Brilliant Ads!!!

(Best viewed on the blog http://vipages.blogspot.com)

A while ago I'd put up an article on horrible & stupid television advertisements and its high time I shared some of the brilliant TV ads of all time. A very good ad makes the viewers watch it completely (probably multiple times), drive the message across and most important of all make people remember the product. Some ads even go beyond that and create such a good impact on the viewers that phrases or the songs from the ad is used by people in their day to day lives. For Example: The "Hamara Bajaj" song, the dilogues from Woodwards gripe water, etc.

Here are some of those ads that have defined how good advertisements must be made. These are ads that feature in Indian televisions and the below list does not include International ads.

Bajaj Pulsar:

The Bajaj Pulsar involving dramatised stunts that hit the screens is by far the best 2 wheeler advertisement we've seen. The starts with a disclaimer and then goes on to portray a stunning display of some breathtaking stunts performed using the highest selling two wheeler in India. The background score is mild yet aggressive and simply brilliant! The visual and the audio together makes pulser look like the most desierable two wheeler!

Nike India:

No other advertisement has managed to capture a day in India so well. The ad brilliantly captures, the chaos in a crowded traffic junction, the guys trying to play cricket amidst the chaos and different people coming toghther to play cricket. They've even managed to use a statue from that junction to relate to cricket. Simply Brilliant! The music gives a rustic feel to the whole ad and brings a smile in the viewers face. The highlight of the ad is when the screen freezes with a bowler in the air and Nike's phrase "Just Do It" appears with the tick mark logo. No other ad has managed to capture the essense of a brand like this one. Worth watching many a times!

Pepsi Helicopter Shot:

This is one of the best off the innovative ads Pepsi has made off late. Its amazing how they managed to link that one legendary shot of Dhoni's to something else. Though it is not related to the brand directly, it sure will make you laugh the first time you see it. And for an ad that does not relate directly to the brand like the others in this list the brand still does make an impression with the viewers! The other similar Pepsi ads with other crickets some how does not impress.

Tata Safari:

This is another brilliant ad that makes the product make a striking impression. The music that plays when the vechile apprears on screen makes the presentation stunning. The expression on the animals faces and the appearance of the Safari on the screen is so well orchrestrated that you could not ask for a better projection of the brand and the product. The ad captures the essence of Tata Safari and conveys the message loud and clear that the Safari is an all terrain conquerer.

Vodafone Number Porting:

This is a very good ad of Vodafone promoting the number porting facility. No words spoken and yet this ad features the most simple yet effective portrayal of  the number porting facility. This ad clicked becuase you can easily relate to this ad - what you see here is something you might have experienced in your own life. The selection of the cast is also good and the ad does drive some amount of adoration.

Another brillinat Ad campaign of Vodafone is the Ad series featuring one of the most adorable on screen characters the "ZooZoo." These ads are the coming together of amazing creativity, a very good sense of humour and brilliant advertising. Each one of the ZooZoo ads are a class apart and never fails to communicate the features that the ad is set out to advertise. The best of all is the one which features the ZooZoo as a superhero promoting the launch of the Vodafone 3G services.

Samsung 3D LED TV

This is by far the best Television ad for a Television ever! The new 3D LED TVs of Samsung takes tv viewing experience to an all new level - that's the messsage Samsung had to convey to the viewers and the message comes out loud and clear in this ad.

The ad starts with a soothing music where the 3D LED TVs are installed in public places and what follows is simply breathtaking! The visuals shown through the television are either life like or better than 'life like.' This ad helps project this product of Samsung as one of the most desirable products you would want to possess.

Samsung Smart TV:

This is another brilliant ad from Samsung for their Smart TV. The ad displays an array of stunning visuals (that you see through the Smart TV) and brilliant music. The Smart TV can connect to the internet and bring the whole universe in your television screen, which is exactly what the ad shows you in a striking yet suttle way. The 3D LED and the Smart TV ads of Samsung are two of the most innovative ad campaigns in recent times.

Honda Jazz

This ad takes you back to your childhood, reminds you of those fun moments you would've had in the various rides you would've enjoyed as a kid (like the swing, shopping cart ride, etc). The ad brings back the feeling and so does the Honda Jazz addording to the ad. The way the vehicle makes an appearance in the ad is also quite impressive and the music just gets grander when the vehicle comes in. You see the Jazz coming in, in reverse and effortlessly does a 180 degrees drift in motion, quite similar to the other rides they show in the ad.

