Nobel prizes are the symbol of achievement for any person in the six fields, physics, chemistry, biology, peace, literature and economics. Nobel Prizes, started by Alfred Nobel who didnt give a dime to his children but bequeathed all his fortune to these prizes (well except Economics which is given by Bank of Sweden in the memory of Alfred Nobel) have had lots of eminent winners down the years.
Still I feel the Nobel Prizes missed out on lots of people who deserved it notably Mahatma Gandhi and also gave prizes for wrong reasons like the one given to Einstein for Photoelectric Effect not for relativity saying(unofficially of course) that relativity was way out whereas gave the prize to Bohr, whose theory was way out and proved wrong eventually.
The Prizes are hyped due to their heritage, the money and the past winners. I strongly feel its the winners who have made Nobel Prizes the most coveted medal for scientists and other people.
Also I feel science is moving away from the common man especially the science prizes. Earlier science was much closer to the common man especially Physics where a common man could comprehend what was going on. After seeing the citation for this year's winners one will say "What the HELL is going on!!".
In this way IG Nobel prizes are much better. Cool inventions, cooler ideas and much much closer to the common man!!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
IE 7 vs Mozilla 2.0
The war of browsers is back again! And Microsoft for the first time is defending its share of Internet browser market against Mozilla. Mozilla, an open source project is continuously eroding Microsoft IE's market share. IE 7 is the first fresh release from MS since 2001 and incorporates lots of features of Mozilla (Yawn!! Do SOMETHING new guys!!!)
Im an avid IE fan. The reasons being the speed with which IE opens and its tight integration with windows.
So after working on both the browsers i feel IE 7 has been beaten to pulp by Mozilla 2.0. Since on my XP IE 7 is not integrated with the windows shell so its lost its primary advantage of speed. It will be a plus point in Windows Vista but most of us are not changing their OS so soon for Vista which requires higher configurations.
Where Mozilla scores is the amazing collection of add ons. Man i was bowled over by the number of add ons and various stuff developer community has made. From utilities that show how many websites you have surfed, how much time you have wasted online to plug-ins that ask questions, the range is amazing.
Also Mozilla has a HUGE developer and testing community and hence bug are fixed rapidly and precisely.
I feel with Mozilla 2 and IE 7 we can see the power of open source software. I really hope that when Mozilla 3 is released Mozilla has a 80% marketshare and IE is dead.
Im an avid IE fan. The reasons being the speed with which IE opens and its tight integration with windows.
So after working on both the browsers i feel IE 7 has been beaten to pulp by Mozilla 2.0. Since on my XP IE 7 is not integrated with the windows shell so its lost its primary advantage of speed. It will be a plus point in Windows Vista but most of us are not changing their OS so soon for Vista which requires higher configurations.
Where Mozilla scores is the amazing collection of add ons. Man i was bowled over by the number of add ons and various stuff developer community has made. From utilities that show how many websites you have surfed, how much time you have wasted online to plug-ins that ask questions, the range is amazing.
Also Mozilla has a HUGE developer and testing community and hence bug are fixed rapidly and precisely.
I feel with Mozilla 2 and IE 7 we can see the power of open source software. I really hope that when Mozilla 3 is released Mozilla has a 80% marketshare and IE is dead.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
GandhiGiri
I saw the movie “Lage Rahe Munnabhai” and was bamboozled with the concept of Gandhigiri. The movie was accused to be more melodramatic than the previous one but I feel that is required when one is dealing with a subject of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
One of the most influential leaders ever, this frail guy rocked the country with his simple ideas and effective implementation. In the book Freedom at midnight, the authors write about his fast that in country which lacked effective communication between major cities the news of Gandhi’s fasts traveled like wildfire, each tit bit correct. How it happened is beyond me.
Going back to the movie being melodramatic, it was fitting for a movie made with Gandhi’s thoughts in mind. Hell, Gandhi was melodramatic. Be it the weapon of Satyagraha or his Dandi March or the announcement of his fasts. He loved melodrama as he shrewdly understood the Indian psyche, the love of melodrama present in the common man. It was the melodrama that forced the stiff upper collared Englishmen to consider leaving the crown jewel of their empire and sending Mountbatten (as close as someone could come to being a melodramatic Englishman) to arrange the departure of the British from India.
But in Gandhigiri we have found another weapon, one which is better than all H bombs of the world combined. The simple reason is we have 1 billion people which no one else has. A vibrant democracy (or maybe not) India can actually give these weapons to the world and sit back as another weapons race starts. But no NPT or CTBT required here.
Gandhi steadfastly opposed Globalization. He believed that all the villages of country should be self sufficient for their own needs (food, milk etc.) and behave as a mini community. This I feel looks incredibly stupid in today’s context where the world is flattening (Thank you Mr. Thomas Freidman!) and we have a chance to compete with and defeat any foreigner on their home grounds and not having to leave ours. Better will be have the country or the globe as one village and have all the communities (a.k.a. countries) equally developed or rather each developed in its own specialized field and assisting, no trading its skills with the other. I think this would have pleased Gandhi.
One of the most influential leaders ever, this frail guy rocked the country with his simple ideas and effective implementation. In the book Freedom at midnight, the authors write about his fast that in country which lacked effective communication between major cities the news of Gandhi’s fasts traveled like wildfire, each tit bit correct. How it happened is beyond me.
Going back to the movie being melodramatic, it was fitting for a movie made with Gandhi’s thoughts in mind. Hell, Gandhi was melodramatic. Be it the weapon of Satyagraha or his Dandi March or the announcement of his fasts. He loved melodrama as he shrewdly understood the Indian psyche, the love of melodrama present in the common man. It was the melodrama that forced the stiff upper collared Englishmen to consider leaving the crown jewel of their empire and sending Mountbatten (as close as someone could come to being a melodramatic Englishman) to arrange the departure of the British from India.
But in Gandhigiri we have found another weapon, one which is better than all H bombs of the world combined. The simple reason is we have 1 billion people which no one else has. A vibrant democracy (or maybe not) India can actually give these weapons to the world and sit back as another weapons race starts. But no NPT or CTBT required here.
