Been there done that. There is not much I can faff around with this matter, so I am going to dive straight into it, head first. One of the biggest strength and weakness I have as a copywriter is I am too passionate about my work. And that’s not always a good thing, buds. There…
Women, Not Objects.
I was watching this talk by Madonna Badger, the founder and CEO of Badger and Winters. She has done many things in the industry and have had several breakthroughs in her life but if there is one thing marks her legacy as a creative in advertising and as a empathetic human in humankind, it is…
Just Make It Viral
Since the time I have started working in the agency, which is roughly ten months, I have heard this so many times that I have lost count. Be it the copy chief, the account manager or the art director. No matter where they are in the hierarchy, this is a must. Make It Viral. It’s…
On Gender Inequality In Ad-land
Gender Inequality is one of those issues which has been prevalent in all industries, the advertising Industry is no exception of the same. Be it the objectification of women that has happened in ads from the dawn of advertising, the portrayal of women by the news media and journalism, the inclusion in the organisational leadership…
Can Advertising Save The World?
The heading sounds hyperbolic right? I mean, how did I have the audacity to put something so noble in the same sentence as advertising! Allow me to explain. In the flawed law of generalisations we have always associated advertising with something corrupt, something fake, something gimmicky to make you buy things you don’t need. And…
Take A Stand. Yay Or Nay?
Its easier to take a stand in the comfort of your living room, in the four walls of a cocktail party but it is not easy when you are a corporation and your each move has an effect on the commerce, that’s not an easy decision but these brands have made it. And by no…
When Manforce Championed The Cause of #ProtectingChildhood
When Manforce came up with a new campaign, I just knew that I had to talk about this on my advertising blog. Not because I have some special loyalty to this brand, neither do I have with its ads (except a few here and there which were exceptional) but because something is SO wrong with…
Does David Ogilvy Need An Update?
David Ogilvy, the father of advertising, the British Advertising tycoon is someone who stands at the origin of the graph which I, a millennial would draw when depicting the decades of advertising. He is what an African man is to the evolution of humankind and a WordPress blog is to the much recent version of…
The Most Searched
There is nothing exclusive about a brand taking a stand, what’s exclusive is its ability do it in alignment of the brand, by keeping forth the proposition of it’s service and still make sense, statement and a spectacle. If all the ads which are released in the Black History matters light, this would stand out…
‘It’s Between You’
Only last month WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Facebook, launched two sixty second ad films across all mediums and this is what the perfect marriage of sensitivity and branding looks like. If I might add, this was the first campaign they released after two years. In the year 2018, they launched a campaign called…
Call Out For Thookichands!
Spitting is a terrible habit to be practised anywhere outside of the washrooms but the people of our country, really don’t get it. I don’t even need to go on with the proof here, just look at the streets. People have gone above and beyond by spitting on the sigh which says ‘Do Not Spit…
It’s Finger Lickin’ Good, KFC
One of the last things I could have thought of was a brand having to tweak its, actually, partially shadow it, in the light of the current times. “We find ourselves in a unique situation—having an iconic slogan that doesn’t quite fit in the current environment. While we are pausing the use of It’s Finger…
Care, Not Just For The Heck Of It.
If I put the word care and brand together, it does sound a little odd, right? Not for me, but for most people I assume, and rightly so. One might think these are corporations and they have vested interests and the selective luxury to ‘pick a cause’ and ‘care about it’. Hypocritical? maybe. But are…
Make It Pop Like an Ad!
I don’t know how many of you know about this but ads which tend to glorify or celebrate something, feels really good to watch. Almost as if they are shoving an easy gulp down my throat, I buy in the idea and, yay for zero effort. I think perhaps, there is a biological reason to…
Throwback To The Best Nescafe Ads
There was this time from the 2014-15-16 when Nescafe churned out the best ad films which were big on social media. While it struck to the masses and classes (the target audience in particular) they were such effective stories churned in the fashion of an ad. While all were on the lines of ‘it all…
Ads Like Acts
It is about time we ask ourselves, Of what use is this supremacy which takes a knee on another race. Of what use is this inflated pride which is built on corpses of important lives. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee for the cause of injustice faced by the blacks in America, and the same…
Hack It Like Burger King
So apparently the ad Industry has some cool kids on the block from DAVID agency who have successfully been hacking into the ad scene, one great campaign to another, winning awards after awards. Recently during the speech, ‘The Rise of Hackvertising’ at Cannes Lions they talked about their ways and I thought it was pretty…
Rebuilding, Brick By Brick
Lego has been the part of my childhood, I loved playing with it. Now that I have grown up I think of it in a manner of how it enhances the creativity of the child and how it teaches problem solving and all that but as a kid, I went in all weird, I used…
TikTok Blowing A Whistle On Fake News
I have addressed the issue of fake news various times on my blog and it has never felt not important to talk about it, sadly the fake news and misinformation exists. We live in a bombardment of information, while most of us are able to differentiate news from speculation, news from misinformation, news from threats…
The Blog Where I Fangirl Over Heineken, Way Too Hard
Beer is beer, but if I mention the one which comes bottled up in green bottles with a red star you would know which one I am talking about. As a kid ,I had always been curious about alcohol ads because I could never figure out what they are trying to sell, it confused me….
