Play Circuit » Print Ads

Yahoo’s Agressive Print Campaign In China

sushaantu — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:48:43 +0000

Yahoo employed an aggressive strategy to woo more customers to use Yahoo search in the Chinese market. DDB Shanghai has created a print ad wherein Yahoo tries to target Baidu which is the leading search engine in China. The print ad shows a fat man searching some mermaid through binoculars making an angle of 100 degrees. There is no mention about Baidu you may ask but then you will have to be Chinese to understand it. Now 100 degree has two meanings in Mandarin, one is the angle of a search area and other is a metaphor to Baidu. The finishing touch is given by the question on the top,”Search only within 100 degree? Why not use Yahoo! 360 degree search engine!”

Baidu became the leading site of choice for the Chinese web users because it lets users to search mp3 or wav files. Baidu doesn’t keep the music on its servers and merely gives the link to the website that contains the particular music file. Baidu has recently branched out to provide more web services and it has launched a portal for Japanese markets as well where Yahoo is the leading search engine.

Amazing Nintendo GAMEBOY Ads

Aditi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:21:32 +0000

Kids and teenagers have been the main target of advertisers since long time back but now ad agencies have to mind the quality of work they do. You can’t just show junk and expect their impressionist minds to relate with it. Ads have to have some excitement if kids are your main target and we see that strategy working in these print ads of Nintendo Gameboy.

Twice as fast. Half the price.

sushaantu — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:50:41 +0000

I know I should have written about it much earlier but as I said in my last post that I was busy with other assignments at JustSkins and RealGeek so I couldn’t devote time to PlayCircuit. The thing is that I didn’t buy a decent phone last to last year (almost two years back…that was Indian English for you) in this anticipation that I would buy an iPhone when it will be launched in India. I know it was launched only an year ago but I have been waiting since the rumors of iPhone launch.

iPhone certainly has been launched in India and I can buy it if I so desire now but why in the world would I buy a mobile phone which has been priced like hell. The 16 GB Apple iPhone 3G is available at Rs 36,100 in India and it would be US $800 for those who understand in Dollar terms. I love iPhone and I understand completely that it’s not just a phone but seriously that is too much money. What is rather more interesting is that their ads are completely oblivious to this. Apple marketed the new iPhone 3G with the following ad where they made a statement which was quite antagonistic what they were offering. That is the magic of advertising, you can lie in the face of world and people still don’t realize it.

By the way, I covered the launch of Apple iPhone 3G live in India with my coworkers at Realgeek.

Quit Smoking campaigns get some color

sushaantu — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:22:03 +0000

It’s very rare that you get to see colorful Quit Smoking campaigns. The Utah Government under its Utah Quit initiative has recently launched three photoshop’d colorful ads to create awareness about smoking. The print advertisements are based on age old stories and it seems like the advertisers specifically wanted to target children with these ads. The feel of the print ads is very unique and the creative guys behind this didn’t hesitated to spread color.

There have been recent announcements in certain countries about adding the images of cancer infected patients on the cigarette packs. I think we would never had to take these steps had their were such animated campaigns earlier. Love Communications has done a nice job and given us all a refreshing change from black and white sullen quit smoking ads.

Agency: Love Communications, Salt Lake City, USA

Creative Director: Preston Wood
Art Director: Trent Wall
Copywriter: Alison Faulkner

Ray Ban’s latest print ads paint it all black

sushaantu — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:16:34 +0000

Ray Ban’s previous ad campaigns have been sans any color and they are still very upbeat on the same marketing strategy. Ray Ban has launched five new print ads for this season which have been created by CUTWATER. It is an advertisement agency (it claims itself as a full-service agency though) based in San Francisco and also responsible for the tag line “Never Hide.” These ads are giving a complex to my Play Circuit theme and now I have to consider changing the theme which can accommodate hardcore black & white ads without disturbing the sanctity of colors.

The latest print ad of simplymarry.com

sushaantu — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:10:49 +0000

I am fan of all the print ads of simply marry for its ingenuity and uniqueness. Their latest print ad only resurrects what they are known for.

Print ads which can be used as desktop wallpapers: Western Union

sushaantu — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:45:34 +0000

I am starting a new series on Play Circuit where I will post those print ads which can also be used as cool wallpapers on your desktop. This particular ad has been created by Saatchi & Saatchi Vietnam for Western Union. The image is quite panoramic which doesn’t allow you to get any sense that there are actually two cities captured in the scene : Shanghai & Chicago.

Advertising Agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI VIETNAM, Ho Chi Minh City
Executive Creative Director: Steve Hough
Creative Director: Sumesh Peringeth
Copywriter: Steve Hough
Art Director: Sumesh Peringeth, Huy Nguyen
Photographer: Photolibrary, Corbis, Teo Studio
Illustrator: Nguyen Le

This fish tastes so good.

sushaantu — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:05:25 +0000

I do watch quite a lot of ads and all kinds of them, some are straightforward, some are witty, some are horny and then there are also some which are quite simple in their message but extraordinary in design. This print campaign called Mermaid created by the Forte Identity Design, Singapore for the Seafood International Market and Restaurant is just the kind of ad I mentioned in the end. The message the advertiser has communicated is that they carry the widest range of live seafood without any kind of gimmickry. The mermaid in the picture looks gorgeous (that’s because I am partial towards Asian chicks) and I would have quite possibly missed the name of the advertiser had their big logo not interfered. Overall a nice work, we still appreciate simplicity while beauty goes without saying.