priced at Rs5 these days for regular size and at Rs10 for 'Bada Perk' (Bigger Perk), the Perk set the trend for Nestle's Kit Kat and Munch to be followed.Cadbury has come up with a new innovative product line extension now, by having wafer on outside and chocolate inside. Lucratively priced at Rs.5; the new concept is surely going to pull many consumers. According to Cadbury, extensive consumer research and testing has been undertaken to determine the product taste, format and the communication campaign. ‘Ulta Perk’ has been test marketed in the South Markets – Tamil Nadu & Karnataka (South of India) for over 6 months and has received excellent response from the consumers.
Even the advertisements are really interesting ones. The problem with these impulse buys is that in starting, a good amount of money needs to be pumped in marketing activities before a significant return can be achieved. And Even after you have done, you still need to keep pumping a decent money to make it rememberable on impulse. The TVC is featured below while the print adverts take on the mantra of situations in a totally opposite context than it would be normally. Like man chasing a dog up a tree, a fly complaining about a man in its food, a balloon playing with a child floating in air etc; all going with the tagline -"Cadbury's reverse bar. Wafer outside, chocolate inside."
What is best part for Cadbury is that its a festive time in India and according to the recent urban practices, people have started giving dry fruits and confectionery items instead of traditional sweets / mithai. So in assortment packages, which by the way are quite popular from Cadbury, may be having few Ulta Perks embedded adding to sampling opportunity. This may soon give it desirable sales, provided the taste and texture is nice.
Sources: Cadbury India website, Ads of the World
Labels: Brands, Business, Launch, TVC
posted by Jas @ 3:35 PM,
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Guerrilla by Motorola Razr
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Use of phone while driving is banned in many countries. But to encash on this ban by a mobile company itself should be a great piece of work, no? With Motorola's new found aggression in marketing you sure can bet on it.
Motorola found an impressive way to send the don't mix phone and driving message across in an effective way. Drivers who drove down the Russian roads were surprised to see an accident where a car had broken glass panes with a huge Motorola phone peeping through the driver’s seat.
Motorola found an impressive way to send the don't mix phone and driving message across in an effective way. Drivers who drove down the Russian roads were surprised to see an accident where a car had broken glass panes with a huge Motorola phone peeping through the driver’s seat.
Ah! Its deadly, but will it be of any surge to handset use? I personally think that Motorola should have used various handsets in different locations, and keep the mental association of razor like sharpness with Moto Razr. When you are making a brand, you don't mix and dilute much, do you?
Sources - http://englishrussia.com
Sources - http://englishrussia.com
Labels: Guerrilla Marketing
posted by Jas @ 10:35 AM,
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A mark in marketing - WonderBra
Saturday, October 06, 2007
They are bold, they are funny, they are creative, they are hilarious and most important they are subtle (ok, only some!)... like them or hate them, but you just can't ignore them!
Here I come on the with one of my most awaited posts, the writeup on the adverts of WonderBra. The brand has been criticized by many for the obvious but the sales of the brand has always been successful to make the brand have the last laugh. It comes as a default choice for many for functions and social interactions; while others are still wondering what the hoopla is all about. What ever, the only 'point' am concerned over here is the advertising done by the brand. Its brand are one of the most subtle ones and many times are requires a long perplexed view by people to understand them.
Question is are these adverts targeted at the consumers? A majority feels against it, they say that the ads are made just for the jury of advertising awards. Ask me and my opinion is - Maybe yes, obviously not! Why do you think such a product will be sold? Or lets answer what is being sold by WonderBra? Is it just an inner wear? I register a denial. An inner wear is for a personal use, the use here is for others, the product's money spent will be taken recovered by the consumer when she gets the glances being promised by adverts. So target one is the base consumer here who is wearing the product. Target two is the rest of public, especially men. With these adverts they actually will be recognizing the use of such a product whenever they see one, this builds up the response that the consumer of the product is actually looking for, hence drives the sales in other way. So target two here is the intended evaluator of product (not necessarily the men).
Hence to make it an iconic brand, the marketers have done the best thing : attach it to the behavior, derive the impact of social cognition and consumer behavior. Who doesn't want to be recognized ? and thats where these marketers target. And when we say that intended impact is on social cognition, then it in itself encompasses both the targets, making the mental constructs or schema in consumer as well as the evaluator (society and esp men). Just look at this - there was one print advert which shows just a blonde model wearing a black WB, and only one sentence
Here I come on the with one of my most awaited posts, the writeup on the adverts of WonderBra. The brand has been criticized by many for the obvious but the sales of the brand has always been successful to make the brand have the last laugh. It comes as a default choice for many for functions and social interactions; while others are still wondering what the hoopla is all about. What ever, the only 'point' am concerned over here is the advertising done by the brand. Its brand are one of the most subtle ones and many times are requires a long perplexed view by people to understand them.
Question is are these adverts targeted at the consumers? A majority feels against it, they say that the ads are made just for the jury of advertising awards. Ask me and my opinion is - Maybe yes, obviously not! Why do you think such a product will be sold? Or lets answer what is being sold by WonderBra? Is it just an inner wear? I register a denial. An inner wear is for a personal use, the use here is for others, the product's money spent will be taken recovered by the consumer when she gets the glances being promised by adverts. So target one is the base consumer here who is wearing the product. Target two is the rest of public, especially men. With these adverts they actually will be recognizing the use of such a product whenever they see one, this builds up the response that the consumer of the product is actually looking for, hence drives the sales in other way. So target two here is the intended evaluator of product (not necessarily the men).