We Are (All) Worth It
One can’t say the phrase ‘worth it’ and not associate with L’Oreal brand. Or it’s just an ad-tard thing? I was watching a panel discussion of Cannes lions creativity festival called ‘All Worth It’ which had Oscar winning actress and L’Oreal brand ambassador Dame Hellen Mirren in conversation with Adrien Kauskas, the General Manager of…
My Top Five Snickers Commercials
Without stomach full, I am beginning the blog on Snickers and you can tell it is going to be a good one 😁 We all know Snickers as a chocolate bar by Mars, that gooey, nutty, stretchy bar which satiates you with its yummmm! But apart from the chocolate, I really like the commercials the…
Why Did Brand Manifestos Go Out Of Fashion?
Yes, I checked. It’s been a really long time since somebody released a brand manifesto. The format is evolving and maybe brands today have found different ways of talking about what they stand for. But as a copywriter, I think of brand manifestos with stars in my eyes, I love reading them, I love writing…
G For Genius
Parle-G has been one of the most prominent biscuit brands of India, you cannot find a single grocery store, a supermarket rack without Parle-G biscuits. Recently it released a video dedicating to the warriors who step out of the house like the factory workers of essential items and the doctors, in order to keep the…
Visa In Your Senses
If you thought I meant the immigration/travel Visa, might I clarify, I am talking about the Visa company here. I don’t do click-bait-y things here in my blog. So, I was listening to this podcast on Spotify, Top ten talks from Cannes Lions 2019, in this episode called the name of The Next Frontier Of…
A Copy Of A Copy Of A Copy
I could have wrestled a little bit for a better heading, for I wanted to talk about the ad scene of the Covid-19 hit world. And in order to do that I could not find a more appropriate title than this one ‘ A Copy Of A Copy Of A Copy’, after all, all the…
Poetry In Advertising
Any purist will look at this title and cringe, be it the one belonging to poetry or the one belonging to advertising. But we like it or not the world today is busy mixing things. Lately, there has been more than one instance in the ad world of brands incorporating poetry in their commercials. So…
For Namesake? More Than That.
Ever thought of plugging a really meaningful message, right when you have a million eyeballs on you? Sounds too hyperbolic to be true? Well that’s what this commercial made for WFP. New Land saw huge success at Cannes Lions with a Gold-winning piece of work for the UN World Food Programme back in 2015, with…
Representation Of Muslim Women In Ads Of The World
Writing this blog post wasn’t on my mind but while I was in the reading ‘It’s Not About The Burqa’ by Mariam Khan and one of the essays talk about the representation of Muslim women in the ads. Its was really insightful. Insightful enough to ruminate and put my thought to writing. A great deal…
Creativity Must Go On
I don’t know how the world has been taking on it but continuing to be creative amidst this chaos is getting to me. From day in to night, I see as many times my screen, as I was in the habit of seeing faces. My wanderlust is limited to the grocery store and there are…
Nike Did It, Again.
As we slowly adjust to quarantine era, In more than one ways are we adopting new ways of functioning everyday. The ad world is also slowly adopting ways of communicating to ‘stay on the same page’ and make commercials using footage, voice over, stock images etc. But what’s the art and craft of anything if…
Courage Is Beautiful,Period.
It is not ‘new’ for brands today to swipe the relevancy card when need be, under the larger messaging of the brand. For Dove, it has always been redefining and it has done it beautifully with the latest campaign by celebrating the courage of the beautiful women who are working day and night to save…
From One Ad Person To Another, Kentaro Kimura
Cannes lions has a recent initiative by the name of ‘Creativity Moves Us Forward’ in which they release everyday creative insights from the creative community, and the recent one was by Kentaro Kimura on creative alchemy. Isn’t the term creative alchemy amusing in itself? I quite like it, I have used the term alchemy various…
Prime WFH Realisation
Necessary lockdowns during pandemic is great. Quarantine is great. And this is not a blog post where I drool over my angst of not going to work or of being stuck inside my home. In fact, technology is enabling so freaking much, every day I am learning newer ways of efficiency. This is about a…
Can’t Skip Hope!!
