Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sony and MS Dhoni

The recent news of MS Dhoni pulled up by the ICC for a case of ambush marketing for Sony’s HD TV campaign wasn’t intentional. No publicity is bad publicity doesn’t apply to Sony. It is too big a brand. On the contrary, I feel Sony doesn’t even need the Indian captain MS Dhoni too.

It was rather surprising to see that Sony has signed on a brand ambassador for its TV brand. They had Kareena Kapoor for its VAIO laptops. It was a brand fit since Kareena was in the news for her ‘size-zero’. And the new laptop was positioned as a ‘size-sero’ laptop with its thin width. Hrithik Roshan was brand ambassador for Sony Ericsson cell phones. But Sony never had a brand ambassador, at least in India, for its flagship product, TV. Many people might not agree but for Sony, I think TV is their best selling product.

Sony is one of those brands which really has an effect of envy for the non-owner. It’s one of those distinctive brands which is ahead of its competition in terms of brand equity in India. Dhoni or no Dhoni, Sony TVs would have sold. Moreover, I don’t think Dhoni is a brand fit for Sony. Although MS Dhoni is a cricketer par excellence as an individual player, world cup (T20) winning captain and captain of no 1 test playing team, and Sony is excellent in its quality, they some how don’t go together. Dhoni is quite young whereas Sony is a legendary brand. Sachin would have been a more apt choice. I can already see many people up in arms and refuting my choice. It is just a point of view and a different view. Not that I am right. Sony would have their reasons and rationale. Its just that I have a slight diverse take on it.

Considering the creative side of the TVC, I am disappointed. Clarity is a very obvious differentiation that they are talking about. A very clichéd representation.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

'Daag acche hai'- influencing creatives


The 'daag acche hai' campaign has been widely appreciated. Kudos to the creative and strategy team to completely turn the concept of communication for detergents on its head.

The depiction has always been on school kids getting their clothes dirty. The target audience is the home-maker and she knows all too well that its most difficult to wash clothes of school going kids since kids do not take care of their clothes and are involved in all types of outdoor activities. College going kids and working professionals hardly get their clothes dirty. So using a Salman Khan for Wheel detergent defies logic. Anyway, to each his own.

The point of discussion here is the creative depiction of the print ad (shown at the top) for Nahar's Amrit Shakti housing complex in Mumbai. Builders have been using the 'slice-of-life' type advertisements since a couple of years. This ad though clearly seems heavily influenced by the 'daag acche hai' campaign. I am sure the Percept guys would say otherwise. But the ad appears next to each other on the newspaper page making the 'influence' clearly visible.