Read Between the Ps

Another 45-day hiatus... No reasons and no explanations. Priorities entailed a different orientation. Period. However, passion overwrites priorities once again, and here I am, working on another aspect of Marketing... Before I talk on something on Marketing per se, just noticed this wonderful set of Banners, at one of my favorite Banner-ads' site - Banner Blog - Excellent compilation of Banner Ads across the globe - a must see for anyone who can appreciate creativity ... Picture some of the classic ones - my top 3 favorites from the past month's collection - - one that displays the name of a coffee brand through beans ( Suplicy Coffee ), one that draws an interesting analogy to reinforce " stability " of a car on any sort of terrain ( Citroen C5 ) and the final one on Mach3 Turbo , that gives you an online experience of smooth shaving! Have a look at the website - great example of another form of advertising in the virtual universe...

How would you describe the relationship between Advertiser and the Consumer? A romantic couple flirting with each other or an irritated couple not getting along at all, ready to separate.. A recent campaign on this " Break up ” personifies this very relationship, and wonderfully articulates the differences cropping between them. Have a look .. So, what exactly is the issue? - Agencies don’t realize that there is a problem and consumers don’t think that there is a solution to this problem – so most of them don’t speak up. It simply reflects in the results! The campaign, titled “ Bring the love Back ” addresses the first part of the issue – the disconnect between the consumer and the advertiser – how they do not get along, how the advertiser does not understand the consumer, how he simply assumes that what he is and what he is doing is simply the best, and cannot figure out why the consumer does not like it….and how all this culminates into their separation – their break-up ! The...

If you want to connect to your consumer, you need to talk to them in their language, using the tools they use, the forums they visit and communicate your differentiating point where it hits the most to them - in their own conditioned environment . Thanks to Martina ( Rocco Stallvord , actually) , I could identify yet another conditioned view that we come across more than a few times daily – Error 404 – Cannot find server ! Basically, the website of West Wayne Agency , the page first seems like the same error 404, but then when you refresh, you notice that the same page communicates something different – just like the URL tries to connect to the server, the consumer tries to connect to the brand – and this is what happens when he cannot find the connect… and he disconnects!! Solution? Have a look to what West Wayne suggests - call them people not consumers, and build a relationship with them... Interestingly, one thing I noticed what worked in favor of West Wayne for such a creativ...

Found this creative at Brand Synario - a Pakistan-based advertising website. I have rarely come across ads produced in that region, and this one gives a fine sample of the level of creativity presented there. A nice piece for Geo TV, " Innocence under fire! " or " Jeeyo or jeene do " campaign that summarizes the kind of news being produced in the region these days. Through this campaign, it attempts to send out a social message to people to reduce the tensions amongst themselves - using the emotion-drivers...the kids! A nice way to position itself as a channel that does not show violence all the time, and a channel endorsed by kids. A key influencer for parents in recommending channels is the influence of those channels to their children - this ad leverages this pattern and gets the same kids to endorse the channel. Nice piece. Have a look . brandsynario.com is a project of Synergy ; the fastest growing Integrated Marketing & Communications Group in Pakistan...

I spoke about Advertisers and the level of creativity they demonstrated. Well, maybe, one cannot generalize this for the industry per se, since there are some works that get redundant and duplicated with time. On one hand you have the campaign of Sherwin Williams , and on the other you have a similar, but " Indianized " version of the campaign for Nerolac - the young couple is replaced with an old man...abiding by the " moral " code that is so much in talk lately... Though Sandeep claims that it is totally incidental, I have limited knowledge of how the copyright industry works....and I just hope that some of the neophytes didnt interpret it in a different sense....that all it requires is to " copy Right "!! Following are other pieces of the two campaigns... [Source: Sherwin Williams - Twenty Four & Ads of the world , Nerolac ]

How does a human mind work when it looks at emotions? A normal human brain would, most likely, interpret the emotions based on previous information, and relate to causal conditions for the emotions - and sympathize with them. In some cases, we can empathize with those emotions as well..... For instance, this photograph might look like a baby crying and tired, or the pic below might seem to be two cute twins posing for a photograph, with sheer innocence... But an advertiser's mind doesnt stop there....he connects these emotions to his intended communication and gets a campaign out of it - and in a fantastic combinaton of emotions and brand values - he gets his point across.. Things which we, as normal individuals, would experience and interpret in isolation, but do not connect them - he forms that connection.... Thats called the art of creativity , something one epitomizes in the rarified Advertising Industry...must say, Commendable interpretations and designs! Call it presence of...