Category: SANJEEV KOTNALA

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

June 27 1987 is the day advertising started its metamorphosis. Or so people would like you to believe. That day, Martin Sorrell with a confidence that only he understood made the successful hostile takeover of J Water Thompson (JWT). Most likely, he was unsure of the destination or the choices he will have to make on the way. He is equally an instigator and victim of the changes that shaped business in last 30 years.

Today, with JWT, Ogilvy and Mather, GroupM, Grey, Young and Rubicam, Kantar and others, WPP is a $16.7 billion revenue group. So, go ahead and blame the leader. Truth is none of us had the same wisdom, insight or confidence. None of us were willing to be adventurous like him. We are moving with the crowd. I know the situation was not India-centric and there were many forces at work. However, I also know, there was never any resistance to the changes that defined business.

It’s easy to blame others for your situation. It’s much more productive to search your own past and find what caused your fault. It is so true.

We refer to advertising as an ‘industry’. It is our way to show respect to something that is nearly 50,000 core in size and employ many people unfit to do anything else. Anyone can get in this business.

We keep pleading for adherence to rules and norms with hardly anyone listening. We are democratically inclined, data-driven and client-directed in our approach. Calling our work as science or art is an understatement of sarcasm.

We are the perpetually in flux highly adaptive bunch of people. We have demonstrated it time and again from creative to media selection to activation and more.

I presume idea is the core of our business. Belief that idea can come from anywhere and anyone, including the peon is highly appreciated. It shows humility and transparency. It was highly applauded. The client has no objection to such a self-defeatist thought. This was the birth of unsaid designations like ‘Marketing director and head creative communicator’.

The insight mining agency immediately understood the shift in their audience number one. Taking the new lifeline it started appreciating the client’s creative interjections. The relationship was now dependent on their understanding the client in person and not necessarily the brand in the real world.

The creative product suffered and yet in places of sinful deliberations, it even got awarded.

The weapon of ideation was trashed and elevated at the same time. Creative hotshops, many of them strategically unstable flourished. The clients were reminded that strategy was anyway their baby, and now they could be creative too. No one in the business told the client that they knew more about the product and markets, and we never interfered in it. Similarly, if the client hired the agency and believed they are good, could they mind their own business when it came to developing an idea or a campaign. I know it doesn’t happen, but I know of instances when this did happen, and the client welcomed the thought.

We did not cut cost until it was forced on us. We were going great with that 15% revenue model. People were passionate for higher media plans and exposures. Client servicing was still the king. And then fragmentation happened. Someone blinked for the first time and no one took notice. It was the innovative retainership approach a tool to hedge against media expenditure uncertainty and loaded to give stability to agency business. The story of Bhasmasura was repeated again though in a different context.

Suddenly, the tap was drier than the need. Talent accustomed to be celebrated found that the business does not pay that well. Undoubtedly, mediocrity became the next benchmark.

Like other respected professions, there was no barrier. Anybody could start a business or join the profession. The industry did not work with education institutes to get the right crop. Anyway, the premier schools of management and idea were getting beyond their reach. And none of us took notice of it.

Everyone, other than few self-respecting mad men, was pitching. The size no longer mattered. The industry could not draw rules or norms. It remained busy in internal oneupmanship. The client became the god in the category. The industry bodies remained glued to their restricted constrained memorandum and no one bothered. And we are still playing catching up. There is no single source on all agencies, work and talent. There are no norms for calling for pitch. There are no templates that the bodies recommend. There are no penalties for misappropriation of the biggest treasure, idea hunting continues.

Oh, the industry always chased the next wave and has hardly been riding the wave. This lag is evident across mediums and brands. Digital and outdoor possibility is a classic example of it.

There is no fun in working within the agency. No, don’t think it has much to do with data-driven attitude. Primarily, the fun was in a lot more pressurised chasing of dreams and experiences. It was always about the environment and people. Technology has taken a lot of charm out of it, and we forgot to reinvent ourselves.