Gandhi steadfastly opposed Globalization. He believed that all the villages of country should be self sufficient for their own needs (food, milk etc.) and behave as a mini community. This I feel looks incredibly stupid in today’s context where the world is flattening (Thank you Mr. Thomas Freidman!) and we have a chance to compete with and defeat any foreigner on their home grounds and not having to leave ours. Better will be have the country or the globe as one village and have all the communities (a.k.a. countries) equally developed or rather each developed in its own specialized field and assisting, no trading its skills with the other. I think this would have pleased Gandhi.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Still Burns the Fire within
When the patience wears thin
When surroundings turn dark
Anything you do feels like a sin
You still want to leave your mark
Eroding passions, lost hopes
Broken down man, shattered dreams
Hopes piercing broken glass
I see pieces of me scattered around
The pupils of my life dilated
And all emotions depilated
But I stand tall
Watching my dreams fall
My life is a never ending ocean
Where every drop a tear of failure
Every failure, a story of pain
Every pain, a ocean in itself
Dreams are running away from me
Insanity eating me from inside
I stand beneath the sky, losing my religion
Cornered by the undying pain
A lonely voice I call
Screams of despair killing me
Still burns the fire within
My sensations burnt my life ashes.
----- D S P
Datta, Shashwat, Potnis
When surroundings turn dark
Anything you do feels like a sin
You still want to leave your mark
Eroding passions, lost hopes
Broken down man, shattered dreams
Hopes piercing broken glass
I see pieces of me scattered around
The pupils of my life dilated
And all emotions depilated
But I stand tall
Watching my dreams fall
My life is a never ending ocean
Where every drop a tear of failure
Every failure, a story of pain
Every pain, a ocean in itself
Dreams are running away from me
Insanity eating me from inside
I stand beneath the sky, losing my religion
Cornered by the undying pain
A lonely voice I call
Screams of despair killing me
Still burns the fire within
My sensations burnt my life ashes.
----- D S P
Datta, Shashwat, Potnis
Untitled
The Road is long and winding
The darkness all encompassing
But he walks by
On roads where shadows are afraid to lie
The fear is growing larger
The light is sinking deeper
The hope falls
But he walks unbidden through the dark halls
The memories of past haunt him
But he walks gaunt and thin
At the end of tunnel there is light
& I won’t give up without a fight
And then suddenly there is light
Everything is beautiful and bright
He looks up and sees The One
Who says "Welcome my Son."
The darkness all encompassing
But he walks by
On roads where shadows are afraid to lie
The fear is growing larger
The light is sinking deeper
The hope falls
But he walks unbidden through the dark halls
The memories of past haunt him
But he walks gaunt and thin
At the end of tunnel there is light
& I won’t give up without a fight
And then suddenly there is light
Everything is beautiful and bright
He looks up and sees The One
Who says "Welcome my Son."
The Chronicles Of Narnia
This year the movie The Chronicles Of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was released internationally. Based on the series of novels by C.S. Lewis, the movie had a truckload of special effects. The effect was fantastic, especially the Lion Aslan (that was the name of the lion) talking. The movie tells us about the magical land of Narnia which is under the spell of Jadis – The white witch who has caused winter without Christmas since the last hundred years. Very childish one would say but then again it is intended to be a novel for children, just that adults (like me!) enjoy them as much.
The movie was brilliantly directed by Andrew Adamson, who kept the balance between faithfulness to the novel and the director’s vision. The acting was great especially by the girl who played Lucy. She lit up the screen every time she smiled. The action sequences were handled beautifully.
Then again the novel had a certain demarcation between good and evil. Except the fact that one of the characters turned over to the dark side but came back blah blah… the same old story again, the storyline is remarkably straight.
It has been said that the book had an underlying Christian theme. This can be seen in all the children’s novels from that period. Be it The Hobbit or this one (I know only too!!), the underlying Christian message is all to evident.
Nowadays the works by children’s authors are more bold and better etched according to modern tastes (that has to occur!! Isn’t it too evident??) These works come from an entirely different time, a simpler time. Now there is no clear good or evil, everyone is selfish. These works personally appeal more to me.
The movie was brilliantly directed by Andrew Adamson, who kept the balance between faithfulness to the novel and the director’s vision. The acting was great especially by the girl who played Lucy. She lit up the screen every time she smiled. The action sequences were handled beautifully.
Then again the novel had a certain demarcation between good and evil. Except the fact that one of the characters turned over to the dark side but came back blah blah… the same old story again, the storyline is remarkably straight.
It has been said that the book had an underlying Christian theme. This can be seen in all the children’s novels from that period. Be it The Hobbit or this one (I know only too!!), the underlying Christian message is all to evident.
Nowadays the works by children’s authors are more bold and better etched according to modern tastes (that has to occur!! Isn’t it too evident??) These works come from an entirely different time, a simpler time. Now there is no clear good or evil, everyone is selfish. These works personally appeal more to me.
The Fantasy Genre:
The Oscars were swept by the LOTR trilogy, especially in visual effects category. The third movie especially made some sort of record I think equaling Titanic and Ben – Hur. When I see these movies or read the books some things strike to me as very important. The first one is the demarcation of good and evil is very clear. This was true in the original Star Wars Trilogy but the new one was a brilliant piece when you see the evolution of Aniken Skywalker, the Jedi Knight to Darth Vader.
Going back to fantasy genre it is said it is enjoyed by thirteen year olds or grown ups who have brains of thirteen year olds. I tend to disagree. This genre is meant for people who are trying to seek perfection and order. They can’t bear to see the injustice running in the world and are helpless to fight it and end up seeing these movies as a route to escape from reality. Moving along this line of thought I think movies are means to escape from reality. Everyone has his way. Some escape by watching candy floss romance, some by supernatural horror and so on.
