Read Between the Ps

Last year, the agency won the Grand Prix at Cannes for their "Honda Grr" Commercial . This year, they have won the 2006 film Epica d'or Award , for their Coca-Cola "Happiness Factory" commercial. Wieden & Kennedy has sort of commanded the advertising through their innovative concepts, and creative animation. Though the diesel engines have been replaced with the Coke bottle this year, the entire advertisement has been conceptualized quite well, and engages the viewer in the entire process presented therein. The same ad won the Gold in the Foods & Drink category for Non-Alcoholic Drinks , too. The entire commercial can be viewed at this link . Incidentally, the piece here seems to be an abridged version. The Ad is also available at the agency's website and has a few more "constructs" in it. Have a look once... I have talked a lot about EPICA ( Europe's Premier Creative Awards ). This year marked the 20th Anniversary of the awards, ...

I had earlier posted a collated list of the Economist Ads that appeared around 18 months back. To add to that, found this interesting ambient piece ( below ) sometime back. Another Ad ( right ) won the Epica Silver last year in the print category. Wonderful concepts....takes a bit of thinking to understand, though :) [via Ads of the World and Epica Awards ]

EPICA-Awards hosts some of the best ads globally. I had earlier talked about Gandhi Ads ( Telecom ) and then Les Echos ( Media ). This time, I found some really fine pieces of Ads – the best of the Finalists in the Epica Awards 2004 under the Public Interest Category . Here are my favorite 3 from the film sub-category – [Click each of them to view the Ads] [1] The first one is for the Home for the Blind, Zurich . With a background score of “ I just called to say I love you ” by Stevie Wonder , the Ad features blind old men and women attempting to sing the song in their own tunes and styles in a recording studio. Wonderfully shot, the Ad ends with the caption “ Not everyone who's blind can earn millions singing. Thank you for your donation. Home for the Blind, Zurich. ” [2] Next, we have a unique message and a definite learning (at leaste for me!). A young boy roams around the streets whiling away his time, gazing at things around him and doing nothing, possibly homeless and w...

If you are in India, chances are that you would see a lot of hoardings today, and a lot of fanatics shouting slogans for Gandhiji, pretending to be his followers for life, and following his principles. Don’t worry, they are just celebrating a birthday.. In the list of Holidays given, it is called “ Gandhi Jayanti ” - 136th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi Incidentally, very few of them realize that they have become the brand ambassadors of a long-term marketing campaign for “ Brand Gandhi ”! Every year, an attempt is made around this time by many companies to piggyback on this mega-marketing campaign . Most marketers intend to leverage the Brand Image garnered by the Legend, most of which he earned after his lifetime, elevating him to “ celebrity ” status and trying to cash in on the Recall value associated with him, by co-branding their brands with Brand Gandhi. But does a simple cut-and-paste job like this always work? Can Mahatma Gandhi brand anything? Even if he can, does...

When I saw the inputs from India during CLIO Awards a couple of months back, there was comment by the organizer - " India holds a large potential market for Advertising, and we expect a lot of entries from this region pretty soon ". The reporter in " All about Ads " covering the Awards mentioned that " India lacked the innovation and creativity in comparison to other countries " and this argument was substantiated by Prasoon Joshi , who had attended the Awards. I did not buy the argument at that moment. But, today, when I was searching for my next entry, I came across some of the campaigns by European Countries. I must admit, the only reaction I can think of ... "Awe" some! India needs a lot more creatives than there are right now. The whole Advertising process has become so cluttered, and the only way out is INNOVATION ! The only way Indian neophytes are learning is within the limited scope of Indian advertising (and lately, Ambushing seems ...