One thing in world that I enjoy doing the most is Watching Cricket live on TV. Unlike many others, to me, cricket means not just a GAME but indeed a LIFE- A wanna be profession. And as you all know- as a MARCOM professional, I cannot withstand the tendency to attend and abbreviate each ADVERTISEMENT (AD) that gets played in between and thus ensuring a real band for the buck for my time spent on watching Cricket. I don’t know which inspires what, but I end-up reading equally into the mindset of the players as much as I do with each AD I get to see.

So, courtesy IPL-2, I want to hit the circuit with my analysis on one of the most popular and promising business segment today "The cellular companies-- MOBOs".

Firstly, being a citizen of India- The most Populous Democracy of the world and an acute and fast growing economy of the world- a mobile phone is much more than a necessary commodity. To put this in other (business) words- A lucrative and a most promising commercial market housing the people with world's fourth largest Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Which inevitably makes India as the Darling of the World's Marketers, especially, the mobile phone makers and network carriers, because, all you have to do is- selling to consumers who not only needs it but also capable of owning it. In Dhirubhai Ambani's words - Har Aadmi ke pass Mobile.

So what it translates to the AD world is- you have to sell your message to each and every Indian who is a current and prospective owner of a mobile phone. So, the positioning has to be a very clear and distinct that appeal to everyone in the target market.

Let’s look at the Positioning of the FOUR major Mobile Service Providers of India- Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, and TATA Indicom

Considering the significant number of prospective buyers in India already own mobile phones- now the objective is to "1) Educate them what all they can do with their mobile 2) To sell various Value Added Services which are designed keeping the individual users in mind.

Vodafone- Ever since, Hutchinson Essar has forayed into India, they have always been on the threshold of Creative Advertising Campaign for their products and services. They have handled the Brand identity Transitioning very professionally when they changed from Orange to Pink (when Orange quits Hutch Alliance) and Pink to Red (when Vodafone took over the Hutch).
If you still remember one of the early ads of Hutch with a kid and dog- Wherever you go our network follows, one of the most successful and creative AD campaigns. Both the caption and taking has been a smash hit, as even today, am sure you hear the tagline being quoted somewhere or the other. The sequel campaign with the tagline "Happy to Help" was again set the perfect example of MOBO Branding.

And today, Vodafone chooses the IPL-2 as a platform to launch it's new Brand Identity- The Zoo Zoo ADs. The objective here is to- carry the uniqueness of Hutch ADs yet establish Vodafone as an Independent Brand.

From a Vodafone's perspective a long term investment in building the Brand equity. I believe, the Zoo Zoos is a SUPER HIT idea. The taking of the ADs has been very simple, witty and clean. The Zoo Zoo characterization has been wonderfully hilarious as its tickling the funny bone of each soul that watching the AD. I am absolutely confident that this will boost the numbers by multiple folds in future.

Airtel- This time the story has been the other way round. Airtel for sure is the First Choice for customers when in terms of its connectivity, wide reach and customer service. But right from the day-1, they lacked the creativity in their advertisements & promotional tactics courtesy to their Fuzzy positioning.

This time, they hit the deck hard one more time with same (age) old couple- Madhavan and Vidya Balan. The ADs have passed their prime and now appear rather disgusting and distasteful. I don’t still know why still to bank only the On-Screen chemistry of the (Not So Young) couple to sell your message. Even if you want to do so, why the hell Maddy and Vidya, you have much better looking couple than Maddy and Vidya in Bollywood today, who recently did a lot of PR investment for gossiping around their affairs, Ranbir and Deepika, Kareena and Saif or even the forever young Bips and John. Even if you did so- why the hell only two messages (one message actually)... pyar mein Cut backs nahin hona chahiye, Pyar mein rukavat nahin hona chahiye.

My dear friend, please wake-up. Maddy and Vidya are no more a selling combo. And I am sure people are enough botched with the Tongue-in-Cheek comments and reactions between this couple. And you pouring such money for these ads in a prime time and high profile tournament like IPL is such a waste.

Idea- After running a very emotional and quite a successful campaign built around "What an idea Sirji" idea is now banking on the craze that built around the league stage cricket in India. Sure you want to make the most of being the prime sponsors of Mumbai Indians, but unfortunately no one in Mumbai Indians has the Charisma to carry and present the Brand in its perfect form. Besides, Mumbai Indians themselves looking very tardy this time round in IPL. I come back to basics "Don’t Lay all your Eggs in one basket".

TATA Indicom- What will Hello Hello do it your brand that Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Trisha (south states) couldn't do. I think again the history repeats, they actually claiming something which eventually they do not have, the network connectivity. Right from the day one- Tata Indicom failed to choose/convey what their target market is, and what their selling proposition is. I am not sure how the newly acquired Network coverage Infrastructure concept Works for them, when there is already an established opinion about their dormant connectivity. Tata Indicom although started the same time as others, somehow not captured the reasonable market share partly owing to its CDMA technology and not having the flexibility and portability of in-hand instrument.

That’s it for now, More later
Srikrishna Chintalapati

It is not a great movie for sure... Neither an interesting movie nor a rich movie!

But, it’s a movie that really moved me.. it thrown few emotions, evoked my ego, gave few alarming calls, caught me surprised, got me nostalgic and overall it set the tone for my journey ahead.. as a father, as a learner, as a teacher... enduknate jeevitha lo chala dooram vellali kanuka (as I do have a long way to go)

I will be quoting few quotes from the movie here in Telugu (with due translation in English) such that the theme and tempo are not lost.