The business is completely commodities. Cost/ price/ commission is the new grammar. Idea/ people/ talent and teams have taken a backseat. They are not partner, advisor, consultant but dignified vendors. It is procured and no longer appointed. The commission to retainership with no correlation to the size and shape of the business or the ideas and their results has hurt business more than anything else.

Hypothetically, if there was an industry-defined norm for the cost of business flattening the price equation, it would have rejuvenated the debate on talent and people, what the business should have been about.

The agencies are more of tailors, you tell them how you want your trousers. Unfortunately, they will never be like doctors who prescribe a solution and approach.

It is likely that the industry will have to look up to wonderman Sorrell as the lighthouse in the rough weather. He has been right many times over. Hence has the right to be right.

The future of advertising look’s dark and lacks respect. The data-driven deep insights best understood at AI level may become the starting point of campaigns or connectivity triggers between the brand and the consumer. If the industry believes in itself and ensures human-oriented insight-interpretation-creative leap will be the foundation of all the work, it may still have a window to crawl through. I hope it does.

This article took birth while reading Anwar Alikhan’s ‘The day advertising industry changed’ published in Mint on June 27, 2017.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

It feels bad. It feels stupid.

It is de-motivating, and you are left wondering what went wrong.

When the brand moves in advertising business, it breaks many hearts and in some case careers.

That is not even half the story.

It is nothing new.
It is part of life, and it happens to the best of us.

It does not matter who were the people on the account.

It does not matter which agency was handling the account.

What is a career in advertising, if it is not filled with pitches won and lost?

However, it is not so simple.

It is painful for the concerned, and the winner celebrates in quietly with a smirk on his face. The heart fears unimaginable tenure and the mind over-ride it with fake confidence.

The team is changed, and they are ready to redefine the business. They have no idea of the sacrosanct line that they must never cross.

It is okay when one loses an account because of inaction or because of some global alignment. At least, there is some fallback. There is someone else to blame. There is not much to do. What happens when you have cited the change a long time back?

Tsunami was sure to hit the beach. You knew it was around the corner, and yet you could only wait.

Everyday you walked those lanes and entered the lift; you knew it could be the last day on that account. Nevertheless, you never show it.

What happens when the client is a long-standing client. And the relationship is a perfect example for rest of the industry. Where like Jai and Viru, the client and the agency enjoyed a position of mutual respect and credit.  What happens when it was the brand where the agency purposefully paused in their credential to draw your attention?

What happens if that is brand that many stalwarts have cut their teeth in advertising? What happens when you have the onus of keeping the new love fresh to beat the old records?

What happens when the world trains their eyes on the winner. They are expected to weave the magic. Some ex-industry people now expect the winners at least to build the brand for future.  Does that give the relationship the sleepless night?

What happens when the category needs redefinition and the client wants to play safe and still chase the dwindling interest.

What happens when everyone willingly looks the other way? People that talk of rejection fee and selective pitching; pitch their tent for the business. The gut feeler’s deep dives for the pearl of insights and in absence even manufacture few credible ones.

What happens when the client fails to realise the obvious. They fail to see how it can be uncomplicated and still be right. Definitely, this is the period when the client stands insulated in its self-made cocoons. When the client loses the passion to redefine, and the agencies become the scapegoats.

What happens when it was the pain-in-the-ass sadistic client who paid the ever-expanding bills of the agency and shot abroad for the films?

What happens when just before you heard the news, you had the best idea pop in your head that made you see Elephants, Loins and few lotuses?

All for that adrenaline pushing nod from the man on the business.

Sometime it is seen as people centric confidence. Big teams and brands cannot be so fickle said the wise cowboy to me. And that seems logical.

Both the sides of client-agency business get together. They look at the blank walls and ask simple questions. They know there are no valid answers. Answers to soothe their injured egos or explain the episode.

The brand motorbike riding white-haired baba raises his thick eyebrows to ask and tells; you don’t need a B-school education to build brands. Just a healthy curiosity in human being is all we need to answer the five common sense questions every brand has to answer. One way or the other, he adds on the screen.

