Passion works both ways - II

In Part - I of this post I'd talked about how silly ads and marketing strategies piss people off, enough for them to switch their brands for good.

People may love a brand but they also have an equal tendency to hate it with all their heart and soul.

Here is another example of a woman who got mighty annoyed at the whisper ' have a happy period' global campaign. (shared with me by Prof Falguni Vasavada)

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing?

As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.' Are you **ing kidding me?

What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep. Always.

Best,
Wendi Aarons
Austin , TX

Do share any more example of people switching brands because of its advtsg. Thanks!
You can read Part - I here.

The 'e-mail-a-marketer' experiment

I was watching this Jaffe Juice video on how companies are clueless about how to deal with their consumers since thanks to the internet they now have a voice (OMG!).

I decided to put that to test in India. You know, write a few mails and see what I get.

So I picked three companies. No, I did not want this to be a personal agenda against a company that I despised anyway. So I picked three that I positively loved.

Company #1

(snacksmart)

I'm a chips junkie and I figured it'd be great to just mail them and check up on why they aren't selling any Uncle Chipps (which is the best!) in half the country.

Company #2

I love my chocolates too. And having seen their advertising about the Cadbury Lite, I figured I'd ask a bit more about the product.

Company #3

Since I don't work in pest control, my love for Mortein might seem strange. But trust me, when you're living alone in the mumbai monsoon (with no mom to rescue you from cockroaches and rats) you need your Mortein! I wrote to them with a query about their rat poison.

And here is what I got

Lays The mail bounced back.

Cadbury Server error.

Mortein No reply.

While more and more marketers rush to climb on to the digital wagon, they forget that sometimes just simple old emails do the trick. When I wrote this, I assumed they would at least send a reply, even if it was stupid.

Picsquare once answered my email within 20 minutes of my query. Oh and it wasn’t an automated reply.

Update. When Kapil didn't receive a DVD with his magazine copy from Infomedia, the company actually sent him a copy with their next issue. Wonder when the sleeping marketing giants will wake up and smell the coffee.

Update 2. Kapil also shared this interesting post by Jenny and Dave who talk of the amazing customer service in India. It's a unique take and a must read.

PS: is anyone else has had such an experience, mail me. I'll add it to the list.

Passion works both ways

While many people are busy buying your cola because they loved your ad (yes for some it is as simple as that), there are plenty who aren’t buying it because they hated your ad.

When something with the ad goes a bit wrong, at most we expect people to switch the channel. However nowadays people receive so much of advertising that they're self styled experts and will judge you for the vermin that you are.

Consumers are no long indifferent to shoddy advertising. In fact many are being quite harsh to poor advertising.

A recent verizon ad that shows a nasty pittbull has been at the receiving end.

[excerpt from Ad Age] Veterinarian Susan Ralston sent Ad Age her letter of complaint to Verizon, which says, in part: "I don't know what your company was thinking. I don't know how much money was wasted on this despicable ad. Perhaps you should donate the million or so spent on that 'creative' to pit-bull rescue in an attempt to undo the damage. I switched my BlackBerry to T-Mobile. Maybe if enough folks do the same, it'll get your attention."

Now it’s possible that there are only some 7-8 people who think the ad in question was inappropriate, but if those 7-8 people are blogging and commenting about it, then they’re the ones helping me form an opinion about your brand. (that's where the internet really kicks ass)

Oh and by the way, I don’t drink 7Up. They did a very insulting radio spot on RadioCity once with a man eve-teasing a woman (in the cheapest way imaginable), only to be told that it’s the new 7Up curvy bottle. Like it isn’t bad enough having to hear suggestive stuff on the streets, now you gotta go and put that on my radio. Oh man!

Ads that 'stereotype' women may be banned

A recent article in TOI claims that there may soon be a move to ban ads that stereotype a woman and her role in society.

" Women in "stereotypical" roles like playing the ideal homemaker or advertisements that reinforce ideas of skin fairness to achieve success could be a thing of the past, if the National Commission for Women (NCW) has its way. "


Sure, great move and all. But this is just going to be so damned subjective. Now will it be illegal to show a woman recommending a washing machine? Or a woman discussing problems of a home maker? If most of India lives like that, I wonder if showcasing the 'new woman' too much would amount to gross misrepresentation.

I believe there was a study (done long ago) in the US that showed that people of colour were under represented on television while they constitute a good 30% in real life America.

Is there also a danger in over-representing the jet setting woman and alienating the society's concern with the woman who is still struggling with her middle class home maker values?

