DATA MINING AND USE: THE PIVOT FROM MICROSOFT

NIKE: Orange is the color of insanity- Vincent Van Gogh

Financial Performance of Advertising and Media Companies

Echoing the sentiment of every other holding company that the worst of the recession's impact on the ad business has past, WPP, the world's largest ad conglomerate, today reported a pre-tax profit drop of 16.1% to $1.2 billion down from $1.5 billion in 2008.

In a year it described as "brutal," the holding company also announced revenue for 2009 was down 8.1% to nearly $13.1 billion. Geographically, none of its regions showed any growth. North America dropped 8.1% from the year-prior period, the U.K. fell 6%, Western Continental Europe decreased 10.2% and Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe dropped 6.8%.

All of its business practices declined as well. Advertising and media-investment management declined 8.5% while PR and public affairs dropped 7.4%. Its consumer-insight practice fell the sharpest at 9.5%.

Despite the rough year, the group said there were signs that 2010 would be more financially productive, citing its belief that WPP would experience organic growth in the second quarter.

There were "less-worse trends in the second half and final quarter of the year," WPP said in an earnings statement. "We seem to have moved from staring into the abyss post the Lehman Brothers crisis, to a less worse phase in the second half of 2009 and a stabilization phase towards the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010."

WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell also recently said the company has lifted a hiring freeze instituted last year and started replacing some lost headcount. The total number of staffers at WPP at year-end 2009 was 98,759 compared with 112,663 at the end of 2008, a decrease of nearly 14,000 people or 12.3%.

The London-based company -- which is the parent of creative network Ogilvy & Mather, direct agency Wunderman, media shops Mindshare and Mediaedge:cia as well as PR shop Burson-Marsteller -- posted results on par with most of its competitors. Omnicom, reported a 20.7% decline for 2009 in net income last month, and Interpublic Group of Cos. a 13.4% revenue drop for the year. Of the four biggest companies, Publicis Groupe fared the best with a drop in profit of 9.8%.

Coca Cola The road to Olympics 2008vs IPL 2010. Creative Coincidence

A very similar ad was released by JWT Mumbai. Though Mr Dhunji Wadia the head of JWT Mumbai has not been quoted, official response from the agency  was that the ad done by JWT Mumbai in 2010 which had the same red carpet treatment as the Coca Cola commercial in 2008 was a "creative coincidence".
http://moifightclub.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/xclusive-ipl-2010-launch-video-is-plagiarised-from-coke-china-olympics-tvc/

The IPL Commercial by JWT Mumbai 2010 with the same red carpet and a similar occasion, which is a popular sporting event, the IPL 2010.


Coca Cola seems to be happy opening up happiness with Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho and seems to happy with boy meets girl coincidences. Loved the remix track, it is a zing thing! (pardon me Gold Spot, it is a creative coincidence) :)



The original "tum jo mil gaye ho"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDuKcZ1S2HI

Naaku Muka, Muku Naaka, ?

I have  not comprehended this commercial that seems to have won a lot of praise and plaudits. The TOI Commercial that launched their Chennai Edition. The agency is JWT. It is expected to swing the readers of the English dailies like the Hindu, Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle to the Times of India, Chennai Edition.



The sound track is a huge hit and has everyone dancing to it.As is evident reading the news and keeping with the times is the least of the concerns here :)

OLD SPICE or NEW SPICE?

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2010/02/wk_old_spice_ma.php
The new Old Spice commercial seems to be tickling everyone pink:)

A link from the archives.

http://mayanmuse.blogspot.com/2009/09/carmina-burana-old-spice.html

And now, spoofs, which simply means that it is part of the cultural sub -text :)

http://tigs.tumblr.com/post/420676766/via-if-old-spice-mad-ads-for-apple

Rabindranath Tagore :Ekla Chalo Re and the Seduction of Solitude

An article in the TOI took up the issue of solitude and how many creative people preferred it over the lure of companionship and the gregarious nature of goups. Being alone is different from being lonely and the anxiety to have someone around often seemed to me as an act of self- denial and self- deception. In the final analysis, we came  to this world alone and we return alone without any companion. The rest seems to be largely arrangements of convenience rather than any bond of permanence.
The link below details the lyrics of "ekla chalo re by Tagore.
http://discoveringtagore.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/ekla-cholo-re/





There is a Malayalam song in the film Umachu which again touches the path of solitude: "Ekantha padhikan njaan". Lyrics are by P.Bhaskaran and the music by Raghavan.It was sung by Jayachandran.

How is EMI calculated?

http://msn.bankbazaar.com/guide/emi-explained/

The link above explains how  EMI is calculated. Useful when making financial decisions.

AXE Commercials: All Balls!!