GOOGLE REMEMBERS LORETTA

Who says that a search engine should only be there to help you in your searches? When the purpose of your brand is to bring convenience to the lives of your consumers, you do not remain a search engine anymore. 

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#Google comes up with an emotional tearjerker of an ad to showcase the capabilities of its Google Assistant. This ad shows an 85 year old gentleman who has lost his wife and is now trying to remember her and the special memories that he had with her, using the help of the voice-controlled Google Assistant. 

The ad goes on to show how Google Assistant can come to the aid of the elderly people in remembering things as well as experiences. It can also be of use to people suffering from dementia. 

This story is based on a real story of a grandfather of a #Google employee and the character Loretta is inspired from his grandmother. They used facts from his real life to create the plot and the storyline. In fact, even the voice-over in the ad is from the real grandfather!

The entire ad has been created in-house without the help of any external agency. 

Enjoy this powerful and touching film that will either give you goosebumps or tears.

CAREER FUEL

'The secret of success in life is to be ready when the opportunity knocks'.

How do you get ready? By building career fuel as Brian Fetherstonhaugh from Ogilvy mentions. 

According to him, all successful leaders have an abundance of career fuel so that the growth engine keeps on moving the individual forward without coming to a halt.

How is your tank looking? Are you filling up on all three fuel that form a part of career fuel?

LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET

A couple of months back, when the news of Sundar Pichai becoming the CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet came out, all the media was covering this piece of new and going into the details of Sundar Pichai and his career trajectory .

However, not many know that the parent company #Alphabet actually owns a number of different companies and businesses across diverse industries and segments, and #Google just happens to be one of their biggest ones.

The infographic below will give you an overview of where all Alphabet has their presence in. 

When I saw this infographic, I started looking at the beginning letter of each of these companies instantly. I wanted to see how many letters does the company Alphabet have in its company portfolio. In between these 16 companies, they already have 10 letters of the alphabet (C, D, G, J, L, M, S, V, W, X). 

Let's see, if in future, under the leadership of Pichai, Alphabet expands further in creating a portfolio of #companies covering all the 26 letters of the alphabet or not.

DEAR BASKETBALL

Today, the world of sport mourns the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who died yesterday at the age of 41, in a helicopter crash along with his 13 year old daughter and eight others.

 

Not only was he a genius on court, but he was also a genius off court. After his retirement from basketball in 2016, Kobe wrote, produced and narrated a short animation film ‘Dear Basketball’, which was directed by Disney director Glen Keane. 

This film went on to win the 2018 Oscars for the Best Short Film (Animated), and it is not a surprise, because if you watch a few minutes of this film, you will know that this film reflects the passion and love that Kobe Bryant had for the sport. It is a beautiful film with great animation, supported by the music of John Williams. 

The narration by Kobe is powerful, personal and poignant. With him gone, this film will feel even more special now than ever before. 

COFFEE COLA

In line with their strategy to diversify and keeping innovating #Pepsi has just announced the launch of their Pepsi Cafe range. 

This special combination of #cola with #coffee will be a limited edition that would be launched in the US market in April 2020 and would be available in two flavors - original and vanilla.

What is interesting is that Coca Cola has a similar product called Coke Plus Coffee, which is available in a few markets but still not available in USA. 

Will we see Coca Cola moving fast and bringing their product in the US markets before the debut of Pepsi Cafe? It's a wait and watch game. 

However, this also will eat into the share of the cold coffee market, so we will see lot of action from the coffee players as well to protect their share.

13 MONTH CALENDAR

As we reach the end of the first month of 2020, which is also a leap year, it is time to revisit the proposed standard calendar that has 13 months of 28 days each, and every date falls on the same day irrespective of the month or the year. Each month has exactly four weeks and every year continues to have 52 weeks divided in 13 months.

This International Fixed Calendar is a solar calendar proposal, designed by Moses B. Cotsworth. It was presented way back in 1902. Though it was never officially adopted in any country, entrepreneur George Eastman adopted it for use in his Eastman Kodak Company, where it was used from 1928 to 1989.