Tata Manza & Indica:

Tata Motors is one of the brands that makes some really good ads time and again. Some of their ads are humourous and help create a long lasting impression on the viewers for its brand. Here are two of those ads that sell on humour. The new Tata Manza ad and the old Tata Indica ad.

Tata Manza - A Class Apart

Tata Indica

Dairy Milk:

There is one brand that has been consistently making "feel good" and brilliant ads for years now - Cadbury's DairyMilk. Two of their ad campaigns that stand out are the one where the girl barges into the cricket field and starts dancing to celebrate and the one where they show a family having dinner together.

The first ad will sure bring a smile in your face and it makes you a good feeling & make you feel nice. The second ad, will simply make you feel like it is happening in your own household.

One more aspect that really stands out in DairlyMilk ads is their selection of actors/models. They are so real and you can relate to the actors/modes in the ad. They look like people you come across in your daily life or even people in your family or fiends circle. Besides a brillint selection of cast the ads also shows simple things from our day to day life that brings joy & happiness - one of the reasons why their ads are 'feel good' ads.

These are some of the brilliant ads that have created a long lasting impression, however this is not the end of the list, there are a lot more good ad campaigns that have stood out from the rest all these years. I will share those in the upcoming edtions.

Signs - Short Film

A short & sweet, well narrated and a beautiful feel good movie...

I recently watched this short film on the internet called Signs, directed by an Australian director named Partick Hughes in the year 2008. This movie is about 12 minutes and what it can do to you is amazing. Its a very simple plot, but the narration is outstanding. There are no dialogues except for two place where the lead character is in a meeting (some one else is presenting some stuff) and a message on the answering machine.

The narration doesn't just keep you completely involved in the story for that 12 mintues, it also leaves you laughing with the characters and make you feel sad for the lead character towards to end. This is a feel good movie that you'll never regret watching. Both actors who have played Jason and Stacy have done a great job, especially the actor who played Jason - his acting was phenomenol. I could relate to the first 2 - 3 minutes of this movie.

The director has chosen a simple, straight forward narration and the same is so powerful when presented on the screen! The background score is mesmerising and goes very well with the mood of the movie and the audience! This movie is a very good example of how to make a good movie. Upcoming or aspiring film makers definitely have a lot to learn form this movie.

This is a must watch and it does not take more than 13 minutes to watch (I don't want to spoil the experience by revealing the plot here). Please watch this movie if you find time, you can find this movie on youtube if you search with the directors name and the movie title I guess. Look for the file that has a run time of little more than 12 mins.

And here is the URL for the moview IMDB page.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1377575/

God's Own Country

Last month I'd been to Wayanad, Kerala on a short vacation. Calling Kerala 'God's Own Country' is an understatement.

Technically this is my fourth visit to Kerala and this is the first time I actually got to see the real Kerala. First time was when I was a kid, I'd been to Malampuzha with my family. Second time I almost made it the border with some friends and the guy who was supposed to arrange accomodation screwed up so ended up going to Mudumalai instead. In the third attempt I stayed in a hotel in the middle of a town and eat in the hotel's restraunt and came back (Thanks to a great ass who was in my team who supposedly knew every nook and corner in Wayanad).

Finally on my fourth visit to Kerala, I was able to experience the REAL KERALA. We found an amazing home stay accomodation (luxurious at the same time affordable and had a great host Mr. Saji Chaco - http://www.tropicalforrest.in/) and drove down for the weekend. The home stay was situated on top of a small hill in the outskirts of this small town called Lakkidi. When we got closer to the town we called the host and asked him for directions, he said "Keep coming straight, when you find mist on the road, just stop and give me a call. I'll come there and take you to the homestay. That's one of the weirdest landmarks I've heard of (besides 'you'll see a cow eating grass, take a left after that') but you know with that landmark you can never miss that place. We witnessed mist only in that area over the next two days we spent there. Amazing!

We took up an entire villa (build in accordance with the authentic Kerala architectural style), the villa and the locality was so good that we didn't want to go out anywhere. When you drive down to Kerala from either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, you can feel the difference the moment you cross the border and enter God's Own Country! When you drive down, you'll see dry masses of lands, one or two trees here and there, horrible roads, garbage dumps, etc and then as you enter Kerala all of that will change!