Also another question arises. Do movies actually do justice to the work of authors? Personally for all the books I have read on which movies have been made only two make the cut. The Godfather and The Chronicles of Narnia. One thing is sure no director can condense the book in three hours. So the directors for the above two movies limited their focus to a lesser part and were faithful to it. Some parts were omitted but they didn’t destroy or change the narrative. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for LOTR. The movies were a great watch for some one who hasn’t read the book but for people like me it was a letdown. Lots of parts were changed, over dramatized and simply deleted which formed an important part of the narrative.
Warning – this paragraph is for people who have watched the movie and/or read the book. LOTR haters next paragraph please!! When I had watched the Trilogy in the theater I was flabbergasted. What about the scouring of the Shire? How does Saruman die? Why the romance of Arwen and Aragon being over depicted? Why the sword being given to Aragon in the last part? Then the answer struck me. It was so simple! Commercial demands!! Peter Jackson might be a brilliant director but he can’t ignore the public demand. The masses want action, romance and adventure together. Which JRR Tolkein’s works would not have supplied. They were a piece of literature never intended to be made into epics. By the way he insisted LOTR was never a Trilogy. It was a compilation of 6 books.
All these doubts had almost lifted my faith on the Fantasy genre. They were further compounded by Eragon and Eldest. The faith was renewed by two authors. One was Samit Basu (GameWorld Triology) and the second was Jonathan Stroud(Barteimus Triology). Here no one is good or bad, everyone is surviving. And you can have laugh on the way too.
Samit Basu’s first work was Simoquin Prophecies. This book didn’t have a pirated copy so you can gauge its popularity. The work was astonishingly awesome. The whole world was crazy yet had an underlying order. Simoquin Prophecies marked a new beginning in its genre. The trend was continued in Samit’s next book, The Manticore’s Secret. Another piece of absolute brilliance, the GameWorld Trilogy rules!!
Jonathan Stroud’s work stands apart due to the fact that even though it moves in the realm of jinns and magicians, it is a bitter reflection of today’s society. It ends rather conventionally but still it manages to keep the reader hooked. The best out of the three namely – The Amulet of Samarkand, Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate was the final part. It is simply brilliant. it disappoints in the fact that the author still clings to the conviction that basically all humans have an underlying goodness within them, which I hold to be untrue.
The fantasy genre has many brilliant authors like Terry Pratchet (DiscWorld Series) who I still have to read. As and when I read them I will keep every one posted.
Going back to fantasy genre it is said it is enjoyed by thirteen year olds or grown ups who have brains of thirteen year olds. I tend to disagree. This genre is meant for people who are trying to seek perfection and order. They can’t bear to see the injustice running in the world and are helpless to fight it and end up seeing these movies as a route to escape from reality. Moving along this line of thought I think movies are means to escape from reality. Everyone has his way. Some escape by watching candy floss romance, some by supernatural horror and so on.
Also another question arises. Do movies actually do justice to the work of authors? Personally for all the books I have read on which movies have been made only two make the cut. The Godfather and The Chronicles of Narnia. One thing is sure no director can condense the book in three hours. So the directors for the above two movies limited their focus to a lesser part and were faithful to it. Some parts were omitted but they didn’t destroy or change the narrative. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for LOTR. The movies were a great watch for some one who hasn’t read the book but for people like me it was a letdown. Lots of parts were changed, over dramatized and simply deleted which formed an important part of the narrative.
Warning – this paragraph is for people who have watched the movie and/or read the book. LOTR haters next paragraph please!! When I had watched the Trilogy in the theater I was flabbergasted. What about the scouring of the Shire? How does Saruman die? Why the romance of Arwen and Aragon being over depicted? Why the sword being given to Aragon in the last part? Then the answer struck me. It was so simple! Commercial demands!! Peter Jackson might be a brilliant director but he can’t ignore the public demand. The masses want action, romance and adventure together. Which JRR Tolkein’s works would not have supplied. They were a piece of literature never intended to be made into epics. By the way he insisted LOTR was never a Trilogy. It was a compilation of 6 books.
All these doubts had almost lifted my faith on the Fantasy genre. They were further compounded by Eragon and Eldest. The faith was renewed by two authors. One was Samit Basu (GameWorld Triology) and the second was Jonathan Stroud(Barteimus Triology). Here no one is good or bad, everyone is surviving. And you can have laugh on the way too.
Samit Basu’s first work was Simoquin Prophecies. This book didn’t have a pirated copy so you can gauge its popularity. The work was astonishingly awesome. The whole world was crazy yet had an underlying order. Simoquin Prophecies marked a new beginning in its genre. The trend was continued in Samit’s next book, The Manticore’s Secret. Another piece of absolute brilliance, the GameWorld Trilogy rules!!
Jonathan Stroud’s work stands apart due to the fact that even though it moves in the realm of jinns and magicians, it is a bitter reflection of today’s society. It ends rather conventionally but still it manages to keep the reader hooked. The best out of the three namely – The Amulet of Samarkand, Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate was the final part. It is simply brilliant. it disappoints in the fact that the author still clings to the conviction that basically all humans have an underlying goodness within them, which I hold to be untrue.
The fantasy genre has many brilliant authors like Terry Pratchet (DiscWorld Series) who I still have to read. As and when I read them I will keep every one posted.
Fevicol Ad Campaign:
In the late nineties, Fevicol, a brand of Pidilite Industries had the same boring ad where two groups of people were trying to separate two pieces of wood joined by Fevicol, and they failed. The ad was further extrapolated to 2 elephants trying to do the same job (it’s the trademark of Fevicol). The ads were boring to say the least.
Enter O & M and Piyush Pandey.
The ad was the Cannes award winning hen and egg advertisement. It had a cook who was making omelet and was breaking eggs for the same. One of the eggs failed to break, as much he tried. The ad ended with the cook seeing that the hen was eating its food from a container of Fevicol. The ad didn’t have a single dialogue and yet it shouted the message across so brilliantly. The ad got a Cannes Lion and rest they say is history.
Another ad which was for Feviquick was another masterpiece. This ad was shot in a day at Powai Lake in Mumbai. This ad featured a full professional fisherman who was with all equipment and was trying to catch a fish. In came a naïve South Indian singing on the top of his voice. Our fisherman hushes him up. The guy unabashed puts THREE dots of Feviquick on a flat piece of wood and dips it in. And presto! There are FOUR fishes stuck on the wood. The fisherman just looks on. A voice over says, "Chutki Mein Chipkaye, Feviquick!" (Sticks in a moment, Feviquick). The ad again won an Abby.