The only way forward is to close the book. Take the learning. Start writing the new chapter.

 

The above is possible with rich contribution from the gang of experts who have ideas, solution and divergent point-of-view on everything. 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

I am sure we all vote YES for flexible timing. I also would bet most of us have experienced remote working. Yes, thrive on such a technology marvel and dream of the constraint-free life unveiling before the new generation. We are blinded by the advantages to miss the twin-edged swords of technology. It is relentlessly creating a new orthodox of information flooded, non-social, completely leashed and freely caged social animal.

All people above 45 years of age, remember the good ol’ days. Until 1994 and for a few more years, before mobile penetrated masses and became a necessity, life was a lot different. Home connections were limited. The PP number (where to contact in case of emergency) shared was mostly of the landlord or a friendly neighbourly uncle/aunt who tolerated such calls. However, once leaving office on Friday evening (yes, the five-day week had started) one was literally free until Monday office hours. There was the advantage of being unconnected as you went out of your way to connect with people who mattered in your life.

There were no phones to trace and no laptops to carry the library of files. Yes, no deep browsing of videos that hardly add anything to our lives. Yes, we engage friends we won’t tolerate in real life over long textual conversation over devices.

There are advantages that may over-ride the disadvantages. However, I have a question to ask. Do You Really Enjoy Being On The Leash, always remaining contactable and easily disturbed in line of duty?

Life in the 1980s and early ’90s was a lot more understated but definitely more fun.

I know it excites you. The confidence that someone and anyone can connect with you in milliseconds gives you a new high. Communication is so easy. You do not have to travel discuss. Visual and films fly unconnected and land in virtual cloud boxes to be retrieved later. You are updated by people you don’t know. Free services are available, and you feel a new freedom. You are unsure if you should believe what keeps dropping uninvited in your virtual boxes and connects.

You Are At The Verge Of Losing Complete Control On Your Privacy. And ‘you are loving it’, enjoying living in the pseudo world of continuity and conformity. The Leash knows it.

It is not that only people with Skype, iPhones and higher-end programmes or gadgets are connected for work. Basic work has minimal requirement. E-mails, Whatsapp and omnipresent Facebook are there to do the job. Video, sound, text and files move unrestricted.

We have so many contacts and friends, that we have stopped counting them. We mute the undesirable at the touch of a screen. We are lonelier than we ever were. It is an expected outcome of over dependence on binary coded unconnected fast communication. The joy of discovery or newness is a faked behavior selectively expressed in emoji’s.

Remote working from a non-central designated place (office) is known to spread happiness. It is researched to prove that it leads to increased productivity. It is enough to satiate our fantasy of control, ability to work from anywhere not necessarily anytime.

I am not sure if these fantasies have taken new shapes with deliberate enhanced un-connectivity guarantying mega breaths of complete existence.

The technical leash has of course helped you maintain work-life balance. You can comfortably be nearer to your support groups whenever desired. The technology comes to rescue whenever connectivity needs get fired.

Unfortunately, we have been misguided. Work-Life balance is not what technology can create. It is a result of your intent, capabilities, demand and confidence.

I someday want to re-construct the imagery I have lost. It is the time when the fields of information gigabytes were not irrigated by the easy availability, accessibility and affordability of data. Trust me, life was not overloaded by ‘nice to know’ but ‘need to know knowledge’.

Today, my family members and I are hungrily guzzling data. There is an upgraded 250GB of high-speed broadband data per month. Like everyone else we have been upgrading on consumption. We have moved from 25 GB a month to 50 GB to now 250 GB at an alarming pace. It is different that we use just 140 GB a month. Each family member uses 3 GB on their mobile and additionally a dongle with 6 GB data exists for traveling, not to mention the WiFi consumption at airports and hotels.

Today, life with a newly acquired GB-devouring habit and information parity is such a nuisance. The continued lease and consumption of such easily available data and entertainment are dumb-grading the instant gratification led new generation.

