Wednesday, November 22, 2006

There are Upsss and there are ……

It’s a corporate life where I am sitting at my hutch and staring at my desktop for whole 12 or more hours, some times reviewing e-mails from clients, orkutting or frankly chatting with friends. My space where I sit are portrait of close friends or you could say piece of people with whom I shared my vitality and where at every point of time my life changed.

An orchid bouquet that is being lying on my desk for past 25 days, still I do not feel like discarding it for the simple reason, that each day I think my life gets exhausted the way this flower gets. A bottle filled with water reminding me that my body needs water to survive.

Speakers through which I could loosen my mind. But where’s the bloody time for music, when 12 hours I am running round the whole office to get my work done from different people.

A list of all extensions of various people in the agency, which reminds me, what a big organization, I am working in. A telephone line where I can make calls to my clients, receive their calls with all those abuses, or calls for some corrections in their ad.

I could see all faces hooked on to their respective comps and people typing shamelessly to glory, whatever work they think is important, or making calls to their clients and noting the changes which needs to be incorporated.

Oh what a place have I got, where I could just roll out from my seat and there I could see the whole ceaseless sea, where the sun rising and setting at its best, where the boats or ships seem tiny from far and the water seems crystal-clear blue.

It looks all so pretty from here.

"Making the transition from college to work is often more traumatic than entering college and leaving home for the first time.

Its 11 pm in the evening and I am still at work wondering why the hell am I here in office, when I am supposed to be partying hard, on a Friday night with my friends. Is this the life I wished for where I am working hard for no reason, where I hear swears from my parents when I reach home after a long day at work? And my mom still on shock mode where she imagined all wildest things ever she could think till I reached home which would happen to her dear daughter.

It’s all that I have been doing for those peanuts you call or those big monies which gives me all those little pleasures I could buy from them. Its my work or my client that keeps me so occupied that I hardly know when diwali was on and how it passed off. Except for the fact that I hogged on to those yummy sweets and lit diyas all over my dwelling to make it feel like diwali.

The agency where the studio department always gives you a tough time or you could say they are an add on with those burgers to test your frustration level after your client has already chewed your brains and your energy level has been exhausted.

Sometimes I wonder right from when my day starts where I have a journey to make in a so-called local train to my workplace. A journey which takes me exactly an hour and half right from the rick journey from my home to the station and from there a train which drops me till the dead end station of Mumbai and from there again a bus journey or a cab to my office.

The train journey being the most exciting part of the day where I struggle hard to get into the ladies compartment which is worse than??? I don’t know what. Actually cannot compare or nothing can be worse than a train journey. All I can see around me are women who are yapping to glory be it about their husbands, boyfriends, or their in-laws or bitching about other women bumping into her out of no choice of the jammed train. Out in that crowded train you can see women selling goods where an ant also cannot pass. Its morning, past 8 and you can see women shopping for clothes, kitchen stuffs, accessories etc.

Therefore corporate life is all about spending a huge amount of your so called precious life at work trying to earn those big bucks and slogging your ass to glory. "I am not trying to dig a canal and live in our cabin in the woods, I want to be connected to the world, but on my own terms."



Have a gr8 winter....

Divs

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Welcome to the Hotel California….



On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a shimmering light

It’s a place of scenic beauty. To put it the right way it can be called walking in the clouds. Situated in an apt location away from admits pollution, car honking loud, people surrounded all across. It’s a place where the sun kisses you and wishes goodmorning, where you hear birds chirping early morn and the nature at its best. It’s a perfect place to live and spend your life. But tat was all soon a dream. It’s a place where you can rightly say it “This could be Heaven or this could be Hell” depends on the way you take it.

It’s a place where 16 odd people with different background, culture, past and future had met. Few carried their past and some wanted to live with their present. It was right then to be a part of them or is right now to be away from them is still a question unanswered to myself.

