Dont buy Vehicle in December

Dear readers,

Automobile companies are coming with so many offers in the month of December, and lure people to buy vehicles during this period.

If you're planning to buy a vehicle in December, here's an advice: DONT BUY IN DECEMBER

The reason is because of resale value.
A vehicle registered on Jan 1st 2007 will have much more resale value than the vehicle registered on Dec 31st 2006. Because, first one is a 2007 Model, while the later one is 2006 Model. So its always better to wait for few more days and buy in January.

As far as possible try to get the vehicle registered in Jan, but buy it in December prices.

If you do not wish to sell the vehicle in future at all then this factor can be ignored.

Merry X'mas and new year wishes...

Volvo-I steer

Adding to what Raveesh has said, Volvo is another brand which's become a product itself.
I felt I've more to write on this hence wrote a separate post instead of commenting to what raveesh had written.

Volvo Buses-Another classic example of brand becoming product.

Volvo buses has redefined luxury. Priced at above Rs 60 lakh, alomst twice the nearest competetion, the Vovlo coaches have become a favourite among travellers, though the fare is two times other coaches. The patented body of Volvo, the low centre of gravity which results in greater stability, the 7 litre rear engine (push is easier than pull), the smooth suspension, huge luggage space (can accomodate bikes as well). to name a few.

Vovlo is the only Bus/Truck manufacturer in India to focus extensively on driver's comfort. Power streering, ergonomic seats, 6+2 transmission, tiltable steering console (all these were heard of only in premium cars earlier) have ensured that a driver can comfortably drive long hours without frequest breaks. Volvo trains 2-3 drivers per vehicle (at their assembly unit at Hoskote, some 60 kms off Bangalore) on the vehicle as well as passenger delightment.

This deadly combination of power, luxury and comfort has given a huge lead for Sweden based volvo group. Though these buses are purchased by travel companies like KSRTC,APSRTC and other private operators, everyone calls them Volvo buses and not by the brand name given to them by the owning corporation (Say Iravata by KSRTC or Garuda by APSRTC) or the corporation itself. This popularity was never there for other bus manufactures-say TATA and Ashok Leyland.

Additional Facts:
1. Volvo is launching luxury cars in India-We've to see what success it enjoys, compared to its 6 wheeled counterpart.
2. KSRTC owns maximum number of volvo coaches in the country.
3. Much to the credit of Volvo, volvo passengers are prime targets of low cost airlines, at par with first class train passengers.

You can refer my Industrial visit report to Volvo India at the following path, to know more on Volvo. This I'd prepared during engineering days.

Brands becoming Products





Advertising Standards Council Of India

Hi All,

This is for your information. We have an organization called Advertising Standards Council of India ( which has the authority to take necessary action if any advertisements offend/mislead/cheat you.

More details at the site above.

You can keep mail them at if you wish to complain on any print/TV ads.


Conditions Apply

How many times this 'Conditions Apply' term left you baffling? Many of us are familiar now atleast with this term which appears at the end of almost every advertisement whether it is in news paper, TV or radio.

You will come to know of the conditions only when you are about to buy the commodity. There are hardly any ads in the news papers which does not come with the star mark somewhere in the ad. And we all know what that star means(Conditions Apply). And there is also one more way of representing it. They will say these conditions at the end of the ad as 'Terms and Conditions'. And these terms and conditions are there with a such a small font so that it is unable to read. Was it only done to fool the potential buyers?. Not clear yet. Ok when one has to market a product he boosts of its good features but other thing like these 'conditions apply' should not be hidden from customers.

Nowadays you can find a new advertisement strategy in ads published in news papers. You will find a mobile phone ad with much lesser price than you know. But be aware of the star mark on the end of the price. When you come to the end of the ad, you will see that the star means : it is the exchange price he is talking of.

Perhaps only in the radio ads they explicitely have to say 'Conditions Apply' (which is not the case in newspaper ads as you may miss while glancing the ad in the news paper) and you become more aware of that.

