Sunday, August 24, 2008

Ode to Bacon

I've been going through a bit of a bacon renaissance the past few weeks. I've been frying up some bacon and making some delicious turkey clubs. I've been sharing bacon with my in-laws at Sunday brunches. I just can't get enough bacon. Bacon is one of those quintessentially politically incorrect foods. The kind of food that- according to health experts - everyone should avoid. Yet the growing consensus is that bacon cannot be resisted. It seems to be more accepted than shunned these days. Take the Bacon Alarm Clock. What better way to wake up than to the smell of frying bacon? I went online while researching this blog post to find some poetic verses about bacon, but was sorely disappointed when only finding the poetry of this hack.

So I will share with you my own Ode to Bacon:

Ahem.

Bacon,
Crispy and brown.
Fried to perfection.
You exist to harden my arteries.
Yet, you make my mouth water at the thought.
We are in different worlds bacon, you and I.
But we're both
dipped
in
fat.
Eggs!


Discuss.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Internets... Eatin itzelf


What's the Baby Using?
Originally uploaded by paulandstorm.
Proof on your right. And here as well.

Jawbone's Party Place


Ok, the secret is out. We have had our own party place at a mini-golf course in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Dan from Traveling Munchies took his sons there to party like rockstars. He thought the art looked like some of my Monster By Mail stuff. And then, he discovered my secret party place (SPP). And yes, you can rent out this place for kid's birthday parties. Just make sure it's a kid you hate.

Brand Update : Horlicks

Horlicks has caved into the temptation for celebrity endorsement. The brand has roped in the young celebrity Darsheel ( Tare Zameen par fame) as the brand ambassador. The brand already has run two commercials featuring the new brand ambassador.

The brand also had made some changes in the communication message in this new campaign. The brand for now has moved away from the famous " Taller Sharper Message ". The new slogan is " Badlo apni bachpan ka Size " .Iam sorry that I cannot translate that to English without losing the intended meaning.

The new ad is truly Hip Hop stuff with a funky rap thrown in as background music. The ad shows Darsheel with his friends questioning old practices and exhorting to change what they don't like. A sort of non-conformist attitude is projected throughout this ad.

According to a report in afaqs, the company says that the new generation is now questioning the age old practices and Horlicks wanted to relate to the new generation.

It makes sense. But my doubt is whether the target audiences will understand the new message ? One thing for sure is that Darsheel and the ad has a sticky factor which will attract young consumers to the brand. So another bulls eye for Horlicks.
Its also a nice extension of the Taller- sharper-stronger positioning adopted by the brand in the past commercials.
I think that Horlicks has not discarded the earlier positioning but used the current ad to create some freshness to the brand communication.

While Afaqs reports that the positioning has changed, I don't think that Horlicks is stupid enough to discard a highly potential platform of " Taller Sharper and Stronger ".

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Jawbone #218: What's The Baby Using?

Burning questions answered. Vegas wrap up. Jawbone weekends. Nutty voicemails and more Olympic talk. If you're just joining us, thanks for listening and please subscribe!

Music:
Chance | Independent

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Clean & Clear : Clean Clear and Confident

Brand : Clean & Clear
Company : Johnson & Johnson Consumer products
Agency : DDB Mudra

Brand Analysis Count : 344


Clean & Clear is the skin care brand from the house of Johnson & Johnson. The brand was relaunched last month marking the foray of J & J into the highly competitive skin care market in India. Clean & Clear is a global brand of J &J with a presence in over 41 countries.

The brand was initially launched by Revlon in 1957. The name was chosen because the products had no fragrance and dyes and left no residue after rinsing ( source : wikipedia). In 1991 Revlon sold Clean & Clear to J & J.
J&J repositioned the brand focusing more on acne control.

The brand was existing in India long back ( I don't have the launch date). But the brand was languishing because of the lack of support from the company. Infact I have never seen this brand before.

The company has rejuvenated the brand and ads are now running in many TV channels.
Clean & Clear is targeting the teens. The brand has launched a series of products like cleansers, oil and acne control creams. etc .The brand is using the cleansers as the flagship product to attract the consumers. ( source : campaign India)

Clean & Clear is being positioned as a Teen Skincare expert . The campaigns are more functional oriented and the endorsement by Johnson & Johnson further strengthens the brand positioning.

The brand has the tagline " Clean Clear and Confident " which I feel has potential and flexibility for creatives to work on. Infact confidence is a virtue that will attract the attention of Teens. Teenagers has a view of themself as adults. So confidence can be a platform to attract these young minds into this brand. I remember the ad that enabled Lifebuoy 's repositioning where the young girl says " I don't care " ( about my skin ) which is a show of confidence.

Indian skin care market is huge and lucrative. Its estimated that the market is worth around Rs 2000 crore. But the market is crowded with local and global brands. So its not easy for Clean & Clear to break into this market.

What Johnson & Johnson has is the enormous brand equity it has in the Indian market. I would say that the company has not quite leveraged the brand equity to other products. It had earlier burnt its fingers with the brand Savlon which may have prompted the company to focus on the babycare and female hygiene products.

With regard to the Clean & Clear, the brand should associate itself with the core brand values of the parent brand. But have to be careful about not being perceived as a baby's product.

When I visited a supermarket, I found Clean & Clear bottle along with other J & J baby products and not in the personal care section of the supermarket. I think its suicidal for the brand to be kept alongside baby products. In this era of competition there is no space for such mistakes. I had to spent considerable time checking whether the cleanser is for baby or for grown ups . What ever promotion is done, all of which will be useless if the product is not placed properly in the retail outlets.

Marketing to youngsters is a different ballgame. The trick is to induce the trial first. Compared to the Point of Purchase displays of brands like Ponds and Lakme, Clean & Clear is almost invisible in supermarkets. In this market half-hearted efforts will accelerate failures.

J&J has the money , distribution and brand power to make it big in the skin care segment. The brand has done right in identifying teens as the target segment. But its marketing effort is not aggressive enough to push it through the clutter.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

LEN TV: What's The Baby Using?



Len TV returns after a long hiatus! This time, I travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to the New Media Expo and ask the burning question "What's the baby using?' Find out now! Enjoy!

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