Thursday, December 20, 2007

The 2007 Marketing Maayaajaalam Awards

The 2007 Marketing Maayaajaalam awards for various categories in marketing and advertising have been announced. By me, of course!

…and the winners are…

Marketer of the Year

Maruthi Suzuki (For ramping up its image, literally, and growing into competing with the big boys viz., GM, Ford and Honda. First, from the small Alto to a redefined Zen growing into the superb Swift and now culminating into the sexy SX 4. The Maruthi men are back!)

Best Brand Launch of the Year

Sivaji (For spectacular hype, superlative build-up, smart distribution, slick presentation and superb packaging…. a tired and hackneyed story notwithstanding)

Best TV ad of the Year

The HDFC Prudential Campaign (If not for anything, at least for consistently building on a singular creative idea – Hold your head high up with pride)

Worst TV ad of the Year

Bingo (The guys at O&M who made those ads claim they attempted humour. In that case the Bingo ads win hands down in the ‘Sick Jokes’ category)

Best Baseline of the Year

Sivaji – The Boss (For capturing the essence of the film and its hero in two words. That the baseline proved yet again who the evergreen boss of commercial success in the Indian film industry is, is another matter)

Expected Success in 2008

Krd Rys (With increasing nuclear families, working wives and growing preference for healthy food, a smart idea from Hatsun Agro Foods)

Expected Failure in 2008

Dettol Herbal (Can Dettol and its inimitable hospital smell ever be herbal? Who are the geniuses in Reckitt Benckiser kidding?

I don’t expect you to agree with this list. Feel free to feedback. That’s the point of this blog!

And oh yes, here is wishing you a SUCCESSFUL 2008!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow...great way to end the year!! A great piece!!! So when are the awards being given away? :-) Well, just wanted to know your thoughts on the Ponds Miracle 7-day challenge(the wrinkle free concept). Could you throw some light on that?

Pooja said...

Excellent piece
Awards r always interesting...
Krd rice- a u'd be success of 2008- is that b'coz u take care of that brand??? U r a perfect marketer.
Anyway, wishing u & u'r krd rice a great success in 2008.

Anonymous said...

And yea...a happy new year to u too!

Ram Kasi said...

Hello sir,

My New year wishes.

I have read your post in march

http://marketingmaayaajaalam.blogspot.com/2007/03/just-screw-it.html

about the NIKE AD. I dont know whether you had a chance to see the top 10 ads of 2007, (by NDTV,All about ADs Programme) they declared this NIKE commercial as the #1. and the flim maker and the agency too won the award for creating such a master piece.

while watching that I thought of your post and thought of sharing that news with you..!!

Ram Kasi said...

Hello sir,

My New year wishes.

I have read your post in march

http://marketingmaayaajaalam.blogspot.com/2007/03/just-screw-it.html

about the NIKE AD. I dont know whether you had a chance to see the top 10 ads of 2007, (by NDTV,All about ADs Programme) they declared this NIKE commercial as the #1. and the flim maker and the agency too won the award for creating such a master piece.

while watching that I thought of your post and thought of sharing that news with you..!!

Ram

SatheeshKrishnamurthy said...

Nice to hear that the Nike ad won an award. But it would be even nicer to know what the ad did to the sales of Nike. I am reminded of something I read a few years ago: '33% of all those brands that won International awards for their path breaking advertising don't exist anymore'. 'Operation Success, Patient dead'!

Dinesh said...

Sir i wants to know what is mean by O&M in bingo.
Dettol can come with herbal products by different brand not in the same brand of Dettol, So that they can sustain in the market for sometime by seeing the consumer behaviour they can act accordingly. Is my thought is wrong or correct reply me sir.

SatheeshKrishnamurthy said...

O&M is the short form of Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency for Bingo. Secondly, yes Dettol should have come out with another name for the brand instead of extending the Dettol brand name.

Anonymous said...

Staying on with brand extensions, is Amway getting away with it because there are no real big players competing against it?

SatheeshKrishnamurthy said...

Maybe. Also, it would be interesting to know which Amway product sells well and which don't. Like it is for all brands, Amway too I am sure, stands for one thing only. For instance, Airtel could be selling landline connections, mobile connections, broadband etc., but Airtel, to the consumer, means just one thing....MOBILE. No wonder, Airtel sells more of its mobile connections than other products in its portfolio!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm I get it. Which means we would eventually see the downfall of Dove's haircare products launched by HUL in May 2007 simply because Dove for all of us is the bathing bar? So HUL has yet again made a mistake of putting their feet everywhere a la Lux shampoo?

liliandavid said...

I agree with what you said about the new "DETTOL" herbal TVC. People already have the perception the dettol is a medicine, a doctor's soap etc. I really amazed who gave such an idea for dettol. Instead they could have gone for a different brand name. Here also the brand recall value counts in which I believe dettol would only play the second or third fiddle after HAMAM, Medimix, Chandrika etc.

But there are certain exceptions to this rule. The best example that i can share is "HORLICKS" featuring the kids playing and singing " yepong-hopong-chapong ". Formerly horlicks was considered to be a health drink meant for patients in hospitals. Series of ads(vignettes)carried out by J.W.T led to this brand's repositioning success. Also the same was supported well by attractive packing and redesign.

Balaji said...

hi sir,
i just hv one small question...
wat happend to krd rice... it is no wr available in the market...also there is no ads...
i feel that it is a big success but only for a short period... wat's the actual picture behind it???
or they would hv made some line extension to make success in the future???

Balaji said...

sir eagerly waiting for ur reply.... pls sign in...

SatheeshKrishnamurthy said...

Krd Rys sold well initially and has slowed down a bit now....largely due to the rains initially and the mistaken notion among consumers that curd is not good to health when it is relatively cold. The company should and hopefully would start promotional activities again with the onset of summer.

Swetha Chawla said...

I second the awards you gave to various brands. Reading the comments I also thought of the saying while filmfare lifetime achievement award is given for a person that the person will die in a year. It had happened many times. Similarly, with Nike award winning case.

Anonymous said...

Dear Sir,
I heard that the dhoti brand "JANSONS" is coming up with ready made formal shirts and pants in their own brand and own exclusive Jansons store for their own products, Will it survive as they have the positioning of ehinic wears such as dhotis and lungis? I was wondering about this for a long time... Can I have the solution and justification for it...?