Such a calendar comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but who knows, it might just be something that gets adopted in the future.

GONG XI FA CAI

Today, #China celebrates its Chinese New Year and it is a tradition and custom in China for elders to hand over red envelopes filled with money (known as "hongbao") to children for good luck. 

Taking this consumer insight, #Nike has come up with an amusing twist to this tradition in their new ad, which shows a funny chase between an aunt trying to give her niece the red envelope and the niece trying to avoid it as much as possible.

This film by the ad agency Wieden+Kennedy has been shot quite well, covering various places like fields, rooftops, festivals to show the chase and has been built on a strong consumer insight.

The role and integration of the product into the tradition and #culture is seamless, without showing any disrespect. It just reminds the audience to celebrate, while having fun and staying active.

What really brings a smile to the face is the surprise at the end. Enjoy this wonderful film.

WILL THIS BE THE MOST INSTAGRAMMED PRODUCT?

#Ikea has launched a unique product that you may have never seen before: the Müpolash.

What is it and how did it come into existence? 

Their consumer data analytics showed them two things:

1. Out of all their products that consumers put up on #Instagram, these four products are Instagrammed the most: a mug, pot, lamp and shelf. 

2. White is the most Instagrammed colour. 

Combining all of this analysis, they created the Müpolash (a combination of the four products mentioned above) made of 100% biodegradable materials, and crafted through 3D printing. 

The idea behind this new object is that if IKEA’s mugs, pots, lamps and shelves are getting a lot of traction, then the MÜPOLASH should be the “most Instagrammable thing ever made.

Müpolash is currently on display at the Design Museum of Gent, Belgium. There are only four other Müpolashes in the world. To win one, you need to use the #Müpolash AR Instagram filter and capture a nice shot of the product in your home.

It will be interesting to see the digital traction that an idea like this gets, which comes at a very marginal cost.

TAKE AN OATH

Healthy and conscious eating is rising with every passing year, every new research and every new study. 

Companies - big and small are taking lot of efforts to not only innovate with, but also educate about healthy eating and wholesome ingredients.

Here is another example from a new brand Oath that has launched a range of functional oat milk-based beverages in USA. 

These Oath Organic Milk products come with plant protein in flavours that have strong health associations and good taste - matcha chai, turmeric, Indian rose.

These #beverages also include nutritious ingredients like almonds, pumpkin seeds, apple fibre, spices like saffron, ginger, and cardamom to offer various health benefits. All the products are #organic, riding on all the key trends that matter to the consumers in that market.

I believe that the milk segment will continue to see many such innovations and launches as awareness and income rises in more and more economies.

INNOVATION: SAMSUNG SERO

The thing with breakthrough #innovation is that you have to be the first one to come up with something that the consumer hasn't asked for. Then you have to create the demand and desire for such an innovation through the story that you tell. In such instances, there will be lot of failures and you have to be ready to embrace them to unearth that one gem that the world will talk about.

The #CES or Consumer Electronics Show that is held in Las Vegas every year is a Mecca of innovation where each company and brand tries to outdo others by showcasing ideas, concepts and ready to launch products.

This year is the 50th edition of the show and there are lots of exciting launches coming into the market soon. One of them that I found quite interesting is #Samsung Sero.

The #Sero is a rotating television so that you can watch content in the traditional way and also enjoy your social media feed and mobile content in a vertical format. Priced at £1,240, this 43-inch TV comes with a 4.1-channel, 60W speakers.

Will this become mainstream and would other brands follow suit is something only time will tell. However, it is worth applauding the ingenuity and bravery of Samsung to venture into this new space. 

DANDRUFF MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID

When you scratch your head because it itches and not because you are thinking, it makes you look stupid. 

This is the premise on which Saatchi & Saatchi launched this print campaign for Head and Shoulders shampoo in the UAE market. 

They took strong, recognizable, real and fictional characters - Albert Einstein, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones and James Bond and created special illustrations, showing them scratching their heads. Each ad ends with the tag line 'Dandruff makes you look stupid'. 

