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 !

Seedhi baat No bakwas But K..K..Klear nahi hai !

A young manager of KKR recruiting bouncers to scare the opposition. On being questioned by Shahrukh, owner of KKR, the manager boasts about his approach of scaring the opponents off the field and subsequently defeating them on the field. Shahrukh Khan points to the cricketers on the field questioning what they are for then, thereby cutting the ‘Bakwaas’ (nonsense) the manager is indulging in.


I have no issues with this ad, infact I like the idea as it matches with the Sprite tagline. But I always feel that an ad should only be used to raise a curiosity in the viewer and if it sustains the theme, use it more and may be follow it up with a sequel, else just stop airing it.

KKR are not doing any great and it just doesnt make sense to keep airing this ad. A good example of a similar ad which worked was Ganguly for Pepsi, when he says he is doing his best to get into the Indian team, very realistic thoughts and since he did make it, the ad was a winner. In this case, the team is performing the worst way possible as of now.

Sprite needs to make another ad if it wants to air something with KKR team and ShahRukh, because.... K..K..R (sorry)... K..K..Klear nahi hai mere dost !

KATch the slice !

Heroines enndorsing soft drinks is a very common sight. Lately there is heavy competition between orange girls, Asin for Miranda and Genelia for Fanta. But none come any close to Katrina for Slice. She is cute as ever and the ad focuses mostly on her, with the drink taking a back step, not in subject but in picturization. If anyone sees this ad, its not for slice but for Kat.


But the video is a far cry from what the print edition has achieved. The impact is more because of the above given stunning picture of Kat eating a slice of mango, symbolizing the Name of the mango drink, simply awesome. This picture suits everything to the T, it justifies clearly what the company sells and raises curiosity of the viewer, err... a passer-by or a newspaper reader. A very rare case of a print edition ad working better than a video broadcasted nationally. Double thumbs up !

Vodafone Essar ZooZoos

White little nutty (rather naughty) creatures with egg-shaped faces, using the little space to convey the message.

Vodafone lives upto its low cost high impact model of ads. The only 2 celebrities they have ever employed are Irrfan Khan and the pug, and the company has used them to death. Compare this to Airtel which employs countless celebrities in every small ad, yes their ads are good but Vodafone makes that extra buck by using little known things or people, and makes sure the message is delivered.

Coming back to ZooZoos (catchy name though), their ads may look irritating at first look but they end things on a high leaving a good impression on the viewer. These creatures are a breakthrough just like the pug, and capture imagination of millions.

Now to the technical part, this is quite amazing. There is very little animation with regards to the ZooZoos. Yes, they are actually people in masks. In short, the ad agency O&M has made the real look like animated which is something new and also saves a lot of animation cost. Hats off Vodafone, hope we see more of ZooZoos and more whacky ideas