TBWA India has just fallen out of grace. It should be a happy and fun campaign but the TBWA India’s  Haagen-Dazs ice cream launch in India has successfully offended many Indian nationals and subsequently trigger an avalanche of backlash by bloggers.

The offensive posters were prominently displayed the very first Haagen-Dazs outlet in a Delhi shopping mall. The agency’s original intention was to create  up market cosmopolitan feel with a reference to the French Riviera hence the copy “Exclusive Preview for International Travellers. Access restricted only to holders of international passports.” Those words deeply hurt the pride of many Indians.

In a blog post headlined “Sorry, Indians Not Allowed,” Rajest Kaira said his  friend was refused entry to the new ice-cream store . More than  1,000 comments poured in. The first comment by Samir, started the ball rolling by stating that , “This is an insult of Indian nationals. … They should be barred from doing business in India.” The next comment by Born India agreed: “The store should be shut down immediately,”. Basically, people were fury, most said Haagen-Dazs should be fined or kick out of the country, or better still,  both.

Is this an overeaction? This might look as an over-reaction to non-Indians, but anyone who’s lived there will know where the reactions stem from. During British rule, it was a common sight on a few ‘privileged’ locations to have boards such as ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’. un

Even Mahatma Ghandi was disallowed to take the train reserved for the white in his younger days.

Anti colonialism is evidently present by the response and reaction.

If you are a designer, I’d suggest you hop over there right now to see if you have made some of the “mistakes”. Here is a short list of sample:

• He queried if Helvetica is over used with an “Argh”.
• He pointed out that leaving 2 space after a full stop is simply bad practice.
• He said automatically centralized text looked uninspiring.
• He was adamant that underlining is never to be used as it is “the most redundant thing you can do in life.”
• He highlighted that hypen is a typewriter habit.

Well, one’s meat is another’s poison, you might not agree with Cass’ opinions totally. I’m sure that’s perfectly all right with him; graphic designers can choose to take it with a pint of salt or a spoonful of honey. After all, the guy is entitled to his views. Personally, I agreed with Cass on point 11 and 14. Embossing text with drop shadow and all upper-case text made reading difficult and unpleasant, and so dated.

Whether you are a designer or a copywriter, whether if you are from the agency’s side or the client’s side, it’s great to check out a seasoned designer’s opinion and read the excellent feedback and comments his post had generated. You might learn something new.

Technorati Tags: signs of lousy designer

He did not believe in getting an integrated agency to do everything for him. “Just like investment, it’s safer to spread the eggs into different baskets”. That’s fine with us. He was not the first one who did not appreciate the cohesion and harmony an integrated agency can bring to the table That is for us to prove to him, eventually. To his question, “what would you recommend me to do for online?”. My advice for a novice marketer who’s not hands-on with the online world is to get a internet marketing consultant that offers all type of online marketing services. It will be a screaming nightmare for him to try to DIY. Online marketing is more than creating a pretty website with lots of blinks blinks. Nice design with smooth navigation interface is a given but many important and often tedious work like search engine optimization, link building, traffic generation and sales conversion are behind scene jobs unknown to many traditional marketers. I also told him look for one with clients that have same type of business as he is. That would ensure the consultant have the necessary knowledge and experience to speed up the job within a tight deadline.

He gave me a skeptical look, the type that said “spend money again?!”. Many marketers want to save cost and I do understand that sound financial management is important for any business growth. However, marketers also need to know when to save and when to invest. The money “spent” on hiring an internet marketing consultant should not be seen as a “cost” but an “investment”. I told this prospective client to look at the internet marketing consultant as the goose that lays him lots of golden eggs. Marketers and ad agencies alike, we cannot be penny wise and pound foolish.

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I worked all through the weekend. I got them all done. But just when I started to print … the computer crashed and I didn’t save.

I committed this crime many times. The last time was earlier this month.

Now, that would not be too traumatic IF a backup of the hard disk or even just the project itself was made. Creative folks – especially designers – knew the importance of backing up files continuously and not when the job is done. A black-out or a system crash will mean re-doing all the work that was laboriously done previously. Even when the work is re-created, the end result may somehow look different from the original. Designers knew the importance of backing up, so does everyone else. But somehow, doing a simple backup is not all that simple. Have you ever considered online backup?

I am very sure that you are online. Otherwise, you will not be reading this. I’m very certain anyone who goes online will know the importance to do a backup. Now, how about if this backup is FREE? Here is what I found:

1. A Free 2GB worth of backup
2. You can map your online drive (if you don’t know what this means, its ok, its a cool feature)
3. Versioning (keeps up to 30 versions of your backup data)
4. Auto backup or backup when you want to
5. Secure (encryption on transmission and storage)
6. Upgrade to unlimited backup for $4.95 a month

There are lots of other features. But fact of the matter is this – this is now so easy, you no longer have a valid excuse not to backup your data. Any designer, copywriter or experienced marketing person can tell you, having a back up of your project files will not only save your life, it is the responsible thing to do!

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We just put a deposit of $17,000 via a broker to import in 18,000 unit of Chinese New Year celebration goodies. In my previous post, I had mentioned we were still busy putting finishing touch on our Christmas campaigns for our lunch, and will only start on Chinese New Year campaigns in mid December. Well, our client had a great idea and it required us to make from scratch a really unique product that has a distinct Chinese favor. For the past 4 days, we talked to lots of local and overseas agents and combed through many websites and finally, we found the factory that meet our requirements. The production lead-time and shipment schedule are so tight that we decided to buy insurance in case we are penalized for late delivery due to no fault (at least, not directly) of ours. My counter-part in another agency just shrugged his shoulders and said we worried too much. He reckoned that the Chinese factory would want to collect the balance payment so they would race against the deadline for us. Honestly, I’m not that optimistic. What if something happened and there’s no show of goods? There are just so many “what if” that made me felt more secured buying an insurance. I rather take the “better safe than sorry” stance. Buying insurance where appropriate is part of corporate risk management. This is etched in my mind especially with our experience in January.

A client asked us to rush a job for his exhibition in Mexico. To meet his exhibition, we couriered a 25kg box to Mexico. The goods arrived 4 days later with slight damage. The meager $10 insurance fees we paid helped defray part of the cost. The client was happy as that certainly helped minimize his loss. Small money had prevented big headache. In fact, all doctors would tell you that prevention is better than cure.

As a marketer, or a decision maker, in your company, have you looked into insurance to protect your work and minimize losses? As an individual, have you also looked into insurance coverage before it is too late?

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