The movie starts, steers and stops in an absolutely mesmerizing, picturesque and tranquil backdrop. The director calls its Ooty, and the lead role of the movie (Prakash raj) is a 50 year old estate owner married to Anu (Aishwarya) and has a cute daughter Abhi (eventually becomes Trisha)..Absolutely happy and joyous family with no troubles, hardships whatsoever .. one unique thing about this movie is ..everyone who is shown in the movie is good by heart, has no bad motives, no betrayal.. the taking of the movie is as soft and confortable as a stroll in the smooth turf on a cool evening with both hands in your pocket.

The movie begins as the lead role having a long quite morning walk, he is seemingly happy, stable and making the most of his every minute. There he finds Jagapati babu entertaining his (perhaps a two year old) daughter, pretending that he is as active as her and quitely accepting and succumbing to the acts of the aging body. The silent admirer and a felicitous spectator of this episode, Prakash Raj has a piece of advice to the tired man " ee vayasulo kashtamganu bharamganu anipinche ee panulu naa vayasu vachaka andamaina anubhavalu ga migili potayi" .. "these acts of strain and pain that you do today to entertain your daughter, will be left as sweet memorable moments of joy down the meory line, as you reach my age"...

"nenu ippatike jeevitham lo chala dooram vachesanu, kanee naa chinni abhi ni na chetulaloki modati sari teesukunna roju inka naaku gurthe, leta gulabi rangulo tana padalu inka naa kalla mundu kadultunnayi, gata jeevitham anta ninna, monna jariginatlu vundi" he looks back into his life. (although I came a long way into my life, I still remember the first day when I took my daughter into my hands, her feet as a pink as the soft leaves of rose are still in my eyes, it appears as if all this had happened just few days ago, as of yesterday)

The lead character takes this man through the early days of his daughter, how he had slogged to get her admission into school. The day when he leaves his daughter for the first time at school gate, and watched her go into the school, am sure it leaves a message for every young father. That will be the day, for your little one, to embark on a whole new journey on their own. From today have don’t have your full time visibility and support but a whole new bunch of little companions wearing the same dress as them and their fresh, little and impeccant baby steps to count on.

Another message from the movie is - As the baby turns to kid and kid turns as child and the child turns as an individual during the course of life, each of this development is packaged along with an unpleasant surprise more often SHOCK to you, the father. As narrated and replicated in the movie "when Abhi wants a bicycle and drive to her school on her own, he realizes she is no longer the kid, when she complains him of a love proposal from a fellow student, he understands she is no longer a child, but now a cute, attractive piece of material that has everything to steel the attention, when she explains him of her desire to do MBA in Delhi, he translates that it is a determined act of a grown up Individual, a quintessential contemporary woman. Who is, in actuality, his OWN little daughter!

But the movie fails to carry this essence as it progresses, the matured man, who can very rightfully advices his daughter to deal with an aspirant of her love, eventually backs out when she speaks of her love and desire to get married to the sardarji. And it was unnecessarily diverted into the elegance of sardars, dominance of moms, generosity of grooms etc .. in the end it comes back to give yet another meaningful message "when you saw your daughter/son, without whom there is nothing left in your life, is now loving someone as if it is the ONLY thing left in life, for sure, it hurts your ego. But you have to realize and internalize that this is a natural phenomena in the regular course of life. I re-iterate “Every development in the life of your little one is pre-packaged with an unpleasant surprise".

I am sure all you young fathers admit this- One fine day a cute little one from nowhere has made you a father. And keeps you immersed in a whole new world of excitement where every day is a new discovery. One fine day, you will discover the gap between the fast aging lifestyle of yours and the hyper dynamic evolutions of your little one. From now on, every day is a new discovery as well, but this time it just the other side of the wind.

And finally, I want to wrap-up quoting an exceptional reality of life from the movie. Oka kuthuru puttinappudu, oka tandri kuda pudatadu, konta mandi tandrulu kothurito pate perigi peddavu taru, kontha mandi peraga kunda alage vundi potaru". When a daughter is born, a father is born as well, few dads will grow along with their daughter, but few don’t.

In addition to watching and blogging about cricket, I do couple of other things to make a life. I am a Marketing Communications Professional; I live and breathe advertisements, creative campaigns, chasing customers, stakeholders and many other things that connect the entire gamut of Marketing & Communications to business.
I always get tempted to write something or share something as and when I get to see some good/creative ad some or the other uncreative piece of work that turns everyone off. Also, want to pen something about sensations, important happenings be it Slumdog millionaire or Elections 2009 or Traffic in Hyderabad.

http://whatanideasirjee.blogspot.com/ will be the place where I regularly post al my noncricketing blogs. Nevertheless, the same blog is replicated here with the Label "Generic"

Henceforth, I will be using this medium to air my views. My reviews on some of the ads we get to see everyday .. movie reviews .. So as usual .. tuned in and do post your viewes and comments ..we take it from there .....

Just to give a recap (for myself) ...here are the good bad and ugly ads I have come across .. when I get time .. I will surely post more on these ..
Good Ads:

1) Fight for kisses-- Gillette
2) What an Idea sirji-- Idea Cellular and Taj mahal Symbol of Love ..
3) hawells, wires that doesnt catch fire
4) Mentoplus ad .. kahn ja rahe ho sit down .. yehe aam zindagee
5) Airtel-- a kid crossing borders to play football

bad Ads:Ads some one can do more but its no upto the mark

1) Vodafone-- ab sab ko batayein
2) Max Newyork life- retirement AD.. Ab to tumhare liye joyo yaar
3) SBI-- a Banker for every India

Ugly ads:
1) Airtel series of hurrounding ads with madhavan and vidya balan ..it really used to suck
2) Sprite pee sprite ..
3) IPL ad for Kolkata knight rides .. Ouch what did you jusy do??

will post something omore at a later date ..