Macs on Air

Since my 5th headphone of my mp3 player has broke down,i switched to the FM in my mobile (only good thing left in it).Due to this I got two issues to talk about.

1. My favorite stations – primarily Radio Indigo and occasionally Radio One simply because of the language –English & Hindi.Two Tips to Radio Indigo –

• learn the sound quality from Radio Mirchi and Fever 104 .Except for the theme music, songs sound dull.
• plzz change your selection of morning songs.I don't want to listen gangsta rap , explicit rap or depressing alternative rock.Oldies and classics will do.This is the reason I switch to Radio One and not the ads between the songs

2. Coming to more serious issues –the ads.I have learnt some concepts in developing print and visual ads and I have tried to apply it too in my assignments.But I think Radio Ads is totally a different ball game.I don't understand the logic of telling the phone number breathlessly in the end .Why or How would the listener remember the telephone number? (only a really good fancy number has the slightest chance) .

Ads I like to hear are

• Tuborg –fun starter nights (btw its a beer ) good music, nice voice and she does not mention its a beer,but we get the hint..
• GRT stylus jewellery – a slow ,long,nice song, sung in style.
• McDowell's Accessories – starts with cheesy French lines followed by really classy voice bringing the international feel and “Paris” helps a lot.

Ads which are not worth hearing:

• Open magazine – just what the hell is the magazine about ??,I am sure the magazine sucks big time just like the ad.
• Mac Ads (this has nothing to do with my MS bias) – first of all i am surprised to “hear” ads for Macs-And the so called confessions neither sound cool nor realistic.

Best of all they finally say the cool dudes say thanks mommy for Mac and thanks daddy for the Mac.Aren't Macs supposed to be owned by cool dudes??

I am not disrespecting their love or gratitude for their parents but i don't picture any college guys with Macs,showing off “look My Mom bought this really cool Mac for Me” . Do bike ads or mobile ads feature guys say “thank you Mommy”??Either be cool or cute don't try to be both,but if u really want to people to switch, be logical, at least for technology products.

Other Ads weren’t worth remembering :P

If there are any basic rules or framework for radio ads kindly let me know,I will be most obliged.

E-MEDIA edges Mass Media

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)’s recent report “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2009-2013” says worldwide advertising spending will reach $421 billion in 2009.This is a serious drop in ad spending as the total stood $479 billion in 2008.

The ad industry is expected to start recovering only in 2011 and yet the projected figure of $467 billion for 2013 is still lesser than 2008 total which means tougher times are ahead.

Not so surprisingly, Television stands at top maintaining status quo while print has declined and expected to decline further, while Internet advertising is expected to have a positive outlook.

Interestingly,Video games advertising, although in the last position, has grown considerably and is expected to grow further proving its the not the least among the ad medium lot.If one had followed the last US elections,they would be aware that Obama’s ads featured in Burnout Paradise and Madden 09.

Moreover recession has forced companies to be more strict on ROI from advertising ,which has lead to a rise in BTL campaigns.

Vibhor who works for a marketing firm tells me that, recession has indeed helped them.Since many companies are favoring BTL campaigns , they are tuning towards cost effective marketing solutions provided by his company rather than mass media.

With the amount of clutter rising in all types of media, its indeed a major challenge for firms to design their media mix within their promotional budget. Market segmentation has become very critical than ever before

A Royal Wii – For Her Royal Highness

Last week, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth received a unusual gift   but truly a royal one,  a gold plated Nintendo Wii gaming console. THQ  which is launching the “BIG” series of games for the Wii delivered this unique one of a kind,gaming console to the delivered to the Buckingham Palace.

People Magazine (UK) had already reported  in January that, Her Royal Highness is having a great time playing ten pin bowling in Prince William’s Wii which was his Christmas gift from girlfriend Kate.

Although there is no official comment from the Queen, it is a well known fact that she owns a good gadget collection which includes a IPod, Blackberry etc and a Royal Wii would be a perfect addition to it.

Even though,it may not be true that the Queen, aged 83 is smashing with the Royal Wii,it has sure caught everyone's attention  which was the main idea in the first place.

Google Chrome comes to TV

It may very well qualify to Ripley’s Believe it or Not,but u better believe it.Yes, Google has embraced Mass media Advertising starting with TV spots to promote its Chrome web browser.

Although it is said it will be aired only in Japan for now , a YouTube Channel named Google Chrome has a video collection called Chrome Shorts.

