Intel Ads: Series of Different Ads!

Yes, it has been a very long time, since some update happened at TASB! No, I wasn't dead, and this does not come to you from the heaven! I was working on All Padded Up, and reinventing it! Of course, you know what All Padded Up is! If you don't, I could ask you to get a life, but you would still be equally ignorant! So, if you don't, visit this!

Now that I have decided to make a comeback to TASB, here is the comeback post! Of course, I needed a link from the past, so I will be continuing with where I left off last time!

Intel's "We are Different than most Similar companies" campaign has hit off big time! The video I have been able to get you is just one of the many, in which they have been talking about what differentiates Intel from others!

But there was a reason why I chose this one! Of course, you must have guessed there had to be some!

So why did I chose this one! Well, because it talks about how Intel's employees are different from other IT companies! And aren't the employees at IT companies, the companies' biggest assets!

I think this one is very smartly done! It talks about how Intel employees do not waste time doodling flowers and circles, but they doodle formulae and diagrams!

Well, why?! Because they are Different! If that doesn't register with the stakeholders, nothing will!

Intel Ads: Celebrity Endorsements with a difference!

Intel has started on its new ad campaign, Sponsors of Tomorrow! This campaign is Intel's biggest marketing campaign in three years, and a very first that focuses on the Intel Brand itself, and not on the processor products, like the previous ones!

So with this campaign Intel has launched a new brand of "Rock Stars", a new breed, because well Intel's super stars are different from ours!

One of its first Internet-based ads focuses on Ajay Bhatt, one of the principal engineers of Intel behind the development of USB, a crucial Intel technology used in virtually all PCs today. In fact, I need to thank Ajay Bhatt myself, for if it was not the USB technology I couldn't have used the Data Card that I am using to operate this internet!

The ad showcases actors acting out the role of engineers! After all, not all nerds can act out roles, unlike Moi!

Intel's ads have based on the idea to convey the message that "gigantic advances of the digital age have been made possible by silicon, and the vast majority of this silicon has come from Intel." A path design for tomorrow!

"Sponsors of Tomorrow" is expected to have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years, and if you were wondering who the creators were, well the names of those super stars are Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco.

World No Tobacco Day on 31 May

Tobacco Kills and you know it! So, why do you still go about about smoking?!

Tobacco like guns have been designed to kill, and they are doing a pretty good job, by getting you addicted! Tobacco Advertising kills you further more, by making you think you are doing a cool job!

No, you know this should not happen! So, get up and be counted! Do your bit for the society. Give up your tobacco, and support TASB and WHO in bringing a Tobacco-free world into existence.

Give up Tobacco, if not today, on this 31st May! Tell your friends about it, be the advertisement for World No Tobacco Day!

Mascots - Now they work, Now they don't!

In my last post for TASB, I had compared brand mascots to celebrities, and basically sided with those brand mascots!

But as pointed out in the comments, and as basic observation of various ad campaigns and their mascots would tell oneself, brand mascots are by no ways, a guarantee to success of any particular campaign!

There are various issues that have to be taken care of, to avoid these mascots becoming overheads for the ad companies and ad agencies!

Here are the some of them:

• Relevance of a Mascot:

A brand mascot should obviously be relevant to the brand and its base of consumers. If the industry is a highly industrial category or a technical industry, it would be better to look for forms of advertising then to use Brand Mascots. The target audience would then be technical and a brand mascot may just come across frivolous and casual, thereby reducing the credibility and rationality product story. While on the other hand in categories like services, or fast moving consumer goods a brand mascot increases the relevancy and efficiency of the product.

• Attractiveness of a Mascot:

A brand mascot should be attractive, which obviously goes without saying! However, the brand mascot should only be so attractive, that it does not distract the consumers from the brand itself. When 7-up initially launched the Fido Dido campaign, the one that everybody has been talking about in the comments of the previous post, people bought the brand mascot well, but the sales of 7-up never went up!

• Focus on the Mascot and the Consumer:

Air-India has been using its brand mascot of Maharaja, since a long time now. Its consistent usage has helped their business and created a special identity reflecting the culture and splendor of India and its history. Maharaja focuses on the consumer as well, clearly symbolising that the passenger would be treated like a King. Such focus is certainly the call of Brand Mascot. The focus should always lie on the brand and the mascot should not be able to sideline the brand itself.

There is another issue with Brand Mascots. A Brand Mascot should be able to change with time, should be able to adjust with consumers ever changing needs! In fact there have been a vast number of examples that show the importance of this issue. Now, that deserves another post.