Not only is the #advertising smart, but the font and style of the tag line in each picture has been designed to look like the part of the rest of the surrounding, and the hand that holds the Head and Shoulders bottle in each ad is also a part of the overall set-up, making it all look seamless.

So, the #creativity and the quality of art in these layouts is very good, paying great attention to every detail.

SMART BOTTLE CAP

As the world is moving to personalized #nutrition, how can personalized hydration be behind?

Danone has introduced smart bottle cap Coach2o that can easily fit on their Spanish mineral water brand Font Vella and track water intake and coach consumers towards adequate hydration.

Once the cap has been placed on the bottle, the user can pair it with the Coach2o app, that will then automatically measure the user’s water consumption. 

The smart bottle cap tracks how much water the individual has had and emits a blinking light, reminding him/her to hydrate again. This has been made possible by the technology developed by Danone’s partner, water.io.

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#Danone says that this is the first device to track water intake and it is being test marketed in Spain before being scaled up. 

Quite an effective and cool #innovation. Let's see how it delivers on business. 

                                   #kunalviews #water #solution #idea

JAMES BOND - I AM WORKING

If you have been a James Bond fan and a regular watcher of the Bond franchise movies, you will remember the classic dialogue 'Shaken, not stirred' when James Bond is asked how he prefers his Martini. 

All of that started changing when #Heineken started associating with the Bond movies since 1997. However, James Bond himself was shown drinking Heineken only from the 2012 film Skyfall. 

Now, as the new #Bond movie 'Time To Die', which is set to release in April'20 starts its promotions, Heineken has gone a step further by showing James Bond drinking their alcohol free version of beer - Heineken 0.0, while working. 

They have released a new video, and in that you see Daniel Craig, dressed in a tuxedo, refusing the vodka martini that the bartender serves to him, and rather calls for a Heineken 0.0

"I'm working," he then says to the barman.

The ad ends with the tagline: "Now you can while working". 

You can see the full video here:

James Bond Heineken 0.0 Ad

GLOCALISATION MATTERS

On a recent trip to Vadodara, India I came across a Starbucks hoarding announcing the launch of their new cafe in Vadodara. 

Instead of the usual names that they put on their cups, the hoarding mentioned endearing terms that are used all over Gujarat for known and unknown people - Kaka (Uncle), Bhai (Brother), Bapu (Elder Man), Ben (Sister), etc.

This piece of outdoor advertising brought a smile to my face. In marketing, we are always told and taught that global brands need to localize (glocalisation) to connect in a stronger way with their audience.

Here is a great example by #Starbucks, where they are going a step further in bringing the cultural nuances of a state in its advertising and communication to make people feel closer to the brand and see the #brand as their own rather than an alien brand. 

I then went to check the #Instagram handle of Starbucks India and they had very smartly used the same creative on their Instagram feed as well, bringing consistency in their messaging and reaching the audience across touch points. 

Here is a very simple yet effective lesson for all marketers out there.

PS: The hoarding picture was clicked, while sitting in a moving car, so I could not get the best shot.

THE LAST MILE

#Volkswagen Beetle is an icon in the world of automobiles. Also known as The Bug, it has been winning the love of fans across the world for decades. Every time a Beetle hits the road, it turns heads and people want to check out the person behind the wheel.

Not only is it famous for its car model, but also popular for its campaigns like Think Small and Lemon.

Now, after 70 years, the #Beetle is finally retiring and the car is signing off with a nostalgic ad film 'The Last Mile' built on the soundtrack of The Beatles - Let It Be, an acknowledgement of the fact that the Beetle appeared on the album cover of Abbey Road.

The ad also shows artist Andy Warhol to thank him for the painting that he created of the car.

All of these incidents and events played a great role in making the Beetle brand as iconic and as loved as it is today and an integral part of the culture in many countries.

A huge investment like this for a brand that will not be sold anymore is yet another example of how special this car and this brand was to all the people behind it.

Enjoy this beautiful tribute.