I still remember ,the first offline advertising from Google I recognized was the billboards in Bangalore when the Google SMS search was launched.I have to admit it was little weird to see the Google Logo in the physical world , seemed like the virtual entity jumped out of the PC.

However , I wonder what exactly Google intends to achieve by these  promotional efforts? Okay lets say the browser share of Chrome increases , how will it affect the revenues of Google?.

I guess if more people use Chrome,the more they will use Google services like search etc ,which will increase traffic which may have a positive effect on its revenues. Also, Google chrome keeps track of user’s online behavior  which is also a key component in optimizing search results and help in targeted advertising.

MS Laptop Hunters-new Ad Campaign

When Microsoft joined hands with CP+B to launch a Ad Campaign it was nothing but a $300 million mistake.Now again MS along with CP+B ,is back with a new ad campaign called “laptop hunters” .

MS says the ads feature “real people” choosing the laptop which has all the features they are looking for,within their budget (not surprisingly, they all buy a PC after considering a Mac) MS claims the ads are ‘completely unscripted’ but many don’t believe it. Even i don’t think they are completely unscripted or that the “consumers” were made to believe that they are taking part in a marketing research.

Microsoft Videos: Laptop Hunters #2 – Giampaolo

I think the authenticity of ads are not really a problem,as long as it convinces viewers that PC offers more value for money than a Mac (that’s again is debatable :p ). But as i have said earlier Mac is luxurious and not everyone needs it. Unless you are a graphic designer or something like that,an affordable PC is good enough for a normal user(the mass market) who just uses to surf the net, play media and type documents.. :) what do you think ? ;)

First Stock it ..then Sell it

Me and my brother were shopping in SPAR and there was Suguna Chicken stall promoting their ready to cook chicken range by offering fried chicken  for tasting . As bachelors, we thrive on ready to cook ,ready to eat foods.So obviously we were lured towards it [ plus free chicken 65 :)]

We tasted all three variants ,the chk-65 was so good,that we instantly added to our list. The chk manchurian was ok and the chk kofta...well its not worth eating even if its free . So we asked them for a pack of chk 65 and they directed us to the frozen foods section were they were stocked,atleast we thought so... Sadly the section was filled with the koftas and other boring stuffs but not the good  ones. When I told the counter guy, he looked surprised , and went to the section and checked personally.Then he checked with the another guy and said "Sorry sir, we are out of stock ,you can buy the kofta if you want".I said "I don't want that..but why are you selling what you don't have?  "                   When I crossed the section sometime later, only the kofta was on display with no people around .

Communication gap between the stocking staff and selling staff , has resulted in loss of sale for the chk company(I guess many would have been disappointed like me).                                                    A smart idea would have been to give out only the chk65 for tasting and sell a pack of all three variants at a special prize . I am sure many would have bought into it and later find the kofta is real awful. Atleast I would have ... :) 

Iphone-not so "happening" in India

When Apple set 100,000 as its sales target for the iphone in India for the period till Dec 2009,they thought they are being humble because of the fact that in India around 120 million handsets are sold every year of which 4 to 5% are smartphones.

But now they realise that it will be very hard to reach this modest target.Livemint.com reports that only 11000 iphones have been sold so far out of the 50,000 of the initial shipment.

So what went wrong? Is it the price? not really...because Nokia's iphone killers are doing well although they are priced same or even more(30k+range) than the iphone in India.Its too early to quote numbers of the N96 but sales is brisk according to sellers.

Two main P's that Apple got wrong are Promotion & Place-that is they did not communicate properly to the Indian consumer why they have to pay three times more than the US price.Also only the service providers  promoted and not Apple despite its retail presence. And Airtel and Vodafone thought since its The Iphone it will sell by itself and only a low level of promotion was done(only some printads ands billboards that iphone is available)    

Then Place i.e. distribution, when retail is growing in India,Iphones are sold only through the service provider outlets and not through other mainstream retailers.Meanwhile the availability of Nokia phones is much much greater in the Indian Marketplace.

If sales of iphones is to be pushed it should be done immediately by collaborating with other organised retailers  because the time is running out and before you know it consumers would have forgotten the iphone.

Will CP save the PC?

To be cool or not to be cool,that's the question facing Microsoft. Apple has thrashed Micros0ft with a series of  ads depicting Mac as cool guy and Windows as stodgy oldster.The ad is said to be one of the most successful campaigns in US.Apple was convincing  students to get their first MAC's during the back to school season,stressing that Apple products are much more "cool" than any other gadget.