The ad campaign has been winning awards each year since ages and comes up with ads that surprise everyone and are absolutely brilliant. These ads contributed a lot to rise of Piyush Pandey’s image as the ace copywriter of the country. Personally I think the idea is now pretty tired that an image of Fevicol can stick everything in its vicinity but if everyone loves it, who I to say anything am!!
Enter O & M and Piyush Pandey.
The ad was the Cannes award winning hen and egg advertisement. It had a cook who was making omelet and was breaking eggs for the same. One of the eggs failed to break, as much he tried. The ad ended with the cook seeing that the hen was eating its food from a container of Fevicol. The ad didn’t have a single dialogue and yet it shouted the message across so brilliantly. The ad got a Cannes Lion and rest they say is history.
Another ad which was for Feviquick was another masterpiece. This ad was shot in a day at Powai Lake in Mumbai. This ad featured a full professional fisherman who was with all equipment and was trying to catch a fish. In came a naïve South Indian singing on the top of his voice. Our fisherman hushes him up. The guy unabashed puts THREE dots of Feviquick on a flat piece of wood and dips it in. And presto! There are FOUR fishes stuck on the wood. The fisherman just looks on. A voice over says, "Chutki Mein Chipkaye, Feviquick!" (Sticks in a moment, Feviquick). The ad again won an Abby.
The ad campaign has been winning awards each year since ages and comes up with ads that surprise everyone and are absolutely brilliant. These ads contributed a lot to rise of Piyush Pandey’s image as the ace copywriter of the country. Personally I think the idea is now pretty tired that an image of Fevicol can stick everything in its vicinity but if everyone loves it, who I to say anything am!!
Monday, May 15, 2006
An Important Axiom
Seeing the latest phone by Nokia and Sony in the market one wonders do i really need dem?? well here is a perfect formula to decide.
The capacity of mobile networks in your country can be ascertained by the price of the phones available. Case in point, the market as well as the networks in India are in no position to support even 2G services hence the best sellers in India tend to be Black and White phones be it Nokia 3315 or Nokia 1100.
So next time you see the ad of Nokia N 91, check out its price in terms of your local currency, if the cost of that phone is equal to 200 - 300 times the minimun denomination practically used (in India Rs. 10) go ahead and buy it, your networks can support it!!
The capacity of mobile networks in your country can be ascertained by the price of the phones available. Case in point, the market as well as the networks in India are in no position to support even 2G services hence the best sellers in India tend to be Black and White phones be it Nokia 3315 or Nokia 1100.
So next time you see the ad of Nokia N 91, check out its price in terms of your local currency, if the cost of that phone is equal to 200 - 300 times the minimun denomination practically used (in India Rs. 10) go ahead and buy it, your networks can support it!!
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
The Windows 95 Launch Campaign:
In 1995 Microsoft decided to replace its operating system DOS with Windows 95. The Windows OS was the successor of much hated Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1. Actually Windows 3.0 was supposed to be the last Windows version before Windows 95 was supposed to be launched. But the combined effects of Delay in Launch of Windows 95 (code named Memphis) and the solid amount of bugs in Windows 3.0 forced Microsoft to launch Windows 3.1 (later a minor upgrade 3.11).
Windows 95 had minimum system requirements of 486 processor and 8 MB RAM, also 640 MB HDD (amusing that was max available that time just 10 yrs back!), which was on the higher end. It promised an exciting change from the drab interface of DOS and as usual was hyped heavily by Microsoft.
Now this campaign had certain unique features. For the first time a software was being so heavily hyped and marketed so heavily. Microsoft had realized computers were no longer the dominion of geeks and general public had to be sucked in to increase the market. For the launch of Memphis in New York, Microsoft did not buy a cent of ad space in newspapers (much to despair of newspapermen), no TV time and not even a hoarding. Yet the launch was extensively covered. What Microsoft did was to hire the Empire State Building and paint it Read Blue and Black (with light at night of course!). Also to create the hype, Windows 95 was launched on Midnight. Stores selling Windows 95 were instructed to be open at 12 so that people could flock in. All these events are really eye catching and caught media’s imagination.
Across the Atlantic, the Gimmick of painting a landmark had been done (The Ministry Of Sound, a Disco in London, had had its logo displayed on the Houses of Parliament). Londoners next day only saw one headline on page 1 in a daily which read “Windows 95 launched”. What Microsoft had done was that they had made a deal with the newspaper to sell (actually distribute) the paper for free. Again very non conventional but very eye catching and something media loves to talk about.
The downside of the campaign was a major one. Never again Microsoft was able to market a new product on a very large scale. Everything which was done for Windows 95 was in the superlative. Anything after that would be a follow up on that campaign. This is disastrous for any company. Now at every launch every one expects Microsoft to do something bigger and better but Microsoft itself goes for (relatively speaking, otherwise also the launches are really big for a software whose first version is full of bugs!!) a low key launch because they also they can’t match the Windows 95 Launch.
Windows 95 had minimum system requirements of 486 processor and 8 MB RAM, also 640 MB HDD (amusing that was max available that time just 10 yrs back!), which was on the higher end. It promised an exciting change from the drab interface of DOS and as usual was hyped heavily by Microsoft.
Now this campaign had certain unique features. For the first time a software was being so heavily hyped and marketed so heavily. Microsoft had realized computers were no longer the dominion of geeks and general public had to be sucked in to increase the market. For the launch of Memphis in New York, Microsoft did not buy a cent of ad space in newspapers (much to despair of newspapermen), no TV time and not even a hoarding. Yet the launch was extensively covered. What Microsoft did was to hire the Empire State Building and paint it Read Blue and Black (with light at night of course!). Also to create the hype, Windows 95 was launched on Midnight. Stores selling Windows 95 were instructed to be open at 12 so that people could flock in. All these events are really eye catching and caught media’s imagination.
