Brand Equity VS. Celeb Power

Hmmmm... It's 4 'o' clock in the Morning, and I am still Up... Not at all feeling Sleepy... So, while sipping a glass of Maaza, I thought of calling My fiancé, who is in Japan, to talk to him, "just Like that"... And Now That I am Done with it... I watch my empty glass, wondering why I had Maaza, and Not Mountain Dew, which was there in My Refrigerator, along with the Bottle of Maaza... Let me Put up a Question to, you guys...


COKE / THUMBS UP / MIRINDA / SPRITE / SLICE / 7UP --- Which one out of these would you drink...?

Will It be COKE- Because it had a strong list of endorsers, From Hrithik Roshan To Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, or even if it is because of Mr. Perfectionist Amir Khan...

Would you choose THUMBS UP- Because, you think, it's a Macho Drink, as you see Akshay Kumar Performing stunts for that single Bottle of Thumbs Up... 

Would You Take MIRINDA- Because it is being endorsed by Southern Beauty Asin... And She encourages you to get into insane acts by saying "Paagalpanti Bhi Zaroori Hai"...

Would It be SPRITE- Because, now it would bring you the University of Freshology, and actually tells you how to gawk at other girls in front of your girlfriend... 

Will it be Katrina's Aamsutra, that would entice you to pick SLICE...

Do You Think, 7UP will stand as a looser on your List of Drinks, Because, Once Upon a Time, It had Mallika Sherawat endorsing the Brand and Now all it has is its All Time Loyalist "Fido-Dido"...




SO IS IT ONE OR MORE OF THE ABOVE GIVEN CRITERIA, MAKE YOU CHOOSE YOU DRINK, OR IS IT BECAUSE OF THE VERY SIMPLE REASON- WHATEVER TASTES GOOD...!!! BASICALLY, THE PRODUCT...!


Here, Very Simply, we are talking about the BRAND POWER and the CELEBRITY POWER...!!!
We can see a lot of endorsement Deals Happening from Past few Years... We see The Already,  Richie-Rich Celebs Making BIG BUCKS--Getting Richer Day By Day...
But The Question, That Still remains unanswered is... How effective is the Celeb Face in a STORY BOARD of a TVC (Television Commercial)...???


There is a pOSItive imPacT of Celebrities endorsements on the Aam Aadmi and Also the Manufacturers:

• Instant BRAND Awareness and BRAND Recall.
• Adda New Dimension to BRAND IMAGE.
• BRAND Popularity

But We also have a nEgAtivE IMpACt on the Celeb Endorsing a Particular Product: 

• For E.g.  Amitabh Bachchan endorses "Navratan Oil"... Now, Do you really Think, That Amitabh Bachchan would actually be using that same Oil, for Himself...

• Let Me Quote another E.g. False Claims By Celebs... When Sachin Tendulkar endorses "BooST", where he says: "Boost is the Secret of My Energy"... What Do You think...? What eXtra do you get in Boost, that you Dont get in Horlicks, Complan or Bournvita...? Boost is NO Secret of any Energy...

• Celebrities Image affects Brands in a Big way... E.g. Why Sania Mirza was dropped from Sprite...? It's Because, a major fall could be seen in her Tennis Rankings... 

E.g. Why couldn't we see Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor in the Youngistan Ad much... It was all Because of the Controversies surrounding them and Eventually, The Break-Up... Ruined the Entire Plan of Cashing in, on "Deepika-Ranbir" duo...

• Another problem, Celebrities endorsing too many brands, that leads to confusion... I was reading this report: "Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has endorsed multiple brands like Pepsi, Mirinda, ICICI, BPL, Parker pens, Nerolac, Dabur, Reid & Taylor, Maruti Versa, Hajmola, Tide, Cadbury and a few social messages. It has worked in some cases, while in some cases it has not. Incase of Nerolac Paints, which was endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan, around 80% of the respondents when asked to associate Bachchan with any paint, did so with Asian Paints, which is the biggest competitor of Nerolac"... Now, Do You understand my Point...?