You'll know you've entered Kerala,

• The moment everthing around you turns completely green.
• The roads get narrower but better than anyother road you would have driven on.
• When you feel the cold breeze.
• When you hear birds chirping.
• When you hear leaves brusing against each other due to the wind.
• If you see football posters or flags of countries that play football.
• Small tea stalls that also serve beef and toddy.
• Men with lungi's.
• = / > 15 people in a jeep.

Wayanad is filled with stunningly beautiful landscapes, some nice places to visit, great roads to drive on and amazing food. Talking about the food, you should try out the traditional beef fry, if you ever get a chance to stop by in a small road side hotel that serves Kerala - go for it and most of all you have to have to try the buttermilk from a roadside shop. I don't know how they manage to make everything so delicious but you must never miss these things when you are in Kerala. Don't plan on visitng 100 places during your vacation but a select few and enjoy the drive and the mesmerising beauty of God's Own Country!


Some of the places I'll personally recommend: Banasura Sagar Dam, Edakkal Caves, Chembara Peak, Kuruva Island and Soochippara Waterfall. Especially the drive us the coffe estates to Chembara Peak is amazing! Here are some of the pictures of God's Own Country from my recent visit. I'll leave the rest for you to experience when you go there.....

Below are the pictures taken during our drive up to Chembara Peak.

And the Legendary Jeep rides of Kerala....

All in all you'll thoroughly enjoy Kerala if you stay and roam around in the right places. You'll only wish it wasn't as humid as it was else you'll not have any complaints.

Kabbe Holidays

A great holiday destination in Coorg, this place boasts of world class accomodation at really affordable cost, amazing food and most of all great hospitality that always makes you feel at home. Kabbe Holidays is the place to be if you need a perfet holiday. Dilip & Vidhya, the people who run this place are real sweet hearts and they always make you feel as part of their family.


When I first heard of this place I was told that they treat you like a king, I thought that is just for the sake of marketing, like other holiday desitnations advertise, but after vistng this place is when I realised how true that statement was. I have been to this place thrice between 2007 & 2009 (those are the only times we made it to Kabbe Holidays, if you count the number of times we've attempted but did not get booking is probably > 10) and everytime I go there it feels like going back home.

All the friends I have taken to Kabbe Holidays so far have gone back for another vacation sooner or later and they always have great things to say about this place and of course Dilip & Vidhya. Some of my friends even call me the Columbus of Kabbe Holidays coz I found the place first amongst all of us.

One thing you must never miss when you go there is to walk up the hill with Dilip, the view is fantastic and you can actually see Kerala while your foot is firmly rested in Karnataka. Probably you can also go up his cofee estate by evening and wakdown after sunset. There are a couple of places where Dilip can take you for some adventure sports. If you are into adventure sports you can try kayaking, rock climbing, raffling, paint balling, quadra bike, etc.

It is highly recomended that you ask Vidya to prepare the traditional pork fry and the dessert that is made with bread (not sure what its called but one thing for sure is that you can't stop eating it once you start). If it aint raining you can have a good time at the campfire, Vidya now has a new game that she plays in camp fires called "Jab We Met." I woulnd't want to reveal much details about this game here, you should get there and see it for yourself. I've always wondered how Vidhya manages to come up with so many different varieties of food, some of the things I've eaten / drank in Kabbe Holidays are things that you don't find anywhere else.

Everytime we plan for a trip with friends or everytime a good friend is asking for suggestions on a holiday spot the first place we think of is Kabbe Holidays. Not just because of the great place it is, but also because of the great bonding we share with Dilip & Vidya.

If you are looking for a peaceful, fun filled vacation Kabe Holidays is the place to be. But be sure you book the place well in advance so that you are not disappointed (I'd suggest for Christmas and New Year's you'll need to make a booking atleast a year in advance). Here are some of the pictures from my memorable trips to this place, alternatively you can know more details about this place in their website http://www.kabbeholidays.com/

The peak you see is actually half way to the hill top.

Dilip's coffee estate

One of the places where you can involve is some adventure sports

Below are some of the feebacks we wrote on the vistor's book whenever we had been there (There are more of the first impression comments and I haven't updated all the comments we put up in our consecutive visits).