The opinion on each TVC will be subjective. And there's no saying where this will stop. While I disagree with the Fair & Lovely ads, I still don't think NCW has got it right. We can't project a world too far from reality... or we might end up screwing reality itself.

The More Syndrome

A recent discussion on the new Titan ad (Be More.) got some of us pretty sick with the ‘More’ word.

Yeh Dil Maange More

Be More.

Thoda aur wish karo.

While as people we may wish for the best and want all that and more, I’m not sure if saturating media with that one message will help. When everyone’s yelling for more… TBWA’s disruption would suggest we go for the less. Now’s the time.

The yelling, the traffic, the spending, the beta hydroxyl shit, the silver ions in my washing machine!

Perhaps our lives ask for a whole lot to be subtracted.

twitter article in the news

An article on twitter that I and my boss wrote was published in livemint and is now also on scott goodson's blog. how cool is that!

No more Kroor Singhs?

With entertainment becoming so niche, there is pretty much a channel for everyone. While all this is great, I wonder if this means the end of collective memories.

In today’s fragmented world of entertainment, I haven’t a clue about shows on the gazillion channels, much less follow their story.

With too many shows and each one watching their own, I wonder if we will ever have a cult figure like ‘Kroor Singh’ again, whose ‘yakku’s are still doing the rounds in our collective memories.

I know I sound like the elderly lady who sits in the courtyard and mourns today because yesterday was so much better.

I think I would give up 'personalized entertainment' for a Chandrakanta experience which still brings people together to reminisce.

So sing along for old time’s sake. Lyrics are below (I know it by heart, just in case you were wondering)

Chandrakanta ki kahaani badi lagati hai suhani

Yeh purani ho kar bhi badi lagti hai mastani

Naugadh vijaygadh mein thi takaraar

Naugadh ka tha jo raj kumar

Chandrakanta se karta tha pyar

PS: If any of you have the original soundtrack do lemme know. My obsession with it continues. Oh and a guy has sung it on youtube.

Update: Trivia by s4r4bh : Nazim and Ahmed were Kroor Singh's sidekicks in the show

Ajanta Hotel takes to the web

I came across a banner ad for a hotel in Delhi and I’m not sure what it was about the ad, but I clicked. And I’m glad I did. Ajanta hotel is perhaps the best example of an Indian Hotel using the web to its max potential.

A quick look at the site and you’ll find video testimonials, quick-booking and even a ‘send-an-sms-feature’(though I wonder why).

Clearly this hotel is looking to attract the foreign travellers and they’re doing it well.

The Hotel has a page on facebook, it supports UNICEF and is pet friendly as well. The perfect triple sundae to get those foreign tourists salivating.

Now that’s a businessman, who knows his TG well and is going all out to make it known. And yes their online banners show a nice picture of a clean hotel and their emphasis on ‘budget hotel’ sure made me click.

I’m really impressed by the way the hotel has taken to the internet and has said all the right things.

Their homepage is perfect and tells me everything I need to know. Their booking system is lovely and even shows you thumbnails of rooms to help you decide which one to pick. While booking you can even add a trip to agra if you wish.

That’s a wow for a little hotel in New Delhi.

ever notice how people...

1. Repeatedly press the button to call the lift, till
a. The button falls off
b. Lift arrives

2. Refuse to move to the back of the lift when new people enter it
a. Gaze at the ceiling till people stop expecting them to move back
b. Shuffle one step to the right and one to the left and pretend to have helped the situation

3. Want to be the first to get into a lift and the last to get off it

4. Fight for a place to sit in a crowded train, but love to stand at the door when there are enough available seats

5. Overtake slower people while walking, only to slow down once ahead

6. Show-off their escalator-riding-perfection (complete with chin high and hand on hip) when a first-timer is struggling to climb on

Update by Saad

7. As the number of floors a lift stops at increases, so does the probability of a person referring to it as a "passenger train". Even though he/she has probably never been on a passenger train for year (if ever).

The probability of other people actually finding this funny is directly proportional to the probability of that person being their boss.

us dilliwaalas

Fly You Fools - An Indian Webcomic about Life.

a little love

There's this dialogue in "Shall we dance" which perhaps sums up companionship best.

Susan Sarandon says - “We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet. What does any one life really mean? But in a marriage you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things and the mundane things. All of it. All the time. Everyday. You’re saying, your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. You’re life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness.”

Before you groan at the quote, let me get straight to the point. I recently came across news that Ruslana, the gorgeous model committed suicide at the tender age of 20. The gorgeous, rich (some say she was broke), glamourous little girl of 20 decided t jump off her building.