There is unsaid enhanced flexibility, informality and feeling of collaboration. Unknown set of people step-in to share information and solve issues. Your fingertips can easily trip a brand in the minefield of stretched consumer service benchmarks.

The whole system gears up to exert extra pressure for conformity, templates and performance. The IQ and EQ soon will be replaced by EIQ (Emotional Information Quotient) measured by data speed on the primary device of the person.

However, lip-sync is missing. There is talk of innovation and ideas. Everyone wants to be different. Meanwhile, the social fabric forces you to be a conformist. Keep sharing redundant, unsolicited, nice-to-know, fast forwarded information to make you stop thinking.

The LEASH is getting firmer and shorter. Desire to run away and fly into unknown get fueled with the same intensity, but it seems to be losing the battle. AI, the next frontier is going to box you. It will not only treat you as a binary number full with complex experiences giving rise to defined attitude and approaches. It is going to learn and emote with you. Mirror your slant and tonality. The power of Leash is multiplying. It amplifies my belief, that we are more controlled than controlling in our lives.. what is right.. you decide.

 

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

Getting back to an ‘ex’ is never an easy task. To expect the romance to flame up or to start from where one left is over expecting the welcome. It is a lot more complicated that when a person decides to join back his ex-organisation.

The homecoming, boomerang employee is not a new phenomenon in the MAdTec (Media, advertising and technology) world. Most of the smart people have at some stage have considered homecoming. Many have taken the final step.

It is not just the talent shortage and an undocumented experiential culture that makes it a good strategy for organisations. Homecoming at the senior level is a well-orchestrated move for a defined leadership impetus. There have been a few in recent times. It is clearly a new emerging trend.

Homecoming is not an embarrassing situation in MAdTec. There is no taboo attached to it. It is no longer considered a backward move. No one even thinks about, how will they face their ex-colleagues and what explanations they will need to give?

When the organisation sincerely wants a person back, they are more than willingly to accommodate or adjust their stance. There are times when the person finds getting back to a known devil the best alternative in terms of work prospects, enhanced role and responsibilities. Organisations also use such situations to influence existing employees. Every homecoming creates a buzz and amplifies the thought: it is a better place to work for.

In the best case scenario, the employee and the organisation passionately want it to happen. The situation is well-captured in this quote by Robert Frost, when he writes: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” The worst situation is reflected in this John le Carre quote: “Homes where you go when you run out of homes.” If that is the situation, there is no real charm in homecoming.

The professional journey takes the traveller through multiple versions of the business and engagement. The maturity and experience gained makes it possible for the traveller to appreciate the home more from his/her wandering (a borrowed expression from Charles Dickens) thus seeds the initial desire for homecoming.
Life is not so simple. “Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle, and your piece no longer fits.” ; Cindy Ross. The organisation and the traveller have moved along their destiny.

Hopefully, they are no longer what they used to be. That means that the new relationship may or may not have the same fire, passion and desire of the old time.

In fact, every homecoming traveller expects to be happy. However, anticipating happiness and being happy are two entirely different things. There are newer expectations and most likely the people, are no longer the same.

In case you are being chased, it is fair to infer that the organisation loves you enough, thinks you’re great, or you have a powerful darling guardian angel who wants you back. The relationship is fine and not strained. It is most likely for you a chance for better monetary adjustments and negotiations.

It demands you to be willing to make new roads and connection. Put time as if you were the new one in the organisation. You need to be willing to adjust to the culture and new design before wanting to tweak and twist them. In such a case, it can be rewarding experience.

Everything is never going to be easy. There will be people who will have negative outlook and sentiments towards your coming back. You could be a barrier in their career path. You could hint towards them to need to restyle their work process. It could be old burned bridges, angst, or ill-speak from any side. You need to be fully aware of this and not expect a red carpet welcome from everyone.

An organisation in case of a senior position homecoming may create a new role justification with undefined expectations. It may try easing the situation by a flurry of rationalisation of already existent roles and responsibilities. This may at times create a lot more traps than solve the problem.

