Innovative Marketing Techniques

Paanchvi Pass - SRK on your car

2008-08-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

My good friend Nirav shared his experience with Shahrukh Khan's Paanchvi Pass*. No, he didn't watch the show but was involved in a great Viral gimmick. In his own words belowHere's the pictures of the "paanchvi paas" promo tools that we talked about a few weeks back. These 2 glasses were stuck on to the bonnet and back of my car by someone at a crossing, and I spent a good 20 minutes trying to

New mail id, yet again!!

2008-07-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Yahoo’s newly launched ymail/rocketmail has gone viral with kaunhoonmain. The only reason to get a new mail id is that you haven't got your chosen id in earlier portals. This viral plays on that aspect. Pretty cool. This actually got me thinking of getting myself a new id. Decided I was too lazy after all First seen on Pluggd.in. Let me know what you think

Pepsi vs Nescafe - Who is Cooler

2008-06-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

Image Source - FundivisionBoth have branding on the building rooftops, but did you even notice Pepsi in this photograph. I like, do you?

Social Networks - Friend vs Follow vs Fan

2008-05-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

This blog is a result of an interesting discussion with Nithya of Muziboo fame. Muziboo is a young startup, which reaches out to the musician in everyone. Finally there is a space which goes beyond encouraging just young bands to encouraging individuals interested in music. More on Muziboo in another postThis network is based on common interests in music, and not necessarily on an existent friend

Honda Accord - You could just get beaten

2008-04-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Its creative hell to better ads like the original Honda Accord ad. This one comes close with a simple message, communicated effectively - "Honda loves solving problems". Neat, very neat!! You decide which one is better, the old ad is below

Justin Timberlake - Dragged & Beaten!!

2008-04-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan, I am sure you are here in horror. Alternately if you are someone like me, then you will really love to see Justin getting hammered.But the main reason I love this ad is because Pepsi was targeting sales with this promotion and yet added back to brand imagery. Its a real struggle to say you are giving something free with your product and yet make a cool ad that appeals to your TG

Be ambitious - Aim Higher !!

2008-04-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

An Indian gaming portal had launched this amazing ambient ad. They see to play on a the competitive streak inherent in every gamer. They created 4 levels in a men's restroom. If you are a true gamer, you have to beat level 4.So how high would you aim? (Hint - I don't really want to know :)) )

This is a big ad!!

2008-03-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

This blog has focused on ambient ads and not TV commercials. If there has to be a start, I can't think of a better one. Now while you watch this one, let me grab a beer - in fact a Carlton Draught would be just fine

Zuritel car insurance - Can ads get more relevant !!

2008-03-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well this ambient ad is interesting, one of the few examples of ambient where a real consumer problem is sought and relevant advertising delivered to the consumer at the right time.Zuritel is a car insurance firm trying to push a policy which covers damages up to 3000 Euros. The strategy they adopted was to find cars, with little dents across town and just sticker them with a "what a pity" symbol

Money for Nothing and the Chicks for free

2008-02-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Mark Knopfler penned the lyrics for this song by listening to delivery men crib about their jobs while watching MTV. Thats an awesome excuse for bad lyrics. Just to be non controversial, let me say "innovative lyrics". The title though, could well have been inspired from a trend that the modern world is now seeing.It doesn't matter if you aren't a rockstar, or even Bill Clinton for that matter.

The Irony of a USP

2008-02-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

Electronics and ConvergenceThe consumer electronics space is ridden with attempts at convergence. All companies are building more features into existing products and hope to charge more. There are 2 schools of thought, one which favours convergence and the other which says that marketing has always been about segmentation, products will always be more divergent than convergent.The iPod is a

How long will you take to find the needle

2008-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Apparently no time at all if luxor has its way. Check out the ad above. Simple thought, great execution and absolutely no explanation required

What good is a hairstyle without a head

2008-01-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Awesome example of ambient advertising. This is a great way to deliver the message "Wear a helmet while you ride". The ad is relevant, connects with the youth and is delivered innovatively, such that it ensures attention. I love it!!

India vs Australia Cricket Controversy. What if it were a gimmick?

2008-01-10T01:19:00.000-08:00

No one is insinuating that the India - Australia controversy is a farce. A test match has been lost, an umpire has retired and claims of racial discrimination have been made. Be rest assured that these are not the results of a marketing gimmick.The PR generated from this controversy though, has the sponsors in a great situation. The test match has received heightened publicity levels and more

Can New Year Resolutions be used as a Marketing tool?

