Voodoo...Voohoo...naah!

I am positively spooked out.

Its eerie and weird. Scary and haunting. Creeps you out. Freaks you out. Like, totally and completely.

The look, the feel, the settings, the colour, the camera angles,the model...oh my goodness...how could they kill something so magical and make it so maniacal instead? How?

Check this out and we may continue our tete a tete - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFedfnR5seI

This is blasphemous.I am hopping mad.This, is so not Kerala. The Kerala, I know is lush green and gorgeous. It is indeed God's own country. There isn't a single part of this exotic locale that is untouched by an aura so mystical and divine. It's splendorous in its hues and colour palette options. Every place looks like picture perfect and ready to go postcardish!

Why, then may I ask, has this been showcased as some remote tribal village in Africa practicing voodooo and black magic?

Why, is the music so not Indian and so horror film like with its strange wails and intonations?

Kerala was and always will be a top tourist destination of India. This happened totally through word of mouth through the ages. Social Media offline if I may say so!

If, you are making an advertisement to showcase to an international audience you need to be responsible enough to recreate something that truly captures the essence and spirit of this wondrous commodity.

A huge thumbs down to an ad that attempted a ghastly homicidal attack on an unaware beautiful victim.

Bug Bytes

The bug has bitten me and how!

I am smitten. I am charmed. I am wooed.

In a continuum to my previous post" The tale of the town crier", my stance on the suave and swish of social media marketing has certainly been strengthened.

Couple of days ago, the old romantic in me was reminiscing about the ads that I grew up with, the jingles that we sang and tap danced to as little kids courtesy All India radio and Doordarshan.

Every time, the smell of jalebi wafts in the air, I am reminded of the adorable Dhara kid. I happened to put this up as my facebook status message and lo! and behold!

Everyone had a story to tell about their favourite commercial - from Vicco to cadburys to Nirma to Pan Parag. 

It was amazing really - nostalgia, reminiscence,memories were few of the catch phrases which got associated with the ads in question. And all it had taken was one message on a social networking site to start the viral effect.

In contrast, if someone were to make a pop-up or a banner, pay monies and put it up on the same site, I have my serious doubts about the no. of clicks it would really generate.

I observed a similar social effect when I had commented on the inclusion of an Indian Chef in Masterchef Australia. Unexpected sources began rapidly sharing their experiences with the show. Individuals who had never heard or watched the show on Star World expressed an interest and even asked details like the timing and airing days etc.

I wonder again if a poster or email or a telemarketing call from the makers of the show could have generated this kind of buzz around it. Top that - for free!

Traditional media is great. It has served us well and will continue to do so. But, technology has given us social media marketing which if used effectively and wisely can create a spiralling viral effect using the best possible modus operandi. That of the human touch. Virtually.

The tale of the town crier 2.0

We often hear people saying what can be marketed, what cannot, what should and what shouldn't.

Little do they realise that each one of us here is a brand. We possess attributes, identity, nomenclature, personality, strengths, weakness, associations, competitors etc.

We have our quirks and our super qualities. We are an entity in ourselves. Each one of us is endowed inherently with a USP that we can call our own.

We have families that we are extensions of pretty much like an umbrella brand shielding us in its glory.

Our product category is "human race". We strive so hard to study, work, learn, process, progress and prosper. We set goals and timeframes so that someday the world shall know us. We shall be powerful brand names to reckon with. Famous lineages... branding, right?

Think about it, the Bhagvad Geeta, the Holy Bible, the Holy Quran, the Old Testament each one is a brand key in itself.

Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism each one is a brand name.

Temples, Churches, Mosques, Synagogues each one is a a source for locating the right TG for the brands mentioned.

The swastik, the cross, the crescent moon, the star each is a brand logo unit.

Bhajans, masses, namaz, readings each one is a tool for word of mouth advertising for brand building.

Anything and everything is a brand. We can't barricade and decide what can and cannot be marketed.

Any brand worth its salt has been publicised, promoted in some form or the other. Rewards, recognitions, accolades are the ultimate means of establishing certain brands.

Today, we have boutique outfits of PR and Celebrity Managers who have sprung from the realisation of the importance of the "human brand".

The most commonly used one more often than not is simply word of mouth. The friendly neighbourhood mom and pop store to the prestigious school in the locale area to the famous music teacher they are all examples of brand building through positive word of mouth.

Personally, Social Media Marketing is the apt space to be in today's age and times. It's free. It's fresh. It's flying. It is a brilliant concoction of the written word, credibility of the brand ambassador (the individual penning down stuff here!) and mass appeal to the right audience.

What a superb mechanism to reach the right people, spread the word, gain insightful feedback often real time and maintain a transparent open dialogue.

It gets the brand closer to its users and forms a more direct connect, more credible and sustainable than say a print, TVC or even direct marketing.

And the best part is that it is devoid of financial costs and merely involves a good old human dialogue with the interface of state of art modern technology.

The bottomline being - so long as mankind survives, so will the town crier in each one of us evolving and manifesting the old fashioned way albeit with an uber twist!