Fortunately, in the MAdTec world, most of the professional hatred is not so deeprooted to jeopardise homecoming at a senior level. I know I am over-simplifying it.

In case of homecoming at the middle or junior levels, things can be different. The new employee can be the most expendable when need arises. It is important to understand, if you are just a solution to a raging fire or a long-term solution and act accordingly. There are managers, who won’t hesitate to use you without any consideration of its impact in life of the employee.

Homecoming is a good thing, if the organisation and the employee both have the right intent and clarity.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

I had my brush with Darknet (or Deepnet) by mistake on clicking some links that sent me on a trail that I quickly terminated. It was enough for me to ask Google Chacha for his advice.

I have time and again thought about such a possibility, parallel universe, good vs evil, anti net, mysterious net and all. However, how was I to know that the thing existed?

I am not sure how many of us know about existence of Darknet. And if one of us has ventured deep into this almost illegal arena?

Today, we are not surprised with Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. throwing lakhs of sites to our query for any and every search. We do not marvel at the spread and hugeness of this information highway. Like we are not surprised by discovery of new galaxies and light-years of measurement or the speed of AI development.

We take them for granted. They are part of our lives.

Now here is the deal. What we access digitally is part of easily reachable part of the information network. The visible part of the Internet. Like an iceberg, a lot more is below the radar. It is so deep that our reputed search engines can hardly touch it. Alternatively, they do not intend touching it. For them, it does not exist.

However, the truth remains that Darknet, Deepnet or the Invisible Internet exists.

It is a world we don’t know about. It is like Mumbai Mafia, that leaves you untouched unless you try to interfere or interface with it. The Darknet is like a Stephen King horror setup. It exists in the mysterious under-alley of overt known digital space. It rides the framework albeit with minor but significant interface differences that prevent our search engines from indexing and recording its presence.

Not all is dark there.

There are people with high privacy needs use the network. There are whistle blowers wanting to protect their identities. Suppliers and dealers of illegal materials, pornographic material to highly debatable resources banks on it. Government bodies keep their own secrets buried in it, as it is multi encrypted and not easy to dig.

The root of Wikileaks is the Tor network. The onion domains kept Wikileaks up even when it was being chased by every country.

These darkest parts of Darknet work in multiple layers and nodes. It is practically impossible for the Brahmin search engines to trace and fix the coordinates of data origin and destination. Onion or the TOR network is one of the domains.

In Onion, the domain is held as a string of an unintelligent jumble of random numbers and characters only decipherable by the Onion servers. The domain name is long, at least 16 characters that make it further complicated. All in the alphabets from a to z are used in lower case. And it uses numbers from 2 to 7. Example http :// uhwikih 256ynt57t .onion, http:// vault43z5v xy3vn3.onion/ (extra gaps in the URL are to remove perpetual hyper linking).

If you wish to have a closer brush with DARKNET, you have no option but to use a specialised browser. One of them is the TOR Browser. You can install from http://torproject.org and then you are on your own. You must remain anonymous (use a VPN), layer your activity and turnoff running of scripts. IT IS NOT ADVISABLE TO BE DIVING INTO THIS SPACE as it ruins your privacy, and you don’t know who wants to tag and track people who are trying to search here.

It is definitely not adviseable to surf this adventurous suicidal trip. It is said (on the net) that the broadband providers are required to track usage of TOR / Onion and report it to authorities.

I am told the Darknet Onion directory can be accessed at http://am4wuhz3zifexz5u.onion/. Using our search engines all I got was SITE UNREACHABLE. Checking this on search gave me just 11300 results in 0.62 seconds and a new perspective to the subject.

Tracing the suggested dump www.thehiddenwiki.org leads to a list of links that covers Financial Marketplaces, Paypal, Hitman Services, Drugs, psychedelics, hosting, blogs, e-mail messaging, hacking, warez, erotic, etc. Very alluring and tempting to go deep in. Trying to open these links with Chrome was stonewalled. However, a friend helped me surf it for a limited time on the TOR browser.

