The baby and the water.. whats the connection ?

How do you define innovation in advertising?

I would say, keep your basics right, stick to the bottomline of the brand but come with better ideas of how your brand is better. This is what I have spotted in recent advertisements of water purifiers.

Kent Water Purifiers vs. Whirlpool

Both these ads have one thing in common, the water from their purifiers can directly be fed to a baby. Its only the execution thats different.

In the Kent ad, the lady fetches water from purifier and suddenly lays down. Slowly the camera is moved downwards and we see the baby drinking the water. In Whirlpool ad, we see a baby in a womb and suddenly on hearing water dripping outside, it becomes happy and later we see the mother drinking water.

These ads give a clear message, if you can feed baby with water from their purifier brand, you cant have better quality water. Their concept is fresh rather than a star like Hema Malini or Smriti Irani suggesting the purity. The audience has matured of age, they dont need stars to teach them, they need real examples to prove the quality, and the baby in purifier ad certainly helps this cause.

My only suggestion for other purifier brands is to look out for more ideas and not stick with this concept, else it will be an over-kill

My Favourite Ads of IPL 2009

1) Vodafone ZooZoooooos

Cant say in words, what an idea ! These little creatures engage you so well and keep you informed about each and every service. Priceless !




2) Airtel (Madhavan and Vidya Balan)

These 2 are just not giving up ! What an awesome pair they make. Good chemistry. And Airtel is using them to the T. Good show!


3) Crabtree switches



Husband to supervisor - Use only crab tree switches. OK?

Wife - Rajat, how many times did I tell you.. a "Switch is a Switch"

Husband - (Smiles) Tea?

They stop in front of a small roadside tea shop

Wife - here??

Husband - "Tea is Tea"

Marvellous ! The shortest ad giving the biggest message a premium switch company can give. Hats Off !

4) Titan of the day ad

If its Aamir, theres got to be some magic in it. He brings in so much of life into any brand, leave alone ad. Let me be biased here, I myself won a watch :-)

5) Coca Cola

"Aap Muskuraenge..... Bulbule Gungunaenge"

Somehow, this ad brings a sense of happiness and makes you feel good. Coke has vastly developed its ads and Aamir is only helping its cause. Way to go !

Better get a shock than watching this ad !

All Havells has been trying to convey is that its switches are shock proof.

But how do they do this? Show consumers of others switches as living everyday life with sharp pointed hair, meaning they get shock every moment and are living with it.




Firstly, does this ad look real? ... NO

Second, is it playing with the user's sentiment? ... a BIG yes

There is no humour element too. And the repetitive "Shock laga laga" jingle is banal and boring.

Sorry Havells, I change the channel everytime I see this ad. Better learn from Crabtree the art of making switch equipment ads !

Invent a research, but no need to prove it !

Lifebuoy has come with an ad in which they are doing research on 2 different buildings. Building 1 uses the mega red soap (Lifebuoy ofcourse) while Building 2 an ordinary soap (What is an ordinary soap?? for me all are same). And as per their study, there was 40% increase in attendance at school from Building 1 than Building 2. Why so, because they used Lifebuoy, Awesome !

What a flawed ad if seen technically. But who cares whether the research was indeed done or not. The consumer doesn't bother to verify this, for a 10-15 Rs. odd soap and hence this ad succeeds in creating an impact on part of the viewer. This is such a generic concept that soon we may see many more FMCG products using this as a ploy. This ad will go well with the parents as they get attracted to the success rate of their child attending school without fail.

I noticed, did you ?

We see so many ads. We see so many people in these ads. But have we ever related the same people in different ads ?

In this post, I am not reviewing ads, am looking at the people who work in them. If a person is chosen to do an ad and if the ad works out, this same person performs the same role (well amost) for another brand and another company. I will give 2 straight examples here :

1) Mr. Wilson from Hyundai I10 ad


The Hyundai I10 ad needed a foreigner (professor) to be teaching some subject in mechanical engg, and who gives a sarcastic laugh at Shahrukh's suggestion. This ad clicked and now you can see the same person in a Parle 20-20 ad as a foreign commentator who hands over the trophy to the team winning the toss. My point is, these are complete strangers to the industry, but an ad is enough for them to get some foothold. I wont be suprised if I see this man in many more foreign oriented roles. Does anyone know his name please?

2) Always playing Cricket


OK, this guy rings some bells.
Exactly! He always turns up playing cricket in an ad . Glucon D has this boy fainting in the sun while batting, and then hitting the Sun away after having the drink. The ad has become so appealing that this boy again appears in a Titan ad, bowling to Aamir Khan.

All I am saying is that people get associated with some activity in an ad, and then end up doing the same in many other ads. This is ideally because of the impact at the point of time, and the second line recruiters of an actor want to cash in on the hype created by the first line ones.

Connecting India and they are not boring !

What can one expect from the ad of a Public sector organization? A video making mockery of the screen space, actors rushing through their shoot, very little emphasis on script and unbearable torture for the viewer. But BSNL (a public sector telecom organization) has been airing ads against the run of play, and their ads have been on par with other telecom companies. The essence lies the same as with Vodafone and Airtel, but they have been able to make some creative ads and that too with good execution.

The ad with Priety Zinta was a revival of sorts for this company in ad space, though it wasnt too great an ad. But as shown in the above video, they have started making small but effective ads and hence good appeal to the viewers. Nowdays the focus of telecom ads has shifted from merely building their brand to showing off their unique services. BSNL had made the cut in time. Other public sector companies should take a cue from BSNL in ad making.

Say "hello" to torture

Advanced digital network... WOW! Clarity in voice.. awesome !

But why make such an un-realistic ad of "hello" syndrome. The ad should concentrate on what the company can deliver, rather than making a syndrome out of nowhere.

Leaning out of the window or holding the handset out of the window is a common reaction among consumers and this is what viewers can relate to. But they will fail to relate to using "hello" repeatedly in general talk. The ad lacks creativity and humour, and is absolute torture on part of the viewer. If they really have to make an ad on this subject, they should look for some real consequences.

My suggestion would be to show pros about this technology rather than giving cons about rival networks. Make an ad that connects well with the viewer, not preach him, he is not DUMB !