Across the Atlantic, the Gimmick of painting a landmark had been done (The Ministry Of Sound, a Disco in London, had had its logo displayed on the Houses of Parliament). Londoners next day only saw one headline on page 1 in a daily which read “Windows 95 launched”. What Microsoft had done was that they had made a deal with the newspaper to sell (actually distribute) the paper for free. Again very non conventional but very eye catching and something media loves to talk about.
The downside of the campaign was a major one. Never again Microsoft was able to market a new product on a very large scale. Everything which was done for Windows 95 was in the superlative. Anything after that would be a follow up on that campaign. This is disastrous for any company. Now at every launch every one expects Microsoft to do something bigger and better but Microsoft itself goes for (relatively speaking, otherwise also the launches are really big for a software whose first version is full of bugs!!) a low key launch because they also they can’t match the Windows 95 Launch.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Apple 1984 Ad
This ad has been talked about so much fully dissected and minutely analyzed. But still I will write about this one. I had read about this advertisement in Odyssey by the guy who threw out Steve Job as the CEO of Apple. This guy was wooed away from Pepsi by Steve Jobs but this guy ended up throwing out Jobs. Jobs had told him the famous words, “Do you want to spend your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world?” This line was a killer and this guy (I think his name was John Sculley) came to Apple.
Cut to 1983, Apple was launching its killer computer to fight on PCs. Christened as Macintosh aka Mac, it promised good days ahead for Apple. Now these guys decided to make the launch big.
In the United States, the most watched sports event is the SuperBowl. These guys decided to introduce Mac to general public during SuperBowl 1984. They called their ad agency Chiat/Day and directed the agency to make the advertisement and spare no expense. This ad was to be directed by Ridely Scott, a hotshot Hollywood directed who had Alien and Bladerunner to his credit (and now Gladiator). Shot in London, this ad was the most expensive ever shot till that time.
Apple had originally bought one and a half minutes of air time for one and a half million dollars. When the senior management saw the ad, they directed the ad agency to sell the airtime. A buyer for 30 secs was found but no one bought the one minute time. Apple decided to go ahead with the ad.
It was shown to a large audience for the first time in October 1983, at Apple's annual sales conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Based on their initial reaction, Apple executives booked two slots during the upcoming Super Bowl. However, the Apple board of directors was dismayed by the ad and instructed management not to show it and sell the slots. Despite of the board's dislike of the film Steve Wozniak watched it and offered to pay for the spot personally if the board refused to air it.
A perhaps apocryphal story has Apple only able to sell one slot and then deciding that they might as well use the other and show the ad. It aired at the first commercial break after the second-half kick-off.
In reality, the reason the commercial was saved from total cancellation was the result of an act of defiance and an act of bravado.
The board hadn't demanded the commercial be killed, nonetheless Sculley asked Chiat/Day to sell back the one and one half minutes of Super Bowl television time that they had purchased. The original plan was to play the full-length, 60-second 1984 spot to catch everyone's attention, then hammer home the message during a subsequent commercial break with an additional airing of an edited 30-second version.
Defying Sculley's request, Jay Chiat told his media director, Camille Johnson, "Just sell off the thirty." Johnson laughed, thinking it would be impossible to sell any of the time at so late a date, but miraculously, she managed to find a buyer for the 30-second slot. That still left Apple with a 60-second slot for which it had paid $800,000.
The decision whether to run the commercial was left to VP of Marketing William V. Campbell and Executive VP of Marketing and Sales E. Floyd Kvamme. In the end, the two decided to run the commercial.
Ok now I have directly copied stuff fro website so that the people who haven’t seen the ad can appreciate it.
The camera opens on a corridor in a futuristic city. Heavily dressed males march in unison past surveillance cameras and computer screens. A blonde athlete, wearing red shorts and a white Apple Picasso t-shirt, runs towards us carrying a hammer. We now see that the men all have shaven heads. One wears a gas mask. Riot police run towards us, batons in hands.
We’ve been hearing a male voice coming through the public address system. And now we see Big Brother’s face - with two sets of glasses - on a huge wall-sized screen. “For today we celebrate the first, glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths.”
“Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth! We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion!”
The athlete runs into the auditorium, pursued by the security troops. She swings the hammer round and round, releasing it to go flying into the screen. “We shall prevail!” The screen explodes. The seated skinheads mutely gaze at the explosion, mouths agape.
The text is displayed and spoken, “On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984.” The ad finishes with the six-color Apple logo.
The ad was very topical and as well as strtegical. IBM was about to launch the new PCjr computer for the home market. The Apple Macintosh would be launched later in the month, surpassing the Apple II. This ‘teaser’ was designed to alert viewers to the new era in personal computers, long enough to stop them from investing in the IBM. The whole advertisement represented the capacity for the Apple color screen to outdo the monotone world of the IBM.
The 1984 theme comes from George Orwell’s novel, “1984″, originally written as an critique of Fascist government in the years after World War II. Orwell introduced the phrases, “Big Brother”, “thought police”, “two minutes hate” and “newspeak” and “telescreen”. The voice from the telescreen in the novel is expressed faithfully in the Apple ad. Apple, by providing an alternative operating system, was challenging IBM’s monopoly on the development of personal computers. As it is not very hard to imagine Big Brother was IBM.
This ad can be viewed and downloaded from the following link:
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US7/NOTES/clips.html
Enjoy and get hooked!
Just an update, the ad ran again recently but this time the female was wearing an iPOD!!
Cut to 1983, Apple was launching its killer computer to fight on PCs. Christened as Macintosh aka Mac, it promised good days ahead for Apple. Now these guys decided to make the launch big.
In the United States, the most watched sports event is the SuperBowl. These guys decided to introduce Mac to general public during SuperBowl 1984. They called their ad agency Chiat/Day and directed the agency to make the advertisement and spare no expense. This ad was to be directed by Ridely Scott, a hotshot Hollywood directed who had Alien and Bladerunner to his credit (and now Gladiator). Shot in London, this ad was the most expensive ever shot till that time.
