Manmeet Sabharwal's Marketing Blog

Parle Agro had launched Hippo sometime back in 2009.Hippo is a brand of wheat munchies(snacks/chips).After launching Hippo back then,Parle Agro has come up with a TV commercial now in Feb 2010.

Snacks/Chips as a category has evolved a lot in past few years in terms of advertising.With the likes of Lays,ITC Bingo coming up with interesting ads,Hippo has joined the bandwagon(or the brandwagon).
The commercial is nice and features a satire on evil practices in general.With a Bollywood backdrop song,’Pyaar Baant te Chalo’.It ends with a saying that cause of every bad thing in the world happens because of hunger.So eat Hippo,fight hunger…

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Many a times branding,marketing and advertising might just not only be for profits,bottomlines,sales etc.It can also be for some cause.Aircel recently partnered with WWF for ‘Save Our Tigers’ social media campaign.I saw the ad for the campaign 2-3 days back and I just loved it.

It is in a form of simple but effective story.A cub is being shown alone waiting for its mother who might just not return from the forest.The number 1411 in the end leaves a mark.
Tiger is our national animal.It has been my favorite animal from the time i remember.Recently i went to Sanjay Gandhi National Park…

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Apple is back.Apple recently launched its new marvel named iPad.Apple has been famous to create categories for the consumer.First iPod(digital music),then iPhone(super smart phones) now iPad(category ??).
iPad is not a laptop,its not just an ebook reader,its not a phone,its not just a music player,its just as Apple calls it the iPad.
I own an iPod Touch,the first of such black,single button smart devices by Apple.I am happy with it and use it to the fullest.When i see an iPhone,it just looks the same,same look and feel,same functionality only that it can be used to make calls.
Now when i saw iPad on…

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There was a time when phone meant a landline handset lying in a corner of your house.Service,network were terms not heard of.Over the years the things have changed drastically and today we have dozens of new mobile players fighting for your personal handset .
Now the consumer is not restricted to just an Airtel or a Vodafone but he/she has choices.In recent past many new players have entered the market with a bang.
TATA Docomo,Aircel,Virgin,MTS entered the market in recent past (2008-2009) and gave a consumer the ‘choice’.The price wars started.1p/sec,1/2p/sec etc etc were terms used in daily conversations.
Now yet again a new player…

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PAL(Premier Automobiles Limited) has decided to make a comeback.PAL as a company has a long history in India.Their Padmini(Popularly known as Fiat),NE etc were part of Indian roads not so long ago,but today only cities like Mumbai have a PAL product on roads that too in a form of Taxi.
In my last post on PAL,I had discussed how PAL had caused poor brand image for Fiat in India which is still bothering Fiat a lot.But what about PAL as a brand ?
Where were they ? What were they doing all these years ?
I don’t know about that but what we…

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So here it is finally,The Google Phone.Google has named it Nexus One.From past one or two days i was seeing this on many Google ads on different sites including mine.
So whats the offering ? Is it just another ‘me-too’ touch phone in the market or is it THE phone we had been waiting for ?
If it has Google’s name attached to it,it ought to be good.The initial reviews are good.

Analysts say the phone(to be sold directly to consumers) is not expected to dramatically alter the carrier-hardware vendor relationship the industry relies on, nor is it likely to yield a revenue…

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Nirma is a heritage brand which has transformed constantly.It has been one of the earliest branded detergent powder in india.As a product it kept on improving in response to the competition and changing customer preferences.Most of us can relate to the ‘NIRMA’  jingle very well.

This jingle and positioning has been nearly constant over the years.Nirma as a brand has enjoyed good position in brand awareness and recall.In recent years it has faced a lot of competition.From Wheel to Tide,the list is long.

Now few days back,a new Nirma ad has been released.It has the same jingle(unchanged) but the way it is…

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eBay recently came out with their new ad for india.First time when i saw the ad, i just could not understand it.
Both the actors in the ad were also not quite familiar.I somehow identified Dr Narottam Puri.I remember watching some of his sports shows on Doordarshan(DD).The other lady Mrs Komal G B Singh is also a DD veteran.

There are more in the series,you can watch them here.
The ad campaign is different and breaks away from the clutter.It has a retro look and feel.It reminds people of good old DD days with famous DD personalities.It also deliver the ebay message-Safety + Security+…

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Yesterday i read that Accenture has snapped all its ties with Tiger Woods.He had been the brand ambassador of Accenture from past 6 years.He had become the face of Accenture consulting.’High Performance Delivered’ as tagline was used in the ad campaigns and Tiger was shown solving his golfing problems in the same way Accenture solves its client problems.
Now after a tornado struck Tiger Woods in his personal life and his image has taken a beating,Accenture and other firms associated with him have either snapped ties or are thinking of doing it.

But then there are firms like EA Sports and Tag…

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Recently Dish TV launched two new ads featuring Shahrukh Khan.Both Ads have emotional touch to them.Dish TV is a brand which keeps on coming with new ads very now and then.
In past few months there have been at least 3 to 4 ads featuring SRK.In all past ads Dish basically banked on the same tagline and positioning,”Dish TV is the biggest DTH service in India,No 1″ .SRK was used to deliver this line in some manner.
But these 2 ads are totally different.The ads are a bit like Airtel Ads.A bit emotional and in upper league.Dish TV ads were never in the that league…

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