Glocalisation Advertising Strategies in India

Globalization is one thing that most international companies invest in today and it is an aggressive practice in the local shores of India. Large names that include Coca Cola and McDonalds have adopted the new termed practice called Glocalisation, a saleable mix of the global and the local, which represents the human capacity to bridge scales from the local to global and vice versa.

Product association is evident in our local regions and for international companies known throughout the world, the need to rev up the consumer awareness has become a critical need. India has so far acknowledged this need and companies who have intended to join in this Glocalisation practice are jumping in one by one.

Advertising agencies in our country are increasingly going in for international tie-ups. As a result, foreign brands are suddenly seeking local attention. The art of making an advertisement look local and endearing to Indians is the global spin-off in advertising,” Vipin Dhayani, creative head of the Everest Brand Solutions, said.

(Source) Zeenews

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Sing It With Me – “$5 Foot Longs…”

Slightly bizarre, mildly funny yet completely catchy. I don’t know about anyone else out there, but my office has been singing along to the newest Subway commercials all day. Apparently, for a limited time, Subway is offering $5 foot-long subs. Enter the jingle. The commercials feature a catchy little tune that basically repeats the offer. Effective? Who knows. But I definitely know where to go when I’m craving a foot-long sandwich for a small price. 

Blogs: the newest weapon on the corporate battlefield

The Wall Street Journal had a pretty fascinating story today that I’d only heard bits and pieces of before. The story basically details how former AdAge reporter James Arndorfer is writing for the Miller Brewing Company-owned blog, “Brew Blog,” where one of the primary topics of interest is Anheuser-Busch news. He’s continuously breaking stories on A-B, which is getting under the St. Louis brewing company’s skin.

While A-B and Miller have been battling for years, the internet and the blogosphere have opened up new and creative doors through which the battle can rage on. Miller sponsoring a blog that paints A-B in a lesser light is certainly a non-traditional tactic, but interesting that such importance is being placed on internet sites. Something worth considering as the internet continues to grow.

And despite working on several A-B accounts in the past, I have to say that I’m fairly intrigued by the whole Miller-backed-blog and the way it’s playing out. I’m also eagerly anticipating more corporate tactical use of blogs in the future. Seems ripe with possibilities. Anyway, check out the WSJ article for more details and analysis.

The Return of the “Bug Game”

Thanks to the two of the latest spots from ESPN (courtesy of Wieden & Kennedy) and the Cleveland Indians (courtesy of Brokaw), Yanks fans nationwide get to relive the horror that was last year’s infamous “Bug Game.” This is the game where my boys (eh hem, the Yanks) lost their cool due to excessive bugs on the field during an away game against the Indians. But hey, ESPN and the Indians have it right. Everything is part of the game – from the fans to the team and all the way to annoying critters. Bravo to making me hate and love baseball, all at the same time. 

 

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How to Get a Job in Advertising

Advertising is tough to get into. The application process is often subjective and sometimes creative directors want to make sure that your personality is match for the company. With the economy slowing down, it’s even harder to get an interview. So how do you break into the business? Unfortunately, I don’t have great advice. But, here’s what some high ranking ad and brand people from companies like R/GA, Yahoo, Google, JWT and Crispin had to say. These folks are members of VCU Brandcenter’s board of directors talking directly to grad students getting ready for the ad biz. If you pay close attention, there’s even some Yahoo/AOL buyout banter.



What Goes Around Comes Around

ellen-ad.jpg 

Advertising is the latest industry to be struck by the old adage “history repeats itself.” Prior to the 70s, seeing Live Ads was nothing unusual. But with pre-recorded TV came recorded ads.  Today, the rise of the TiVo/DVR era has advertisers looking back to the Live Commercial to sell their products. Late night and daytime talk shows (Ellen DeGeneres is above, hawking for Toyota) have started reviving this once popular advertising trend. However, I wonder – how will this affect the commercial? Will we be left with a lack of concepting? Or will this lead way to a new way of creative thinking?

Save the Reese’s!

In my humble opinion, the world was complete upon the advent of the “Chocolate & Peanut Butter Union.” My deep love for this combo may be the underlying reason for my love of Arnold’s newest round of ads for Reese Cups. But seriously, could you think of a better way to put a goofy spin on global warming? I’m also pretty sure that this past Easter was the first time (ever, literally) that I actually felt bad for the hollow chocolate bunny with their print ads. Check those out on the official website, along with the ability to make your own Reese ad.       

