Obamania

A brand manager's fantasy come true.

Barrack Hussein Obama. The most powerful man in the world at the moment. 44th President of the United States.

The power comes from the title itself. Strong.Commanding.Forceful.

But, what about brand Obama? The charisma, the charm.

The Obama campaign is a genius in marketing excellence. It makes for one of the most interesting case studies.

The planning, the execution - all so perfect. Short term tactics, long term strategies - ingenious.

Despite all the odds being against him - being black, Muslim middle name, Kenyan- everything that Americans hate. They still chose him. This success can only be attributed to the brilliant marketing campaign.

What I liked especially was the superb market segmentation and targeting. That was so spot on. Huge thumbs up for using the digital medium and viral so constructively for the cause.

It paid off rich dividends and the rest as they say is history. Joy to Obamania.

Advertainment - an urgent need of the hour

Bucket of popcorn, cans of coke , comfortably tucked legs into your favourite comforter, lounging on the couch with a remote in the hand.

You are happily watching your favourite sitcom running on air. And then, just when things are getting very interesting there is a pause in that moment.

A pause that nags, annoys, irritates the hell out of you. Its an ad break. Each of those 30 seconders screaming for your time and attention when you are so not in the mood to let them into your life.

So, what should a smart marketeer do? Instead of ticking the consumer, turning him off, tuning him out - involve him/her. Make him a memorable and interesting commercial.

The commercial could move him, make him weep, laugh uncontrollably.essentially entertainment him.

An ad owes this to its end consumer. You have got to give him his time's worth of entertainment if you want him to take you seriously.

And you better give that to him.

A TVC must entertain.

:Lawyered" as Marshall from "How I met your mother" would say it!

I thus rest my case.

Jingle all the way...

"Lime and lemony Limca"... a brand that has believed in the power of music. It is the power of  a string of words set to music. Easy and catchy. Memorable more like it.

Limca may have changed its tune with time. Yet, the one constant is the fact that it still composes its own jingle. Charming.

The Titan music has remain unchanged through the passage of time. Frooti has retained its "mango frooti, fresh and juicy"

In the new ads, I like the Pond's youthful and fun song, the Lakme song, ...each one conveys the message of the brand so perfectly and well. A true brand message carrier.

A jingle creates an impact. It leaves behind a trail. It can charm its audience and makes it unforgettable. The brand lives on then in the black box of the consumer for a long long time to come.

The human mind loves good music. Music is therapy and music makes learning simpler. While trying to market an expensive yet complicated product to the consumer a jingle will work wonders. E.g. the UPS ad that makes something as mundane as logistics sound so good. Or say the brand wants to reposition itself to a larger target set. E.g. "Kuch khaas hai" cadbury's song or the "We are the blackberry boys" musical. These jingles worked wonders for the brands.

In the past, we remember most of the old jingles as there were very few brands per say. But, in today's day and age, a brand needs to jostle for space and do everything in its capacity to position itself in the desirable top of mind recall section. Jingles is definitely a sure shot way of doing so.

The world's moving towards interactive media. A jingle will fit in anywhere...TVC, radio, virals, newspaper. Remember when a month ago Volkswagen ran a talking commercial in the newspaper. It created buzz though the budget must have definitely shot through the roof.

But, the point remains that a jingle is evergreen and must be creatively composed, customised to suit the brand requirement.

I can't help but smile thinking about Charlie Sheen in Two and half men...the famous jingle writer who works from home, makes millions of dollars composing jingles and lives in his sprawling Malibu beach house overlooking the pacific ocean.

So, not only does the jingle work for the brand, it also seems to be weaving its magic for its maker.

Let's jingle all the way to that!

I got mail!

The doorbell rang. I got up to answer it wondering who would it be in the middle of a hot day!

It was a man in the khaki uniform and a bag. It was the postman!

The familiar sight of the local postman  was a like a breath of fresh air.

He held up a blue paper to me with the stamp and the address penned down on one side and a lot of stuff filling up the other side and the other half of the little sheet as well."For me?" I accepted it very proudly.

An inland letter from my paternal 86 year old uncle from Rourkela is a quarterly phenomenon. In today's age of email and skype and chat and buzz and twitter and facebook and flickr...an elderly man still picks up a Cross fountain pen, opens it , fills it with camlin royale blue ink, and writes"My dearest Sow.Samyukta" and proceeds to give an update in old Victorian Indian English(you know) accentuated with the right questions in return.

For me the very act of receiving and reciprocating through this channel of communication is such a rejuvenating exercise.

Its amazing really, a unique brand identity and a truly clutter breaking exchange.

Hanging on to our roots and simultaneously adopting newer channels is not such a bad idea after all. Infact its this very culmination of the old with the new that makes it so exciting.

Brands out there could sometimes perhaps resort to this medium as a means of direct marketing. A consumer is bound to revel in this public display of affection!