BLUE DART- completely ‘focussed’

When I saw the above packaging, it immediately struck me. ‘Domestic Priority’- it is such a strong word and such a strong message. Marketing gurus always talk about the need to be focused and being strong at one thing rather than average at many things. Focus is the word used to go out in the market with one core competency. Advertising executives always try to tell the client to keep the message short, simple and easy. Do not add clutter to the already cluttered minds of the consumer. Make sure you are associated with one word or thing rather than not standing for anything that separates you from competition.

With this message, Blue Dart is clearly going to face a loss when it comes to international couriers. Not in the short run, but in the long run. Blue Dart will stand for domestic couriers. This new strategy allows Blue Dart to be a master of the domestic market. It will be ahead with respect to the local players allowing it to carve a niche for itself in terms of quality and service and thus command a premium in the long term.

What I liked most about the concept is that they are trying to quantify a service. 10.30- time definite delivery. Quite appreciable. I just hope that they have done homework about their distribution and made sure that the 10.30 mark is not breached. It takes a long time to build an equity whereas a snap of fingers to lose everything.

PEPSI TVC- one word ‘DISAPPOINTED’

Pepsi over the years has come up with some memorable campaigns. TVCs with Sachin, Shah Rukh Khan, Shane Warne and a host of other Bollywood celebrities. I wouldn’t mind putting my neck out and saying that Pepsi has come up trumps more times than its arch rival Coca Cola. Barring the ‘paanch matlab Coca Cola’ campaign with Aamir, Pepsi has been the creative leader.

I am a tad disappointed though with the latest creatives. The Youngistan campaign with Ranbir & SRK wasn’t too creative. And so was the game series with Ranbir & Sanjay Dutt too wasn’t. Frankly none of the Ranbir campaigns have been memorable even with his charming personality and mass appeal. The cricket world cup 2011 saw the ‘change the game’ series with cricketers. Except may be Dhoni’s helicopter shot, none of the ads were good. As a matter of fact, the ad with Dilshan was preposterous.

Now the extension of ‘change the game’ series sees the first ad post the massive world cup win. And what do you get. A childish ad with a below average creative rendition. Absolutely disappointing. One would have thought of an ad with cricketers immediately post the world cup win to leverage the high recall value. I am sure the Pepsi guys would have tried but the cricketers would not have been available due to the IPL 4.0. Pepsi has always been favoring the humorous side compared to Coca Cola who have been emotional. Having said that, this ad completely has no head or tail. As said earlier, this ad just has one description- DISAPPOINTING!!!

Out-of-the-box thinking thrown out of the window

Really now. That is a limit of trying to fool the customer. It is as if the buyer is completely a stupid person who would get swayed by words, openly questioning the intelligence of the buyer. Firstly the name 'Times Square' blatantly copied from the famous Times Square in the US financial capital is a turn-off. Secondly shouting in the headline that you need a out-of-box working place to think out-of-the-box would make Edward De Bono cringe in his seat. Thirdly i do not see any futuristic thinking in the building architecture. A very sad attempt at trying to create a positioning where it clearly doesn't exist, not in terms of attributed or metaphorically even. The copy isn't mentioning anything out-of-the-box i.e. features if any.

The DLFs, Indiabulls, Lodhas, Hiranandanis, Rahejas of the world at least have created some sort of differentiation. Credit though has to be given to the thought but the context seems completely wrong for Times Square. Alas the razzmatazz associated with the original place seems missing here and it doesn't seem it will ever get associated here.