What a World... Again!!

Brand wars – The Times Of India vs The Hindu

Ajit Joy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:46:52 +0000

And they hit back and how!..in not one but 3 full frontal attacks. The Times Of India(TOI) had recently, around november, taken a dig at The Hindu with its campaign ‘Wake Up Chennai‘ where the taunt was clearly at The Hindu. As is its no nonsense and serious image, i thought that the newspaper would never respond to TOIs commercial. And i was proved wrong.

The Hindu commands a Numero Uno position in the Chennai market, you can call it the Rajnikant of newspapers in Chennai, followed by The Deccan Chronicle (Secondary data – to be verified). Now it has come up with its ‘Stay Ahead Of The Times’ campaign making an aggressive “up yours” counter attack at the TOI. And not just on television but through print ads.

The Old Lady of Bori Bunder didn’t just wake up Mount Road Mahavishnu, she literally taunted him to a wrestling match. Enjoy!

Agencies involved:
TOI : Taproot India
The Hindu : Ogilvy

PS: The YouTube video title shows Stay Ahead with The Hindu, while the campaign is Stay Ahead Of The Times. Wonder why a confusion or is it deliberately done so?

The TOI Wake Up Chennai [Taproot India] commercial below, see The Hindu shown at 0:59.

The Hindu – ‘Stay Ahead Of The Times’ [Ogilvy]. No explanation needed.

And this one…

2011 in review

Ajit Joy — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:28:09 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for What a World…Again.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 24,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Have a break

Ajit Joy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:05:18 +0000

Back to back presentations, with some tests in between. Exams to follow. High pressure environment. POM and GM ka tension. Enjoying MBA.

Pending blog posts to be updated on course to new year. Good bye!

Keep it simple and silly!

Ajit Joy — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:18:59 +0000

Phew!! Thank Lord. Ra.One released today and will be out of cinema in some weeks time. So will the publicity in another few days. Shah Rukh Khans Ra.One is currently on my Do Not Watch list. Ask me why.

The Ra.One publicity drive! Mr.SRK you have a good brand equity. Your movies will never cease making box office collections no matter how farcical, illogical they turn out to be. But over promotions?

I have no intentions of watching Ra.One because i am trying to block out anything and everything that mentions the name.

The limit crossed yesterday when i was hooked up on HBO watching Happy Feet. The commercial breaks consisted nothing but back to back Ra.One adverts [with some Ranbeer Kapoor injected in between]. The silly flying Ra.One Cinthol deodorants!

And i quote from Return Customer:

These days, it is impossible to turn on the TV, open a magazine or check your e-mail without getting bombarded with advertisements. In an age of increasingly short attention spans, many businesses may feel that creating massive advertising campaigns is the only way to get their message heard.

However, the fact of the matter is that splashy ads often just overload many consumers, causing them to do anything in their power to block them out!

I am no critic to pan the movie left right and center. I am not against the movie. Its just the over publicitydrive. The constant bombardment of Ra.One visuals, posters, news articles and what not.

I am a simple customer and you lost one SRK!

Similar Views Here

Ra.One Review Here

Send this message to 10 friends -The other story

Ajit Joy — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 08:40:34 +0000

Text message:

Please read.Not joking. God has seen YOU struggling with some thing. God says its over. A blessing is coming your way. If you believe in God send this message on, please don’t ignore it, you are being tested. God is going to fix two things (BIG) tonight in your favour. If you believe in God, DROP EVERYTHING AND PASS IT ON. TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. DON’T BREAK THIS CHAIN. SEND THIS TO 14 FRIENDS IN 10 MINUTES WHEN YOU READ.

Reply:

Dear God. I completely believe that you are watching my every movement. You have seen me struggling since 22 years somewhere or the other. Till the age of 18 i did not have an email-id or owned a cell phone. I did not have the privilege of forwarding the message to 14 people. But still you helped me during those difficult times. You did not punish me. Why? 18 years is a big period. Right?

When i finally got a cell phone. I chose to ignore the chain messages your ardent SMS people sent me. I never ever did forward them. I even committed the grave sin of deleting those messages. Still, i mean still you did not punish me, or let something bad happen to me. Why?

In one of your messages, you said that i will die if i don’t forward to friends in 10 minutes. I was very kanjoos at that time. I did not forward them. But i did not die! Why God?

It also happened one time, that i did not have even 14 ‘friends’ on my phonebook to forward the message. Nothing happened. Why?

In short:

My dear God i want to tell you that you are very biased. You haven’t given the basic sense of logical thinking ability to some of your sms disciples.

Thank you. Hallelujah. Amen.

(♫Indian Ocean - Bande)
Spread this message to as many people possible. Let them be enlightened.

Maa Tujhe Salaam

Ajit Joy — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:01:40 +0000

Today as India celebrates its 65th Independence Day, (and tomorrow as Annadependence Day), the only song that touches me, and will be the most played around flag hoisting ceremonies, is A.R. Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam.

Happy Independence Day India!

MV Rak Carrier oil spill causes man heart attack

Ajit Joy — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:11:26 +0000

When Mr. Prakash first learnt of the MV Rak doing a Titanic off the Mumbai coast, he knew he would have to make up for the little time left before a restriction comes into place on seafood consumption. What followed was greedy consumption of 2kgs of quality shrimps over the weekend.

