Long playing records

AGK SPEAK

There's nothing new on the advertising front, so I've decided to look at another field where creativity is used to entertain and get our attention: the daily TV soap.

Long-running campaigns are the strongest and surest route for meaningful, long-lasting brand building. As brand custodian for many brands for over two decades, and as founder of Mudra Videotech, which gave the nation serials like Rajni and Buniyaad, I know how difficult it can be to keep finding refreshing ways to say the same thing over and over again. Invariably, most "long-run" campaigns lose steam after four or five years.

After endless brainstorming on "how to inject new life" into a flagging brand, we invariably give up, and start on a new route all over again. So when I switch on my TV to Star Plus every week night at 8:30 pm to get my daily dose of Kasauti Zindagi Kay as millions of Indians do even after some 3,000 episodes, I now do so with total admiration for the creative brains behind the serial.

Not just their ability to spin an interesting tale every single day out of something as mundane as home life, but also their close attention to detail, their consistent adherence to quality. Every little thing on the sets has a high fascination value, so even if the story flags a bit, your eye tends to rove around the sets sizing up the furniture and the rest of the paraphernalia wondering which of these you would like to acquire next.

An opportunity that has already been cleverly capitalised on by shops that now market sarees, jewellery and even furniture accessories pegged "as seen on KZK". This production house has mastered the most important lesson in marketing: know your audience.

What I've Learned "Chalo Air'bus' aaya!"

I might sound a bit of a snob, but let's face it: air travel is just not the same as the good old days. All those discounted fares, egalitarian though they have been, have turned the airport premises into something that closely resembles a bus-stand, with its seething masses, long queues, people squatting on suitcases, and airline staff rushing around shouting: "Nagpur, Nagpur, any passengers for Nagpur?" and suchlike.

Noise levels and semi-literate co-passengers aside, I am beginning to think that it is a crime to be on time these days. Since I hate being late, I always arrive on time, only to find myself at the end of a serpentine queue waiting for the security check. I then discover, to my dismay, sailing past all the conscientious queue-rs, airline staff personally escorting latecomers as they would VIPs. Wow!

In one swift stroke, the intense competition among airlines has turned the tide in favour of latecomers. In fact, I have decided, hereafter, not to leave the business lounge till I am physically pushed onto my flight. All this leaves me seriously contemplating rail travel all over again.

Fortunately, I have only wonderful memories of rail travel, especially as a child. In those days, nothing came close to the joy of fighting with your siblings to win the window seat. Or counting the telephone poles as they sped by, begging for coins from your parents to toss into holy rivers as the train thundered across, the slight quivery feeling in the pit of your stomach as you looked down and realised that you were just inches away from being swept to the sea if the train toppled into the water.

And, of course, dashing out at unheard-of little stations for a scalding cup of tea. In fact many years ago, DDB made a very memorable TVC for Amtrax, the US rail service that captured the romance of rail travel in a riveting 40 or 60 seconder. After the rather disillusioning experience that air travel is putting me through, the railway station seems welcoming.

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