Maruti Suzuki Kitna Deti Hai

Kitna Deti hai???

Now that the World Cup's over, and the fact that we are seeing less of Waka Waka, it has given me the time to take a closer look at ads once again. This time around I was almost beginning to feel disappointed because, the TVCs being aired at the present, have not really caught my fancy. However, Maruti Suzuki, came to my rescue here, like many places where I have got stranded, and have taken a lift in a Maruti Suzuki car. The ad that I am referring to is the latest TVC by Maruti, which says, 'kitna deti hai?'

Capital Advertisement has made a winner here. I have shouted myself hoarse, in almost all my previous posts saying that a good TVC is not only about mesmerising visuals. It is a concoction of a good storyboard, logical thought flow and good visuals. This Maruti TVC seems to have achieved that perfect mix here. The Maruti was Sanjay Gandhi's gift to India, and since 1984 it has been the quintessential Indian car.

The campaign has three TVCs. One of the TVC shows a scientist of some kind explaining the nuances of a space vehicle to a motley crowd. He gets into jargon and the technical nuances of how technologically advanced the rocket is. He is about to sign off and asks "any questions" more as a formal gesture, than anything else, to which a person (an India) replies, "yes...kitna deti hai?" The question pertains to the mileage that the rocket is expected to give. To me this summarises the thought process of a hud=ge middle class country, called India. In the wake of rising crude oil prices, this question's validity simply cannot be doubted.

For a marketeer, it is very important to tap the pulse of its consumers, and accordingly communicate with them. Maruti has been able to do just that. The average Indian consumer wants it all. He/She wants the looks, the style, the fuel efficiency and also the best price. It is a tricky proposition to decide on the communication platform in such a scenario. Also, if we take a careful look at all the four wheeler ads in the recent past, we will realise that this was a platform that nobody used. While the Hyundais and the Volkswagens of the world have been busy promoting the looks of their cars, the 'fuel efficiency' platform was never really spoken about much. This was a flank that was left unguarded by competition, has Maruti has used it with great elan and gutso. I just have a feeling that from here on, it is going to be a catching up game that the i10s, i20s, Jettas are going to play...

For me, the question always was and always will be, 'kitna deti hai?'!!!

Mobile Services- Truth or Dare??

Folks move over Colas, Beauty Soaps, Chocolates...Mobile is the latest fad (plagarised from the ad of a mobile service provider..that says V is the new ME..ridiculous!!!)

Any channel that I TRY to watch these days are airing a slew of mobile commercials. I, was trying to watch Indian Idol yesterday, bravely braving the idiotic histrionics of a very moronic Anu Malek. It is supposed to be 1 hour programme, with 30 minutes dedicated to Ads, and of those 30 minutes, almost 15 mins were dedicated to Mobile commercials!!

Do not get me wrong here, I am not commenting on the aesthetics or the 'fun' quotient of the ads here..They are extremely aesthetic and damn right funny and sexy!!!Sadly, that is all that ads these days vie for...It is more like a Truth or Dare game...where the odds are very heavily stacked in favour of Dare....

The Docomo Ads show a girl from a conservative South Indian Family showing off her tattoo to her pious mother, who in her typical tamil twang says..'Varry Nice'...One other ad that comes to mind is that of a young disinterested guy getting a job after he has managed with considerable ease to give all the wrong answers..The message in these ads...Hear what you want to hear..Well, I will tell you what I want to hear and I am speaking on behalf of most of the mobile users of this country...I want better connectivity...Do you hear me??I can manage without a caller tune...But I want better network.

To this you will react by saying that this what the ads are trying to convey...Yes that is exactly what my problem is..They are only conveying that...not delivering it...I have lost count of the number of stairs I descend and ascend upon a day whenever my phone rings...I have to go outside into an 'open' area just to be able to hear properly what the other person is trying to say..We have ads showing a grandson playing chess in a moving train with his grandfather who stays in a distant village..All I can say in response is 'HOW THOUGHTFUL'!!. The reality is that in a fairly populated city like Kolkata, the network drops significantly...

We, as consumers, have long been fascinated by the concept of MORE. We want more discounts, more season sales, more channels, more Ads..I think the paradigm is now shifting..That is because now we are already getting more..The focus, I feel, somehow has shifted towards the basic functionalities of a product...So, the fetish for fancy caller tunes is now somewhat getting replaced by the need for better connectivity, which is the most basic requirement fron a mobile service provider...In most mobile commercials this is the message that is being conveyed!!

We as consumers, I believe, prefer to watch fantasy on television..In our everyday existence, we prefer the mundaneness and the predictability...

We want the ads to be funny, sexy, aesthetic and everything that it is now...but we also want the brand to deliver on the very mundane and no frill requirement that it, initially, had set out to deliver..

According to me a brand always delivers on its basic/expected performance first and then on add-ons and not the other way round..and most certainly not on the quality of ads it makes....

Do not play Truth or Dare with us...We do not want the Dare..Give us the Truth, and nothing but the whole TRUTH!!!!