The next day at office fresh from satisfaction of having eaten his favorite seafood, Mr.Prakash started feeling uneasy. Perspiration. Dizziness and severe pain on his lower left abdomen.
Overeating of shrimp caused indigestion and formation of “gas” in his stomach…which his office staff mistook for a heart attack. Prakash knew it was not a ‘heart’ problem.

Ambulance. Stretcher. Injections. Anesthesia. Worried family members. Finally realizing the goof-up.

“Chalo acchi baat hai, free mein full medical checkup toh ho gaya“. – Mr.Prakash

name changed. true neighborhood story.

Impotently Imported

Ajit Joy — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:00:03 +0000

Imported hai said the store attendant while i was ‘inspecting’ a bottle of deo spray of a rather unknown brand. The ‘information’ printed on its back label was an unreadable unrecognisable lingo, with an expensive price tag in english.

During the pre liberalisation era, the word Imported hai had a standard of its own. The two worded algebraic phrase was a powerful tool of commanding respect in the society. Imported hai meant you were rich. You were well-connected. It meant you were using an exotic product of the best quality,and last but not the least, it meant you cannot mess with a person who uses Imported hai products.

That was then. Even a China made cheap product was given its due. These days one can easily distinguish between a quality ”imported hai” samaan and a Ulhasnagar made ”imported hai” samaan. The word is still often misused, and still many fall for it. Foreign acceptance.

It’s still a long time before this glorious ancient phrase fades away into oblivion. Vilayti hai. Imported hai. Seductive.

No baby, this is not 3G!

Ajit Joy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:02:24 +0000

Two things i liked in the Idea 3G Population Control Campaign:
1) for pointing out the rising superpower is still reeling under powercuts
2) Yes, we need to control our rising population.

Being said that, I am still looking out for that one ‘wow’ factor in the Idea 3G Population commercial (there are 5 more TVCs on the same concept being rolled out in the next 5 months) compared to the ‘Just 3G – Reliance 3G‘ commercial, which was superb, making complete sense on why one should opt for Reliance 3G.

Those who suffer from powercuts cannot afford 3G, and even if they do, bhai inverters ka zamaana hai, TV bhi chalta hai! The ad simply conveys that India’s population is booming because people are having sex and making babies for recreation! It also says that Indians don’t have better things to do, other than having sex? Really.

No Logic. Sirf tamasha. ”Tyaag diya hai mainay apna vyahavahit jeevan apnay desh k liye”. Lame.

Now if someone says that i took the ad rather seriously then please do not take this excerpt from Faking News seriously:

What do people do once they get high speed internet for the first time?” Mr. Kuselan, an expert on population growth and a virulent critic of Idea’s latest campaign argued, “Of course people start accessing adult sites and download porn clips. Do you think they will practice ‘abstinence’ after consuming adult content?”

“I know a friend who locked himself in a room with his wife after reading ‘how to spice up your sex life’ column on a leading newspaper’s website,” Kuselan claimed, “He didn’t even bother to shut down or hibernate his laptop. He was blessed with a baby after nine months and a computer virus every month after that incident.”

“With 3G reaching every household, such incidents, and thus the population of India, will only increase,” Kuselan added.

In brief, the commercial fails to sell the brand, is not funny except for the “before 3G” line in the end.

Virtual condoms anyone? eh??

Views expressed are personal.
Pic Courtesy: Faking News

Ek H(as)ina Thi – Hina Rabbani Khar

Ajit Joy — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:31:22 +0000

Time: 8.30AM

Hin a Rabbani Khar, Pakistans youngest and first women foreign minister set hearts aflutter when she arrived in New Delhi yesterday. Said to be Pakistans version of Sarah Palin, the 34 year old ‘young’ beauty, mother of two children, became an overnight star when she landed over in India.

Twitter continues to trend since yesterday with ‘Hina Rabbani Khar’ on trends. Morning newspapers today carried rather interesting headlines relating to her visit. ‘PAK BOMB LANDS IN INDIA‘ screamed Mumbai Mirror.‘PAK PUTS ON ITS BEST FACE’ said the Times Of India…A proof that Rabbani has garnered an instant fan following, mostly among men in this part of the world! One war Pakistan has won against the Indian side.

Tweets on HRK:
:There’s only one way to counter Hina Rabbani Khar. India should appoint Emran Hashmi as foreign minister;
Pakistans Weapon Of Mass Distraction;
:Saazish by ISI. To force India to give up Kashmir;
Please check that most wanted list given to Pakistan again, I hope they had put Hina Rabbani Khar‘s name there too;
:I support friendly relations with Hina Rabbani Khar;
:Dear Pakistani friends pls take Sushma Swaraj and give us Hina Rabbani Khar!

HOT HAI!

PS: Frankly speaking, i have also fallen for her. The moment the newspaper dropped in this morning. I looked out for just one thing – Hina Rabbani Khar…;) wink wink. When will i see a minister (like HRK ofcourse) whom i can look upon it in India.

- ♫Ek Hasina Thi, Ek Deewana Tha