Apple had originally bought one and a half minutes of air time for one and a half million dollars. When the senior management saw the ad, they directed the ad agency to sell the airtime. A buyer for 30 secs was found but no one bought the one minute time. Apple decided to go ahead with the ad.
It was shown to a large audience for the first time in October 1983, at Apple's annual sales conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Based on their initial reaction, Apple executives booked two slots during the upcoming Super Bowl. However, the Apple board of directors was dismayed by the ad and instructed management not to show it and sell the slots. Despite of the board's dislike of the film Steve Wozniak watched it and offered to pay for the spot personally if the board refused to air it.
A perhaps apocryphal story has Apple only able to sell one slot and then deciding that they might as well use the other and show the ad. It aired at the first commercial break after the second-half kick-off.
In reality, the reason the commercial was saved from total cancellation was the result of an act of defiance and an act of bravado.
The board hadn't demanded the commercial be killed, nonetheless Sculley asked Chiat/Day to sell back the one and one half minutes of Super Bowl television time that they had purchased. The original plan was to play the full-length, 60-second 1984 spot to catch everyone's attention, then hammer home the message during a subsequent commercial break with an additional airing of an edited 30-second version.
Defying Sculley's request, Jay Chiat told his media director, Camille Johnson, "Just sell off the thirty." Johnson laughed, thinking it would be impossible to sell any of the time at so late a date, but miraculously, she managed to find a buyer for the 30-second slot. That still left Apple with a 60-second slot for which it had paid $800,000.
The decision whether to run the commercial was left to VP of Marketing William V. Campbell and Executive VP of Marketing and Sales E. Floyd Kvamme. In the end, the two decided to run the commercial.
Ok now I have directly copied stuff fro website so that the people who haven’t seen the ad can appreciate it.
The camera opens on a corridor in a futuristic city. Heavily dressed males march in unison past surveillance cameras and computer screens. A blonde athlete, wearing red shorts and a white Apple Picasso t-shirt, runs towards us carrying a hammer. We now see that the men all have shaven heads. One wears a gas mask. Riot police run towards us, batons in hands.
We’ve been hearing a male voice coming through the public address system. And now we see Big Brother’s face - with two sets of glasses - on a huge wall-sized screen. “For today we celebrate the first, glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths.”
“Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth! We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion!”
The athlete runs into the auditorium, pursued by the security troops. She swings the hammer round and round, releasing it to go flying into the screen. “We shall prevail!” The screen explodes. The seated skinheads mutely gaze at the explosion, mouths agape.
The text is displayed and spoken, “On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984.” The ad finishes with the six-color Apple logo.
The ad was very topical and as well as strtegical. IBM was about to launch the new PCjr computer for the home market. The Apple Macintosh would be launched later in the month, surpassing the Apple II. This ‘teaser’ was designed to alert viewers to the new era in personal computers, long enough to stop them from investing in the IBM. The whole advertisement represented the capacity for the Apple color screen to outdo the monotone world of the IBM.
The 1984 theme comes from George Orwell’s novel, “1984″, originally written as an critique of Fascist government in the years after World War II. Orwell introduced the phrases, “Big Brother”, “thought police”, “two minutes hate” and “newspeak” and “telescreen”. The voice from the telescreen in the novel is expressed faithfully in the Apple ad. Apple, by providing an alternative operating system, was challenging IBM’s monopoly on the development of personal computers. As it is not very hard to imagine Big Brother was IBM.
This ad can be viewed and downloaded from the following link:
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US7/NOTES/clips.html
Enjoy and get hooked!
Just an update, the ad ran again recently but this time the female was wearing an iPOD!!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Cola Wars In India
For the Cricket World Cup 1996, Pepsi was not the official sponsor of the tournament, Coke was but Pepsi had a whole kitty of best players from the sub continent and abroad. The ad campaign of “Nothing Official About it rocked the country and knocked the wind from Coke’s Lungs. Possibly from this time onwards Coke also realized the value of celebrities in India and henceforth went ahead with that strategy.
Another consequence of this campaign was that from the next Cricket World Cup, advertisers began signing exclusive contracts which stipulated that competitors can’t have players who are in the tournament acting in their ads. And sadly for Coke, it was Pepsi which was “official” this time.
In 1998, the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai took the country by storm. Pepsi then took out another ace from its sleeve. This time SRK, Rani and Kajol starred in the ad. Also starring was the future star Shahid Kapoor who was noticed by the industry. The punchline this time was “Yeh Dil Maange More” which was an iconic line and struck a chord amongst the people.
The Coke people responded to this ad in a different and unique way. They actually spoofed the ad, the product used being Sprite, again to hilarious effect.
Pepsi responded with a spoof on it’s on its own, starring Azhar and Jadeja hitting on the Coke line of “Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink Only Coca Cola” with the punch line of “More More Cricket, More More Pepsi”. Coke again hit back, this time with Thumbs Up ad. They portrayed the cricketers as monkeys and ended the ad with “Don’t be a bunder (monkey!!) Taste The Thunder!!” Things turned ugly with Pepsi going to court and finally ended with Coke withdrawing the ad.
The year 2000 heralded the rise of a new superstar, Hrithik Roshan. Both Coke and Pepsi rushed to sign him, but Coke won (possibly due to the fact that they promised that all the ads starring the superstar would be directed by his father). The first ads starring Hrithik Roshan were launched in Diwali Season. Pepsi hit back this time with a SRK ad which also had a Hrithik look alike. This ad was directed by Prahlaad Kakkar and was in a bad taste. Rumors ran about SRK’s insecurity and rest but the episode really was a footnote in the epic battle.
Around this time Coke’s market share surpassed Pepsi for the first time since Coke’s launch in 1994 (Trivia: Coke was first re-launched in India in Agra) and suddenly Coke was defending and Pepsi attacking the market share.
Now the wars shifted from cola to clear lime segment. Coke realizing that in India Thumbs Up was a valuable brand and it could not use it for opponent bashing. This time it was between Sprite and Pepsi’s Mountain Dew.