3rd & 4th November 2006 (I came here with my team):

We took the wrong route and had a tiring and long journey. The best thing was none of had a clue about how this place is. We all were kind of getting skeptical as to how the place is going to be. When we reached here the very first interaction we had with Mr & Mrs Dilip was great. We felt like home after seeing the place. Then the food best of its kind, the way the food was served was also great / personalised service. The places we vsted around this place were the best, especially the treking part gave us an experience of a lifetime. This was one of the best refreshing vacations we've had. The only thing that bothered me was the leeches. In a nutshell this place is the "best of the best."


April 2007 (This was when I got my best friends to Kabe Holidays)

This is my second visit to Kabbe Holidays, the previous visit was in November 2006. This time it was much better (greater) that the previous visit because we stayed here for two days. Dilip is a star, he took us to his estate and let us walk back in the dark which was the most adventrous trek I've done in life. The next day Dlip took us to Kayaking and pushed me into the water inspte of me being extremely 'hydrophobic.' I don't know if that expeience was exciting but it was refreshing for sure. We then had a great time at the campfire with some antakshari, some toddy and lots of fun.

The food was exceptionally good and I'm gonna miss this food when I go back. The way the two new cottages were built is remarkable and I don't have words to express the hospitality of Dilip, Vidya & Dev. Now I feel that I'm a part of Dilip's family. What made me very happy was that I brought my best friends here for the frirst time and all of them really loved and enjoyed it to a great extent. I'm looking forward for many more excitng, enjoyable and adventrous trip back to Kabbe Holidays. I want to et my family here once and 'm sure they will love it. I call myself as 'Columbus' among my friends circle beause I discovered this wonderful place!

April 2007 (This is what Leeni wrote on their book)

Its a given this place is beautful, heaven on earth, but what has made our stay memorable were the wonderful people. Vidya is a sweetheart, best hostess I have ever met. Dilip going that extra mile to make memories for us (Late Night Jungle Safari). Dev, smart and full of life and an excellent sot and dancer.
Thank You doesn't exactly say it :-). We will be back.

April 2007 (This is what Amith wrote on their book)

Forget It!!! I never visited a resort I felt like I visted my relative's place and honestly never felt like I am new here. Excellent food (considering that I don't eat) Awesome hospitality. (Dilip, Vdya, Dev you rock).
Thanks for this wonderful experience. Many more visits to come.

Books you must read...

I am going to share a brief summary of some of the good books i have read which you can try as well. These are my personal views and can vary when compared to the rest of the world. These are more of a "Books I recommend" post for all you readers out there.....

Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter
This is a easy to read simple fable about a bunch of penguins who live on an iceberg without knowing that it is melting. There is one penguin that sees this coming and works on enlightning the rest of the group and finding a new habitat. This is a good read for starters, the languauge used by the author is simple yet powerful. This book teaches you change management and enables to look at things differently. If you are a book worm you will complete this book in <>The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
I don't think this book needs an introduction nor a recommendation. This book again teaches you a lot of corporate stuff and some values in the form of a fable. When youread this book you definitely do come across instances where you can relate to any one of the characters. This book even sometimes leaves you thinking "how come i did not see it this way." Another good book for starters.

First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckhingham & Curt Coffman
Actually one of my friend had asked me find out the cost of this book when I'd been to a bookstore. I read the review on the cover of the book and thought I'll read it. This is not a kind of book for starters or first time readers (atleast from my understanding of starters and first time readers). This is a must read for all people managers and more so for the ones who are aspiring to be people managers. There are a lot of useful management concepts that you can take away from this book. This book teaches you and provides tools that would make you life as a people manager a lot easier, effective and efficient.

Conversations with God 1, 2, & 3 by Neale Donald Walsh
If you are very religious and have completely faith in the God you worship, this book might turn out to be a shocker. I gave my girlfriend (well I don't know if that word is still appropriate) part one of this series, she is a person who falls under the criteria mentioned in the previous sentance and she did not like the book and she did not even complete the book. This book takes a completely different approach towards religion, god, life and the world. One fine day the author decides to write a letter to God and suddenly he realises that God is responding to his letter through him. End result the author asks the questions and god answers them. I thoroughly enjoyed this series because the concept of god and religion this book deals with is very much closer to my ideology of god and religion. This book make you imagine certain thing that you would have never imagined before, somethings like darkness doesnot exist it is a mere absence of light, because we've seen light we created darkness in its absence. Same thing goes for good & bad, head & cold, etc. This book is refreshing and reviving, though it can get too texty texty a couple times (especially the third part) which might reduce your attention span.

