Dense commentary on social media, PR, marketing, advertising and branding.
Many years ago, ‘phone directory’ signified a big, printed book full of numbers arranged alphabetically. Now, it is just a feature in our smartphones where you search. We used to remember phone numbers in our head. Now, I remember, at best, 2…
The new ‘Apple at Work’ film makes for an interesting watch for more than one reason. The obvious reason is why this film was put together in the first place – to showcase the range of office‘ish work you can perform on…
This ad by Frooti is from March 26, 2019. From the Bengaluru edition of The Times of India. It features Alia Bhatt, a Hindi star, known nationally, and with her is not Frooti’s ‘North Indian’ brand face, Varun Dhawan. Giving her company…
Li Xiao Long? Bruce Lee!Cheng Long. Jackie Chan!Li Lianjie. Jet Li! Ma Yun? Jack Ma! (Alibaba)Ma Huateng? Pony Ma! (Tencent) Chinese artists and CEOs choose an easier-to-pronounce (for people outside China) name to ensure they are pronounced and remembered better. Now, for…
A recent Chinese advertisement by a multivitamin brand split the audience in China, and outside. It starred Loki… aka Tom Hiddleston! Outside China, this ad was adequately ridiculed and the most common reaction was ‘creepy’. Here are some of the ‘creepy’ reactions…
Most people I know hate the Trivago ads. The series featuring their India business head, Abhinav Kumar, in particular. But, since the ads have been given endless rotation in every conceivable TV channel, you just cannot escape them. Like the Airtel girl…
While handling the mandate of an automobile brand a few years ago, in one of my agency stints, I recall suggesting to launch the pre-booking and test-drive booking of an upcoming model via Flipkart or Amazon. It had never been done before…