Picture, about these brand mascots, abhi baaki hai mere dost!

Would you like to sit next to you for dinner?

Now that's a profound question isn't it? So would you?

Do you consider yourself smart, well spoken, intelligent, witty, up to date and all the things that you would like the person sitting next to you at dinner to be?

This is a question posed by one of the finest print campaigns to have ever graced the history of advertising. A campaign that brings out the pure essence of copy writing to the fullest. A campaign for The Economist!

At this point I can't help being tempted to moan the absence of excellent pure print campaigns in India. I haven't come across any (other than Amul) copy driven advertising in the recent times that have caught my attention, in case you have, please do bring it to my notice.

But coming back to the topic, I'd like to bring to notice the copy based Economist ads in red and white, a red background with white lettering, but by Jove, what sheer pleasure it is to read.

The Economist has positioned itself as a magazine patronized by those who prize their intellect and are above the herd. The campaign has put forth this stand in probably the best way possible, it makes an Economist reader smile and take pride in his taste whereas it makes the rest pause, think and most importantly want to be that widely spoken about and looked forward to person at the dinner table.

It could be pointed out that this approach would appeal to only a certain section of the society, then again the magazine itself isn't a product that would appeal to everyone at large, therefore to me, this campaign makes sense.

Some of the other Economist lines that have tickled my mind and taken permanent residence there would include,

• Great minds like a think
• The Pregnant pause, make sure you're not the father.
• Lose the ability to slip out of meetings unnoticed.

(That is Management Trainee, Aged 42)

These lines spell out a clear message, the Economist is a product for the smart, whether you already are or would like to be known as.

The reason why this campaign works wonders for me is that it gets straight to the point in a very creative fashion and most importantly it is absolutely relevant! Its selling the product as what it is and not resorting to putting a buxom babe beside the cover image.

Mascots - Are they better than celebrities or what?!

Now that TASB has been introduced by Ess Ess, let us, you and me, sport our boxers and talk about ads!

The first thing that one thinks of, while thinking of advertisements, is obviously some of those ad campaigns, that could last for a season, or even forever! And to carry these ad campaigns, you need star value!

Over time, ad agencies have realized two kinds of star campaigners - Celebrities and Mascots!

Celebrities, it is strongly believed, transfer their success, personality, status and power to the brand. It is believed that celebrities create great brand awareness for product, sustain the brand image, stimulate and revive brands and establish product association!

The issue, however, arises when these celebrities involve themselves in brand-demolishing controversies. As celebrities transfer their success to the brand they advertise, they also transfer their controversy to the brand! And this could be really unhealthy for the brand, yes, the ones with those cold drinks instantly come to one's mind!

At the same time, there can be no limit or number of restrictions to the brands, a celebrity can endorse. The higher the number of endorsements a celebrity endorses, the lesser the influence it transfers to any singular brand!

These issues are some of the ones, that are taken care of by Brand Mascots!

The courage and optimism that common man of R. K. Laxman portrays and a middle-class Indian, that Chintamani portrays, are essentially what is required by the brand they endorse.

With Brand Mascots, the advertisers have the flexibility to become more creative. The Mascots have a lasting appeal and create a whole new persona for the product, and thus reduce the need for a celebrity to transfer his/her own persona to the product.

Brand Mascots manage the product as efficiently as a celebrity, if not more.

Moreover, creating a brand mascot in the current technology scenario is comparatively far cheaper than getting a celebrity to endorse your brand.

Yes, they are a whole lot of Brand Mascots out there, that you can remember right now! So can we, but that is for another post! Till then, you could list some for us!

Rise and smell the coffee, which brand is yours?

Hallelujah, celebrate! It's yet another blog about advertising!

Is it? Yes it is a blog on ads, but 'yet another'? We did like to think otherwise, and we hope, as the posts roll in, you agree with us.

Ads here, ads there, ads everywhere, and if you consider advertising an art, it's definitely the most accessible one of all the forms; which in turn gives everybody a stake in dissecting through its many layers and this is precisely where all the fun lies.

Advertising has a purpose, to sell, to sell shamelessly, blatantly but also very sneakily, soft sell (before you know it,you've bought it)!

It is the larger picture behind the shining teeth that we intend to unveil here, explore the marketing strategies involved, the idea being sold, the face of the product and what lies inside the can.

However we also intend to have fun, we promise to shun diplomacy, point fingers at and poke fun at everything that can possibly be parodied.

Welcome to our blog. Sport your boxers and come talk with us!

P.S.: If you're wondering about the title, all in good time my comrades!