We shared our lives, be it love life, family life or some other kind of life if at all there exist. It was truly like a journey traveled with strangers but at the final destination there were mixed emotions of being bonded, rift and love for each other.

A course rightly called Post graduate program in Media Management, where in the course offers you a king like treatment, be it from the college with a swimming pool, squash court, tennis court, gym facility, pick up and drop facility from our hostel to our college, be it the exotic food for lunch and the evening snacks.

Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
You can find it here

Classrooms, which are as big as a conference room with professional arrangements, made. That’s why I guess our course director always said “ Guys behave like Professional’s, you are gonna be the future media managers”. Was it a rule or a norm I do not know but all our problems were always heard but never solved. We had to solve our own problems by forgetting them or trying hard to solve them.

It was a class of ego, discrimination, passion about media, lovely couples, talented artist, economist, BMM’s and not to forget the future managers. It was a blend of all. Our lives for a year was to be bonded with each other, be it with choice or without.

Our so called hostel which was more of a resort was the only place where in all showed their true colors, right from yelling, shouting, fighting, back bitching, smoking, boozing, hogging, going for long walks etc.

Mirrors on the ceiling
Pink champagne on ice
And she said
We are all just prisoners here
Of our own device

So a year of being together I managed to make good friends who at some point of time were good but then they were the ones with true colors of dark. All were good people in their own little ways. Caring at times, loving at times and real bad most of the times. But we all lived it and I guess that’s what life teaches us to deal with all kinds of people whether you like them or you don’t.

Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
Relax said the nightman
We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave

So welcome to the hotel California, such a lovely place, such a lovely face.....

Have a GR8 Winter!!

Divs

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The wait is over!

It is an industry of alchemists.

On my first day of work I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What have I done?’

Then I gaze outside from where I have been given a place to sit. And what I see is big huge tall buildings with big brands flashing their logo all around. I say it to myself welcome to the world of advertising honey! A desktop to work and a chair to sit. Rest all other things don’t belong to the place. A place full of betas and betas and papers. I could see a perfect corporate picture hanging on the softboard in which I tired hard guessing people but all seemed aliens to me.

The sentiments seem vague, and absolutely alien. But its all part of the beginning.

It was absolutely a feeling which young people will have when they come and visit the agency. "You can see in their eyes this feeling of, 'God.' This isn't wonderland, but we've taken away a lot of the things that are wrong about agencies, a lot of the emperors new clothes."

The walls and shelves of most agencies are abundantly bric-a-bracked with the trophies they've bagged at industry award shows.

Copywriters and art directors routinely use the sorcery of slogans and images to turn toothpaste into a sexual lure athletic shoes into a totem of hipness. Yet despite its ability to revamp the base metal of human insecurity into gold on behalf of others, the advertising industry has been stuck with an absolutely no image of its own.

The department so called for which I was hired, is one in which you act like a mediator between the agency and the client who is called client-servicing executive. But it’s more like a football match where you being the football and the client being on one team and the creative on other side to hit you hard.

The job of an account executive goes well beyond picking up the phone and making a cold call. You need to understand the client's wants and needs. You need to assess what your agency has to offer. You also need to assess if the personalities of your people and the client fit. And most of all, you need to work at building a trusting relationship.

Finally you live here in this agency work hard and party harder. Where all those little things like you’re first day at work, looking for friends around and sharing your lunch with colleagues. Well and how about that first client meeting of yours. The first meeting is like the first date. If you talk about yourself the entire time, she won't call you back."

Let them take the time to get to know you before you pop the big question or you might scare them away.

So I guess in the beginning the omens are in dark.

Have a Gr8 Day!!!

Divs

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Understanding about Media Buying.....

A campaign is successful only if it has a path breaking message to communicate which is time lined and easy to eyes and mind, we understand it’s surely an intrusion to a viewer but it’s our source for survival.

A creative turns out to be an effective campaign if it is backed by an effective media plan, and the backbone of every media plan is the deals done by the agency with the respective media.

