3 Public Service Ad Campaigns that Made Viewers Stop and Take Notice

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Are Public Service Ads really necessary? Many would say so. Older versions were simpler, easy to understand and focused on very specific subjects. Of course today there is a whole host of issues to counter against. Lately, social advertising has muscled up enough to compete against some of the best commercial ads though. Reason? These are innovatively thought through, sensitive ads crafted by some of the most creative minds of our industry.

Let’s look at 3 such PSA’s that have managed to send the right message to the masses and that have dwelled in their minds.

Anti-Smoking Campaigns

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Anti-smoking ads showing up through various media channels are more emotionally evocative than ever. Some show graphic imageries such as tobacco’s effect on the body provoking negative emotions. Some manage to tug on heart strings with their personalized story lines. Others use bold storylines to elicit responses. Even second hand smoke has made the news. Although quitting may be a long arduous process, the recent impactful ads have most definitely created a stir.

Incredible India Campaign

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Even braving controversies and changes, the Incredible India campaign has managed to make a positive impact not only on the masses but travel and tour operators as well. International and domestic audiences too have begun taking note of India’s heritage sites, its culture and hospitality trends with new eyes.

India Polio Ad Campaign

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Many Bollywood stars have lent their time and voice to public service campaigns but none compares to the baritone of Amitabh Bachan, pointing and urging people to get their children vaccinated against polio. Of course the sheer number of vaccinators tied to this initiative has helped too. And the effect has been significant with large scale reception to polio eradication drives

Ultimately to be successful, a far reaching public service campaign needs a creative team that produces a well-researched innovative portrayal of the truth.      

Top Advertising Gurus In India

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Advertising is all about selling and promoting a product or service through methods which set a brand recall in the prospects’ mind. That is the reason many products have a story woven behind them. Because stories have a strong recall value as they set a slab of remembrance in the minds of the people. It requires creativity combined with a sense of balance with practical application.

That is why you will notice that many of the top gurus in Indian advertising are from a background that is artistic, creative or somehow related to it. This is not to say that artistic creativity is a must, but creativity in itself can play a very important role in advertising. If you don’t know the gurus who rule the advertising industry in India, we have named them for you. Read on to know who they are, and their achievements.

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1. Piyush Pandey
Being named the most influential man in Indian advertising for eight consecutive years by The Economic Times, he is an award winning co-executive chairman and national creative director of Ogilvy and Mather. He is also the vice-chairman of O&M Asia Pacific. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016.

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2. Prasoon Joshi
He received Filmfare Best Lyricist Award three times. He also won National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice, one for Taare Zameen Par and the second for Chittagong. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2015 for his contributions towards the field of Arts, Literature and Advertising. He is the CEO of McCann World group India and Chairman (Asia Pacific), a subsidiary of global marketing firm McCann Erickson.

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3. R. Balakrishnan
Also known as R.Balki, he is a filmmaker, screenwriter and former Group Chairman of advertising agency Lowe Lintas (India). His ad agency won three Gold Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2014. His film works include Cheeni Kum and Paa.

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4. Sam Balsara
He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Madison World and Madison Communications. He is an awarded senior professional in the Indian Advertising Industry. He worked with Team Modi and pulled off the biggest political campaign in Indian politics.

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5. Prahlad Kakkar
Best known for his direction on Pepsi TV commercial with Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar, he is a very well known ad film director. He is the founder and main director for Genesis Film Productions, one of India’s leading production houses. An avid scuba diver, he established ‘Lacadives’, a scuba diving school, with his wife Mitali Kakkar at Kadmat Island. The school was setup in collaboration with the Lakshadweep government.

These 5 are just a few of the many gurus in Indian advertising. There are many others who have contributed considerably. Here we have emphasised more on those people who have a background in other majorly creative and artistic fields. Artistic influence helps one in the creative field of advertising.

