Hero Honda Achiever

Okay .... A new bike Ad... A male model.... unclean shave ... macho personality... shirt revealing the chest and torso .... going on his bike on a road from nowhere to nowhere .... that's the "down - trodden" "path" for all the bike advertisers.

So, what's new here? Eagle. Eagle? Why Eagle? So the new brand ambassador for Hero Honda is an eagle. They've ditched Hrithik Roshan for an eagle.

He sets off on his bike. It flies higher and faster. The estranged couple finally meets. The eagle sits on his shoulder (or arm..whatever). He is an achiever. Huh?

All in all. Waste of time and money and a penalty to the finger. Use of remote necessary.

Kajol - Tata Indicom to Marie

Kajol was my favourite actor during her pinacle in Indian film industry. And now she's gonna be back! She is going to be seen in a movie "Fanaa" (or they may spell it "Fannaaaaaaa" ... or something else). But before hitting the big screen, she's already appearing on small screens. Last heard, she had endorsed 5 brands.

Her first comeback ad was whirlpool. She was seen with her husband for the first time in any ad. Though the ad was pretty ordinary, Kajol breathed life into that ad. Her image (now after her marraige and a child) was aptly used by the admakers. They knew Kajol was now seen as a home-maker, which was the target audience(and decision maker in bying a new fridge :) ) of the brand.

The Tata Indicom ad was simple, straight and effective. Again, she was shown along with Ajay. The ad had extreme responses. Some of them liked it and some of them hated it. The presence of Japanese / Korean characters in one of the ads was amusing for some. But whatever be the ad, the number of connections of Tata Indicom have shot up after this campaign. They love Kajol.

The point of all this cajoling(or Kajol-ing) was her new "Anti-Marie Bureau" campaign. Leave aside the intention of Parle to enter the Marie-business, Kajol rocks that ad. She appears from the roof-top, spies through surveillance cameras, and trashes the marie buscuits and marie-users too. :)

Ad Rankings - 2005

My Ad Rankings for 2005

1. Times of India Ad. The Ad in which the grandfather is happy that his grandson is selected for the Indian hockey team.
2. Daag Achche hain : Surf Excel Ad. Superbly executed.
3. Feels like God : Bajaj Avenger.
4. Asian Paints. (kaat - kaat... dar mat ... main hoon na ... bas kaat :-) )


Worst Ad.

The one with SRK in bathtub, LUX.

Surprisingly, SBI

When I first saw the Ad, it was easy to guess what the background for this Ad might be. A market research for people's perception about the bank, which yielded wrong results. Bank asks the Ad agency to make "Facts" blatant. That was exactly how it was. SBI conducted a market research by asking common people questions like "Which is the biggest bank in India?, Which bank has highest number of ATMs?, etc". To their shock, the respondents answered ICICI bank. This shock led to "Surprisingly SBI" campaign.

OK, enough of background, lets get to the real stuff. I have seen the ads of "Chamanlal Chimpu" (or whatever), "Eating chillies" and "Hair removing".

Chamanlal was a good ad. Nice humour involved. Feel Good Ad with a good punch in message. Engrossed me as it was the first of SBI Ads. But somehow I felt that the Ad was not as healthy as it should have been. Everybody has a perception that ICICI has the largest number of ATMs in India, though it is "Surprisingly, SBI".