Gone with the wind (Some enjoyed the glory, some didn’t) PART III

Help.. Fire Fire!!.. Bring the Cease Fire

I had seen it around so much so that till late I used to think that Cease Fire is synonymous to a fire extinguisher. The brand ruled the market, and was the one to bring domestic fire extinguishers first in the market. And it moved on to offices, theatres, commercial centres etc. the product was well received in the market and it was advertised focussing on customer awareness about a fire mishap. A fire extinguisher is a product where customers are not unhappy if it is not being used. Hence the fear of fire, kept the sales up. Not for long however. the company diversified to Vaccumizer Cooking Appliance. Makes any sense? Not to me. The unsuccessful new product like vaccumizer and the alleged mismanagement failed the brand once gloried as a marketing success story. But surprisingly, no other brands have come forward to take that position. The potential is there as long as the fear is there.

Who the hell is RAGINI?

"Ragini ka MMS dekha kya?"

"Ragini yahan baithi thi"

All of the sudden it seemed all of Mumbai rickshawallaz were sporting the same stickers on their vehicles. Forgive my inquisitive nature, but one fine morning I googled the word even before I checked my mail. “Oh it’s a movie”. Hmm quite a catchy way of promoting a movie right before its release. I guess Transit media as they call it is moving faster now. Gone are the days of busses and trains. And it makes perfect sense. Millions of people spend hours simply travelling from one place to another. Stuck hours in traffic, eyes are bound to wonder and the catchy message will surely catch up. The movie is supposedly a low budget movie and might have come and gone without much buzz around it. The medium is super cheap and wide spread. But this definitely will enable the movie to gain popularity. Whether people go to watch it or not is another question, but will people be talk about it? Well they certainly are. How does one advertise on Auto rickshaw? Simply approach one auto driver and ask him to distribute to his group, or approach an auto rickshaw union. In a city like Mumbai, there are licensed to advertise on transit media agencies. Its not a new phenomenon. Remember "Capacity 3 Idiots"?.. surely u do.

By the way, I also read that the producer of the movie, Ekta Kapoor is also sporting the same stickers on her BMW and Jaguar!!!

Cinema: The New Age Advertising Media

I recently watched the new pepy flick "Luv Ka The End" by Yash Raj Films and was amazed at how numerous brands were promoted in the movie within the storyline itself. The movie revolves around a girl (and her bunch of friends) who falls in love with a rich boy.. boy cheats girl.. girl seeks revenge instead of locking herself in d room and wasting tears.. Thats pretty much the crux of the movie. 

It starts off with the rich boy flaunting his dad owned Jaguar. Mentos, a popular youth brand of confectionary, where the lead actress of the movie gets an offer for a Mentos ad causing ripples in her social circle. When she realizes that her boyfriend is cheating on her, she decides to get even with him and comes up with innovative ideas (Dimaag ki batti jala de- Mentos tagline) to bring him down. Next comes Onida mobile phones. All the characters in the movie are shown carrying Onida mobile phones and it was ensured that the brand name is clearly in the visible range. The extensive use of video calls via 3G flaunts the fact that Onida is out with 3G mobiles. Its doesnt ends here. Cosmetic giant LAKME was also promoted in the movie where street smart girls turn into Diva's by applying Lakme make up. The movie also promotes "Love Bird" restaurant and bar in Juhu, Mumbai with a peppy item number by the lead actor (the rich brat). There was a repetetive mention of a posh Thai restaurant (name of which I cannot recall) where the rich boys goes out on a date. There were mentions of famous tattoo artist (Pali Hill), fashion brands like Diesel, Aldo etc. 

This practice of indirectly publicizing a product through movies and TV shows is popularly known as Covert advertising.  The actress in the film or the TV show may be shown to be using a particular brand of clothes or cosmetics; a particular restaurant or company may be shot so that the company name appears in the scene. The audiences watching the show or the movie are sure to notice the name advertised, thus contributing to the promotion of the product showcased. The brands used "Luv ka the end" a new youth movie as a mode of promoting products that the youth associates itself with the most - fashion, technology, hang out places. A perfect platform for covert advertising... hmm I did learn something from this brainless movie.

Gone with the wind (Some enjoyed the glory, some didn’t) PART II

Ambassador

Considered to be the definitive Indian car, was once the most popular car in India as it was perceived to be best suited to the harsh Indian terrain. Its iconic status was helped by the fact that it was the preferred means of conveyance of India's political leadership, including the Prime Minister of India, before they moved on to other luxury cars and SUVs. What went wrong?

It was unable to create barrier for potential new entrants & was unable to compete with their existing strategies. Even suppliers were not looked into deep; company was in a snail pace and couldn’t take up the challenge of new potential entrants in the market, including the suppliers of its different parts (remember Porter’s Model?). The brand was banking upon its niche markets (government and taxi). But even these two sectors were taken over by Maruti. Was it a case of a typical marketing myopia? The decline is sales can also be credited to the very simple fact that the Indian customer was awed by the new flashy foreign entrants. We just got bored..!