Why we all love Social Media

 

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In recent years, social media has grown and become a marketing tool to attract consumers and stay connected with them. The statistics show that traditional media has taken a backseat and will continue to do so, while we will see a rise in social media and social media marketers. It’s not only marketers but we also love social media. The reasons are as follows –

  • Connectivity – After the introduction of social media, it has now become easy to stay connected with many people at a time, even those who stay in different parts of the world.
  • Engaging –In social media, everyday is different. If you follow a few people, brands or media; you can get lots and lots of interesting and useful information. Some of the content on social media is so gripping that one is thoroughly entertained.
  • Feedback – Social media is used by marketer to see what their consumers feel about a campaign or a product. They can also reply to a complaint or query a lot quicker.
  • To the point- Social media posts are more precise and directly come to the point rather than telling it indirectly such as with long chains of emails.
  • Easy to access – Anyone, anytime and from any place can connect with the help of mobile or from desktop. Thus, giving them freedom and access of knowledge as well as 24×7 connectivity. All you need is an internet connection.
  • Stay up-to-date – Social media even acts a news channel, where in people can get to know what is happening around the globe immediately. People get to know what’s trending around the globe and that too in real time.

Thus social media have provided brands not only a solution to reach and but also a better medium to connect with them on a regular basis while the consumers reflects their day to day activities on the social media. Social media is the new age source of entertainment and knowledge for people of varied age groups. It has also helped everyone to explore, connect and come close with each other than ever before.

10 Quick Tips about Branding

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Let’s start by first understanding, what is a brand. A brand is an idea, consisting of name, logo, slogan, mission and vision of the company; which aims to promote company’s product or service. So branding is communicating this idea is such a way that it not only sells the product. But also build good reputation as well as communicates message to the consumers.

Following are the quick tips about Branding -

  • Send a Clear message - Make sure that your branding message is clear as the consumers won’t trust your brand if they don’t understand what your brand stands for and what it is offering.
  • Be Consistent – One of the most important thing is to send consistent messages across all platform like radio, television ads, prints ads, etc.
  • Define your Brand Position – It is important to position your brand and give it an edge above the other competitive brands. This helps to create your brand’s unique identity.
  • Always deliver what your Brand Promises – This is the most important thing as it consists of a one-sentence description of the value, your company or organization promises to deliver to your customers. This helps to build brand loyalty in later stage.
  • Tell a Story – A story of how your brand was developed helps to create an informal bond with your consumers by reflecting the brand’s success.
  • Be active on Social Media – Nowadays social media is not a trend but is becoming mandatory. As it gives an opportunity for consumers to connect with the brand directly and share their views and opinion.
  • Logo is not Branding – There is always a misconception that logo is branding, it is not. Brand is much more than that. Logo just represents the brand visually but it cannot completely define the brand.
  • Add a Personality or Character – This helps to connect and conveys your message much more than what could be conveyed through other marketing ways. This gives an opportunity for your consumer to understand your brand completely, thus, develop trust.
  • Provide Variation – Another important thing is to not provide the same boring message bluntly and in a repetitive way. Communicate the same message but in a creative and innovative way so that consumers find it interesting to read.
  • Communication is a must – This is the utmost important thing i.e. to never stop communication with your consumers. As it is the only way you can remind and tell the consumers that your brand still exists in the market.

So these are the following quick tips which will assist you to do branding more effectively. As effective branding does not happen in one day, it requires time, planning and efforts. Thus effective branding can not only helps in selling your product. But also help building brand loyalty and make a positive brand image.

How has marketing changed with social media

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This is the age where we are surrounded by digital and social environment; social media user’s conversation can and is happening from time to time. Thus, it’s important for brands to understand how to effectively plan marketing strategy and how to implement it in social media.

The following are the ways by which social media has influenced marketing –

  • Multi Ethnic People Holding The Word FeedbackFeedback – With the help of social media, it is now possible for the marketer to get a response instantly and without many efforts from their side. They simply have to post their message on social media and consumers will instantly share their point of view.

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  • Direct involvement of the end-user – Earlier companies use to depend on traditional mediums such as public relation, marketing and advertising to deliver messages to target audiences. But now companies can directly get in touch with the end-user and convey exactly what they want to say.measure

Monitor and measure simultaneously – Presence of social media has now made it possible to see how successful the campaign was as well as where did the marketers go wrong. As it’s now possible to fix it rather than waiting until the campaign is over to find out the result.

