Read Between the Ps

A small portion of the glocal strategies used by Nike the world over: In Mexico , Nike strongly associates with the National Sports of the country – Soccer . The endorsers are the local players and Advertising is centered on Soccer itself. Here is a sample of an ambient lately carried out in Mexico. Advertising taken to the streets, literally! [Source: Coloribus ] Even this campaign piggybacks on showing associating the soccer ball with Nike Shoes! On the other hand, the latest Ad campaign by Nike (under its new Ad agency Wieden & Kennedy ) focuses on the youth and has decided not to rope in celebrities in the market as such. Reasons? A detailed analysis of the Market Research carried out has been described at Adage China , wherein wonderful insights into the Chinese consumer have been provided. Baseline – Inviting young Chinese who have overcome obstacles to play sports such as basketball, skateboarding and cycling, to bring to life its " Just Do It " tagline. There a...

A unique and interesting element of the coastal Ghana communities , that has been present for generations in this part of the world is the concept of Fantasy Coffins. Meticulously detailed and based on objects of significance to the deceased, such coffins are an important aspect of the burial ritual. According to Arts on the point , this art form is practiced particularly by the Ga community in Ghana. And what do these coffins depict ? They reflect the status, occupation, tastes, or desires of the departed. Some of these depict the mode through which the deceased earned his/her livelihood.The coffins are mainly designed to represent an aspect of the dead person's life -- such as a car if they were a driver, a fish if their livelihood was the sea, a snail-shaped coffin for a snail-seller or a sewing machine for a seamstress. They might also be symbolic elements of his life - such as a bottle of beer, a cigarette, hammers, mobile phones, hens, roosters, leopards, lions, canoes, cocoa...

It is no longer an exaggeration when one reads that Advertisers are trying to capitalize on every space to capture the minds of the consumers ...well, most of them have taken this advice too literally! Nonetheless, creative juices continue to flow around the globe. Earlier I had talked about how the human anatomy was being tapped to buy Advertising space. That was just one aspect of this developing phenomenon. Recently, I read about this new concept in Germany - Fieldvertising. Extremely creative, the concept has been pioneered as ArtField in Germany and has been instrumental is introducing a new medium of Advervitising...Fieldvertising! Fields in Germany are taken on lease and this space is utilized for advertising. Target customers : Obviously, the highfliers, the onlookers and the regulars in the air. Needless to say, the costs would be very high for this Ad space, plus it has to be near to the runway, to ensure some visibility from the airspace. Low fliers should also be prese...

A new advergame has been launched for First Defence , a nasal spray that fights colds at the early signs. Taking cues from the old classic spaceship/detroyer game, the game has been conceptualized on the basic characteristics of the nasal spray from Vicks . Every element in this game has been well thought of, and excellently executed. Be it First Defence Bonuses or killing of the germ-looking enemies by trapping them in the microgel, the game is one of the best pieces of creativity I have seen. The basic concept makes you run through your diary with the Annual planner mentioned. Keep on moving forward as the days pass by. In between there would be times, when the germs and viruses would attack you and try and spoil your days. This is when First Defence ship will come in and shoot and kill those viruses! Some of the days, which are very special to you, are attacked by enemies, which you need to save. Shoot all the enemies on that particular day with your “ First Defence microgel ...

I recently read about a unique tradition in China, which could be leveraged by the Marketing community in this region – tiger products for young children ! According to a research paper on Chinese culture , the villagers used to make children less than one year old wear tiger hats, clothes, and shoes. Reasons? A tiger suit is considered good for health and luck and because they believed it can keep mosquitoes and evil away from the child. Also, they were meant to represent a magical power that would chase away evil spirits. Some texts say that it was hoped that by wearing the tiger hat, the child would acquire attributes of the tiger such as strength and bravery! This particular folk art tradition is called Children's millinery , where babies were given tiger hats and shoes during their first year in the hopes of warding off evil spirits. Each hat is carefully hand-embroidered and is rich with symbols of good luck and longevity. Even in modern China, children wear tiger-headed ...