Hence to make it an iconic brand, the marketers have done the best thing : attach it to the behavior, derive the impact of social cognition and consumer behavior. Who doesn't want to be recognized ? and thats where these marketers target. And when we say that intended impact is on social cognition, then it in itself encompasses both the targets, making the mental constructs or schema in consumer as well as the evaluator (society and esp men). Just look at this - there was one print advert which shows just a blonde model wearing a black WB, and only one sentence
I can't cook, who cares!But I wont deny that some of these ads are more inclined at awards' jury rather than any of the two targets. And not to mention that even after guessing the meaning you are not very sure in some adverts that if you got the meaning! Here are some of the ads, though I couldn't find some of my favorites coming from WonderBra's stable -
Some video adverts, really interesting -
This ad was launched at the 10th anniversary of WB in 2005:
Now this is one of the ad campaigns for which I appreciate the ad agencies of WB, see if you can understand it :)
And let me know if you can understand this one, I couldn't!
src="http://www.netscape.com/widgets/med_vote_if/http://markconfetti.blogspot.com/2007/10/mark-in-marketing-wonderbra.html">
Labels: Brands, Marketing Practices, TVC
posted by Jas @ 11:05 PM,
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i-pill :The emergency contraceptive pill
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Year 2005 onwards Indian government has allowed the sale of emergency contraceptives (EC) in the chemist shops without prescription, better known as OTC (Over The Counter) sale. Following this Cipla has launched its product pill 72 as i-pill in Indian market, making it the first ‘morning after pill’ to be marketed in India. It is already available in market and its single dose tablet is priced at Rs 75.
The pill is significant for Indian market as different studies have pointed out that nearly 30 per cent of conceptions in the country end in abortions. It has also been proved that 75 percent of pregnancies are unplanned (!!!!). It is just one of the EC products available in market and with its huge marketing the category itself will benefit a lot.
For those curious about the pill functioning, the product's website reveals that i-pill can work in any of the three different ways depending on where the consuming female may be in her menstrual cycle.
The pill is significant for Indian market as different studies have pointed out that nearly 30 per cent of conceptions in the country end in abortions. It has also been proved that 75 percent of pregnancies are unplanned (!!!!). It is just one of the EC products available in market and with its huge marketing the category itself will benefit a lot.For those curious about the pill functioning, the product's website reveals that i-pill can work in any of the three different ways depending on where the consuming female may be in her menstrual cycle.
- It may stop an egg being released from the ovary.
- If an egg has been released, i-pill may prevent the sperm from fertilizing it.
- If the egg is already fertilized, it may prevent it from attaching itself to the lining of the womb
To encourage responsibility in the use of the medicine, the company has started a toll-free helpline (1800-22-9898) and Web site to share information on the product. According to Cipla, i-pill is 95% effective if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex, 85% between 25-48 hours and 58% if taken between 49-72 hours of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.
Coming to the marketing and the advertisements which are aired widely across channels, the product is targeted at SEC A and B, the urban class. With tagline " Get Back to Life" the TVC strikes bang on the target. The packaging and the ad theme all relate to a new age Indian female. Lets analyze it one by one.
Firstly, the choice of models has made sure the urban ones relate to her, the simplicity of the character, with white as dominant color stresses on the lifestyle any female of today's rising India will want to be related with.
Secondly, the ad stresses on the relation between the couple. The pill has already been christened as "abortion bill" or "infidelity pill" by NGOs and many others as they suspect it will be used for wrong reasons. So a strong image needed to be portrayed, which has been done beautifully.
Thirdly, the full focus of brand is on its consumer - female. The men even though they are there in ads, still are subtly left out as the decision maker has to be female and its aptly depicted that she is taking things in her control. Attack is on the tension that comes 'the morning after'.
Have a look at the adverts here: http://www.ipillcipla.com/resources.htm
Ad campaign rating -
Coming to the marketing and the advertisements which are aired widely across channels, the product is targeted at SEC A and B, the urban class. With tagline " Get Back to Life" the TVC strikes bang on the target. The packaging and the ad theme all relate to a new age Indian female. Lets analyze it one by one.
Firstly, the choice of models has made sure the urban ones relate to her, the simplicity of the character, with white as dominant color stresses on the lifestyle any female of today's rising India will want to be related with.Secondly, the ad stresses on the relation between the couple. The pill has already been christened as "abortion bill" or "infidelity pill" by NGOs and many others as they suspect it will be used for wrong reasons. So a strong image needed to be portrayed, which has been done beautifully.
Thirdly, the full focus of brand is on its consumer - female. The men even though they are there in ads, still are subtly left out as the decision maker has to be female and its aptly depicted that she is taking things in her control. Attack is on the tension that comes 'the morning after'.
Have a look at the adverts here: http://www.ipillcipla.com/resources.htm
Ad campaign rating -
Labels: Brand Check, TVC
posted by Jas @ 2:12 PM,
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Rs500 adverts on Gandhi Jayanti
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti (meaning birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi), here lets see an advert by UNICEF, a real brilliant piece. In case you aren't able to understand why, try concentrating at the lower side where the promise to pay is written. But although its a nice idea as a concept but its a bad ad as the result of ad wont be as required by business. I mean such an ad will be appreciated as an idea but wont ever stop a person from giving a bribe! So thanks but no thanks...But there is another ad using same Rs500 note thats worth its salt, its of Iodex. The film opens on a man walking on a lonely road. Seeing a five hundred rupee note he stops in his tracks and is tempted to pick it up but then he ponders over something. After much deliberation he moves on in disappointment without picking up the note.
The ad ends with the super and product shot: “Peeth dard? Iodex.”
Labels: TVC
posted by Jas @ 5:48 PM,
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