We have had so many Ads in Past and even now, that register in people's mind just because of Jingles, Visual Appeal or Products USP...

From Past: Do You Remember Nerolac Song: "Jab Ghar ki raunaq Badhani ho, Deewaron ko jab Sajaana Ho, NEROLAC...! NEROLAC...!" Now, that Jingle is something, that I can still Hum... 

Do You Remember Titan Piano Tune... Hear it...!!! I can still feel the Piano Playing the Titan Track in my ears...

And How Can you Forget "Humara Bajaj- Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasveer"... I get Goose-pimples, as I get Nostalgic... My Father took me for a round in the Colony before I used to leave for my school, every day... Those small little things, brought smile to our faces...

And now talking about, current Ads... Not very Old... We have Chloromint Ad... No Celebrity-No Big Budget... The Ad clicked because of a simple Line "Bhaiyya Hum Chloromint kyon khaate hain--- Dubbara mat Puchhna"...

And Why Do you Think, we Like the Advertisement of Happydent White... No Bollywood Star...!!! It's all about the Visual Appeal...

HDFC BANK's AD is a very Low Key AD... It hit's your Emotional Quotient... A girl Cutely asking her Dad "What do Astronauts do...?" and How does her father intend to save money for her studies... 

Wasn't it cute...? Well... And the Point is ... It does registers in your Mind...

Let me wrap it up here, by saying: "Whether Celebrity endorsement has a pOsitiVe or a NegatiVe impact on the brand" is a debate that is open to interpretation. But till the time the corporate world continues to foot fancy bills of celebrity endorsers and till consumers continue to be in awe of the stars, the party is not likely to break up."

COME BACK SOON :(

NISHANT-ADITI

My world has stopped, since the time You boarded the Flight,

Clock Tick-Tocks, but for me, The Time has stopped...

I do bathe, Brush my teeth, Comb my Hair, But Have not really Dressed up, Since The Time You boarded the Flight,

I Laugh, I cry, I blush, I Scream, But it's all meaningless...

I see People all around, But Still feel Lonely in that Crowd, Since The Time You boarded the Flight,

It rains, It Shines, But For me the Time is all the Same- A long Dark Night...

Crazy, Frustrated, Lonely, Sad- All Synonymous to My Name, Since The Time You boarded the Flight,

Happy and Jolly is what I crave for my Definition to be...

Come soon, Its been a Pretty Long week, Since The Time You boarded the Flight,

My Life needs Your Nurturing, Your Presence...

Our Giggles, Our Madness, Our Moments, is what I miss the most, Since The Time You boarded the Flight,

Want It all back, So come Back soon, and give me a new Lease of Life...

"Saanu Ikk Pal Chaein Na Aawe- Sajna Tere Bina |

Saada Kaliya Jee Nahin Lagda- Sajna Tere Bina || "

BREAKING NEWS Or Making News ???

Well... Yes...!!! Have been watching this News Channel from Past Few Days.. where these Channel People Have roped in some Item Galz... well not to perform an Item number but, to Comment on the Intricacies of Cricket... Yes..!! I know Its not Shocking... Because, we have been seeing this almost on every news channel--- Irrelevant People being roped in for Some Crucial Discussions...


