Read Between the Ps

Shanghai is mad about World Cup, and I can sense it here. New and innovative marketing concepts are introduced in the market almost every day, to lure customers by connecting to the World Cup pulse . Concepts like World Cup Nannies, World Cup Screenings, modified HR policies for World Cup,etc. are altogether New Markets created in Shanghai. Of course, the locals have money to spend and the passion to force them to spend. It is simply about the pulse. You hit it right and the scale wouldn't be an issue at all. Recently, an article in China Daily mentioned a restaurant in Shanghai that is making dim sum in the form of a soccer field. It has 10 football-shaped dimsums and is displayed on the platter made out of Rice and tea powders. The photographs would give you a clearer idea... Quoting the article "Shanghai Lu Bo Lang , a famous national restaurant that supplys Shanghai style dishes, presents Shanghai soccer fans with a new dim sum that resembles a mini soccer field dott...

National Monuments acting as Brand Ambassadors? Well, if Advertising is not headed there, at least the advertisers are.. It is a lucrative deal to get one President to endorse your brand. But when you have four American Presidents do it for you, that’s a proposal very few would like to leave at the table. Imagine if they are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln… Probably, this is what lured Proshade , a 3-year-old consumer eyewear accessories company, to offer to pay up to $4 million to adorn each of the 4 President faces on the Mount Rushmore National Monument with huge Proshade visors. According to a recent article in Adage ,the authorities have denied any commercial aspect being attached to Mount Rushmore considered to be the ' Icon of America '! However, the President of Proshade, Richard Lawrence has a different perspective to offer. He asserts that the initiative has both philanthropic as well as commercial implications. Alluding ...

Advertising Express , the International Advertising Publication of ICFAI Press , has featured my article as this month's Cover Story. You can have a look at the June's Issue to get more details on the article and the publication. The article talks about Advergaming and in-game advertising , a trend which is fast evolving in India currently. The global perspective has been discussed a lot of times and the industry has reached a certain maturity in the western markets. However, due to the nature of the industry, experts have not been successful in emulating the concept in India. Is there a market for in-game advertising in India? If yes, who should invest in it and how should they go about it? What is the scope of the future growth and penetration into the Indian psyche for this concept? To a certain extent, the article discusses these pertinent issues. Unfortunately, due to copyrights, I have little content to present. However, a Summary of the article has been presented be...