Nescafe India Ads

Nescafe has signed bollywood heartthrob Deepika Padukone as their Brand Ambassador in India and has launched a series of advertisements featuring her and the actor Purab Kohli. Till now, they have released two ads, showing the story from the boy's perspective and from the girl's perspective.

From the Boy's Perspective

While entering his flat the guy notices that Deepika is his new neighbour. He's quite excited as well as a litle nervous. He thinks that from then on they would be meeting quite regularly. But, then he thinks what if he's shooed away by his gatekeepers or what if Deepika smashes the door to his face. He concludes that she mixes with a different crowd and probably he does not have any chance. Then he sips on the black coffee and we hear "The bold taste of Nescafe, Switch on the best in you". Then he decides that she's his new neighbour and he's going to ask her out for coffee. He darts across his flat, opens the door, and the screen says, "The action continues" with one cup of hot coffee.

From the Girl's Perspective

Deepika, while entering her flat notices a cute guy residing in the flat opposite to her. She also notices that he has a badminton racket with him. Being the daughter of the Badminton Legend herself (and quite a good player) she thinks to invite him for a badminton game. But then she hesitates thinking that he may turn out to be a psycho stalking her everywhere with a badminton racket or his whole clan might come over. The media might also become too interested. Then she sips on the black coffee and we hear "The bold taste of Nescafe, Switch on the best in you". Then she thinks that she's thinking of 'filmy cautions' and decides to ask him for a badminton game. She darts across her flat, opens the door, and the screen says, "The action continues" with one cup of hot coffee.

In general, the ads are superbly made. Both the ads are about 50 sec long and the protagonists are looking really good, be it the innocent looks of the guy or cute looks of the girl. The star value actually catches audience attention and the brand is shown only towards the end. But the audience would remain calm, listening to the story telling. Picturisation is good and so is the background score, catchy and melodious with a little playful touch.

The ads are clearly targeted to the youth as Deepika is the star attraction but the emotional connection which the ad highlights will appeal to all age groups. It is trying to convey that the 'bold taste' of Nescafe urges people to think straight and not too much into things, urges to 'go out and get it'. Keep aside all prejudices and doubts and 'switch on the best in you'.

Quite a shift from its regular ad connecting a morning with a cup of hot coffee, 'the taste that gets you starting' with no popular public face. Moreover, it showed regular black coffee and not the frothy espresso with milk. It did not show the container or the word 'classic' appended generally at the end of Nescafe. It did not stress on the rich aroma or the purity of beans used. Probably, Nescafe is trying to project that it also makes strong coffee and trying to address that market, the niche once targeted by Bru.

Anyway, the packaging is good and am eagerly waiting to see the rest of the ads.

Uninor Ad

Uninor, the JV of Norway's Telenor and India's Unitech Limited is going full steam at this moment amidst speculations that Telenor is looking to sell off its 67.25% stake in the company. It has already rolled out its services in 13 circles and hopes to achieve EBITDA break-even in another 3 years. The new television ads that the company has launched is totally in sync with its policy of capturing the mass.

The ad features a man with his girlfriend talking to her sister and brother-in-law over the phone. The man is seen grumbling and ruing that his girlfriend will exhaust the paltry balance that he has. Moreover, its the month end, and so he's a bit tied up with money. But, fortunately, he has a uninor connection that gives him discount and so he won't be 'abused' (joote nehi khane honge) by his girlfriend.

The picturisation is a little dull, but the content and its subtle humour are quite good. The company essentially talks about giving power to individuals, highlighted by its tag line, 'Ab Mera Number Hai' (Now, it's my number). The audience would be able to connect with the ad in atleast two places, making two ends meet when it's a month end and a guy's helplessness when it comes to dealing with his girlfriend! The length of the ad(32 sec) is just enough not to bore us, because a long ad with no star attraction fails to catch audience attention for long. It also tries to catch the audience by using the magic word 'discount' which the Indians absolutely love to have, be it in anything.

Overall, I'll say it's a nice ad and it succeeds on the two most important occasions, catching attention and driving the brand name through the ad through the proposed value addition Uninor provides.

YAPPE !!!

Right now, my END term exams are going on and those of you who are thinking that I am blurting out some kind of sound in relation to my good performance in exams, I would like to mention that appearences can be deceptive. YAPPE stands for Yet Another Poor (or Pathetic) Performance in Exam. Like I have said, that I would be using this platform to channel my frustration, burdening others with my misery! (But I hoped that I did not have to use this so often!)

Today was my stats exam and those of you who had read my earlier post know that I suck in stats! End term wasn't much different. However, I really had put in much effort this time, paining myself overnight to understand the concepts But curse my ill luck, that the area where I had little clue about things was in abundance in the paper. Almost everything has started to become a nightmare now and believe me I am trying very hard to wake up. I just pray that I somehow pass my end term getting the bare minimum 4.5 gpa.

Right now, I am so pissed off with myself, with my marks, that even if a beautiful girl approaches me, not only I might shoo her away, but I might scare the hell out of her as well. 

Am feeling very low, very sorry and almost hating myself for allowing to end up in such a pitying state of affairs! I have to scrap for marks to hope to just make it to the other side.

WTF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 Days away from END Term

I am wondering what terms to use to state the present condition explicitly, common terms like confused, Frustrated, Dumbfounded, Anguished or exotic terms like infuriated, exasperated, perplexed, garbled, befuddled (Do not worry, I have checked the meanings of these words before typing ! :P).

End term is just 4 days away and am completely in a soup. To give you an idea (that won't change your life though!) I have 6 subjects to study for this exam. Among the three so called 'globe' subjects like Marketing, Organizational Behaviour  and Environmnent and Development, I have not started with the last two. Among others like Financial Accounting, Statistics and Microeconomics (I know, they sound really scary!) the former, I have lost almost all hope. I pray that I would be given some marks for the approach, as I do not hope to balance my debit and credit side! Micro and Stats I thought would be less harsh, but that's a thing of the past now. Tomorrow, we have a stats quiz, and I started with Estimation and it came down uopn me so badly, that I had to vent out all the accumulating emotions of desperation.

feeling a little better now !! Lets get back to books! Have to pass !!!