I love the theme behind this campaign. Love the execution… please note the use of the Union Jack at the bottom… now that is something we could never do in India!

(None of the images belong to me… reproduced from original sites)

However, since I am on the subject of speeches, I’d like to share this fantastic speech by Dunn & Bradstreet Chairman and CEO, Sara Mathew, at the Business Today Most Powerful Women in Indian Business 2011 Awards.

Sara’s speech lists 5 ‘dares’ for women and takes them through her personal journey of learning. Her words aren’t made of stuff written in management books but are simple learnings from her own working life. Which is why they hit home right away.

It gets even better when she closes with straight-from-the-heart words for India’s business women. Notice the style of spotting the glory in the worst. For it is in those darkest hours when we need to spot the ray of hope. Her words have a wonderful quality of taking you through the highs and lows and still staying with the highs. Read on and be inspired!

“
Life is short. Don’t take shortcuts on the important stuff.

I’ll close with a few final words (none original) for the women who are being honored today.

I wish you could know what it’s like to run with all you heart, and lose, horribly – I’ve done that

I hope you make some stupid mistake and get caught red-handed, and are big enough to say those magic words – I was wrong.

I wish you could achieve some great good for someone else, and have nobody know, except you — There is no greater reward.

I hope you are faced with a challenge so big that it frightens you – Yet, you find that inner strength to push beyond the barriers of your personal limitations – you will grow as a leader.

I wish you could find something so worthwhile that you deem it worthy of investing your life in – that’s when your job becomes a calling.

I wish for you a magnificent obsession that will give you reason for living and purpose and direction in your life ….

I wish for you the extraordinary experience called leadership.

For to lead, is to learn, to care, to serve, to subordinate your needs and desires for the greater good – the good of your customers, your shareholders and your employees.

“

Fantastic isn’t it?! This is what good copy, good leadership, and good speeches are made of. I’ve throughly enjoyed writing some speeches in my career and truly look forward to more.

Please write and tell me if you liked it too. Read Sara’s full speech here.

Will be back sooner… I promise!

Why I think they work:
1. They can be used 365 days a year and you can start anytime.
2. Other calendars will help you keep the date but these help you keep the quality of ‘life’.
3. Measure your happiness by tracking how you felt across the days. If there are more smiles, you’re clearly doing something right, if not, change what you’re doing now!
4. They’re simple, happy and fun.
5. They’re different, and they’re a first!! Hats off to the guys at Brigada Creativa for coming up with a unique one. Inspires me to want to design some good calendars myself!

All images belong to Brigada Creativa. If you like the calendar too, go ahead buy their calendars at their shop.

I love the analogy of Rajni – the original hero…HP – the original cartridge! See the strong ‘Be original’ messaging after a superstar sets the trend? Brand ambassador + celebrity branding + viral + light-vein messaging + product USP, all rolled into one! Works!!!

It uses character graphics which are done pretty well and animation that incorporates sounds effects. I love the introduction and characterisation of Typo Bhai and Touchy Taichi. The animation in the ring and the noise effects of the wrestling ring are well depicted too. However, the ending of the promo doesn’t drive the message home for me – the conclusion is a bit weak and the take away isn’t strong. To be specific, the USP of the touch and type isn’t brought out well at all. To begin with, the premise for the wrestling match isn’t clear either. And how the dilemma is solved isn’t the ‘ah’ moment it’s meant to be…!

Won’t spoil it further for you but take a look and let me know if it works for you. Maybe I am just missing the point!

* (In fact, am getting so many enquiries for unique films like these now, whether it’s educational learning materials or product demos or product teasers like the one above. It’s a great way to explore even helpdesk troubleshooting videos, self-learning modules, software product functionality and even building walk-throughs. So if you are in marketing communications, you’d probably like to explore this one for one of your products/brands! India’s certainly woken up to localised animation like this.)

That’s what the website for The London Long Copy Challenge says. And with that the creators of the challenge (CBS Outdoor and Campaign) presented creative agencies in the UK, with a unique task – to design and write a ‘tube’ poster using long copy (50+ words). The objective – to entertain, inform and inspire the people as they wait for their train.

Here’s what the website says of the results:

“The competition received nearly 500 entries from across the UK and in doing so has highlighted the passion that remains in our industry for long copy advertising writing.

A reasonable question to ask is why has it taken our competition to re-energise the passion that so many have for long form content? The truth is that the talent has always been there, and this campaign has simply been the catalyst to encourage a legion of creatives to showcase their skills and their belief in the power of the written word.”