Media Buying is a specialized skill, which requires knowledge of your target clients, consumer behavior, the media, and the criteria used to measure the value of TV, Print and radio programming.

A media buyer has many dimensions to his job, he is responsible to scrutinize a media plan made by the planner and give him options to optimize the plan. At times he will suggest the planner to change some programs or channel for a better output. He is well aware of the programs and the channels that are performing better than the rest. If he sees that the program is dropping its rating points then he may suggest reiterating the plan and suggesting the planner with alternatives best suitable to the plan.

A media buyer should have an eagle’s eye and keep a track of the upcoming properties and innovations so that the client gets the first advantages and helps hold the account. He is the one who takes care that the spots are run on time and if any make good has to happen. He keeps a track of all the campaigns and periodicals done on daily basis and submits reports and validations to the client.A media buyer should know enough about the key buying criteria to be in control and make the purchase decisions based on the proposals. A media buyer should present with a media plan laying out what types of media are being bought, how many people they are expected to reach, how often they are expected to reach this audience and the cost of each element of the plan. One should evaluate the plan.
A media buyers use their leverage and experience to negotiate media time and space at well below the published costs or "rack rate." They may also negotiate for bonus weight. One should evaluate the results of these negotiations to see how close the firm is holding to the plan and to make suggestions for value-added possibilities.

The most important aspect and the key thumb rule are to maintain a good relationship with the media houses.
After the launch of the campaign is complete, media buyer or advertising firm should provide with a post-buy analysis that shows how close they came to meeting or exceeding the objectives of the media plan.
Finally you can't have good advertising without a good client and you can't keep a good client without good advertising.

Media Planning - What I think



Media planning requires matching the target audience to the appropriate media. Once the target audience is identified, selection is made based on the profiles of various media that is available, while also evaluating cost.

It’s the decisions made by advertisers which determine what media to use for an advertising campaign and to make the most effective use of each medium, within the limits of the media budget. It is also the series of decisions involved in the delivery of an advertising message to prospective purchasers or users of a product or service.

A very traditional approach to start your media plan would be to define a target group in terms of demographics. The most common demographic variables are those that are related to age, sex and socio-economic class.

Today the consumers are being exposed to numerous messages of varied types of products and services available. Each of these products or service claims to be the best option/choice for the consumer. He is being bombarded with these messages at every step, every place he/she goes.

Thus, an advertiser essentially needs to know whether the information delivered by him has reached the target audience or not. He needs to find out if the message was understood and retained by the consumer. Recall by the consumer is of utmost importance. In addition to recall a marketer needs to understand the consumer’s perception and change in behavior caused by the communication of the product/service or by the competitors.

But the scope of media planning is more than just understanding the consumer. In every aspect related to advertising, brand management and marketing one needs to understand the Core Target Audience to plan the communication accordingly. Media planning is one step in the entire advertising process. It is not only important to have the best creative layout, the most appropriate message or the most monies invested. It’s all futile if not delivered to the right people at the right time.

















Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Think creative live creative.......

Here the shadow says cant leave you ......addidas......



What a superb way to advertise where Ronald is visting Burger king....for bugers....



Sipder man dead when baygon or insect spray was hit on him.......isnt it creative thinking...

Think creative live creative.......

calvin n hobbes at its best



I luv this cartoon caracter for what it proves to be the best......

Monday, May 29, 2006

Juss got Luck -Y-Now....



Lucknow the city of Nawabs and their famous kebabs. A city that has a magical charm, a charm that's forever and a charm that's apart. Be it the cultural charm or the monumental one, all is well conserved here to make Lucknow “The city of many splendors".

This was my first visit to the North of India. So I was all charged up and excited for my 10 days visit to Lucknow. Out of excitement I almost forgot that it was my rural stint. Oh I can never forget the train journey I had; you can almost name it disastrous journey. Anyways when I reached Lucknow the city was total dark and almost looked beautiful and looked, like an old maharaja mahal. I was amazed by the beauty of it.