Even if you do end up there, here is a piece of unsolicited advice. Please DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANYTHING. It may be good for you to access RFC 7686 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7686.txt from International Engineering Taskforce ( IETF) and read it before thinking of acting on the silly burst of curiosity.

The results from your search can be surprisingly different than what they hint at. It is Onion. You must peel the layers before reaching the core. By warning you of the danger, I maybe absolved from the responsibility of raising your curiosity.

Sanjeev Kotnala with 30 years of corporate experience is the founder of Intradia World; a Brand, Marketing & Management Advisory. Additionally, he focusses on Ideation, Innovation and design thinking. He loves sharing the concept of Brand-i, a deliberate strategic framework to create and control your image and impressions, to be the brand. Email sanjeev@intradia.in tweet @s_kotnala web: www.intradia.inwww.sanjeevkotnala.com.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

SALUTE TO COLLECTIVE STRENGTH

I want all to see this brilliant film by Ullash Chopra and team for Ambuja Cement. It is simple and minimalist. It has an apt location, casting, expression, music, build up and culmination with that timely intervention of a cloud. All the elements are brilliantly balanced and exploited for the intended impact. Hope the feeling continues among the viewers.

 

 

It reminded me of another unrelated short commercial. Something that left me emotionally charged many years back Happy viewing.

 

 

MARQUEES AWARDS

I had to recheck my watch. It was 2043 hours, on a Friday evening and the debut awards show ‘MARQUEES’ were over. The award show was smooth and elegant in its execution, the way it should be. And it was the winner takes all, no silver no bronze; I love it. The whole team behind it needs to be applauded for it.

The new offering from the Advertising Club is aimed to plug a gap in its repertoire of activities and create a stronger bridge with advertisers/ marketers; one of the most important stakeholders of the industry.

The show had good participation from media and advertising, though attendance of marketers was low. Maybe the next edition will find some solution for it.

As in every award function, the opinions on winners were divided, however, the respect for the strong jury carried the day. Delegates believed that they were privy to a lot more and would have deliberated before taking the most right decision. What the gyaani in the crowd have is just the impression and perceptions, and that is never enough for awards.

However, I suggest in next Marquees, we focus only on moment defining award and leave the regular awards for other associations. The awards presented in the second section like “Green Marketer Award,”“Conquering an impregnable fortress,”“Traversed unchartered waters,”“Riding on an emerging wave, Breathing new life into a category, “Creating a Global Impact” and “Carving out a Niche” are the ones Marquee should concentrate. They are the differentiating and worth of a Marquee, in case we are making a statement with it.

There was a bit of inequality at display in the awards. For some insane reason the anchor ( must be based on the internal brief ) decided to ask only two winning representative to share their thoughts, emotions, words with the audience. My issue is simple, if such an opportunity is available, it must be offered to all the winners.

It was great to have the Chief Guest; newly elected Rajya Shabha member and Minster of Textile, Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, Smriti Irani present on stage throughout the award ceremony. However, she seemed withdrawn. She was stepping back after giving the award. It seemed odd.

I would have really appreciated if she was to give all the awards by herself and not politely ask the other member on stage to also do the duty. I presume it does matter.

The last one. What was the reason for calling a different representative of jury or the Ad Club on stage and be part of the team to give away just one award? It seemed like a well-orchestrated circus! I would presume it was neither their need for photoopportunity on stage, nor an act of pre-agreed ego gratification. I don’t think those one-award presenters needed this exposure.

49^th CUT

Recently Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Pahlaj Nihalani has attempted to destroy the fabric of Kushan Nandy film ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’ with 48 cuts. Don’t think if he anticipated the 49^th cut was from the newly appointed I&B minister

In an anticipated move, adman and lyricist, Prasoon Joshi replaced Pahaaj Nihalani. He comes in with enhanced expectation and takes on a position that is perpetually under crossfire for a spectrum of reasons. The new board has powerful independent minds expected to speak up their mind.

The industry hopes for somewhat liberal attitude and fewer frequent controversies. And yet everyone will expect him to poetically protect Indian culture.