Now Windows is ready to strike back but not exactly in the same way. Microsoft  is launching its new $300 million ad campaign on Sep 4, with the slogan  "Windows not Walls" .It will feature Bill Gates,the face of Microsoft,but also surprisingly the sit-com star Mr.Jerry Seinfeld.

This move has led to a lot of discussion.Who exactly is Microsoft targeting? Initially when MS hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky(said to be the best of best ad agencies)whose ads are very popular with the younger generation,it was thought that MS is also trying to look cool.But to everyone's shock & surprise CP+B has convinced MS to hire Mr.Seinfeld aged 54,whose popular show ended a decade ago. It is said that that MS will not try to position itself as hip happening cool software as Apple's MAC but will be appealing  to a more mature audience.

While many of MS fans are not happy with the sitcom star , ad agencies are watching whether CP+B will fail for the first time in such a major project.

Any way its officially war between the two brands                          Jeff Hicks, CEO,CP+B says "There was a time,when it was Avis against Hertz, Coke against Pepsi, Visa against American Express. I think Microsoft is at the epicentre of the great brand challenge of the next decade -- or millennium."  

Now the question is Will CP+B be able to save PC?

Bindra -the brand ambassador?

Olympic shooter Abhinav Bindra, who has brought India its first gold in an individual event, is getting plenty of golden offers.The golden shooter is expected to become companies' favourite to promote their brands.RailwayMinisterLalu has already hinted he may become the brand ambassador for Indian railways.Samsung which have been sponsoring him for quite some time,has said that Bindra will be part of its promotional activities.

However many don't agree,because they feel, games like shooting might not have a mass appeal. Lokesh Sharma, managing director of 21st Century Media says"“comparing him and cricket stars is like comparing a great art film with a commercial blockbuster”.
I do agree that he may not do well as a brand ambassador,may be for a very short time.Because cricketers play frequently and is very well publicised and also frequent movies keeps the movie stars in minds of the public.But Bindra might not get this type of constant media attention as shooting is not constantly followed by media.
Take the case of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,the Indian star of Athens Olympics. He was featured in the Ads of Coca-Cola but for a very short time as the attention faded away.
Even if he had been used for promotions till date, then also it would have done some serious damage as he had failed to qualify to the final in the Beijing Olympics.
So companies may not be very eager to make Bindra as their Brand Ambassador at least not for a long term promotional activities.

It will be a long time before other sporting events will edge out cricket from the minds of Indian public. Will Bindra be a start?

Puja Local:Sponsors Global

We all know globalization has brought us many opportunities & investments into India. It changed the nature of businesses, by bringing in a high degree of professionalism into them.We also know it lead to many new business opportunities and it still does.But I was surprised when I came to know that this year's Durga Puja in Kolkata is sponsored by the US company 'Media Morphosis'..
Usually religious festivals in a city is conducted by the local community by the sponsorship of local businesses and unions and donations made by the public. But the Badamtala Ashar Sangha Puja in south Kolkata is fully sponsored by the US company and it will as well promote it in the media and the web.That is effectively all resources will be handled by Media Morphosis.
This is a trend setting move of bringing in corporate sponsorships to conduct these type of religious festivals.Also they have brought in Mithun Chakraborty as the brand ambassador since he is very much connected with the city and its culture.

But will this corporate sponsorship will be welcomed in all parts of India for all festivals? Probably not.Of course deep pockets will be welcomed to sponsor local events but as long as they don't shun out local contributors...since in the case of festivals ,its not only the money but its about the pride and their status among the community. I mean I cannot imagine the Alanganallur Jallikattu being fully sponsored by a non-local entity while the locals are not given adequate chances to contribute.
But the thing is that it does not matter who is conducting the festivals as long as the true spirit of the festivals is kept alive.

For the Fast and the Curious

Websites are becoming the most effective means for international promotions.Especially to reach an international audience websites have provided a stage to create a global awareness instantaneously.

One such attempt to generate curiosity is the new website launched by Electronic Arts for its yet to be released NFS -UNDERCOVER which is the next game in the Need for Speed franchise, confirmed by Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, due by the end of the year. The website is very unique in its design ,as there are no links, title or any sort of explicit information.The viewer has to explore the site by pointing and clicking various objects in the video played.Details like the release date,trailer and short clipings about the story is hidden in various parts of the video.

This is another instance which shows that web design is evolving at a much faster pace and there are numerous possibilities still to be explored.