AD - Vodafone 'Busy Message'

AGENCY: Ogilvy, Mumbai

Vodafone has three distinct identities in the ad world today from the perception of a viewer. The dog, The ZooZoos and The Humans. But the one underlying theme of all these distinct assets is the out-of-the box presentation of the ideas. When a new ad of Vodafone airs you look at it with great expectations. And most of the times, these expectations are met or exceeded.

Like in this ad of 'Busy Message'. There are so many different ways that the same message has been conveyed by different telecom providers. But the one that will stand out amongst all those will definitely be this execution.

If there is one characteristic of most of the Vodafone ads, its the fact that the message comes out very clearly at the end of the commercial. This could be attributed to the final tagline but the fun is that after you've seen the tagline you feel as if the entire commercial made so much sense. Watching Vodafone's commercials for the first time you are usually riveted to the screen if nothing else than to find out what the ad will convey and as it ends you usually find yourself smiling thinking that it made perfect sense.

My screen-riveting is usually to see if a new Vodafone ad can outclass the previous one or at least match its execution. There have been few times when I thought that the ads were far fetched but those occasions are few.

This particular ad even rivets my two year old son to the screen. He stops, watches the whole ad, has a smile when he sees the last shot of the Dad sleeping with the baby and then he carries on.

I like this ad for multiple reasons:

• It meets its basic objective in conveying that you can set your own busy message.
• It does that by showing you different scenarios and how each person has set their message.
• It does this in a manner that makes you watch it again and again.
• The people and situations used are normal day to day activities but conveyed in a different manner. You can relate to at least one activity from this, if not all.
• It starts in a 'hatke' manner with a fat guy in a bathtub and then continues with 'regular' people.
• It matches all previous 'human element' commercials of Vodafone.
• It does not disappoint!

I would rate it as 8/10, if only because you expect this from Ogilvy for Vodafone.

As an afterthought, it would be interesting to know how Vodafone decides on which element (dog, zoozoo, human) to take for which message.

(B)AD - Sprite Fridge Pack

AGENCY: Ogilvy India

Now this ad I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

I've seen it multiple time but I am at a loss to figure out what is it that they are trying to communicate. I've seen it, viewed it and still am at a loss.

The idea (I think) is to communicate the new Fridge Pack bottle sits in the fridge easily. The tagline tries to convey that at the end : Sprite Fridge Pack - Fridge mein jayega, Bade kaam ayega!

Sprite is known for some really cool ads and tongue-in-cheek presentation. Their previous ads have been pretty good and they have positioned themselves in that space in their communication. When you see a Sprite ad you expect some nice take on a regular situation and a tongue-in-cheek humour. Sadly it is lacking in this execution.

With this ad nothing is clear:

• Why would Sharma aunty come to a bachelor pad for dinner?
• Why would Sharma aunty cook food for them once she gets there?
• Why would the guys think that Iyer aunty and all other aunties would come for food to their house?
• What is the Fridge Pack bottle useful for?

I wonder what the brief for this ad was and exactly what the marketing team was thinking when they approved this creative and decided to spend money to shoot and then air it. Given the earlier ads, I am sure the creative team at Ogilvy could have come up with a much better execution of the same tagline.

After all Sprite is Seedhi Baat, No Bakwas, Clear Hai!

Sorry to say Ogilvy and Coca Cola there is no seedhi baat in this ad, it is all bakwas and definitely not clear.

I would give it a 2/10!

AD: Limca 'Fresh Ho Jao'

AGENCY: Ogilvy India

The first time I saw this ad I stopped in my tracks to make sure that I saw it completely. The artists, their chemistry, the music, the lyrics and the visuals just seemed to make a complete picture to me.

Coming off the 'Fresh Ho Jao' campaign with Raima Sen where they showed the youth falling into water when they drank Limca, I thought this was a good extension to that story. While the Raima Sen ad targeted the youth and appealed to their sense of play, this ad seemed to appeal to the middle age or should I say successful youth and asks them to go get a Limca and get fresh.

The affluent car, the dress sense and the models suggest a DINKS (Double Income No Kids) target segment and appeals to their sense of play. The ad also build very well with boredom as a starting point leading up to the serenity and peace after getting fresh with Limca. You can almost sense the fact that maybe this couple were having a few issues and needed to jump start their romance which is also helped by Limca. The playful nature of the ad asks you to get in touch with the child in you and live life.

But the key grabbing point of this ad has to be the soulful music, the soothing voice and the brilliant lyrics.

“Fuhaarein, bochharein, nazaaare chura lo na, kuch boondein chura lo na; Thaki si zindagi se, ruki si zindagi se, kuch lamhe chura lo na…; Kuch yaddein, aur sapne, apne chura lo na; Ruki si zindagi se, thaki si zindagi se, raftaarein chura lo na…”

“फुहारें, बोछारें, नज़ारे चुरा लो ना , कुछ बूँदें चुरा लो ना ; थकी सी ज़िन्दगी से, रुकी सी ज़िन्दगी से, कुछ लम्हे चुरा लो ना…; कुछ यद्दें, और सपने, अपने चुरा लो ना; रुकी सी ज़िन्दगी से, थकी सी ज़िन्दगी से, रफ्तारें चुरा लो ना…”

These words and the music just grab you as the ad starts and then stay with you long after its ended.

Here are my perceptions of what the client and the agency wanted to communicate and how they fared.

Target the working successful youth - YES
Extend the 'Fresh Ho Jao' campaign - YES
Capture mindspace of the viewer - YES
Ensure unaided brand recall through music/ jingle - YES
Ensure brand stands out from clutter - YES

I would rate this ad as 8/10.

For a more objective analysis of the ad make sure you visit AsMi blog What an Advertise-Meant?

Definition

I decided to pull up some definitions of 'Advertisement' and came up with these from the Encyclopedia.

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of "brand image" and "brand loyalty".

Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompei and ancient Arabia. lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America.

In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse is the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability.

At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today's standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message "The skin you love to touch".

In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularised, each individual radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon realised they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses per show.

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought.

Another good resource to read would be the Wikipedia on Advertising.

Some examples of early Print Advertising.

The Beginning

In the beginning there was TV. Then came the programs. Money was needed to run these programs. The organisations that wanted to sell their products were prepared to pay money. They asked for their pound of flesh and got time to show their products in between the programs.

Soon, the 'TV advertisements' became more important than the programs. And then there came people like me who love to watch the ads, pass judgment on them without knowing anything and analyze them.

I love ads. I love the fact that organisations are forced to convey their key messages in 10 or 60 seconds. There are ads that do this beautifully and then there are ads of which you can make no heads-or-tails.

I will try and view these ads from a layman view and try and pass my judgment on them. I will then try to use my marketing knowledge of 9 years and try to analyse what they were trying to communicate or at least what I think they managed to communicate.

So Ad makers, creative guys, marketeers - BEWARE! Here comes one more critic to add to the mass out there.

Let the analysis begin!