Well said! And that apart, the selected picks from the winning entries are a workshop in both copy an art, even as the worthy mentions present fantastic examples of creativity. Imagine the hundreds of thousands of eyeballs you need to grab with your copy and creative – you have no option but to stand out. And how! These guys have indeed proven that long copy’s not dead… as long as you know how to take it out there. Also notice how some ads are specially created to give the ‘tube’ feel, while bringing the creative alive. Spend a few moments reading, browsing and losing yourself in these creatives – just as I did!

Click on the images below to enjoy some of the best entries. All images belong to The London Long Copy Challenge 2010.

What I love about their initiative, is the beautiful way in which the ‘icons’ in their journey have been depicted. Updated regularly, the Big Blue continues to add to this fascinating list of icons, depicting each with a small note and a nicely-done graphic that ties it in so beautifully. A tip of the hat to the iconic initiative itself!

Check out some of the icons:

Magnetic Tape Storage

Building an Equal Opportunity Workforce

Linux

The Floppy Disk

The Emergence of the CIO

Corporate Leadership in Environmental Responsibility

The Selectric Typewriter

But apparently not in the times of today!

The Yellow Button

See what I mean?

Clearly stores, businesses and entrepreneurs are leaving no stone unturned to launch that ‘different’, memorable, inspiring business name, that will spur a few customers to seek out the freshness that the name spells.

And colours seem to rule the tastes. In some cases, the businesses may not actually be symbolic of the colour’s meaning but business owners are happy to project a ‘vibrant’ and ‘peppy’ place – esp. when it comes to boutique stores and restaurants. After all, the name’s sticky and that’s what matters. Here’s what works for them:

1. The name is not one that you’re likely to forget. In fact, it will pique your interest and there’s the crowd differentiator they asked for.
2. It’s easy… almost simple enough for a kindergarten kid to remember… colour basics combined with an attribute from another noun – Pink Poppadom… get it?
3. Conjours up easy visuals immediately. Again, adds to mind recall. Plus, these names make for some very nice logos. Some attached in this post.
4. Notice the ‘happy’ sounding names — implying happy places where one would like to go. Most are emotive names… taking you back to a good time… Yellow Button… Orangle Bicycle… Green Pocket, etc. Colours have their own emotions attached to the name too.
5. And lastly, most are short and easy to spell.

Brand barons may argue that it may have been good for some of them to directly depict the nature of business in their names. But then, their name meets all the other criteria for a business name and gets you interested enough to figure what they do, right? That’s the bigger battle to win, I’d say!

Hats off to these guys – they certainly have the first mover advantage where unique business names are concerned but methinks the differentiator that’s worked hitherto will eventually undergo some fatigue if the trend continues. So other entrepreneurs reading this post, please take a page out of these books, to think along different lines… we’ve got orange, purple, yellow, green… now let’s do something new!

(Ps: All images used belong to the business. They are merely reproduced here to bring out the efficacy of the name.)

While profiling the target customer, it is important to profile the others involved in influencing their purchase too. So, spend some time to figure out who is the:

Initiator – Someone who first suggests the idea of buying a product. e.g. a housewife and her washing machine.

Influencer – Someone who influences the purchase decision through a suggestion or advice. e.g. Does the loud tie work for me or not?

Decider- The one who decides on the purchase and also any purchase decisions like where, what and how to buy. e.g. could be the mother if a toy has to be bought, or a father when a flat screen TV is being purchased… basically the product defines it.

Buyer – The one who actually makes the purchase. e.g. again, could be any one of the buying group, depends on who is paying!

User – The person who consumes or uses the product. e.g. a child and his playstation.

After, we’re gone through all these groups, it is vital to know who our communication is actually targeted at and the response it should inspire. For e.g. telling a child that they can dirty the clothes all they like, as long as mummy uses the right detergent is not going to work… it will have to be told to her, in a manner that will have her listen!

Sharing some sample Indian ads. Let’s figure out who is being spoken to it these… then identify the above groups of people in these ads.

This one’s hilarious. Seriously, how many of us doing design can say that this doesn’t happen to us? Totally hilarious! I have friends who come back and tell me that they’ve asked the client to do the design themself. Other friends are on their third and fourth iterations with the client, with completely fresh versions being presented each time! Seriously, some have also been through those designs that they no longer recognise as their own!!! If you’ve been through any of this, read on!

How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell – The Oatmeal.