After a week’s gap I return with another batch of examples of ridiculous marketing done by well known brands. When I discussed an example of flashy marketing done by Airtel for the Grand Prix on the DND flyway, with my colleague, she replied, “You noticed it, therefore their work is done.” This made me think if the ‘don’t know-don’t care’ attitude has become a norm among brands today, no matter whether it’s good or bad for them? Are brands only looking for eyeballs and recall but no equity? Well it is for you to ponder upon, I hope you like the examples below and also I hope you caught the action of the Pitch Youth Marketing Summit and Awards 2012 that had been played up for the last 10 days.

Zovi vs Biwi
Does the wife change the modus operandi of a man’s dressing sense or is it an e-commerce fashion website? Seems the novel addition to the world of TVC, answering this fact is Zovi.com. Yes ‘Biwi Nahin Zovi’. Nevertheless, if any random ‘ghonchu gautam’ can shop at Zovi and become the heart-throb of a group of satirising females, it’s time for designers and other retail outlets to cease manufacture and start attending reunions. The TVC was right about outlining one thing; what one does at reunions… discuss what is new-fangled. And voila there is a Smartphone for the smartly dressed guy to tell the world to ‘get smart about style’! Well one thing is clear; none of the men in the class were ‘smartly dressed’ when they were in class in 2004, of course, ‘Na biwi thi na Zovi’.

The limit of push marketing
Remember, when you get a call from Rima, Pankaj or Ankur in the middle of a meeting or when you are sleeping? Or, Vijay, Suresh or Rohan call you when you are driving or when you have put a spoonful of food in your mouth? No offence to those who have these names but in the above mentioned situation one thing is common, the package. “You have won a two day five night, one night four day or some slapdash day and night package from Club Mahindra, all you have to do is come to our office.” When you find yourself in such a footing, you must have signed a small little coupon at a petrol pump or a shopping mall and put your ‘real’ contact details on it. Well there is nothing out-of-the-box about Club Mahindra’s push or in-your-face marketing technique. It is funny to see that the so called ‘propitious’ customers who actually do go to their office are made to sit for hours and then pestered to buy a holiday package in the middle of their peak office days or when the holiday season ends. It is even more tantalising to see when the “Sir, can I take your five minutes to fill this lucky draw coupon?” has changed to “Sir, can you punch in your details on this tablet for a lucky draw?” The not so prepossessing factor is that everyone gets a call.

Red in the face?
Red the colour commonly associated with danger, sacrifice, passion, love, anger, socialism and communism, and in China and many other cultures, with happiness. This is what I read online when I was searching for the colour. Besides my affinity towards the colour, Finolex has redefined the meaning of the colour in the last visible spectrum of light. Well does safety come anywhere closer to the colour? As far as electrical wires and the colour red is concerned, I have always seen a red sign, which says danger 10,000 volts and a skull is made on it, which in other terms means if you stay away you will be safe. Seems Finloex has steered away from the path of facts. ‘Suraksha Hamesha’ is no doubt a good positioning, similar to the rest of the cement, iron rods, antiseptic soaps and condom punch-lines. As far as the TVC is concerned, does one really take a small kid for electrical wire shopping? But on a momentous note red also means stop.

Eternal thumbs up
Y Rajeev Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Country Club India, always has his thumbs up. Even when he is jumping off a plane 13,500 feet in the air somewhere in Dubai! To his credit, the man has stamina of holding a thumb out at every situation, even when he is being hit by a massive G-force plummeting down to earth. He must be quiet portly as the details about the number of clubs and the RCI affiliations flashes pretty quickly during his dive! Since it is a TVC of a real life sky dive, the cameraman has been fortunate enough to catch a bite of the ‘club king’ saying “Eats really like a rock and roll.” For the ones who are sick of the thumbs up and flip the channel whenever this ad arrives, there are a couple of positive takeaways rather than getaways, one, you get to see the prices of the billionaire premium and billionaire gold card prices and number two the punch-line says ‘you have one life, live it to the fullest,’ just without your thumbs up.

Of boardrooms and catwalks
Ahoy bosses and senior executives. If you are facing a problem getting a quorum at meetings, Myntra has a solution for you. Just lease them a tab where they can check out the website and we will have an ‘office’ fashion week in the boardroom. Somehow this commercial has lost its relevance in terms of the product proposition. The older ad gave the three youngsters sitting on a couch apparel and footwear options with a guy from Myntra explaining the pros and cons of the website. Along came the punch-line ‘real life mein aisa hota hai kyaa?’, to which the baffled yet surmised customers would nod. A catwalk somehow really makes the viewer cogitate ‘ki real life mein aisa kabhi ho hi nai sakta!’ instead of the question is this possible? Well Sherlock, the point of an ecommerce website in a mobile era is that one can access it from anywhere. And a disclaimer to the office goers, don’t try this in office even though it seems to be a ‘fun’ idea.