This disturbs me. Not because she's gorgeous or famous, but because she, like so many young people, gave up.

It is said that she was lonely. We've all been there at some point in life (I know I have), but luckily for us there was someone who validated our existence and agreed to be our witness...

there's something about twitter

Wassup?!

Wassup is the most asked question among pals and one that provides answers from ‘nothing much’ to ‘thinking about the meaning of life’.

But what if you have too-long a friend-list and can’t ask all your pals this all-important life-changing-question?

Enter twitter. It’s a site that basically ‘wassup’s your friends all day long and lets you read their answers if you choose to subscribe (follow: in twitter parlance).

Twitter lets you publish updates about your life in 140 characters or less to family or friends who choose to follow you. (people on your twitter contact list are called followers)

All you need to do is answer the question. ‘what are you doing?’ through your phone, messenger, site or even email.

‘Life happens between blogs and email’

As Common Craft puts it, ‘Life happens between blog posts and emails’. And it is this life between the blog and email that twitter lets you publish.

While many people send out updates like “had an amazing cup of coffee” or “going for a jog”, twitter is increasingly being used by people to share their thoughts and links to things they are reading.

There are many benefits to twitter, other than of course keeping up with the lives of your pals.

For one, it’s easy. With technology at our beck and call, we’re pretty much a lazy people. Blogs of 300 words or more are passé with people turning to micro-blogging from the comfort (or the stylus-inflicted awkwardness) of their mobile phones.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s twitter!

Saving men, helping the helpless, almost sounds like superman.

Twitter recently saved a man from jail and got an unemployed person the job of his dreams. A man who was jailed in Egypt sent frantic tweets (updates) and his ‘followers’ (contacts) mobilized forces to get him out of jail. Another man in the US sent out a minute-by-minute update of the day he was laid off by Yahoo! His followers were glued to their screens as he sent updates about packing his belongings, meeting HR and leaving office. Before he knew it, job offers from helpful netizens were pouring in!

Of course this doesn’t mean that all the one million twitter members get such dramatic results through their tweets. Why then does twitter generate so much interest?

Thoughts. Ideas. Conversations.

Twitter ignites new thinking, conversations and ideas. It allows people from across the world to come together and share their thoughts and lives. It brings together people and their ideas which lead to newer conversations and lines of thought.

Twitter lets you follow the most creative, bizarre, new-age thinkers on the internet. So if you’re bored of getting the same old updates from friends, you can follow some CEOs, inventors, thinkers.

Follow Scott Goodson (CEO, Strawberry Frog) on twitter and

you’ll get updates about what he’s reading, thinking or doing. It’s pretty much like being with the person 24*7, only that they choose what you get to see.

Twitter’s also great for self promotion and resource sharing. You can send updates about your company, your work or share links to resources that are of value to you and your followers.

Tweeting brands

Brands too have jumped headlong into twitter and few are faring well.

Some twitter users believe that brands that exist on twitter are ‘lame’ since they aren’t people and are pretending to be part of a conversation where big corporates don’t belong.

American airline, Delta Airlines is on twitter and sends our tweets about offers, promos and other airline related information.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of popular online company specializing in footwear - Zappos, is on twitter too, though his tweets are as much personal as professional. He has a whopping 7000+ followers. What that does for his brand is debatable, but here’s a CEO striking a conversation with his TG in a space of their choice.

Twitter it right

As much as I may love twitter, there are enough people who hate it. Complaints about receiving silly updates like ‘in the loo’, ‘eating a muffin’ are aplenty in twitter world. But then twitter is a network, and a network is only as good as the people in it. Pick the right ones to follow and you may just find yourself tweeting gladly in twitter world.

Oh and for those who hate the 140 character limit, there are always blogs…

PS: the Zappos CEO is now following me on twitter... it doesn't mean much since he follows many, but it's a step in the right direction for the brand.

NOTE: twitter works on the give and take principle, so follow a couple of people to have people follow you. You can't hoard in the internet space you know!

The terror of andheri

As Ville Parle passes by, toes slowly shrink in. Handbags are clutched tight.

Quick shuffling of feet. Two steps to the side. Cowering by the metal walls.

Furtive glances at the platform as the train slows down. Eyes wide with terror watching greedy faces, waiting to pounce.

A collective deep breath, almost orchestrated. A sea of arms and legs.

They find gaps by the walls, hold on tight and hope the twisted bodies entering the coach don’t sweep them off their feet and feed them to the sweaty depths of the coach.

That’s the terror of Andheri.