I recently saw this ad which has all.my.heart. Not just as an adwoman myself but as a normal person experiencing a gentle nudge that it’s all going to be okay, we are all in this together while being an ad! “Can’t skip hope” is an ad for Portugal Tourism which was shot ahead of the…
David Foster Wallace On Advertising
So, recently I read Infinite Jest, and I was dragged into the world, inside the mind of David Foster Wallace. The book seduced my mind like no other book ever have, infinite Jest is a world in itself, but this blog is not about that, it’s about the thoughts of DFW on Advertising. More or…
License To Ads
As a young and wild noob, also an ad enthusiast, I strongly believed in the importance of going to an ad school to become a well-rounded creative. In fact, I believed in it so much that a few months ago, I was on my way to join one. The famous Miami ad School. I had…
Here Comes The ‘Fake News’ Epidemic
The world health is in jeopardy but at least the humans are trying to make it better by social distancing, seeking medical help and thoroughly washing your hands BUT you know of a worse ‘man made’ epidemic humans are facing these days? it’s called fake news. Yes, fake news. We know about fake news. It…
Don’t Milk It For Money!!
Isn’t it amazing when comes an ad against the many ads in form of an ad. Too much ads. But what’s not amazing is when brands try to milk the cow for the sake of encashing on the topical spot, that too when the topical spot is a coronavirus pandemic. The recent print ad by…
The Coolest Way To WFH
It might not be the best thing to wake upto Instagram but that is the first thing I check in the morning and two days ago I found out out something supremely interesting from BBDO New York. Now, to give a little context this is the first week of quarantine for India, while in the…
Advertising And Culture
Do you think advertising and culture go hand-in hand? Or one dictates the another? I don’t know either but maybe we will find out by the end of this write-up. Before we jump on the wagon, let us first familiarise with the two characters in play. Advertising is a means of communication, videos, text, activation,…
Rio Brought Reality Back In!
Stayfree, Whisper, Sofy name any sanitary napkin brand that you can recall from the TVCs or the racks in the supermarket, they are highly unrealistic for two reasons. One, the girl is going through pain and will not in her right mind wear white pants and jump hurdles, Two, the colour of the blood is…
Behind Every Successful Man Is A Woman? Shut up.
How many times have we heard the same phrase, again and again. That behind every successful man stays behind a woman. We credit the grandiose of achievement of a man to a woman who sacrificed for her son, brother, husband. There is no greatness in this glorification, I say. We seem to have forgotten instances…
Hated By Some. Every Morning. Thankfully.
In all the news tabloid ads that I have seen so far, one thing has remained common, they have talked about how they collect the news, the bravery of journalism, highlighting their ideals; it’s from the perspective of the people who make the news and communicated to those who consume the news. However, this ad…
Daag Acche Hai
“Apnepann ke rang mein, dusro ko Daag lagne se bach jaaye, toh daag acche hai” It’s been a year since this ad came out, but for the topical spot of Holi, to this day I cannot find one ad as effective and brave as this one. I remember when I saw this ad for the…
Super Bowl Of India For Ads
The Indian Ad land’s Super bowl is home grown ‘Kumbh Mela’, one of the biggest confluence of humanity, It is a major festival and pilgrimage for Hinduism. It is a celebration of belief whose primal event is the holy dip in the water. It’s a pristine experience for the citizen of India and an unforgettable…
Fresh Out of Mad Men
Don’t we all have one favourite show that means so much to us that we keep going back to it. They mean what they mean to us for reasons we may never share with the world, but for those who get it, just get it. One such show for me is Madmen. Sometimes when things…
From One Ad Person To Another, Josy Paul
While I was surfing interviews on Campaign India I found a really interesting video of Josy Paul which had the title, “Mining your emotional data”. Now, while talking about data people usually use this word along with words like ‘insight’ but not for once have I heard someone use emotions and data in one, so…
The Amusing Story Of The Amul Campaign
Our country is 73 years old and the Amul campaign is 54 years old, now if that’s not amusing to anyone who has been on the either side of the table of the advertising business I don’t know what is. It does make one wonder. It’s one ad which everyone in your family would know…
The Audacious #OptOutside
I often wonder, if brands really figure out the character of their product in and out, what it means to who and how much, they would be overwhelmed by the possibilities by the effective ads they can draw out of them. Clarity is understated in the brand world. But one such campaign was #OptOutside by…
Three Little Pigs Advert
I saw this ad quiet recently but it came sometime in the early 2012. Now I wonder why did I mention how old the ad is, it could be running even now and yet be branding the Guardian just right Also, It won Cannes amongst a million other awards and publications. I don’t know if…
Not Working to Networking, What An Idea, Sirji!
