A blog by a copywriter from India about new and improved ways to communicate, be it through a better web site, logo, ad, SEM plan, billboard, viral film, SMS promotion, marketing strategy or television commercial.
Home of project world's worst call center worker.
"Is There A Santa Claus?" was the headline that appeared over an editorial in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the response of "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States
Big B. Shah Rukh Khan. Aamir Khan. Ranbir Kapoor. Sachin Tendulkar. M S Dhoni . Aishwarya Rai. Deepika Padukone . Kareena Kapoor. Priyanka Chopra. Blogging. Tweeting. Retweeting . Caller Tunes. T20. SMS Jokes. Pubbing. Pride. Candlelight vigil. Tapori.
Warning for feminists:
Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and other women acting in Indian film industry have a short shelf life. At Thirty-something, they are put out to pasture . Any poem about wonderful women acting in movies will not be considered as a classic and taught in Indian schools.
My favorite line: "Just remember, in the cosmic sense, everyone's a sensitive poet."
And if you have a writer’s block, curl your lip into a disdain fordysfunctional families (example kindly provided by Matt Groening ). Your creative juices (no preservatives added ) will flow.
Also at no cost a sensitive poet should ever expect empathy and compassion from other normal human beings (euphemism for "barbaric". In India , the euphemisms for anyone refusing to listen or read your poems are "uncivilized" , "Nazi" , "fascist" , "bloodthirsty" , "pessimist" and "cynic") . Here is a monstrosity of how a sensitive poet’s soul is annihilated:
Everybody's a star in this Aardman Animations Oscar-winner in which animals discuss life at the zoo. Accustomed to open spaces and sunnier climes, they comment on the accommodation, diet and the English weather. “Creature Comforts” tv commercials for Heat Electric. Moreover, throughout the Heat Electric tv spots, the creative team succeeded in crafting a consistently warm and cozy tone, which appropriately captured the warmth and homeliness of central heating. Circa 1990.
In an age of Andy Warhol’s “ everybody will be famous for 15 minutes”, conclusive answer to a general question - a sound bite - and the attempts to present a cheery spin by talking heads on a complex issue while the human bury their personal issues and problems with the issue. The series gently mocks the “staged” performance sometimes given by members of the general public when being interviewed for television vox-pops. In an ironic twist these tv commercials are better remembered than the original film that spawned them
Leonard Chershire Disability: Creature Discomforts
A series of four tv spots highlighting disability and featuring the voices of disabled people telling of their experiences premiered on ITV on Christmas Day 2007. In a review of Creature Discomforts, the author opens: "Can I ask you a question?" a young movie usher once asked a close friend of mine, who is permanently in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. "Do people like you ever get sexual urges?" "Why?" responded my friend, who has never suffered fools gladly. "Do you lose yours when you sit down?"
That's the kind of idiocy disabled people are forced to put up with on a daily basis, from ignorant questions and attitudes from society at large.
The PSAs challenges people to change the way they see disability and the characters are based on the unscripted voices of disabled people talking about the issues that affect their lives. A noteworthy feature in the first game of the series, ‘Flyzz’ featuring Callum The Chameleon, was that it carried an ‘audio only’ option, making it one of the few flash games that are accessible to the visually challenged. Do visit the Creature Discomforts website to discover more information on the characters, to see the ads in their other formats and for lots of other treats and extras.
This was conceived and directed by the genius, Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations featuring the voices of British non-actors in the same vein as the "man on the street" vox pop interviews. It was produced as part of a series called Lip Synch for Channel 4. The film won Nick Park the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1990.
The film shows various animals in a zoo being interviewed about their living conditions. These include turtles, a female gorilla, a family of polar bears, and a melancholic Mountain Lion who complains about the "lack of space" and the "grass with pollen that gives me hay fever every day!"
The brilliant dialogue was created by interviewing residents of a housing development, an old people's home and a family that lived in a local shop (the polar bears). Clay animation was then created that attributed the answers to zoo animals. One of the most popular characters was the Mountain Lion. He was in fact a Brazilian student who lived in a hotel and was talking about his own situation.
The characters' dialogue was obtained by taking tape recordings of everyday people talking about the comfort and benefits of the electrical appliances in their homes then using extracts of the soundtracks - complete with pauses, false starts, repetitions, hesitations and unscripted use of language (such as "easily turn-off-and-on-able"). The selected interviewees spoke in a range of down-to-earth regional accents.
Playing with dead insects is something normally excusable in children but weird in adults. Not necessarily when you consider the work of Swedish photographer, Magnus Muhr, who takes the carcasses of dead flies, lays them on paper and life through a few strokes of his pencil and gives them some dignity after dying.Magnus Muhr did not harm any flies for his work of art. Muhr's portfolio ranges from nudes and portraits to landscapes and nature. He regards his dead fly photography as his humorous work.
A moral question: Why is itokay for us to save and take care of dogs, cats, tigers, elephants ( and rightly so) but gleefully squash a bug? Thousand years ago, a great soul Mahavir Jain said thatall should avoid harming or killing any life. Even insects and microbes. Has anyone set up a society for prevention of cruelty to cockroaches or ants or earthworms?
“Points of View”, The Guardian, circa 1988. How refreshing in an era of political manipulation, subverted and slanted media and the decline of reason. When I first saw it a video (yes, I am that ancient!) of great tv commercials in the Nineties, the effect on me was stunning to say the least.
In an interview I read, John Webster, Boase Massimi Pollitt (BMP, later DDB London)was asked, “How did you get your idea for Guardian’s “Points of View” tv spot idea? “ He replied, “I normally never know how I come up with ideas but in this case Frank Budgen and I do know our inspiration. We had just seen Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” a few weeks ago and said, well, all we have to do is compress Kurosawa’s masterpiece into 30 seconds .”
Tribute to John Webster:
What marked out Webster's work was its humanity, his eye for human foibles, idiosyncrasies and telling detail. He was forever collecting chance remarks that had amused him, odd photographs, clips of film and music, all stored away for possible use.
John Webster preferred to work largely on his own but spent considerable time coaching youngsters, a role for which he was in much demand.
Dave Trott wrote in his obituary:
“Even as I'm writing this (obituary of John Webster ), I'm wondering what John would have thought of it . "It's a bit boring, isn't it? Can't you put some jokes in?".
But, as I say, John didn't want to impress anyone. He always told me what we did was trivial compared with important jobs, such as nursing or teaching. That sense of perspective gave him the clarity to be much more powerful and truly effective than the rest of us who take advertising too seriously.”
A couple of decades ago he bought a house in France which came with a tiny vineyard; he was proud of the wine he produced and sold - at ridiculously low prices - to his friends. He liked to point out that there were two ways you could go in life: you could go into advertising and work excessively long hours in a highly competitive environment, eventually having enough money to buy a small house in France. Or you could just be a French peasant and not bother with the other bit. ”
John Webster, 1934-2006, RIP. I never had the chance to meet him butI grew up with many of his creations.
Hello, I am Sunil (sshibad AT gmail.com). I provide creative solutions for brands, across traditional media, new media and interactive forms of communication.
I bring a lot of traditional agency experience to the table, and in my 20 years as a copywriter and creative director, I’ve developed a diverse portfolio of communication products. A lot of advertising, branding, corporate graphics, websites, social media marketing, and, of course, word of mouth and viral marketing.
Skype: sunilshibad