Kurt Cobain's Suicide Note!!!!

Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee. This note should be pretty easy to understand.
All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years, since my first introduction to the, shall we say, ethics involved with independence and the embracement of your community has proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things. For example when we're back stage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begins., it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you. It simply isn't fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun. Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do, God, believe me I do, but it's not enough). I appreciate the fact that I and we have affected and entertained a lot of people. It must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone.
I'm too sensitive. I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasms I once had as a child.
On our last 3 tours, I've had a much better appreciation for all the people I've known personally, and as fans of our music, but I still can't get over the frustration, the guilt and empathy I have for everyone. There's good in all of us and I think I simply love people too much, so much that it makes me feel too fucking sad. The sad little, sensitive, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man. Why don't you just enjoy it? I don't know!
I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy and a daughter who reminds me too much of what i used to be, full of love and joy, kissing every person she meets because everyone is good and will do her no harm. And that terrifies me to the point to where I can barely function. I can't stand the thought of Frances becoming the miserable, self-destructive, death rocker that I've become. I have it good, very good, and I'm grateful, but since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general. Only because it seems so easy for people to get along that have empathy. Only because I love and feel sorry for people too much I guess.
Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I'm too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don't have the passion anymore, and so remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.
Peace, love, empathy. Kurt Cobain
Frances and Courtney, I'll be at your alter.
Please keep going Courtney, for Frances
For her life, which will be so much happier without me. I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!

It is time to 'March' ahead!!!!

It is that time of the year, when calculators come out of the drawers, excel becomes the hottest thing ever and tax consultants make obscene amount of money. Yes, you have guessed it right, this is March. A month which has IPL 3, but for once that is not the most important reason behind the importance of this month...To remind you, this is also the month that most of us pay our taxes in!!!!

In this context, getting hold of proper tax saving instruments become very important...Investments are made and declared and we 'donate' our hard earned money with a lot of grudge against the government...Insurance, is a widely used instrument in this period.

Over the last couple of weeks, when I myself have been losing sleep over how to save taxes, have often hit upon the idea of buying insurance policies. It is here that I started thinking about all the ads of various products from insurance companies.

Insurance, is a negative reinforcement product. This means that Insurance is bought to avoid the aftermaths of an unwanted situation, like death, accident, and in most cases taxes. The underlying emotion or sentiment belying an insurance buying decision is fear. We fear that we might not be able to support ourselves financially if the earning member/s of the family are no more there, and hence we buy an insurance policy!!!

Now if we have noticed carefully, none of the insurance ads, with a few aberrations, even remotely speak of this. Insurance ads are mostly feel good ads where a daughter is shown gifting her father a bigger and better car. A grandfather who wants to extend a helping hand to his grandson who is about to trip, is stopped by the father, et al.

There is a reason to it.


Research shows that we, as consumers do not prefer to see negative messages on television. We do not empathise with them. What happens is that we form a very clear demarcation of 'them' and 'we'. If an ad shows a death, we analyze that it happenned or can happen to 'them' (the characters potrayed in the ad) and not us. Also, the average Indian consumer, is pretty egoistic when it comes to his/her family. In the case of insurance, the decision maker is mostly, the earning member of the family, that is largely, the male. If we look carefully, there is a good amount of ego massage that is done by these ads. How? Recollect the HDFC Standard Life "Sar Utha Ke Jiyo: ads.

One aberration in recent times, has been, again, HDFC Standard Life. The ad shows two friends. One is going on a tour, and the other friend is seeing him off tha the airport. They discuss what will happen to the family if the friend does not return from the tour at all. To me, this ad is a very blatant and in your face kind of an ad, that drives home the point without mincing or sugarcoating words. I am eagerly looking forward to the kind of reaction that the ad stirrs!!!

Till that time, I shall continue contemplating on which insurance to buy, how much investments to declare, etc. Ads or no ads..Life, you see, has to 'March' ahead!!!!

Miley Sur Mera Tumhara- Reprised!!!

I will begin with the assumption that all of us have watched the new Miley Sur Mera Tumhara video...Well, to me, it was old wine in a new (and a slightly less attractive)bottle. Comparisons with the older version of the same song on DD is inevitable.

The reason why I say this is that although the technical brilliance of the video can not be doubted, it somehow failed to strike a chord. There are also a lot of other issues that come to my mind here.

For starters, what strikes immediately to me about this video, is the use of celebrities (again my favorite issue)!. We, as a country, certainly do look up to celebrities. However, for the case in contention, the 'common man' or the 'aam janta'(mango people) card was not played well. The previous version had a lot of 'uncommon' faces. I stress on the word uncommon because on TV the common man is an uncommon phenomena...As a result, the connect was somehow not built.

Secondly, the song, somehow, though rendered very well by a motley group, did not appeal as much..This might be a result of inertia on our part..We still have the older version etched in our minds...


The tingling of the patriotic sentiments in us was not quite provoked as much...It will still be a very good video to watch..but the purpose, to me, was not achieved fully...

PS: I would love it if anyone thinks or expresses otherwise!!!