Ask any kids from the 90’s about the ads they remember the most of the lot and they would talk about the ads of Idea. Be it the ‘hunny bunny’ jingle, the phone swap between the husband and the wife, taking on a stand on the gender roles or the ads leaning on the social…
The Time ‘Sorry’ From Netflix Was A Hell Yeah For The Ad World.
I can’t begin to tell, how much I love the recent ad film Sorry by Netflix and just when it couldn’t get any better they drop this bomb on D-day of valentines, cashing on the topical spot as absolute geniuses. (okay, a lot of brands jump on the topical spots, taken, but some just slay…
Why Will Advertising Not Die?
Why Will Advertising Not Die? This is one question which is asked by the end of one of my favourite podcasts to listen to, and to each of the guests who come from varied spectrum of advertising, marketing, art, media, music, publishing reply differently to. While that must give me more than a hundred different…
From One Ad Person To Another, David Droga
For those who don’t know who David Droga is, of yet. Please go back under the rock you came from. No no, don’t. Now that you are here, you might as well get to know about this Madman of Advertising of the 21st century. To begin with he is the founder of Droga 5, an…
More To Playboy Than You Think
So recently, I watched this documentary called the ‘American Playboy’ on Amazon Prime. I stumbled upon this documentary totally by chance. But the term and the name attached to it felt somehow relative, heard of for two reasons. Firstly for the name of the celebrated Hugh Heffner and second, the fashionably famous, massy magazine,” Playboy”. …
Make Great Ads, don’t Just Sell Ice-cream.
This is one thing I am sure every creative has thought of after being annoyed by the piling deadlines, nasty client servicing guys, non-specific briefs and not to forget, the times of creative blocks. You are tired, each part of your body hurts and you want to sleep but you have had too much coffee…
Mc Burger+ Whopper= Greatest Marketing Strategy Of All Times
On the occasion of the World Peace day, Burger King launched a campaign by the name called Mcwhopper, and proposed the same idea with a newspaper ad on The New York Times, here’s the full ad: I love how cheeky yet simple the copy is, of this long format words. There is a really interesting…
I Superliked The Recent Tinder Campaign
I love tinder ad campaigns, says every ad person ever. I love tinder campaigns says every person who has not been in the business of advertising. I have even taken opinion of other people who do not fall into the age category and those who are non users of the app, but still they love…
A Writer Who Also Writes Copy or a Copywriter Who Also Writes?
Since I have been a writer before a copywriter, this is a question I still think of sometimes. When I joined an agency, this was one of the questions the copy chief asked me the very day. While I did not find much depth to this question then, I met many people from there on…
When Nando’s Replied to Burger King
Nando’s PERi-PERi Chicken Burger is so yummy that you can’t resist eating it. 0% preservatives, 100% yummy. Digital advertisement created by Fishermen Integrated, Malaysia for Nando’s, within the categories: Food, Recreation, Leisure. I think it’s safe to assume that most of us know about that ad of whopper of the Burger king, which showed the…
Manboobs For Boobs, Meatiest Ad You Wish You Made
‘Man Boobs For Boobs’ is a campaign to raise awareness for early detection of breast cancer that defies censorship in Social Media. Agency: David, Buenos Aires. As a consumer of ads first and as a woman, second I have seen may breast cancer awareness ads in my life, you can’t miss it, they keep replaying…
From One Ad Person To Another, Emmie Nostitz
Last night, Youtube randomly suggested me this one video which is a recorded reel of what seemed like a conference or collective of the creative. Now, I watch a lot of videos on YT on advertising, so I don’t get surprised by random suggestions. But the title had Droga5 written on it, so I pressed…
The Moldy Whopper of Burger King
Integrated advertisement created by INGO, Sweden for Burger King, within the category: Food. It is not everyday that one is surprised by a burger ad, but one really is when we are talking about the ads of Burger King. And the new one by Burger King is making news for all the right reasons. Whopper…
This Is What ‘No Consent’ and Effective Advertising Looks Like
There is one aspect of advertising which is gimmicky and then there is another which is make a point, not just sell ice-creams, but ads which make an impact, the ones which are issued in public interest. I found one such ad recently on Ads of the world page, which hit the bulls eye with…
This Is How It All Started…
I really wish at this moment I had an interesting story which talks about my first tryst with the craft of ad-making, a person I met, or one interesting class I took in the university or a in least, a brand which interested me and I wanted to add to its’s current work. How I…
Cut.Copy.Write 