There's a saying in Tamil: "காய்த்த மரமே கல்லடி படும்". Meaning: Only the tree with ripe fruits gets hit with stones. Could that explain the spoofs of CRED's new ad (the one featuring Rahul Dravid was the most talked about; the rest, not so much)? 'tree with ripe fruits' 1/5
2/5 indicates success (as per the saying). CRED is a different 'success': in fund-raising and generating buzz. A spoof, by nature, needs to be about something people are familiar with/talking about. From that perspective, Magicpin is bang on target, plus also targeting the same
3/5 audience. The first spoof was massively, massively viral - I recall getting it in multiple WhatsApp Groups and seeing many shares across Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. But I like the 2nd spoof more.
4/5 The 2nd one's writing is sharper and streamlined: it first hits the 'points mania' (that CRED also perpetuates) and then verbalizes the sentiment most expressed about CRED ("What's the point?"). And the money-shot: "See, I got to the point, and didn't get angry either" :)
5/5 This is spoof done right, with chutzpah and intelligence. Excellent work by the agency Songfest, writer Kautuk Srivastava and director Tathagata Singha.
Related: My take on the original (Indiranagar Ka Gunda Hoon Main) CRED ad: bit.ly/3azK3Mb (on LinkedIn)
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Thread, on holding India's MOST influential, powerful person + party accountable for his/their hubris, arrogance and misdeeds. Much of this is from international media that BJP cannot control (advertising/coercion), but some Indian media as well.
"Last year, in televised appearances, a harsh lockdown was prefaced with messages of a united national resolve against the disease. This time around, there has been no explicit communication from him, instead a series of spirited election rallies where the crowds are large"
"the current situation does highlight a clear policy failure on varied counts" —a "policy failure" that comes at the COST of lives of Indians.
Netflix launched the 'Downloads' function in its mobile app in November 2016. The idea: despite ubiquitous internet, the internet is spotty enough for streaming video, on-the-go (plus no-internet, on flights). So, Netflix allowed us to download episodes of shows offline on 1/5
2/5 our smartphones and watch them offline.
In February 2019, Netflix added 'Smart Downloads'. This made 'Downloads' intelligent - deleted a watched episode and automatically downloaded the next episode!
In February 2021, Netflix added 'Downloads For You' that
3/5 makes 'Smart Downloads' intelligent! Turn this on, allocate a space limit and Netflix will download 'recommended' shows based on your viewing habit!
These are evolutions enabled by increasing storage space on our smartphones. But connect this to also the other update
As someone with no siblings, I haven't lived through what it takes to be around a brother or a sister 24X7. So my knowledge of that sentiment is only borrowed from pop culture, and now through watching how my kids interact and grow up with each other. The Wonder Years was a 1/5
2/5 remarkable TV series in that context, and more recently, Yeh Meri Family (just requires a free sign up: bit.ly/3krVARk) used the same theme in a wonderfully Indianised late 90s setting.
This ad for the French retailer La Redoute is almost an abridged version of
3/5 The Wonder Years/Yeh Meri Family! The narrative crunches the many high-points of how the relationship evolves between an older brother and a much younger brother.
The highlights it chooses to depict are absolutely adorable! The younger brother teasing the older one with the
It was Earth Day, two days ago. Given the dire situation all around, Earth Day communication seemed largely muted this year - and this is totally understandable.
In context, I recall a campaign from March 2021, for the Colombian NGO Conservation International, by the agency 1/5
2/5 MullenLowe SSP3, Bogotá. The crux is this: how to hammer the truth that we, as a species, are in an incredibly precarious situation with regard to drinking water? That too, through the print/visual (non-video) medium!
3/5 A decade ago, I recall reading: "Only about 3% of Earth's water is freshwater. Of that, only about 1.2% can be used as drinking water".
In 2020, the stats have evolved, to our detriment: "0.5% of the Earth's water is available freshwater. If the world's water supply were
"Worse still was the government’s seeming indifference to the mounting tragedy. Even as the scale of India’s second wave grew obvious, Mr Modi and his top ministers actually encouraged vast gatherings, both at their own giant election rallies and at the Kumbh Mela"