Bad company

Good singers and good writers are the worst company,
they keep reminding me of my incompetence.

The one eyed man

I would rather be a one eyed man creating pictures,
than spending two eyes and a lifetime just admiring what others do.

simple, easy and powerful brand identity

probably thats what attracts clients to check out m&c saatchi.
everybody expects the agency will do a similiar magic to their brands.

I apologise

I apologise to the construction site worker, the carpenter, the
rickshawala, the vegetable vendor, the milk-man, the painter, the
plumber, postman, the factory worker, the newspaper delivery boy, the jamadaar, the guy who washes my car, the security guard.

Yes. I apologise to all those who go to work on a bicycle. today i tried doing the same in effort realised how a bicycle riders is treated on the road.

His fuel, his power, is unmatched to any other in the world.

India in Vogue

finally the Indian edition of vogue have hit the market. Does that mean a boom in fashion sensibility of the Indians. Or just a mode to push western brands in India as often people think/know that Indians have enough money but not the taste for fashion. So here we are to tell you what is the most fashionable thing to wear.

but who is it for, is it for the public who was reading a cosmo or a femina for leisure and lifestyle or for the niche crowd who are really into fashion and are used to the foreign editions available at khan market for 600 bucks. will they be happy shifting to the Indian edition available for 100 rupees. will it match up to there class.

will it still be taken so seriously. or become a commodity. people who can afford still prefer buying a levis, gas or diesel from Europe or America rather than from the Indian stores. there is some kind of an desi association once its available for cheap.

very typically of the Indian mindset, we are assumed to be people with less class, its assumed we want more out of every penny we shell out. It is assumed we are confused so show us more of options surely we will understand or connect to one of them.
Yes. that is why our Vogue cover have six women than the classic international vogue with one picture. all the six trying too hard to attract the public and sort of fighting for space. to me it seems that the magazine was too confused or been paid by different PR agencies to have the face of their client on the cover.

so is “vogue” going to decide the future of fashion in India, who knows, i just hope they should be able to decide on a face for their next issue.


p.s.: if you can go past the cover, the content is not bad for a 100 rupee magazine some good shoots can be seen alongwith some decent article. just that you have to look for the content page as it is hidden somewhere in between ads. and the editors letter on 55th page (guess a bit to early for the debut edition).

the body copy

"the body copy" - a bunch of words lying somewhere under the headline and above the baseline.
so whats the big deal. often the art-director prefers an ad without the body-copy as the copy just eats out the available space. or maybe according to some its better to replace it by some dynamic bullet points which say everything much clearly and also tell the fact "Hey! look here i'm trying to sell".

yes. the body-copy is dying a slow death. even the old timers will not realise when it died. because there's nothing heroic in such death. i would have prefered a more heroic death for our old buddy "the body copy". it would have been great to see the art directors association hanging it till death. atleast a death sentence would have made "the body copy" immortal. even better would have been a day that the bullet points would have come and stabbed the body copy.

but thats not the fate of our old friend. a friend who used to guide the consumer from the headline to the logo/baseline in a smooth way like a friend not a salesman.

creative heads have passed the judgement (without putting it in black & white) that no ads can enter the awards if it has a body copy of more than a line.

well have those creative heads, art-directors and clients ever given a shot in writting a few words of an ad without making it look like a vegetable vendors call.

i think everybody who hates the body copy atleast once in his life try and write one. only then they will think twice before discarding or disrespecting the next body copy coming thier way.