Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Noteworthy: Lee Clow

Lee Clow- The Chairman and Global Director of TBWA\Worldwide, spoke for SHOOT's 50th year of publication in its year-end issue.

Back around 1970 when Chiat\Day was starting up in Los Angeles, Lee Clow found himself working at N.W. Ayer and didn't enjoy the environment there. "It was too much about what was bad about the Mad Men days--martini lunches and keeping clients happy rather than striving to do something better and creative on their behalf," recalled Clow. "Meanwhile there was a lot of buzz about this shop across town on Olympic Boulevard [in L.A.] called Chiat/Day. Jay Chiat and Guy Day were there, Hy Yablonka was the creative director. It was a place I wanted to work. After bothering them for a year, I finally landed a job and I've been there ever since."


The "there" has changed quite a bit over the years, as reflected in Clow's current roles with Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide, and with TBWA\Media Arts Lab. Yet whatever titles he's carried over the years, Clow has always found himself trying to maintain a key working dynamic. "It was fun being 18 people on Olympic Boulevard," he related. "There was a passion and intensity in trying to figure out how to do new brave stuff. Jay Chiat pushed for breakthrough work. Today, we still aspire to do the same. But when you get as big as we are now, it gets harder to maintain the feel of what we had at Chiat\Day with those core people. That's the feel, though, that I still look to attain today, so that our creative brand groups feel and act like little agencies with the same kind of passion we had for one or two accounts back then."

Clow's creative passion has translated into such iconic work as Apple's historic "1984" Super Bowl spot, and years later the reunion between Apple and TBWA\Chiat\Day which first yielded the lauded "Think different" campaign. That creative spirit now extends all the way through iPods, iPhones and the ongoing "Mac vs. PC" campaign which has become part of mainstream pop culture.

As for how agency creatives and their mandate have changed over the years, Clow observed, "Back in the day it used to be that the high threshold for a creative person was to do TV. Lower down the food chain there was print, and further down there were dealer ads. But today creative people and creative departments have to be part of an all-media thinking creative group. Creative is not just about a TV commercial.

"Today," continued Clow, "creatives have to consider what kind of conversations are going to start up around the idea they're putting out there for a brand no matter what the medium. You don't have control over conversations in social media, blogs, chats, on Facebook and Twitter. But you can do things as a brand, take actions that beget conversation, beget interest, that tap into the power of people wanting to spend time talking about you, your brand, what you do. We have never sought to seed or try to force conversation on the Internet. It's the brand that does that and the conversation is spontaneous. 'How do you like your iPhone?' The brand has to be smart, likeable and trustworthy. Everything a brand does is advertising.

"Ultimately," affirmed Clow, "brands are going to become media, with people choosing to seek out a certain brand and spend time with it. If the brand has done a film, people want to see it. They want to see their product, their store. The Apple Store is probably the best ad Apple has ever done. The store is an audio-video experience with passionate kids at the genius bar, an inviting design, interaction with the products, a theater in back where they teach and where other forms of film are shown that engage, inform, tell stories and sometimes entertain. Apple's packaging tells as much of a story about that brand as a TV spot. The experience of getting an iPhone, opening the box, how reverently that packaging is designed, the words and pictures taking a dimensional form on the package. People want to touch, feel and see a brand. Our task is to help build a brand that's strong enough as a medium so that people will want to interact with that brand's stories."

Click HERE to read more from Lee and other people sharing their vision!

-Article from Shoot Online Dec 11, 2009.

Monday, December 07, 2009

brainache

Couple of PJs, that left me brain dead~

Why did ganesh become anesh?
- Kailash Kher had sung
ter naam se jee(G) loon.
Thats why!

There was a male elephant
whose girlfriend, a female elephant
got married to some other elephant
so he was depressed.
So his friend took him to a park to cheer him upthey saw a seesaw in the park
n tried riding it but it broke.Guess which song did he sing then???
-Seesaw ho ya dil ho, akhir toot jata hai
toot jata hai
toot jata hai..

Courtesy- Amrita Basu.

p.s. Don't hit me.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Gross Insensitivity & unfair practices at Fortis Healthcare, Vasant Kunj New Delhi


I want to draw the attention to a recent incident which happened with a friend of mine and her sister while their stay at Fortis Healthcare, New Delhi. Here is the account in her own words:


"Situation1: My sister had been admitted at Fortis Vasant Kunj since 5th Oct for very low BP (70/40). Till 7th, the doctors didn't know the reason for this (though they told me that it was most certainly a post viral syndrome), but they wanted to keep her in the hospital for atleast a day or two more just to give her fluids and in their own words 'tender loving care'. But as soon as it was found that she was H1N1 positive, they told us to leave the hospital within half an hour. Is it legal in the state of Delhi to do this?
Situation2: They claim that we'll not get medical insurance for this since we left so soon. Though they are on the list of 'cashless transaction' hospitals, they not only demanded an upfront advance before registration (its their policy, no matter which insurance they have tied up with), they also demanded a full clearance claiming this was the way billing happened, even if our insurance did say 'cashless transaction'.
Situation3: They have ofcourse overcharged - charging us for extra stay even while telling us to leave, again claiming this is the way they function - they'd 'love to help', but they can't where money is concerned.

Its too bad that a hospital with wonderful support staff can mess things up so badly. Since then ofcourse, we have been to RML in Delhi (the Tamiflu guys), nice people, we are both on medication now, both recovering from Swine Flu.
Guys, this is a medico-legal query. Any quotable information you can get from credible sources - doctors who are working somewhere, lawyers - I need to be able to quote them - please send me messages, so I can put together a strong case against Fortis Vasant Kunj. I don't know how the blogging thing works - so if you can put this out through your blogs, that'll be just great."


Indeed this is gross! Sad to find such big hospital acting in such a way to a sensitive issue. If anybody can help out in any way mentioned or, just blog it, you have contributed! Thanks.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Things to do: post it notes



Good Collection of 'Post-it' Notes art

Saturday, June 13, 2009

life made simple

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking if for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me.

-
Stefan Sagmeister


Monday, June 08, 2009

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Yay!! My work's won :D



Two brand posters for Fox History & Entertainment which have won silver in Promax BDA 2009 (Print category).
Thanks FH&E !!

Friday, April 03, 2009

The ad Tata does not want you to see

Greenpeace is urging Tata to reconsider its decision of building a deepwater port in Orissa. Such an action will threaten the survival of endangered sea turtles and two important Protected Areas. Here's a print campaign regarding the same to be launched in major Indian newspapers:


If TATA builds its port at Dhamra, Olive Ridley turtles will pay the ultimate price