What do you say?

Is Pepsodent misleading?

Is Pepsodent misleading?

The Pepsodent ad says children now can have lots and lots of choice as the new pepsodent will fight away all problems. It’s a good marketing strategy agreed. But how fair it is for a toothpaste company to temp children to eat what ever they want? Will Pepsodent really ensure safe tooth? What about the financial burden this will impose on parents? Now they can no longer use the excuse-“eating chocolate will spoil your tooth” as smart children will demand “I’m brushing with Pepsodent, so no problem. I want that chocolate”.

Some times ads push things to extreme. In the general interest of the society is it not bad?

Send in your thoughts on this.

Celebrity Endorsement-What do you think?

What is the importance you give to Brand Ambassadors?

Many popular companies hire famous personalities like film stars, cricketers etc as their brand ambassador, to promote their brand. These ambassadors charge crores of rupees to ask people to use a specific brand.

From a consumer perspective, what importance will you give to these super stars? In other words, do these super stars influence your buying decision? Share your thoughts on this.

Consider these facts:

1. Many stars who preach, do not practice.
Though they ask others to use a brand, they themselves may not use the same in their personal life. For example,
Does preeti zinta use a scooty pep to travel between home and shooting location?
Or is Sachin Tendulkar using TVS victor or Fiat Sienna for his daily travel? (When he has a ferrari)

2. The royalty paid to these ambassadors is recollected directly from consumer.
So you unnecessarily pay more to such products, only to make likes of Sachin Tendulkar richer

From the other angle:
From the eye of a super star, it’s his opportunity to make money. Just like a software engineer who jumps from company to company for better pay, every cricketer or film star starts accepting offers from companies as and when he starts getting famous. Who ever pays more, these stars will ask people to use their products. While these people’s right to make some legal money can’t be questioned, I don’t see any reason why we should believe what ever they say.

Associating a brand with a super star ensures good coverage to both. The brand stays in consumers’ memory for longer time and fans of that superstar give more preference to the brand promoted by their hero than another one. This way sales get increased.

So its good as long as consumers use their judgment to select a product based on its quality than because some star is asking public to buy.

Special mention

I wish to give a special mention here to those brands who have been hugely successful without keeping any brand ambassadors:

Bajaj Auto: Except a recent ad showing Jackie Chan, All of Bajaj ads have been using ordinary humans and models. Still the brand has succeeded very well, mainly because of strong and reliable product line.

Hutch has also been successful without any major celebrity backing using creative advertisements and competitive pricing.

There are many more but my mind is not running fast enough to recollect them. Also special mention to P Gopichand, who turned down a big sum of money from a cola giant

Also if you’ve noticed, celebrity endorsement is commissioned only in B2C (Business to Consumer) market and not in B2B (Business To Business) market. This is simply because individual consumers may be convinced to buy something endorsed by a star but a businessman will have his own evaluation criteria and will never take his decision seeing the celebrities.

Any thoughts to share on this?

Surf Excel Ad! Daag Achcha Hai!

Hi all! I'm into publishing my critics on ads from today!

Ad - Surf Excel's ad (casting two cute siblings)
Media - Television
Channel - All Indian Channels.
Segment - Laundry

Though its a relatively old ad, i need to share my thoughts with it(something peculiar). I dont think that there are people who haven't seen this ad. I'll brief you about it anyway.

As i've specified, the siblings(brother n sister, brother is older) are returning from school. She is singing a rhyme taught n she is so involved in singing that she accidentally falls into a pothole(thanks to Indian Roads). Fortunately it had rained n you know what potholes contain. Her dress gets dirty. She starts screaming n her brother gets furious n gets ready to hit the pothole black n blue asking it to say sorry to her. He just continues untill he gets tired n then says that it said sorry. ( At last it asked sorry! It has realised its mistake n hence it is good! (Daag Achcha Hai).

