Monday, February 15, 2010

New Nirma Ad: Review.

First of all watch this jaw dropping ad.



First of all, when I saw this ad, i was like...Baw! What on earth?? Sucha crappy ad. There cant be no serious review on this but still... I'd call it a fail ad.

Though after a second look, in some corner of the mind feel like appreciating the creativity of the ad maker to some extent.

To describe, I think the female here has taken her training with Matrix's Neo. She seem to have magical powers in her hand with 'Nirma' the codeword.

Here are the positive n negative aspects I felt.

Positives:

1. Creativity. Though taken (inspired) from matrix, smart usage of the technique.

Sorry, can't think of any more positives.

Negatives:

1. The expression on the female's face is disgusting.

2. People lookin baffled in the ad itself is irritating. The kid asking his mom to look at the wonder?? come on...

3. Bossing over the dirt like a school teacher daunting her stud.

4. Fail: After successfully stopping the dirt from spilling onto her clothes and passing away, she could have waited till there was no person around while she settled the dirt. She deliberately puts it down when one among the crowd is keenly watching it.

Post your views. I can't write anymore of this junk. Just wanted to share it among you.

Monday, February 08, 2010

All for the airport.

It might be old news for you all. Still, I have to tell about it.

The Airport Road (to Devanahalli, originating from High Grounds) is again getting widened. Right from the Hebbal flyover, till the airport entrance. The last plan I heard was an eight-lane road below with three lane service roads on either side. On top of it we have a six lane express highway from Hebbal flyover to Airport entrance. There are plans of metro coming on one side of the road. Which side of the road has to be decided yet.

Well, this is the plan. All is good for the globalization enthusiasts. Wide roads attract the investors and gives an impression of a better infrastructure. Smooth traffic flow blah blah blah.

FYI, road widening for the airport had been done just five years ago. Now, again based on the complaints of minor VIPs, the central government plans to widen the road for their pleasure.

You may refer to this post of mine on VIP movements on the Airport road.

Lets analyse the situation. Here are some points that come to my mind.

1. Whats the traffic to the airport everyday on an average?

2. How many vehicles commute on that road?

3. Is widening required at this stage? Is the traffic that worse?

4. How many people/enterprises lose their land for widening?

5. Whats the compensation given to them? Whats the market value?

6. What is the ratio between them?

If you answer these questions, you'll easily find the need for this road widening is not that important. In case if they insist in doing so, they should provide the real compensation (unlike what they did in 2005) or provide land for the current market price somewhere else (Which I hardly see getting done).

They construct a dedicated 6 lane express highway for free movement of these VIPs in and outa the city. Now, whats the ratio of people taking the express highway paying the costly toll? You can take examples from the NICE road and the Hosur road flyover projects. Common man wishes the other way.

Roads in other parts of Karnataka are getting worse. Some examples include The road to Nagarahole, the roads that lead us to the western ghats (take any road, its getting worse n worse day by day) Why can't they improve such roads than investing 700 crores on an express highway to the airport? Again whats the ratio of people travelling to Airport to people travelling in the afore mentioned roads to rural parts of Karnataka? You just can't compare.

More balding of Bengalooru takes place (of the leftover greenery), more people will get homeless/jobless.

Its not that, I blog it out and they look into it. I just have pointed out my viewpoint which does no good to the situation. It simply doesnt change the scenario. The Govt takes it in the left ear n leaves it out on the right.

Just thought of bloggin out this helpless scene of Airport road. Cough up your opinion.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Telco companies & Green drives.

Before saying anything, let me ask you to watch the videos embedded below. If you've already watched it on TV, its optional.



and this...


What do you feel about it?

These are actually promotions for a cause by the telco companies in making us aware of our environment.

One may initially feel sorry for the environment, may feel the urge to go green n eco etc.

Lets look into it in a more indifferent manner. Lets take them one by one.

1. Idea's urge to save paper, use mobile.

Go through the video once again if you want to, it gives you many ways to save paper. One can see browsing newspaper through mobile, giving autographs on a touchscreen, taking notes on a mobile(in a court), boarding passes in airports, university certificates, menus and orders in a hotel and what not?

The ad goes bang into the market and is a big hit. Though there are many filmy elements. One major flaw I felt was nobody uses a mobile to type in a court when one can have a desktop/laptop. Storage and transmitting could also be more spacious/faster in the latter case.

Agreed, as they are promoting their product, that is their gimmick. I'm not against the entertaining aspect of it.

Coming to more serious matter, who would implement such ideas? May be a few enthusiasts who got interested would make it a point in following the steps guided by the ad. Aged people would hardly feel the urge to type. They prefer hard copy paper than its counterpart. I don't see any long term implementations of it. On the other hand, these could be the advertisements of the mobile manufacturers and not of the service providers strictly speaking.

Lets hold it for a moment and discuss it after the second ad.

2. Aircel's urge to save the tigers of India.

Its a bit more serious than the previous ad. They ask us to involve in saving tigers. Specially Indian tigers. (Well, how can we save tigers that aren't in our country?) Wanna know more about it? Check it out here.

It has got three brand ambassadors. Cricketing star, M.S. Dhoni, Football captain, Bhaichung Bhutia and Tamil hero Suriya (Aircel is basically from TN).

Again, lemme list the positives here.

1. Effectively depicts the condition of our tigers.
2. Makes us think about Tigers as endangered species.
3. No filmy things in the ad. Thanks for that.

Now lemme tell you my opinion on this ad. Ultimately whatever a common man does, he cannot literally help in saving tigers. Blogging about it, speaking on it in meetings, sharing your thoughts with your friends... nothing is practically gonna help saving tigers. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me in this matter.

Forget everything, we cannot see a tiger except for zoos. Lively tigers are hard to search in jungles. Many of my treks n hiking have gone unfruitful to watch the predator in an open forest. (Not that normal person wishes to see tigers)

Whatever this ad is meant for, should reach the actual hunters of tigers. Not only the hunters of tiger alone, but all wild animals in general.

No 'Save wildlife campaign' helped to any extent in hunting down Veerappan, the elephant poacher. All we could wait for is to turn the minds of these poachers n hunters as well as their supporters on the good side.

Now to summarize everything discussed, its just a market gimmick for these telco providers to gain more publicity boasting themselves as eco-friendly. I'm not saying that they're always wrong. We do have truth on their side, but still I feel its just their marketing strategy. All I want to say is that because of these mobile operators, we have lost our sparrows from the urban areas. Not only sparrows but almost all birds. All we could see is a few crows here n there sparingly.

How many will turn in my side, if I say 'Stop using mobiles, save the sparrow. Lets do our bit'. Who will turn my side?

Or yet another agenda, 'Use less plastic, save the environment'?? How many will turn up? How many street cows have fallen sick/died just because of consuming plastic?

You might think I'm always cynic towards such things. Thats how I am.

As always, If I've left out some points or you feel that I'm wrong on some statements, please do let me know.