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  • Co-create – Nowadays consumers helps brands create products which exactly suits their needs, by voting or giving suggestion on what could be altered.
  • two-way-communicationTwo way communication – Due to social media it is now possible to respond to customer’s queries or feedback quickly than ever. This not only shows the customers that how much you value them but also helps creating a positive image of the brand.
  • modern-office-tech1Digital world- Today is the world of digital era, where people read e-papers on their mobile devices, pay bills, find job and apply; it has given them mobility. Thus ensuring that marketer’s message would surely reach the customers regardless of time and place.

Thus social media is slowly replacing the traditional mediums that were used by the marketers before. Now marketers have several elements to play with and communications are much more targeted, personalised and have quick response time.   

Top Digital Campaigns all over the World

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More brands are realizing the value of personal and customized interaction with consumers. This is due to the boom of digital advertising which has helped brand reach out to their customers in an engaging and friendly way. This blog talks about most successful digital campaigns all over the world.

So here is the list of top ten digital campaigns all over the world –

  •  Volkswagen: ‘Polo Tag’ Social Test Drives

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In this campaign which was in 2014 in three major cities South Africa, it worked on as a social campaign which ran for 6 days. It was a real-world social game challenging people to spot the new Polo around a specified route, tag it on twitter, and then test drive it, right there and then. A person, who drove it for the longest, without being tagged, won the new Polo. While hundreds of others got in the cars to experience the new Polo first hand, which helped create some social buzz around the new car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThnMDAmf1Vk

  •  Nike ‘Phenomenal Shot’ Real-Time Ads

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This campaign came out in 2014 in which Nike teamed up with Google to create Real-Time ads that would let fans celebrate, re-mix, customize as well as share the celebration with their friends around the world. No downloading of app was required. With each ‘Phenomenal Shot’ ad of a sponsored Nike player going live for 10 seconds after the moment had happened in the game. Then fans can spin 360° around a Nike athlete by tilting and panning their mobile device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyDSubnQd28

  •  McVitie’s: Shoot The Cookies Chrome Extension

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This 2014 UK campaign created a unique Chrome extension that might be initiated the “war between biscuits and cookies”. By adding Shoot the Cookies extension to your Chrome browser, you will be able to get rid all of your Internet cookies that track your internet usage in a fun and entertaining way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhvpocdAoI

  •  McDonald: LOADED The Social Film

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This campaign was launched in Australia, in which the social film was directed by their fans in an epic content series that has had over 3 Million fans help write, direct and provide ideas for the film in real-time. It was shot over two weeks, with an episode launching about every 3 days as they gathered ideas, scripts and direction from their fan base, before turning that into each film, that would go on to shape the next installment depending on what fans wants to happen, culminating in this 8-Minute short film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718nKy0W3t8

  •  MINI Roadster: The Psychic Roadster -

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This campaign was launched in UK in 2014, starting with the billboards which would tell you what lies ahead, incorporating paid search that reminds you it knew you were coming and ultimately ends up with an interactive, personalized psychic reading powered by your IP address. It would also give weather feeds, local places of interest and etymology to convince you the reading is somewhat true. The Psychic readings reveal a future of exciting adventures with the MINI Roadster, delivered across desktop, tablet and mobile experiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4rsSupx4BQ

  •  KFC: The WiFi Test –

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Recently launched campaign in 2016, where every KFC store in Romania would gave away free-WiFi to school kids, who could answer test-questions that were individually organize from past national test papers and school teachers across the country. This was a new and innovative way to educate the students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7bEeoepQTs

These campaigns are an example of how digital advertising is booming and replacing the old traditional media vehicle.  

Creative ways to make your social media pages better

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Nowadays social media pages are an important platform to communicate to your audience and have become mandatory if one wants recognition in industry. A great social media presence can help your business grow like wildflowers.

So here are some tips to improve your social media pages –

Find opportunities for discussion

There is a reason why it’s called social media. Try to come up with topics which your customers can relate to. Open ended question will lead to discussion and engages customers. This would also help you to tell what customers prefer more.

Use Hashtags often

Hashtags are one easy way of getting directly associated with the brand. Constant use of Hashtags would make your companies name flash out multiple times in front of your customers. This will further help in recalling your brand.