I was fascinated to see such an ad for the first time say 6-8 moths ago. I wouldn't have written about it here if only this was the case. There is more.

Six months before i was travelling by bus n by chance there were some advertising people in the same bus. They were from a famous ad agency and they were discussing about how ads click. I just dont remember what they discussed that day! I'll just share here what they said about this ad.

They discussed that ads progress. They progress with the company. As the company grows, the ads they develop grows. They took the example of Surf. Surf were initially having surf as their detergent. Then, they came up with a new product, the introduction was good! They were giving a product with the label covered for trial purpose. this was effectively advertised in all channels as well as in newspapers. Nobody knew who was the advertising this.

After a month or so, they revealed a new product "Surf Excel". It clicked the way it was introduced. Then there were many ads of it! some innovative! Initially there were advertises that used to just say that, your clothes are dirty?? dont worry surf excel hai na??

It evolved from that stage and today it is saying daag achcha hai! You can notice in the shift with which they pose the problem. Initially they came with something like "Dont worry for stains, what is surf excel for?" From then it changed to a state "Stains are not bad, they are good".

Creativity is what clicks an ad. These people make such things. Dunno how they get such ideas. This is an example of how a product can evolve!

Will come up some more things soon!

Toyota Innova ad-Many Roles One Car

Many Roles, One Car…

Review on: Toyota Innova Ad
Channel: All leading channels
Media Type: Television
Product segment: Automobile


So the ad says Many Roles, One Car.







Advertising - Present Context





  • in-door advertisment in public buses.
  • google ad sense redefining the internet advertisement.


Reliance Communication Ad Campaign

Congrats for picking an ad which is worth reviewing.

Reliance Communication-बस बटन दबाए

Reliance world Mobile: Bas Button Dabaao

Target Ad: Reliance Communications
Sector: Telecom

Reliance Communications, now spearheaded by Anil Ambani, has of late running a series of ads which describes what all can be done in reliance phone by just pressing a button.

1. I pressed the button and cleared the exam ( मैने बटन दबाया और एग्साम पास की। )

2. To see cricket score just press a button ( क्रिकेट स्कॊर दॆख्ना हॊ तो बस बटन दबाओ। )

3. I pressed a button so I’m going to meet the stars ( मैने बटन दबाया और सितारॊ हे मिलनॆ जा र हा हु । )

Its accepted that so many things can be done using a reliance mobile, but I find a logical gap in the above ad.

What are they trying to prove? One button has so many functionalities? If yes how?

How can a single button perform multiple functions?

It should be one out of following possibilities:
1.You’ve to press the same button many times to navigate through the menu
2.The phone should have different button for different actions
3.You’ve to use a combination of multiple buttons or keys.
4. Single button should return all details-cricket score, exam result everything
That said, what’s the logic behind “just press the button and get things done”? Eventually you’ll definitely end up pressing the key more than one time.

What’s so unique about reliance mobile the ad is trying to highlight? Aren’t these value added services available with other mobile service providers? Or with a Hutch or Airtel mobile does it take hundreds of key presses to see cricket score?

The ad scores well in terms of creativity. The idea is innovative enough. But in my opinion doesn’t find a logical backing.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Anyone owning that reliance phone please contribute and tell us more on that “one button does it all” concept…

What is this blog and Why ?

The purpose of launching this blog is to analyse media advertisements and scrutinize them.


Some ads are extremely creative and needs appreciation,
Some ads spread false message to the society,
Some ads are just a fun to watch/see

In this blog we'll takeup one ad each time and analyse them w.r.t. above parameters. Let others pool in their thoughts and we can spread the message/create awareness.

Advertisements are indispensable part of television or newspaper. newspapers and channels survive because of ads. Its a billion dollar industry and any advertisement generally involves lot of marketing strategies, creativeness and obviously money. Analyzing them is a very interesting activities.


This is my latest venture and let me see how it goes...I'm yet to comeout with first ad to analyse...