Pepsi had launched Dew with “Do the Dew” tagline emphasizing on Adventure sports. Sprite killed the ad with “Do The Do” ad which was funny and memorable.
The Cola Wars are here to stay. Its been just 10 odd years in India for them to start. In the USA they are on since a 100 years. The battle actually throws up some amazing ads and lets hope they continue.
Yeh Dil Maange More!!!
Another consequence of this campaign was that from the next Cricket World Cup, advertisers began signing exclusive contracts which stipulated that competitors can’t have players who are in the tournament acting in their ads. And sadly for Coke, it was Pepsi which was “official” this time.
In 1998, the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai took the country by storm. Pepsi then took out another ace from its sleeve. This time SRK, Rani and Kajol starred in the ad. Also starring was the future star Shahid Kapoor who was noticed by the industry. The punchline this time was “Yeh Dil Maange More” which was an iconic line and struck a chord amongst the people.
The Coke people responded to this ad in a different and unique way. They actually spoofed the ad, the product used being Sprite, again to hilarious effect.
Pepsi responded with a spoof on it’s on its own, starring Azhar and Jadeja hitting on the Coke line of “Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink Only Coca Cola” with the punch line of “More More Cricket, More More Pepsi”. Coke again hit back, this time with Thumbs Up ad. They portrayed the cricketers as monkeys and ended the ad with “Don’t be a bunder (monkey!!) Taste The Thunder!!” Things turned ugly with Pepsi going to court and finally ended with Coke withdrawing the ad.
The year 2000 heralded the rise of a new superstar, Hrithik Roshan. Both Coke and Pepsi rushed to sign him, but Coke won (possibly due to the fact that they promised that all the ads starring the superstar would be directed by his father). The first ads starring Hrithik Roshan were launched in Diwali Season. Pepsi hit back this time with a SRK ad which also had a Hrithik look alike. This ad was directed by Prahlaad Kakkar and was in a bad taste. Rumors ran about SRK’s insecurity and rest but the episode really was a footnote in the epic battle.
Around this time Coke’s market share surpassed Pepsi for the first time since Coke’s launch in 1994 (Trivia: Coke was first re-launched in India in Agra) and suddenly Coke was defending and Pepsi attacking the market share.
Now the wars shifted from cola to clear lime segment. Coke realizing that in India Thumbs Up was a valuable brand and it could not use it for opponent bashing. This time it was between Sprite and Pepsi’s Mountain Dew.
Pepsi had launched Dew with “Do the Dew” tagline emphasizing on Adventure sports. Sprite killed the ad with “Do The Do” ad which was funny and memorable.
The Cola Wars are here to stay. Its been just 10 odd years in India for them to start. In the USA they are on since a 100 years. The battle actually throws up some amazing ads and lets hope they continue.
Yeh Dil Maange More!!!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The Hyundai Santro Launch Ad Campaign:
The year was 1998. The Indian market had been recently opened for car manufacturers. Lot of the biggies including GM and Ford had made a beeline with their models. So when a South Korean company announced that it too will be entering what analysts expected to be a hot spot people were, putting it mildly skeptical. So in January 1998 at the Auto Expo in New Delhi the Santro was launched. The car was not the highlight of the expo; it was Tata Indica which was destined to be in the limelight.
Some information about Santro first. Named and sold as Alto worldwide, it was a Class B car (in India, because of Maruti Suzuki 800 all the cars which are Class A worldwide are Class B here) and was mildly successful. Launching it was a gamble and all the car makers worldwide were going for Class C and D which had lower volumes but more profit margins and required less investment. But Hyundai was looking at India as an export base and keeping that in mind set up the factory in Tamil Nadu somewhere near Chennai.
The common man had heard about Ford, GM and Mercedes, but Hyundai? Naah! So first thing in Hyundai’s strategists’ mind was making people aware about this company. The company decided upon having Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) as the brand ambassador. The super star was a perfect choice.
The very first ad (the one I saw) of Hyundai Santro was screened somewhere in Feb 1998. The ad depicted a Korean executive going to SRK and asking him to endorse the car. SRK was naturally skeptical about endorsing the company and the executive smiles and produces a nut! He says that we at Hyundai make everything in the car right from the nut to engine and body.
This TV ad was supplemented with print ads showing SRK holding the nut and asking for people’s opinion that whether he should actually endorse the car or not? Naturally this campaign made the people aware about the company. People knew it was a South Korean company with a car to sell which was enough for a company with almost zero brand recall a few months back.
Then the big day came with the launch of Santro. In itself the car was superb, with Tall Boy design (first for India), elegant curves and an awesome engine, the car sales zoomed and Maruti’s Monopoly in the country was seriously challenged and Zen had a serious competitor.
The company’s initial advertisement campaign was a brilliant piece of work and set the tone for the rest of the advertisements.
Some information about Santro first. Named and sold as Alto worldwide, it was a Class B car (in India, because of Maruti Suzuki 800 all the cars which are Class A worldwide are Class B here) and was mildly successful. Launching it was a gamble and all the car makers worldwide were going for Class C and D which had lower volumes but more profit margins and required less investment. But Hyundai was looking at India as an export base and keeping that in mind set up the factory in Tamil Nadu somewhere near Chennai.
The common man had heard about Ford, GM and Mercedes, but Hyundai? Naah! So first thing in Hyundai’s strategists’ mind was making people aware about this company. The company decided upon having Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) as the brand ambassador. The super star was a perfect choice.
The very first ad (the one I saw) of Hyundai Santro was screened somewhere in Feb 1998. The ad depicted a Korean executive going to SRK and asking him to endorse the car. SRK was naturally skeptical about endorsing the company and the executive smiles and produces a nut! He says that we at Hyundai make everything in the car right from the nut to engine and body.
This TV ad was supplemented with print ads showing SRK holding the nut and asking for people’s opinion that whether he should actually endorse the car or not? Naturally this campaign made the people aware about the company. People knew it was a South Korean company with a car to sell which was enough for a company with almost zero brand recall a few months back.