Here, The Role of TV Media is Very clear- To Break News and also give Analysis... Say, when we talk about cricket: we would expect a good Panel of Ex-Cricketers, Coaches, Aspiring Cricketers... But I have been seeing, the Item Gal who has been Roped in to put some serious Questions to the Guest, who come as Ex-cricket Player... or a Cricket coach... Now the Real Question is: Would you be interested in watching Beauty without Brains...??? I mean, The Leg-work is being done by some other Journo of the channel... and the Questioner is handed over to That Pretty Thingie, before every episode, who is either co-hosting the show or is present as a panel guest... Not even the Producers can say... What has she been roped in for...?? To Break News for Public Interest, To make News for Channel's Interest (TRP game), or to Display Their Beauty for their Own Interest (PR exercise for one's self)... It is little difficult to say... Why do these channels waste there News Anchors on these king of Funny Shows... These News Casters can be put to some different and Important Show... They just look Like "Actor in Supporting Role"... My Father could not understand wether the Item Gal is About to take a Break, or Doing a Ramp walk...? My mother could not understand the need of those skimpy outfits, where the gal can sport the Indian Cricket Jersey, with a pair of Nice Denims... But How can we Forget, that is what the are being paid Hefty amount for--- Skin Show... Ooh La La...


In The name of reality show in that Particular News Channel--- You see two Item Galz contesting for the World Cup Trophy--- It claims to be a Reality Show on Cricket...Whenever there will be India’s match they will be given cricket related tasks.  But As usual it is full of Filth, Scripted Controversies, Hooliganism... What are these Kind of Channels upto...? No... really...!!! They Donot want to focus on the Plight of Common Man with the Arrival of BUDGET 2011--- But they want to show, Aam Janta Can save Money **equal to ** the cost of 12 Rasgullaz... and Yess... We have Anchor eating Rasgullas on the Show... Okay, we agree... The Channel is trying to be Creative... But With the Inflow of Creativity, there Should be an Inflow of Content as well...

Where do we have the Hard Hitting Subjects Related to the Budget 2011...??? Viewers would really want to understand the detailed Analysis on the Budget--- What for Investors this time?--- No Call was Taken on Fuel Policy, Disinvestment, Fiscal Deficit, Inflation Management etc etc... So instead of Making news---Its time for the channels to Break News...


Instead of Telling us which Bollywood Celebrity charges the most for a movie; Tell us the Strategy to deal with the Black Money Menace... Instead of Giving us the numbers and Statistics on the Indian Economy and its growth; Show us the Development taking Place in the interiors... Instead of showing us the Babez commenting on the Cricket Matches; Let the experts speak on what went wrong in the match and what can be used as advantage for next coming ups...


It's high time that the Channels understand their Standing in Aam Janta's Life... And also the role they Play in People's Life... TV Media will have to take some ownership of their acts and will have to behave responsibly. 

Why Is Happiness; Relative ?

At the very Beginning, I would clearly state, that, Happiness is Relative, if not always, then... Most of the time... Now, what do I really mean, when I say Relative Happiness...??? Let me give you a clear picture by citing an example... I was in 5th Grade of my school... One day, I saw, my class-mate using a very fancy Pencil-box... I went home I asked my Mother to buy me the same kind of Pencil Box. Not Because I needed one, but because one of my class-mates had it... and after seeing that I wanted one too. Now That is what you call a Relative Happiness... As I grew up, I started seeing a Larger Picture of Relative Happiness... When I went to college, I saw my college-mate buying the same bag (that I bought just few days ago) from the same shop, because she wanted something like what I bought for my self... When I started working, I saw a BIG example of Relative Happiness... I saw one of my colleagues asking for a Raise from her Boss, not because she thought that she deserved it, but because, the other employee, who was on the same post as of her, was getting more than her... Now that is what we call the Extremes of Relative Happiness...

So the Big Question that still remains unanswered is Why Is Happiness; Relative? I believe that it is based on one Postulate- i.e. Happiness results from Comparisons... And then with Happiness comes, Contentment... When your need is fulfilled then there is Happiness... But when you compare your Quality of Life with someone and if satisfied, that gives you contentment... Relative Happiness is the evil which evokes your negative side... It leads you to compare your needs with some XYZ... and then force you to find Happiness in other person's needs and desires...

Why cant we just be happy with what we have and desire for what We really want to have in our Wishlist...? That is something we really need to see within ourselves... What are we really looking for...? Happiness and Contentment from within or Relative Happiness...?