b r a n t s

There was an article recently at PSFK, which, in addition to the impending data explosion, also talks of the need for brands to invest in technology to mine, analyse and identify changing consumer needs and opportunities. Though probably, at a later stage, the automatic ’sensors’ mentioned in the article would beat the self-expression media [...]

The control a brand has, or rather the lack of it, was evident in two examples I saw recently. Both became viral, one at a very small level, and the other, a huge global one. You must’ve guessed the second one easily enough. Meanwhile, the first was ‘Bros Icing Bros‘ and linked to the Smirnoff [...]

The Pepsi Refresh project is something I keep bumping into, inside this blog, as well as conversations outside. I admit to a bias towards it, because I somehow sense a sincerity in its approach. Some time back, Surekha shared with me a document on which we debated a bit. From what I’ve been reading, Pepsi [...]

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write about a shiny new toy here, but I believe we now have a service that can break the stranglehold of the holy trinity of Facebook, Google, Twitter – on this blog. Say hi to Foursquare. Towards the second half of last year is [...]

Its ironic that I have to start the post this way, but
Disclosure: I work with The Times Group
There was some amount of Twitter buzz a couple of days ago on the article carried in the (city edition) Times about Arindam C’s new book selling a lakh of copies in 10 days. This also [...]

You know its summer when you see the various soft drinks launching their ’season collection’. Coke, Pepsi, Thums Up, Mirinda and Sprite have all started bombarding the channels with their respective ads. Meanwhile, I was really surprised to know that Sprite is now the #2 soft drink brand in the country after Thums Up, the [...]

While the recession hits the economies worldwide, the cola giants have been trying their bubbly best to get the fizz back into the lives of their target audience, through hope and optimism campaigns.
Pepsi began proceedings with its new logo, accompanied by a tagline “Every generation refreshes the world”. You can catch an entire set of [...]

So, after 5 months of work, pepsi has finally come out with its logo. The new logo is supposed to be a ‘quantum leap’ in positioning and defining Pepsi as a cultural leader. The intent, I feel, is right, if we can go by the following words from Frank Cooper, Pepsi’s VP-portfolio brands, “We felt [...]

There are a couple of Citibank ads that started appearing late last year. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere on the net, finally got one of the storyboards here.
This one shows a ‘home’ scenario where a woman complains to her husband about how his brother (Amar) has brought his financial planner to meet their father. The husband [...]

Remember the fun we used to have with the Sprite vs Mountain Dew which used to be so entertaining -  the ‘I want to do’ version that Sprite did in response to ‘do the dew’, in addition to the various fwds it had spawned from ‘Mount and Do’ to ‘Brokeback Mountain – Do the Dude’? [...]