Brilliant Advertisement - Hats off Colgate Visible White - An Absolute Man biting a Dog!!

I often tell the students that it is not news when a dog bites a man. It is news when the Man bites the dog. Do something that makes people wake up from their social media-induced slumber and take notice. 

We are swarmed and bombarded by messages resulting in overexposure.  Most of us are jaded and are no longer stimulated adequately by media and promotional messages. 

So how to cut the clutter, especially in Print Media?  Print media is no longer the darling of the masses. The readership is dwindling and many advertisers are questioning its legitimacy and relevance. 

Print media still has a huge charm. Print media is seen as more reliable, and more responsible and it has the advantage of featuring an advertisement that can linger for a longer period and make a long-lasting impression. 

The precise reason why Colgate's visible white campaign chose print media. Check out the advertisement. at first glance, the ad looks innocuous but at a second glance, it looks as if the Colgate Visible ad is occupying the bottom part of the paper ( Like a solus or a single ad). 

But then we scan down and read the caption "Visible White  Saamne Aaye, toh Achhe Achhe Daant Chupayien (Meaning that even famous people hide their teeth when they come face to face with Colgate White or a person brushing their teeth with Colgate Visible white}. 

For a microsecond we are nonplussed. We don't get it and the people featured in the News items catch our attention. The movie watcher, The couple on a Goa trip, the Girl with the VR device, the author at the book launch, and the traveler to a foreign country are all "HIDING THEIR TEETH". 

Then it hits us. THE ENTIRE PAGE WAS AN ADVERTISEMENT. The ad drove us from itself to the so-called "New Items" Presented in the regular newspaper format. 

This is a brilliant concept. Well thought out and superbly executed. The next page also has an ad of Colgate Visible white.   

Man biting Dog - Different and Unique TV shows!

I always told my students that it is not news when "a dog bites a man", it becomes news when "a man bites a dog". You need to be creative to catch attention. 

Most Indian TV and reality shows are downright mediocre and straight copies of western shows. 

One original Indian show that unfortunately does not exist any longer is the Antakshari show, the popular Indian "film sing along' game that is popular among almost all Indians. 

The four shows that were/are original are 

1) America's funniest Home videos:  a series of funny candid videos about people and about cute kids and animals. This show went on and on and is still very popular on YouTube. 

2) Just for laughs, Gags: Again a series of candid camera capers, the elaborate planning that goes into executing these gags with hidden cameras makes this show an evergreen hit. 

3) The biggest loser: usually the loser is the one who comes last. But in this show, the biggest loser is the person who finishes the first! The biggest loser is a competition of morbidly obese contestants who compete with each other to find out who among them loses the most Weight. That is why the innovation title is, "the biggest loser". 

4. And finally "Bullsh*t, the game show": Usually most quiz-based game shows are about knowledge (Whether real, acquired, trivia-based or simple luck-based). 

There are reports of how contestants cram data and prepare for years together to get a crack at who wants to be a billionaire or Kaun Banega Crorepati the Indian version. 

Kaun Banega Crorepati usually features a very moving sob story of how the contestants have slogged and how winning the big prize can change their lives, their family, and that of society. 

You are left with a warm glow in the stomach. All that so-called trivia knowledge is supposed to leave us dumbstruck and we are supposed to be in awe of the winners. 

But "Bullsh*t, the game show" turns the entire concept on its head. It is a show about the contestants who can win either by correctly answering or by bullshitting (pretending to know the correct answer).

Kudos to the show producers for coming out with a tongue-in-cheek show that cooks a snook at the so-called intellectual quiz shows. Watch "Bullsh*t, the game show" on Netflix.

RSVP, WOMBAT and other popular terms in advertising, media studies

RSVP (Respondez Sil Vous Plait – French). RSVP is usually mentioned at the end of an invitation for a function/invite. If are attending the function you are supposed to say "yes I am coming”. Depending on the number of responses suitable arrangements are made for the guests. So If RSVP is written do say if you are going or not. Keeping silent to RSVP is seen as a major Gaffe (mistake)!

WOMBAT - Word of mouth is the best advertising technique: It is often said that advertising is the most fun that one can have with one’s clothes on. So it is not surprising that advertising is entertaining and at the same time it could be misleading. Advertising is taken with a pinch of salt as it tends to glorify the pluses and gloss over the minuses. Like my good friend KVS Krishna Mohan said “it is very difficult not to be a hero in your own story”.

So claims in advertisements not taken very seriously. So it is important that we cultivate WOMBAT. Word of mouth from our friends, relatives and colleagues is seen as more reliable. After all our friends do not have any ulterior motives in recommending a product that she/he does not like himself/herself. So it is very necessary that the companies cultivate positive word of mouth.

Only three things unavoidable in the world: And they are Death, taxes and advertising. We are bombarded by advertising. So the catch and mice game goes on. The customers try to be as much away from advertising as possible and the advertisers want to catch them at all possible times and at all possible places.  

Man biting dog: Frequently cited in media studies. Dog biting man is not news rather it is the other way round. So when a copy of an advertisement is written it has to bite. It should have that element of surprise and intrigue. Otherwise the reader/viewer would be saying “Yawn! How boring, tell me another thing!”

The head line “No Mamata for CPM in West Bengal” is a very good example. Mamta Banerjee is the maverick TMC leader who ended the very long 34 year CPM rule in West Bengal. Mamata is Hindi/Bengali means Love. So the word Mamta became a very good tool for a clever headline. Similarly Jayalalitha the AIDMK leader who defeated M. Karunanidhi of the DMK prompted one news reporter to pen the headline “Jayalalitha shows no Karuna” Karuna in Sanskrit/Tamil means mercy. The thumping win of AIDMK over DMK was cleverly captured in the headline.

Winking at a girl in darkness: Trying to market a product without advertising is like winking at a girl in darkness. A girl should be winked in broad daylight. Winking in day light could result in plethora of responses ranging from a spectrum of responses including total ignorance to a similar winking by the girl. But this has to be done in broad daylight. Winking in darkness is a futile exercise as it is not even noticed.