Atul Karmarkar.Com» Advertising

TBWA goofs up on Haagen-Dazs India account

Atul Karmarkar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:26:28 +0000

So after all the hoo-ha surrounding it’s campaign for Haagen-Dazs’ first ice-cream outlet in New Delhi, TBWA can kiss goodbye it’s chances of managing the ice-cream giant’s account in India.

Of course, Haagen-Dazs apologised as expected, saying the promo contained the “wrong choice of words”. In today’s connected world, this was enough to create a storm on the Internet, more specifically on Twitter, where everybody had an opinion to voice and there was a lot of negative publicity generated. No doubt there was also a feeling that this was an orchestrated stunt to create hype, but it soon became obvious the ad agency had goofed up.

TBWA was expected to manage the India account as it already manages Haagen-Dazs’ accounts in other Asia-Pacific markets including Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

However, opinion on this, though split, largely agreed that the onus lay on both, and the company could not get out of it’s responsibility for finally approving the ad.

This is especially true for a market like India, where one also has to factor in all the languages spoken here, and it is quite likely that a word in one language can mean something derogatory in another. As the above example shows, even an ad in English is not safe anymore !!

Rajiv Rao, creator of the Vodafone ZooZoo

Atul Karmarkar — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:53:20 +0000

I’m sure anyone watching the recently concluded IPL T20 matches would’ve got used to the Vodafone ads with those funny little creatures in white.

Though somewhat slow to take off, those creatures, called ZooZoos, have become an instant rage among people and Vodafone has been quick to cash in, with several spin-offs, campaigns and merchandising focussed on those ZooZoos.

But wait a sec, who is the man behind this campaign?

It is Rajiv Rao, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy India, and he came up with the name ZooZoo because,

“We wanted something that sounded cute, lovable and a bit mad like the characters”

Rajiv has been in the ad business for almost 16 years, the last 10 with Ogilvy, where he was also the person behind the memorable Hutch pug campaign.

Read on for some more interesting insights on the man himself.

Axe chocolate-man gets more than his butt chewed off

Atul Karmarkar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:09:25 +0000

The Indian Information & Broadcasting Ministry has decided to play it’s part in upholding Indian morals and values. The target: The ”chocolate man” in the Axe deo advertisement that has been doing the rounds of all the channels lately.

The ministry has asked the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) to advise channels not to show the ad for the Axe deo, ’Axe Dark Temptation Deodorant’.

According to them, the ad was “indecent, vulgar and repulsive.” What do you think?

What probably got the babu’s all worked up were two clips in the entire ad; one showing a woman suggestively using and licking a strawberry and another clip showing a woman taking a bite off the chocoman’s butt. Enough to corrupt Indian viewers, I suppose… Bah!

Personally, I think the ad was ok, and there are definitely more indecent, repulsive and vulgar movies being shown on TV, let alone in theatres. Wake up, babus!

Divorce is now an advertising gimmick

Atul Karmarkar — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:46:59 +0000

It is a known fact that advertisers have been getting more and more “innovative” in their desire to churn maximum publicity for the product they had to peddle, whether it was a consumable, a movie or any other event like a product launch.

The latest shocker comes in the form of rumours floating around regarding the purported “divorce” between Bollywood actors, Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora, with both of them giving ambiguous comments to the media to sustain the suspense.

It later transpired that the whole thing was nothing but a gimmick for the launch of a skin cream !!

This is a pretty pathetic state of affairs we’ve descended into. So far, divorce had not been used as an “advertising tool”, but with this product launch, even that is now history. I wonder if they realize the effect such announcements can have on people, for instance, their son or other relatives being asked this question by friends and well wishers, and being completely bewildered at the turn of events.

There have been precedents in the past where imaginary scenarios have been conjured to sell a film (for eg. a rift / affair between co-stars), and even occasions when film producers have actually hired local gangsters to “open fire at them / their vehicle”, leading to hype and publicity surrounding the release of their new film.

As long as the ”aam junta” doesn’t wake up to these capers, I guess these ad guys will continue on their merry ways. Personally, I find this form of advertising quite disgusting.

What is your take on this ?

mGinger – Get paid for reading ads on your mobile

Atul Karmarkar — Fri, 25 May 2007 03:53:00 +0000

Happened to see a mail earlier in the day about mGinger. It seems a radical approach to mobile advertising, at least in India, where users are paid for:

reading advertisements sent to their mobile phones via SMS
by way of referrals

There is a calculator on their website which allows you to work out how much you could earn based on this structure;

20 paise for every ad you receive

10 paise for every ad your friends receive

05 paise for every ad your friend’s friends receive

The moolah is paid by cheque, once earnings cross Rs.300.

If it sounds too good to be true, you could hop over to their blog, where they have sought to answer queries pertaining to this product and their business model. You can join this program and pay off your mobile bill

Ad wars in the sky.. Hilarious

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 23 May 2007 06:47:00 +0000

Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Go Air slug it out…

Will the Hutch Pug bid adieu ?

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 03:15:00 +0000

Ever since the Hutch-Vodafone deal, one aspect was always being debated:

“Would Vodafone give a quiet burial to the Hutch brand name and the pug?”

Without a doubt, the Hutch brand is extremely valuable, and over almost two years and more, the Pug has been inseparably associated with Hutch as it’s mascot.

Would it therefore be correct for Vodafone to discard a brand identity that practically epitomises the very presence of the telecom operator in India?

Here’s what some leading marketing gurus had to say…

The unanimous opinion - Vodafone must switch, and do so quickly !

Atul Karmarkar.Com» Advertising

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