Twitter has brought about a radical change in this social networking era. Saying “What you are doing?” in just 140 characters is fun for both those who write and those who read.
As it is rightly said “Brevity is the soul of wit”.
It sure has helped our loud, screeching television journalists in many ways. Their job has just boiled down to going online, reading tweets and making masala news out of it. No efforts in editing also as it is just quote and unquote. The celebrity tweeple who have helped Indian News rooms tremendously are Mr.Shashi Tharoor,Chetan Bhagat and Sania Mirza. “Tharoor Tweets” is the most common headline you can find flashing on TV screens. With all the political implication this has, the day is not far when the IT act will have a separate clause on politicians using SNS.
Initially, I gave all this a benefit of the doubt saying Indians are not yet ready to have an intelligent minister like Mr.Tharoor who wants his people to know what is going on in the Government. But of late, I see a clear trend in the usage of Twitter by celebrities, particularly Indian celebrities. It is a hard fact to digest but it is true that Indians get flattered easily and have absolutely no idea of where to draw the line. This can be proved with all the tweets the celebrities post.
Take the recent Lalit Modi – Tharoor Twitter war for instance.Modi posted the stake of the shareholders on Twitter knowing fully well that Mr.Tharoor is active on Twitter and that it will create chaos. Undoubtedly,it led to people asking the obvious question of “Does Tharoor have a stake in the Cochin team”? This is important for everyone to know. But the route Modi adopted is no good. It has put everyone in soup including Modi.
Nowwww do you get the connection?? The Indian mentality of speaking a lot and not knowing where to stop has led to this situation where every celebrity posts and later thinks…
“Ab pachtaye hoth kya,jab twitteriya chug gayi khet”
Disclaimer : Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani :)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
BELIEVE IN THE BEST
Celebrity endorsements is what every marketing or advertising magazine is talking about these days.It is important for marketers and companies to understand that just because you get my favorite hero to endorse for a product,I will not buy it.Remember! Customer is the KING who can think and is not dumb.
I personally believe that a celebrity must be roped in only if the product/ brand/idea has a resemblance in some form with the celebrity.Thank god! I am not the only one who thinks so,some sensible marketers also do.Just as I say this,some classic examples come flashing in memory.There is no denying to the fact that celebrities have done considerable benefit to brands and added to the image of the brand.But don't pull it too far.
Take for instance the new WHEEL ad where Salman Khan(Ya!!!! for a detergent) and Prachi Desai(Eh....who??!!!) are a couple and they start singing and dancing(supposed to be romantic) and to add to the a(d)gony is the background romantic score.Even if all that is accepted,why will anyone believe that Salman Khan uses WHEEL?Or in some way resembles WHEEL?
The other blunder I came across on TV recently was the NEW Vaseline Men's range where Shahid Kapoor,who is actually a good choice considering his 'not so bad looks' and celebrity status.Even the tagline "Be prepared" is a well thought line.But all is not good when he says "Main use karta hun Vaseline Men".
Oh Really? Kabse? Last week when it was launched? It would be believable if he said that he likes the new product for some benefits or anything.
People might like fictional novels and SciFi movies but when it comes to advertisements,one needs to believe in the product and the advertisement.Celebrities can surely play a big role in it but only when a consumer believes that there is some sense in relating the product to the celebrity.I am also ready to see Rakhi Sawant in the Shaadi.com ad but not Salman Khan in WHEEL detergent.
While surfing news channels,I came across a clipping which said "Manmohan Singh makes primary education compulsory".At the end of the clip was the PM himself saying "I believe education is very important.I am,what I am because of the education I got". Now that is what I am talking about.A celebrity endorsement so powerful that everyone wants to buy into it. Many of us have the mail with the resume of Dr.Manmohan Singh in our mail boxes.We know he is counted among the most intelligent and educated PMs of India and so when he says primary education is important,we have no choice but believe.
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