No Marks appoints Kiran Bedi as brand ambassador

Noted IPS officer Kiran Bedi has been signed up by No Marks to endorse the brand. (Details)

What do you feel?
Will endorsing a beauty product mean a slight compromise on credibility? (If the No Marks cream fails to give promised results will you feel bad "Why did Kiran recommend this?") Or is it good that people other than film stars and cricketers are also getting into advertising BandWagon?

A honest Ad by The IT Depot

Received an unsolicited email from the IT Depot (sales@theitdepot.com) which sales several computer hardware and related goods. I was about to delete this mail, but noticed a strange pattern...

All items had an offer price above the regular price and You save section promptly showed negative number.
(click to enlarge)
As you can see in the image above, Apple iPod nano Black 8GB is priced at Rs 8990 but The IT Depot Office Price is Rs 9280, which is Rs 290 more than the regular price. Same for every other item... And the mail dares you with a button- BUY NOW... Why will I?

May be they are honest in admitting their pricing strategy... or may be their employee carelessly interchanged regular and offer prices... Either way, words spoken (mail sent) and pearl broken are lost forever...

Also read: Rs 10 OFF on Samsung TV *

March 19th update: I'd sent a mail to them asking why offer prices are more than regular price. No one has cared to respond so far.

Pepsi commercial with kids mask sachin and Prahlad kakkar

Noted Ad Maker Prahlad Kakkar was in Manipal last month to give a talk on Advertising, at Manipal Institute of Communication’s annual communication Festival, article19.

Prahlad focused his talk on explaining the difference between an idea and an insight, while conceptualizing an advertisement campaign. He gave examples of Liril Soap, Maggy Tomato ketchup and many more. In this post I’m sharing few behind the scene information Prahlad Kakkar shared with the audience about an old Pepsi commercial showcasing street kids with a mask, which he directed.

• Since street kids do not have the affordability to buy a Pepsi, he was under pressure to use professional child artists or rich kids. But Prahlad insisted that the insight is not to promote Pepsi, but promote the aspirations (Yeh Dil Mange More!)
  

• The kids never knew that Sachin Tendulkar will be there in the ad. They came to know about it only when they found him behind the mask. Hence the expression of surprise on their face was natural. “I told cameraman- you HAVE to get this shot right, because we can never have a retake of this, as element of surprise will be lost”- Prahlad recalls.

• The song used in the ad (Chodke bandhan, todke taalE…), and the video individually weren’t that great. But their combination made it deadly. That is how you make 2+2 as 22- Explained Prahlad Kakkar.
  

Prahlad also shared some more info about brand Pepsi- how it reached number one position in India while worldover Coca Cola was leading with over 60% market share and how recent Pepsi ads (Yeh Youngistan…) are failing to provoke interest. (he says telling young people that you’re Young is like telling the obvious and has nothing inspiring in it)

Overall it was a very good session. Also Read: Sandhya Ravishankar's workshop on Broadcast Journalism

Advertising mistakes

Nita's post lists a good number of commercials which were withdrawn due to misleading/false claims...

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/advertising-mistakes/

Some of the ads listed there have also been reviewed in this site earlier- like the TATA Indicom Plug2Surf ad...I feel it is not sufficient if such ads are taken off air- companies also need to issue a public apology for airing mis-leading ad.. what do you say?

new axe commercial spend double

Cunning Axe wants you to spend twice…

As if one bottle of Axe deo was not expensive enough, the new Axe ad suggests that you buy 2 bottles of different flavor and mix them to get a 3rd fragrance… A clever idea to make people spend on two bottles instead of one, if you ask me. Why not mix them at the factory and release one bottle with the new fragrance?

Where do you want to be?

Liked this print ad (found on Jetwings while flying to Delhi for Binsar trip during October 2008-[Binsar trip details]) for its effectiveness and ability to convey the message.

The text asks, where do you want to be? and shows few options in the crowd and one option of driver's seat of a racing car. Aim to be in the driver's seat and not somewhere amidst the crowd... Loud and clear.

Hero Honda Pleasure gives no pleasure in the ad.

This days I have no access to TV, so was trying to recollect all old ads (most of which may not be aired these days). Ok, this ad is about the Hero Honda Pleasure. Their punchline "Why should boys have all the fun?" makes everyone aware that the bike is mostly for girls.

The ad mainly contains 4 instances where girls are having fun (by doing acts usually done by boys). 

Ok the most annoying thing for me, occurs in the final segment. A cool guy drives a sparkling Porsche(couldn't find out the model) and waits for the girl to board it. But the girl refuses. Reason: She want's to travel in the bike. This act makes no sense to me. No one would refuse a drive in a Porsche for a scooty. People don't get to travel in a Porsche everyday.