Social messaging on the cheap

I stumbled across this short clip and found it interesting – if nothing else than from a media perspective. Often, social messages are relegated to the :30 psa via tv or radio, and more critical messages generally require multi-stage campaigns covering the gamut of media. I’m not saying multi-level social messaging/public service campaigns aren’t effective, but it’s refreshing — and an interesting reminder — to see something done like this:

The post-it note campaign was launched by a Dutch group Vandaler Mod Vold (Vandals Against Violence) in response to recent incidents of violence in Copenhagen. The post-it notes placed throughout the city carry handwritten messages along the lines of “only the weak resort to violence.”

While I’m not necessarily advocating a campaign of handwritten notes plastered around a city, it’s important to remember that a few bucks worth of post-it notes and a few sharpies can do a good bit of messaging. Giant (expensive) executions aren’t always a requirement, and there are still ways to execute strong messaging without breaking the bank. more (in Danish) here.

Motley Crue, rock band, and the future of games

Yesterday, developers of the explosively popular video game Rock Band announced that Motley Crue will be releasing their first single off their upcoming album through the game. Definitely a first, but certainly not entirely unexpected. From the Reuters article:

“Rock Band” went on sale last November and now has more than 80 tracks available for download in addition to the 58 tracks in the original game. MTV Games said players have bought more than 6 million downloadable songs for Rock Band. Tunes range from classics by the likes of the Who and the Rolling Stones to more-contemporary fare from the Killers and Fall Out Boy.

The music industry is changing (in-case you hadn’t noticed) and is trying to stay afloat as the video game industry adapts to an evolving – and growing – demographic. Significant? Definitely. The way we are interacting with the world of video games is shifting – and moving significantly closer to the “real world.” Certainly something worth paying attention to as technology and games continue to advance.

Budweiser And The Value of Collaboration

Via ScampBlog comes this spot from Fallon’s UK office for Budweiser. The one thing that jumps out immediately is that it’s a :60 (when was the last time you saw a :60 in the US that wasn’t a launch spot for a major brand.)

The second is that it’s another in a line of UK TV spots that fetishize the rural American South (Levi’s UK advertising did a good job of this.) Not criticizing, but it’s always fascinating to see an outsider’s take on something uniquely American. To the Brits, the rural South is uniquely and authentically American.

Third is there’s no product sell. It’s a nice minute-long movie about a band that uses instruments made of Budweiser bottles. No lovingly lit pour shots, no hot chicks in bikinis and all the other clichés of American beer advertising. Shot by Harmony Korine, a noted avant-garde movie director best know for his debut film Kids, my only question here is what role did the agency actually play? Did they come to Korine with the idea “rural Southern band plays with instruments made from Budweiser bottles. Go.” Or did they have the basic action plotted out and Korine just added detail, tone and style? I sort of hope it’s the former.

For although many creative purists will look down on an agency for engaging a director at that stage, one of the biggest lessons we have to learn from the digital age is that it can’t always be about the copywriter and art director team anymore. That we need to engage and involve other people– be they technologists, user experience experts or film directors– early on and collaborate with them fully. The result can be something as charming as the spot above.

Loopholes on Banned Tobacco Advertising Practice

Tobacco Ad Bans

 

As far as banning tobacco from making further aggressive advertisements, there are still some sectors all over the world that find a way to plug in their tobacco products on varied means of advertising mediums. But while many people are concerned about how the tobacco manufacturers get away with it, perhaps the truth behind tobacco which is nicotine should be emphasized as well.

Overall, it is nicotine that is the drug that makes people smoke a lot. To some smokers, it may not matter since they are still up and about. But give it a couple of years and you will see varied illnesses that will take its toll from continued abuse.

As far as advertising is concerned, the least they can do is emphasize more on the harmful effects of nicotine intake. They are doing it anyway. How else can they earn big bucks?

You can read more about it here at the Bangkok Post.

An Absolut Mistake by Vodka Distillers

Absolut Vodka Ad in Mexico 

One thing you have to consider in the world of advertising and promotions today, you better be open to the consumer acceptance and reaction of the ads you are going to release. This involved consideration towards the areas of cultural, legal, political and social factors which are normally considered in doing business.

 

Apparently, releasing an ad is one thing but to be forced to pull it out due to bad corporate image and controversies will entirely hurt the brand image. Apparently, this is the issue that hit the company distillers of Sweden’s Absolut Vodka when they released a controversial ad that drew the ire of many Americans who caught up with the ad shown in Mexico.

 

The billboard ad has the slogan “In an Absolut World” slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other U.S. states as Mexican territory. Those states were carved out of what had been Mexican lands until that year. 