Then the big day came with the launch of Santro. In itself the car was superb, with Tall Boy design (first for India), elegant curves and an awesome engine, the car sales zoomed and Maruti’s Monopoly in the country was seriously challenged and Zen had a serious competitor.
The company’s initial advertisement campaign was a brilliant piece of work and set the tone for the rest of the advertisements.
New Series:-
From Now onwards I am going to write about my favorite advertisement campaigns. These campaigns have really influenced me as in really shown me how creative you can get. Also I will be writing about the ones which flopped.
Friday, April 14, 2006
The search for the answer:
Since the time of Isaac Newton, scientists have been looking for one thing- Theory of Everything, or TOE or GUT (Grand Unification Theory) they call it. Currently the Most Basic forces of nature are:
Gravitation Force
Electroweak Forces
Strong Force
Now the unification fails as soon as gravity comes into picture. Since it actually becomes effective when the masses are huge, the effect of the force becomes very weak as soon as we talk at microscopic level. The Universal Constant of Gravitation, G is so small (6.67 X 10-11) that it’s in fact absurd to think that gravity has any role to play when we talk about distances so small.
Quantum mechanics (which defines behavior of particles in microscopic world) and Gravitational Theory have always been at loggerheads. But when it comes of analysis of place where there is a huge mass concentrated at a point (case in point, center of black hole, universe at the time of big bag), we need a synergy between them.
Personally I feel there is something wrong in the whole Quantum Mechanics structure. This feeling is shared by many for the simple reason that results Quantum Mechanics throws up are so weird (that’s the only way to describe them!!) But I agree that’s how nature works. The essential problem lies in the fact that how this theory was developed. Unlike Einstein’s theory of Relativity (General theory described Gravitation) where the theory was given by pure genius and intuition (by no means I tend to disrespect the great Quantum Mechanics’ researchers) and then the results were confirmed, in Quantum Mechanics always we tended to see the results and fitted the theory to confirm the result. Now after 100 years of doing this the theory has described all possible permutations and hence all new results tend to fit the theory.
The big question is WHEN?? When will someone give us the answer?? I feel that the one who will do it won’t be a Doctorate or even have masters. He will be a young student of science who believes that this thing is wrong and has teachers who believe that they are teaching the wrong stuff. Too far fetched I am thinking!
Gravitation Force
Electroweak Forces
Strong Force
Now the unification fails as soon as gravity comes into picture. Since it actually becomes effective when the masses are huge, the effect of the force becomes very weak as soon as we talk at microscopic level. The Universal Constant of Gravitation, G is so small (6.67 X 10-11) that it’s in fact absurd to think that gravity has any role to play when we talk about distances so small.
Quantum mechanics (which defines behavior of particles in microscopic world) and Gravitational Theory have always been at loggerheads. But when it comes of analysis of place where there is a huge mass concentrated at a point (case in point, center of black hole, universe at the time of big bag), we need a synergy between them.
Personally I feel there is something wrong in the whole Quantum Mechanics structure. This feeling is shared by many for the simple reason that results Quantum Mechanics throws up are so weird (that’s the only way to describe them!!) But I agree that’s how nature works. The essential problem lies in the fact that how this theory was developed. Unlike Einstein’s theory of Relativity (General theory described Gravitation) where the theory was given by pure genius and intuition (by no means I tend to disrespect the great Quantum Mechanics’ researchers) and then the results were confirmed, in Quantum Mechanics always we tended to see the results and fitted the theory to confirm the result. Now after 100 years of doing this the theory has described all possible permutations and hence all new results tend to fit the theory.
The big question is WHEN?? When will someone give us the answer?? I feel that the one who will do it won’t be a Doctorate or even have masters. He will be a young student of science who believes that this thing is wrong and has teachers who believe that they are teaching the wrong stuff. Too far fetched I am thinking!
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Journals
Laboratory Journals : These things were used (are used infact) by researchers to keep their records of experiments and the results. but here in my bloody college we have to write the journals mostly copy them without any rhyme or reason. man life suck!!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Reservation and RDB
When i saw rang de basanti i really thought these guys were idiots coz they died as their friend's death was misrepresented. i really believed in DJs thought that their is nothing worth to die for. i cant belive these idiots are trying to spoil my life , yes MY life for some idiots' votes. hearing roobaroo i really can kill :) well not exactly i really believe Arjun Singh's life is in danger not from terrorists but from the average guy next door's gun.
God knows when will that bastard die but i hope its a really painful death!!
God knows when will that bastard die but i hope its a really painful death!!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Cricket
Once upon a time i used to see all the matches follow them like crazy and man was a cricket maniac, but now it doesn't make a difference who is playing and who is winningg. it seems strange coming from a person who used to wake up at 4 to see australia destroy zimbabwe at home.
why have i lost interest in this game?? am i the only one??
Also this reservation shit is stupid..... why do we ppl of general class be subjected to these stupid tortures while these sc/st/obc enjoy??? Mandal sucked and congress is the biggest leech on the country.
alking about leeches khandekar is also one of them..... gotta know he'll be teaching us again next semester....SHIT!!!!!!!
why does aphale get special treatment from the HOD??Why his stupid subject is being kept as elective and why no fiber optics?? I will talk to the HOD today.....Chaitrali mam is supportive but god knows how dat stupid HOD can be convinced. i think we can have reservations for the HOD's post. only mentally challenged and infinitelly stupid people who could not do anything should be allowed to become HODs coz here all of them already are!!
why have i lost interest in this game?? am i the only one??
Also this reservation shit is stupid..... why do we ppl of general class be subjected to these stupid tortures while these sc/st/obc enjoy??? Mandal sucked and congress is the biggest leech on the country.
alking about leeches khandekar is also one of them..... gotta know he'll be teaching us again next semester....SHIT!!!!!!!
why does aphale get special treatment from the HOD??Why his stupid subject is being kept as elective and why no fiber optics?? I will talk to the HOD today.....Chaitrali mam is supportive but god knows how dat stupid HOD can be convinced. i think we can have reservations for the HOD's post. only mentally challenged and infinitelly stupid people who could not do anything should be allowed to become HODs coz here all of them already are!!
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