Provide a benefit to your audience

People who visit your social media page or website are asking ‘Why should they visit or what benefit they would receive by visiting?’ Provide them some free giveaways to draw them to your social media pages. This will help you earn valuable followers who will stay engaged.

How could schools use social media

 Quick response to complaints

If there are any complaints you receive on your social media pages. It’s important to tackle it fast and efficiently. The response should be quick and professional.

Tell stories

Every time just posting things related to your product directly would be too boring and customers might lose their interest. To avoid being over promotional, use stories to connect and engage your fans.

 Use humor

No one likes serious post every time. Give them a break by posting content that will evoke emotions as it will increase sharing, commenting, likes, etc.

Make sure your social media usernames are consistent

If you want people to actually find you when they search you by name, make sure that all your social media pages have the same usernames which exactly match your brand’s name.

 Focus on quality over quantity

It is important to post often but at the same time it’s more important to post relevant content.

 

With these tips you can improve your social media pages and help your brand grow more on the social media platform.

Brand Agency in Mumbai

 

What will Social Media be like in 50 years?

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‘Acha socho toh acha hoga’, this is a saying our mothers and grannies used to tell us. It basically means that if you think positive, positive things will happen. But little did they know that, what they said was literally true.

Fast forward 50 years later, imagine a world where things work only with a thought. In today’s world one has to type his/her thoughts on social media sites but imagine you could speak virtually without even moving your hand to type, neither any voice commands would be required. Imagine you could communicate with Siri via your thoughts.

We could have a much upgraded version of today’s Google Glass with new features. For example when you visit a restaurant and see the menu, you could come to know how many people have ‘liked’, ‘commented’ or even ‘re-tweeted’ that particular dish in a restaurant. It could have social filter which would provide information such as mentioned above.

Advertising would be more preciously targeted than what it is now.  As with the help of social media pages which would talk about likes and dislikes, personality and characteristics about the person; the advertisement would be more personalized than ever, the advertising would be tailored to an individual’s needs and wants.

Social media will become the next broadcaster like BBC. Newspapers or E-papers would be replaced by social media.

We will enter a new world of communication. Social media and technology will create an all together a new virtual world of its own. One that will change us and the way we perceive our things forever.

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We can see how Social Media has evolved since last 50 years

How Can Advertising Help Your Business

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Advertising has become a functional tool in the business world by enabling sellers to reach their audience in an efficient way. With proper advertising method, one can surely achieve success in their business. The main aim of advertising is to create awareness and evoke customers about company’s product or service.

It’s also important to select the right medium to reach the desired target audience.

Here’s what Advertising can do for your business-

  1. Establish your brand

As there are so many brands available in the market. In order to make your product stand out, it’s important that your brand stands out first. When the brand is well recognized by the customers, its products would be easily recognized and noticeable from the clutter of other brands belonging to same product category.

  1. Create awareness, remind them

Every brand owner wants customers to think of their brand first when they are looking to buy any product. Therefore, most companies advertise consistently in order to build brand awareness. The advertising draws attention to the brand, then communicates key benefits to users, explaining that functional benefit of the product and how is it different from its competitors.

  1. Digital Advertising

Advertising on social media now seems to be a trend as every company is trying to advertise on social media. This is beneficial as it has advanced targeting options, can be viewed anywhere and anytime as nowadays everyone is on social networking sites.

  1. Change customers attitude

Advertising might not only help to show that how a product can be used or consumed but also it will influence how consumers perceive a brand and with what they associate that brand.

  1. Add credibility to your message

Every time people see advertising they feel that business must be going well. As the perception is that if one can afford advertising, then the company must be reputed.

  1. Build market share

Advertising can be used to build market share for businesses. In simple words it means attracting loyal customers who use a company’s products consistently.

  1. Increase sale

Advertising helps to create awareness of your brand and its product. Advertising could reach potential customers who have the need and are capable of buying your product. But are unaware and thus targeting potential customers can result in an increase in sales.

In this current era of information explosion and world of media, advertising plays a very vital role. Therefore it is important to not only advertise your brand but also make advertising more effective for your customers.