Although it was not shown in the United States, U.S. media outlets picked up on the ad, and after a barrage of complaints, Absolut’s maker said on Sunday the ad campaign would cease.

(Source) Yahoo News

Applying a Print and Online Parallel Run for Newspaper Advertising

Canadian newspapers holding their own group

As far as newspapers are concerned, much of the call is geared towards shifting from the usual paper used printing news to the paperless online news circulars today. If you will notice, a lot of newspapers today have a similar site online which many would find as redundant.

 

Apparently, this is because not all people are still familiar with the web. Add to the fact, the cost for advertising online compared to print advertising in the papers is different. There will be a preference on where to advertise as long as it targets the proper market being catered to.

 

As stated earlier, not all people are adept with technology and knowledge of accessing news and other standards newspaper articles may need a little bit more time for them to get used to.

 

That is one reason why print and online news are still present today. They cater towards different markets which in turn will drive the proper modes of targeted advertising.

Related Source: Canadian newspapers holding their own group

Google Clicks Are Losing Their Touch

Google Pay Per Click

As far as Google is concerned, chances are you will be thinking of revenue generated from clicked ads which you usually place whenever you put up a site and get a Google Adsense account. Now for some people who discovered this earlier, the opportunity may have been rewarding. But today with the growing number of people trying to get their hand on online advertising and pay-per-click ads, it seems that it has been a case of:

  1. Congestion
  2. Wiser Internet Consumers
  3. Advertising Competition

Whichever of the three is the reason for this is anyone’s guess. But one thing that is for sure, Google is slowly aging and may have to pull some more strings if they really want to retain their current market positioning.

Google’s “paid clicks” had decreased by 7% during January, and were flat compared with the same month a year earlier. In other words, surfers who searched the web via Google itself, or who visited websites that belong to Google’s advertising network, clicked slightly less frequently on the little text advertisements that Google often places on these pages.

(Source) Economist.com

Wanted: Skilled Advertisers in the Middle East

Advertising Specialist Job Seekers
Here is a piece of good news to all advertising professionals. If you are hooked on to the advertising binge and wondering what options you may have, check out the Middle East countries. From this report, a huge demand for advertising professionals will be needed due to shortage of people with creative minds.

Just like other growing economies, it seems that the periodic demand for specialized skills will continue. This time around, advertising experts will be the main attraction.

“As an emerging market, the region still has significant challenges to meet such as growing the pool of available advertising talent. The Arab world shares the same culture, language and understanding amongst its states. From an agency’s perspective, this homogeneity should boost the advertising industry and reduce the people’s shortage as markets with high advertising demand could recruit people from less demand markets who still have strong grasp of the region as a whole.”

– Shadi Al Hasan, Managing Director of Flagship Projects Marketing, one of the fastest growing integrated marketing solutions providers in the region.

(Source) Middle East Events

Song choices can be pretty significant

The following Taco Bell commercial from last fall has had a recent inexplicable resurgence on broadcast TV over the past few weeks, and it’s got me thinking a bit about tv spots and the music chosen to accompany them.

Aside from the bizarre appearance of the grim reaper and a few other oddities, the most bizarre (or at least thought provoking) thing about the commercial is the use of Modern English’s “I melt with you.” While the song has a special place in my heart, I’m not sure that the connection with Taco Bell really works for me. New Wave and Cheesy Beefy Melt don’t really go hand in hand in my mind, and I’m left thinking about Modern English – not ye old Bell.

It’s really no different than a few other fast food commercials over the past year, most notably the Wendy’s spot that used the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” on TV and radio. There was also the Nintendo DS commercial with all the kids singing “Santeria” by Sublime. Not necessarily horrible, but peculiar choices, and ones that I don’t think i would have consciously made.

Does dumping a cult classic or one-hit wonder song into a commercial always make sense? Is it always the best idea? Does the grim reaper really eat at Taco Bell? Just a few questions that have been mulling around in my head lately.

Simple can be a good thing

I spent the weekend moving, which took a good bit out of me, both physically and mentally. In my semi-exhausted mental state, some of the more complex thought processes and mental connections just aren’t happening, and I’m fully willing to acknowledge that. The same can be very true for any communication, advertising included. While I’m not always in the midst of catastrophic brain flatulence, sometimes the simple ideas are just easier to grasp. I’m all for complex, multi-stage campaigns that ask for a good deal on the part of the viewer/reader, but it’s important to realize that it isn’t necessarily the best course of action, and sometimes the complexity overrides the effectiveness of the message. Convoluted and deep might just yield more confusion (or complete lack of awareness). On that note, I wanted to point out a recent commercial I stumbled upon while surfing the internet that’s aimed to the young Japanese audience that speaks well to the idea of “simple,” and amuses me in my exhaustion.