I was very excited to meet my colleagues as they already had checked in and enjoyed a day in Lucknow. I was very impatient to explore the whole place and hog the best cuisines of which I had already managed to take the list from the people of Lucknow.

Walking through the lanes and by-lanes of Chowk and Aminabad one finds Lucknow of yore. The 'tehzib' or mannerism is still prominent and a topic of great appreciation. This is a city that still speaks the language of "aap-janab" and the dictum of "pehle aap" is still a part of everyday life for a true Lakhnawi. – The lanes where called chauraha though we had difficulty understanding their pure language but we managed.

The best part of the whole trip was shopping. Here in my group not only girls were hooked and bang on towards shopping guys were more into it, specially shopping for their girlfriends. There were such beautiful and mind boggling dress materials and Lucknowi suit that we almost felt like buying the whole of Aminiabad. The best place to shop in Lucknow is Aminabazaar. Oh what collections and delicate hand embroidery work which still rules the wardrobe.

After all this of shopping and hogging it was time for us to get back to work which is visiting the rural villages of Lucknow.Now all we had was a Lucknow map and the name of the villages we were to cover in 7 days time. This was the best time we all must have had. Visiting each village was a total new experience where I, Kala, and Surabhi infact women had to be dressed like bhartiye naari with salwar kameez and your head covered with duppatta. Oh how I wish my parents had seen me in such attire and they would have almost fainted.

Rohan trying to speak shudh Hindi while taking interviews of the villagers oh what a laugh we had of our time. Where he would literally translate English sentence in Hindi. (Aapko kya laagti hai camera se photo keechnii aasan baat hai.) He used to change sentences according to the gender of the person. We teased him the whole journey where Niranjan used to make fun of him.

It was a real good experience visiting the real rural villages and observing the people their mind set and behavior and the way they treated guest in a very warm manner. That is the best thing about India. Guest is treated so well that you hardly feel left out from that place.



All fun used to happen in our hotel room where nobody used to sleep but play pranks on each other and we all used to wait to get back to our hotel rooms where the most important thing being the AC. The weather was so hot and burning. Luckily it rained and that day we all got drenched and had a rain dance at the hotel terrace.

Food for thought. We all hogged so much food that we almost busted out. Be it Thunde-ke-kabab -Royal ka katori chat Netraam ka thali or be it the sweets. All were mouth watering yummy.

I miss that royal katori chat and the gool gappe we had the mango shake which was a killer. How I wish I could go there once just to shop eat and visit places.

Now it was time for sightseeing as it was our last day in Lucknow. Lucknow being very famous for places like Bhara Himam vara. The legacy of the imperial splendor of Lucknow has always fascinated people all over the world. The ambience of the place has commonly been associated with the leisurely habits, etiquette, architecture, and refinement, the residues of Nawabi culture.

I have every moment spent there so fresh in my mind that I could almost visualize those moments and have a smile on my face.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Howz That!!

Watch ur hand....


Superb way to make use of the bag.....

Superb design for bags...


amazing creative designed for bags......What a way to cathc attention....

Indian Version of Statue of Liberty

This is how our statue of liberty would have looked if she was brought to India......Sanskari Indian Naariii....

Typical Advtg Scenario....


Chek this dilbert cartoon....it depicts the real scenario what advtg guys go through.....n what shit they have to go through.....

kissa panty ka??


The Mercedes ad....check the middle part of it....Whose Lingerie is it........

Mangal D pandey


This is from the movie Mangal Pandey. The gr8 Aamir Khan. but the movie sucks....


This is again the spoof of the latest Sony Live show called Indian Idol. Enjoii

Amul Outdoor ads. Amazingly thougth off and always ahead with current topics. Spoof of the indian movie Bulffmaster

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Sonnet For A Love Departing

Sonnet For A Love Departing.....