We will soon know, how Prasson interprets the 1952 cinematograph act and leads the board to make the choice between being a certification or censor board. His first response to ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’ could set the tone. However, it will be good if the industry keeps the expectation a lot more realistic.

THE COMMERCIALISATION OF AUGUST 9.

August 9, 2017 was a day of celebration. It was the 75^th anniversary of Quit Indian Moment. It is a moment of respect in the Indian history and freedom movement. In the Parliament Special Session the government spoke of collective efforts and rekindled the memories for the new generation, which rightly takes freedom for granted.

The opposition failed the test and used the occasion to take pot-shots at the ever popular government. Definitely, they need to re-look at their strategic team to survive in 2019.

Meanwhile, here was the business savvy bundle of raw energy Baba Ramdev and his Patanjali brand of products pushing for another Swadeshi Moment. It is different that communication of Patanjali products has many times found flouting ASCI guidelines and notices.

 

 

In their TVC, in a conversation among cosmetically loaded rich comfortable ladies set the tone. The ladies suggest: with the wide range of Patanjali products, the price is low and the profits do not leave the country. So, dear customers it is time to boycott the MNC product and adapt to Indian companies. Start the new swadeshi movement. This is a far mellowed than the earlier ad.

 

 

I am worried as to where this can lead. Like the Vande Mataram of patriotism and Beed of religious sentiments, it has the potential of instigating and dividing citizen based on commercial consumption. MNC user traitor Vs. Patriotic Patanjali user! Is Patanjali right in pressing such a lever? The opinion will remain polarised on this softly lobbed emotional bomb.

………….

With 30 years of corporate experience, Sanjeev Kotnala is the founder of Intradia World; a Brand, Marketing & Management Advisory. Additionally, he focusses on Ideation, Innovation and design thinking. He loves sharing the concept of Brand-i, a deliberate strategic framework to create and control your image and impressions, to be the brand. Email sanjeev@intradia.in tweet @s_kotnala web: www.intradia.inwww.sanjeevkotnala.com.

 

By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

‘Honi ko anhooni karde. Unhooni ko honi. 

Eek Jagah Jab Jamma hai Teeno Old Spice, Wieden aur Kennedy.’

Most of the advertising in India is highly invisible. The stated reasons can be different, but they all point to one single direction; the firm belief in safety and the inability to take a risk. There are few clients who are willing to give their agencies a freedom to expand their scope. The agencies are happy keeping the relationship alive on the state bed of conformity. And it will continue. I see no reason, why it will change soon. Indian advertising has been the industry of media might. Push the invisible creative so hard that even the blind can see, and the deaf can hear it. The other side, very few have genuinely used the expression and execution as the amplifier for really visible engaging advertising.

So, here today I share the recent work by the freaky brand ‘Old Spice’.  Work like this gives creative teams orgasm in their dreams. Most of the clients fear these stupid thoughts. It makes the creative impotency and the spinelessness apparent.

Nevertheless, such ‘Acts not ads’ seem to shake the audience and the industry. They disrupt the complexity with their simplicity. The brand and the message are uniquely bonded that it is tough for it to be signed off with something else.

Old Spice has an Antiperspirant Spray called ‘Invisible’. The name leads to thoughts like Mr India, the Invisible Man and many such simple ideas. The brand takes a big step forward and pushes the boundaries of self-imposed constraints.

They created a full two-hour ‘INVISIBLE’ Movie. Yes, you got me right, an Invisible Movie. Okay. An almost-invisible movie, there are audio and video placements throughout the duration.

Invisible movie was posted on Thursday 24th on YouTube and game-focused streaming service Twitch. ADFREAK where I came to know about it states that Invisible Movie has already got 7 million views.

‘Invisible World’ movie is far better than a lot of visible-invisible work we see.

At the very start it tells you that ‘The Human eye is composed of more than 2 million working parts and can see over 7 million colours. And it starts like a normal movie. ‘Old Spice Presents – an Old Spice Invisible Spray Production’. It catches your attention with credits like any regular movie. Names like Hans Holsen, Joann Schinderle, , Lapiz Sacapuntas, Amy Miller… the game is on.