The spot, done by Australian commercial production company Plaza, is so simple, it works. I got it. And the message sunk in. Quickly. Which is the ultimate goal, especially when promoting for groups like The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. It could just be the classic Godzilla fan in me (and my mental exhaustion), but there’s something about the simplicity, the creativity, and the slight weirdness that just makes everything come together. And I payed attention. That simplicity and effectiveness doesn’t need to be reserved for children’s communication and simple messages. Sometimes the most complex ideas can be communicated unimaginably simply.

Full creative credits @ youtube, via Osocio.

Neil Sedaka… I owe you one!

It never ceases to amaze me what runs through my mind right before I have to give a presentation or demo. One of the most vivid and entertaining saunters down this twisted psychological path happened a couple years ago and provided a good rule of thumb when presenting.

I was in charge of a major ad campaign for a new dot com company. It was an ambiguous initiative: major web presence, flashy ad copy and all sorts of hip new techno bells and whistles that I was hoping would role into not only printed copy but also streaming content.

About twenty minutes before the start of the presentation, I was going through my roller coaster rides of emotions, “I’m not smart enough, they’re so much better than me, what if I fail, this is cool, trust yourself, I’m number one, etc…” For me, a certified neurotic spaz, this was business as usual. Then, I flashed back to an old Merv Griffin talk show that Neil Sedaka had appeared on. He told the story of how Calendar Girl was created on a whim right before he was going to demo another song. He and his writing partner were informed that they needed a second song (the “flip side”). They wrote out the catchy but simple song in about 10 minutes. Needless to say, the record executives loved Calendar Girl and it became a big hit in 1960.

Thus, I scrambled to create something of a back up plan. I found some old black and white stock photos of young professionals working in an office environment. I threw them into an MS PowerPoint file, not even bothering to adjust the skewing that PowerPoint had caused. I wrote some simple captions, and printed them out.

As the meeting started and I was going through my presentation I noticed that the CEO had picked up the PowerPoint slides and started leafing through them. About half way through my demo, he stopped me and started querying me about the pictures. He loved them, saying that this style combined a new hip cutting edge look (skewed and all) with established business processes and principles. Me, never one to not cease an opportunity, changed my song and dance and focused on the slides and how we could cultivate the idea into a major marketing initiative. It became one of the most successful campaigns of the year.

The moral of the story — always have a back up. It does not have to be elaborate, just something unique. Just ask Neil, he’s really good at the “song and dance”.

Sony: the Playstation Network

In a gaming landscape that seems to be focusing more and more on relationships and connectivity, it’s no surprise to see greater emphasis put on features like xbox live and the communal aspects of the Wii (”wii would like to play“). At the same time, differentiating one on-line gaming service from another in the eye of the non-initiated public is no simple task. While it may be the gaming wave of the future, getting more people to jump on board takes some skill, and sometimes a slightly different approach.

This newest spot for Sony’s Playstation Network definitely sits outside of the traditional gaming system mold. The art direction, filming style, and soundtrack all give it an atmospheric quality not usually seen with video game systems. It’s certainly a different answer to the question of online gaming.

one more place to put an ad

As I was attempting to be the quintessential creative mind yesterday, sitting in a coffee shop with my apple laptop & black sketchbook, i carelessly gazed around the coffee shop only to notice something I hadn’t given much thought to: advertising was everywhere. The Coffee sleeves had ads for an upcoming movie, courtesy of BriteVision. There were table toppers for local events and restaurants. There were even ads under the table glass. And then the dozens of concert, performance, festival, etc. flyers in the window. It was as if when I wasn’t looking, someone bombed the coffee shop with advertising. And then I realized maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.

It’s one thing to see one “new media channel” evolve or to discover a new medium, like human skin, corneas, the ocean, or on an escalator, but as a consumer (and a human), it’s only good up to a certain point. Ad after ad after ad, in the same environment, certainly changes the effectiveness. As new technology evolves and allows us to place messages in new and often unheard of locations, the question has to be asked “is it necessary?” Just because we can, does that mean we should?

On the subject of the coffee shop, where branding never seems to cease: we now have ads on the top of the cup. Yes. the top. (or we could, potentially). Inventor Oleksiy Pokalo has created a fairly simple device that can “print” a logo on top of your cup of coffee.

Just on the off chance that your coffee shop doesn’t have enough logos floating around as is. What’s next?