If moments, like our dreams,
can not be held,
Or found again against a burning sky
And wind-swept days all that between us lie,
Each christened by the sound of old church bells.
I fall the words yet said I never tell
And every twinge of heart I firm deny,
Refute the proof that wells within my eye
With the one truth no sorrow can dispel;
I'll find your eyes in sunset's final breath,
Your voice in songs of sparrows at my sill,
Your gentle beauty running through my art,
With calm assurance know I always will
In every new day find you hidden still
And from you never know one day apart.

Friday, March 31, 2006

The Last Scream!




It’s a night where the moon at its best and the stars shining bright. I wish I could hold them forever. How I wanted to laugh, smile and giggle like I used to when I was teen.

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of my sleep and think of all the stunning things happened to me in my life but the pain screams on top of my head letting me forget all those striking things and reminds me of the pain that happened to me.

Am I the one in pain or is it that I see everybody around me in pain and cry.
Whenever I try I just cry and when I cry I cut. I want to end it all and I have tried and so I will keep on trying...

I want to cut and bleed and cry and feel pain and scream...I want to but I know I won’t...coz for what ever it is, the pain, it cant be so strong that it would take me away from my soul, heart and love for thy.

The pain once felt is hard like a rock. I want to break free from every pain of mine. I want to smash the hard rock and scream hard. I want the pain to fade away deep in the terrain. But I realize that it’s the pain that keeps me breathing and keeps me reminding of all those excellent things that happened to me.

It’s the pain, it’s the pain,
The pain in which I can scream,
The scream the last scream.


Have a gr8 Summer!
Divs

Reality Sucks!! But True……


It was summers when I thought I should be going home early from this work place, the media industry, what one should be thinking at this hour is that why should I be always deprived of my sleep, my TV viewing, me meeting up with my friends.

But let me tell you the fact that welcome to the world of advertising or rather I guess I should put up welcome to the world of media, where neither media nor the people sleep for their lives. The wire is switched on for 24 / 7

I think everyone whose planning to enter this media so called field should either be prepared or the people already pursuing their career in media should be warned that seeing your parents will be rare chance.


Now is the time to enjoy when you all are hassle free and out of those lovely college life, where life is just fun filled and studies, where you are found mostly outside your college either bunking lectures and sipping those coffees or munching so called chat.

It really fascinating when you think of those lovely days in college where you are sitting right at the back of those benches and eating those delicious mom’s food it can be somebody’s else’s mom, but at last it’s the home cooked yummy in the tummy food.

A life where it was fun and studies both happening simultaneously, where trips used to be more happening because it was those small trips where one used confirm your parents that it was a study tour and not a fun trip with your friends.

As I think of those days, oh where have I landed, have I changed or has the world around me changed. Media according to all those people who think that media or advertising world is life full of parties and being in your best outfit.

Let’s welcome the reality folks, the sooner the better, a life where people should be told that hello guys advertising is not all about one appearing in those good looking ads or modeling for a product or brand, rather its life where hectic is not the word, but about reach, frequency, GRP, TVR. Oh my god it more to that guys.


So next time you happen to bump to an advertising junk, don’t feel pity or rather give that party look to them rather understand the efforts taken by them, so that you are been entertained and your that funny bone has been tickled. Its all efforts they take to make your life look more beautiful with those creative mind boggling ideas which sometimes it’s out of ones reach to understand.

Have a Gr8 summer!
Divs

Love me the Way u Always do



All I know is my luv is true,
True from my heart to your heart,

Life full of tears and pain you've slowly taken away here we are now, together again

When I first looked into your eyesI knew you were the one for me you make sure that I'll always smile and together we'd always be

You always look at mein a way that makes me shiver but the way you touch me is priceless.


Darling, love and protect me the way you always wanted to
but don't ever change the way you are
because everything I do is just for you

I juss can’t stop loving you,
Coz love is the only thing I knew
When I look at you
All I could do is forget the world around
Coz your are always my sound
That sings beautiful songs.

Truly urs,
Divs