This series has some real good phrases that eveyone will like such as, "If you saw you as God sees you, you'll smile a lot." "God is in the sadness and the laughter, in the bitter and the sweet. There is a devine purpose behind everything and therefore a divine presence in everything." "God has no way to speprate himself from you or anything else. Hell is simply not knowing this. Salvation is knowing and inderstanding it completely."

Cows Don't Give Milk by Pramod Batra
This is another interesiting read for first time readers. There are a few places where this book teaches you some strategies and stuff but mostly it preaches things that have alerdy been preached a number of times in various other books, text books, seminars, etc. In a nutshell this book takes a very practical approach towars some of the most frequent and common issues we come across. The tag line is "Cows don't give milk, you have to take it."

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Louis V. Grestner Jr
If you are techie you'll enjoy this book and if you are not a techie and is aspiring to be an entreprenuer then its even better. Lou Grestner is not a techie, but he takes over as the CEO of IBM when IBM is going through its all time low in is history. Lou gets the basics in place and transforms this mega corporation into one of the most profitable IT company in the world. It is said that as companies get bigger, they tend to forget the basics and do a lot of complicated stuff that would set the company in the path of destruction. IBM was on one such path when Lou took over, some of the things he brings in are simple solutions that has a long term fix and immense potential for cost saving & profit making. A lot of oltimers in IMB did go through a culture shock when Lou brought in such changes but Lou and his team have managed to stay focussed and achieve waht they wanted. Some of the things that Lou got in as immediate and long term fixes were centralisation, verticalisation of the orgs, performance based variable pay structures, things that helped drive more accountability at all level. There are some graphs that depict IBMs performance before and after Lou took over and that's a kind of graph that can substitute your resume! There is one phrase that Lou keeps telling his people which I have also started using a lot these days, "People do what you inspect and not what you expect."

The Greatness Guide 1 & 2 by Robn Sharma
Another easy read from Mr. Sharma. The Greatness Guide series is a compilation of small articles that talk about all aspects of life. Each chapter is about 1 or 2 pages each so this is a bokk that you can pause or stop reading at any time. But guess what it is quite difficult to pause / stop reading this book. If you buy this book you also get to download one of Robin's 60 minute speach on what differentiates a great organisation from mediocre organisations. That is a very interesting audio, atleast most of it. If you are a people manager then some of the stuff he talks about in this audio will definitely turn out to be very useful. You can even use some of the chapters in these books to train your pople managers.

The Google Story by David A Vice
One coincedance you'd notice if you read books like this is some of the big IT giants in the world today once started off as a collage project. Google and Sun Microsystems (SUN - Stanford University Network) are one of those companies that started from Stanford. This book is amazing due to the amout of detail that it deals with, it covers a lot of interesting trivia about google, the internet search industry, how google stays on top, why google employees are so happy with their job, etc. There is one entire chapter in this book that talks about how the google cafeterias are designed! It also anwers our question on how Google make money, what is the basic concept of page rank, etc. If you have a gmail account, have you ever noticed that whenever you read an e-mail, all the sponsored links that you would see on the right side of the screen will be related to the subject of your e-mail (well there was a law suite filed on Goole for breach of privacy for the same but that story is history now)?

This book also talks about why google does not have any competitors till date, how aggressive and obsessive are the founders of goolge to capture every region of the world market, how obssessive is google in redifining benchmarks that they themselves set in the industry a while ago, how obssessive is google in innovating. Do you know gmail was project by one of the google employees? Well google gives each employee a few hours every week where they can work on their own projects and innovate, gmail is one such project. It is a must read for management professionals and techies. This book also has some stuff for the common man... How to use google as a calculator, how to use google as a currency converter, how to look up people, phone #s, address using google, how to optimise your search in google, etc.

Shift by Carlos Goshn & Philippe
Another transformation story of one of the biggest auto makers in the world. Carlos comes to Nissan from Renault to fix the company and save the company from going bankrupt. This is another book that reinforces that if you don't have your basics in place then you are in for disaster. Carlos brings in a lot of optimisation that minimises costs and also changes a lot of traditional practices that existed in Nissan that was actually slowing down its progress and turning the organisation in the opposite direction. There is a lot you can know about the auto industry, do you know how one of the hot selling car segment, "the SUVs" come into existance? Well this book can answer this for your. There is a fair amount of Carlos' biography that may not interest you that much but all in all an interesting book to read.