2008-01-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

Well Happy New Year to all of you. I have been a little busy holidaying the past couple of weeks. On New Years, I was contemplating the conventional "Happy New Year to all my readers" but stayed away because I wanted to start this year by doing something different (Not wishing my readers seemed logical :)).I couldn't ultimately think of anything different because I had a hard time waking up and

The Perfect Christmas Gift !!

2007-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

If you have come here in search of the top 10 gifts for your girlfriend this Christmas, then I should redirect you here . Alternately, if you want to get dumped this Christmas, then here is a list of worst ever gifts.If none of the above is applicable, then let me tell you about this fabulous British Hotel Chain called Travel Lodge (No, I have never stayed with them). The opinion is born out of

Ski Resort resorts to some innovative advertising

2007-12-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

I apologize for being a little slow with updates on this blog. I hope to do better in future. In fact, starting right now, I have a nice ad that I happened to see here .The innovative advertising below has been used by a ski resort. Using just blue paper (blue in the front and white behind) and a sticker, they created the illusion of a ski resort on paper. Superb!!It is not perfect – I would have

Is there hope for the imperfect domain name

2007-12-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

Continuing from this post, The web visitor is undergoing change in the way (s)he visits and revisits websites. The consumers on the web have taken to the various forms of bookmarking, rss feeds etc in such a huge way that the trend suggests that the domain name is being typed less often than before, and moving forward could reduce even more.Take Netvibes for example, it adds to the options by

Social Messages use more than shock value to reach out

2007-11-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Every now and then, you see a social message being communicated by an NGO or by the police about the ill health of smoking, drinking etc. Most of these messages try to deliver a shock value suggesting impending doom as the only outcome of the activity you are undertaking. . Intelligence, wit and subtlety seem to be lost causes in most of these ad situations.What we have below are two examples of

Does marketing feed into strategy? Or is it the other way around?

2007-11-20T01:05:00.000-08:00

I was on Seth Godin's blog and noticed his post on Thinking aboutDomains and just one line in an otherwise perfect, struck a discordant note."One last bit of backward thinking: if you're looking to start an online business, consider finding a great domain and build the business around it, not the other way around." The key thought behind the post was to emphasize the importance of domain names.

Coolhotmail.com - Why it could kill Gmail (And why it won't)

2007-11-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

What is CoolHotmail?CoolHotmail.com is a site where you can get a unique email id which truly reflects your personality. The email ids could be anything ranging from ishwar@underpaid.co.in to ishwar@ufoff.com. (Visit the site for a complete list - some of them are pretty good). It is currently launched in India and many ids are very India specific.On the face of it, this seems like a good

How to drive footfalls to a bar / pub / restaurant

2007-10-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

So everyone has seen signboards & direction boards for restaurants, shopping centers and cafes? Of course you have, and you probably think that its been so done to death, that nothing can be done differently...Traditional advertising is trying to break clutter more than ever before. An ad on a new medium is always likely to attract attention for a while, but gradually consumers develop a blind

Cadbury's fantastic Mobile marketing campaign

2007-10-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

I think every marketer has toyed with mobiles and how to use them in Integrated Marketing Communication. Being consistent and complete in this communication medium is a difficult task, so when I came across this mobile marketing initiative by Cadbury India, I just had to give it the finger (Naaah! not that one - the thumbs up).The interactive campaign for "Pappu Pass Ho Gaya" which means "Pappu*

And the mobile phone will be extinct (not kidding)

2007-10-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are, inseparable from our dear little handheld mobiles and yet the takeaway will be "Hmmm... it could get extinct". To understand why, we have to understand or rather define convergence.Defining Convergence"Convergence" refers to the blurring of dividing lines among traditionally distinct products and services, technologies, markets, industries, and regulatory structures.For example, the

Top 9 Axe Ad campaigns

2007-10-15T18:58:00.001-07:00

Following the Axe campaign post a few days back, here is a compilation of my top 10 favorite Axe ads. Unfortunately most of the ads got eliminated for either being way too explicit or for turning women off and I ended up with 9. (A quick check on a lot of Axe ads reveals that women can find them degrading).#9 - Same old concept - but executed well#8 - You wonder how its an Axe ad, till you read