The screen introduces a spray that fogs out everything.
Now you are in the invisible world, you do not see anything. You can hear and read the subtitles.

Around 180 seconds into the movie, is a little question ‘ Is every line in this movie going to have a gag about the fact the audience can’t see anything’. And an equally baffling answer ‘You tell me. You’re the one holding the time-vortex mirror. Take a look into it, dummy’.

In the absence of visuals, the imagination is all yours in the invisible world.
Sometime later – all you hear are voices that help you imagine what is happening in the Invisible world.

I got the point and gave up around 7:50 minutes when the conversation was becoming interesting. Do watch the ‘Invisible World’- an Old Spice production. Do tell me what all did I miss.

And they even have the credits rolling at the end. That has every possible role, and responsibility filled in.  At the end, they seem to be appreciative of the audience and have this simple thought.

‘A LOAD OF WORDS. THAT TOGETHER ALL ADD UP TO LOOK LIKE A UFO. A COOL UFO. KINDA THAT DIDN’T WORK BUT HOPING YOU CAN IMAGINE IT… THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO AUDITIONED.

Love these guys, when at the end they share the fun fact. This movie was 2 hours 2 minutes and 57 second long. There is a whole set of things one could’ve done at this time.

At the very last, there is a pertinent question I have many times asked. Does anyone read this stuff? I mean the credits. Do let shortneckgiraffe@gmail.com know. As you are reading this, I presume, you have read it this far, what about letting me know with a comments or SMS or whatsapp or e-mail

Now, let me tell you the truth, ‘Invisible World’ is not worth watching.
It makes a point of brave stupid creativity, and I love it.

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Sanjeev Kotnala has over 30 years of corporate experience and is founder of Intradia World; a Brand, Marketing & Management Advisory. Additionally, he focusses on Ideation, Innovation and design thinking. He loves sharing the concept of Brand-i, a deliberate strategic framework to create and control your image and impressions, to be the brand. Email sanjeev@intradia.in tweet @s_kotnala web: www.intradia.inwww.sanjeevkotnala.com.

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By Sanjeev Kotnala

 

Good interviews are addictive to watch. They have an uncanny ability to capture your attention. More so, when subject, subject matter or the interviewer is of your interest. There have been a few of these in the recent past. They have the power to break or strengthen an existing perception. Many times they force you to question current thinking about an event or personality. Here are few I recommend you to watch again.

Kangana Ranaut on Aap Ki Adalat with Rajat Sharma. It is an uncomplicated show that has been running for many decades. It has the conventional blame and argument pattern. Once in a while you get a completely bindass, bold, speaking her mind Kangana Ranaut in the show. Her every action – creating that impression that helps define her Brand-i.

Suddenly, everyone was talking about it. There are people now taking sides. It is a demonstration of confidence and conviction that borders on what may qualify as madness. There is that slow tremor inside an emotional hurricane that is controlled to perfection. The laugh is all a wall to hold the private pain inside. I will be honest I admire her. I am a great fan of her. I do hope to meet her someday

The Sunny Leone interview with Bhupendra Chaubey is a class in public interaction. In spite of the stupid interviewer unnecessarily plugging in the past, she answers in the best way possible. Here is another one, who has worked hard to be where she is now. There is no place for regrets as that is the past – a story where the character and results cannot be changed. And she is dedicated to write a brand new story, a new chapter as per her own liking.

Now after the two interviews above, here I must present the others’ side, an example of how not to get interviewed! How not to be wrongly branded! Why you must prepare for such encounters? They are like the swirling currents of an untamed arena that sucks you in deeper with every wrong move. It is Rahul Gandhi interview with Arnab Goswami.

And then there is this MAY 16^th of Narendra Modi with Arnab Goswami. It demonstrates the craft from both the interviewer and interviewee side.

And if you still have the time, please find this beautiful speech by Dr Shashi Tharoor in making a case that Britain Owes Reparations.