Silly, Simple and not Funny

Dear Tata Docomo Brand Manager

You've done it again.


For a campaign that talks about 'Keep it Simple, Silly', you have made two wild decisions:

- You have picked Ranbir Kapoor to do stand up comedy. I don't know your intentions. But if you wanted someone absolutely unconvincing as a stand up comedian - you should have chosen Sunny Deol: A raw, underutilized, stone-faced celebrity attempting to make the audience laugh. Your tagline could have been 'Sunny keeps it Simple, Silly.' I appreciate the Jerry Seinfeld inspired look-tone and humour...but why?

- You have fake laughter in the background in all the ads. Bad jokes and Fake Laughter. A series of Bad jokes and fake laughter. A series of Ads with a series of bad jokes and fake laughter. I can't remember the last time when a humourous commercial used such subtle prompts for the audience.

Vodafone (Hutch back then) did an ad series a while ago with Irfan Khan (watch them here). A peculiar man in a normal environment explaining somewhat complicated but extremely relevant Telecom features with Hutch/Vodafone. That was simple. This is not. It made us smile, occasionally giggle. You've mildly annoyed us.

Like the previous Docomo post, I'll add some Internet Marketing blurb for your brand. I am sure you have a new intern in office to re-do a presentation on 'Web 2.0 strategy for TATA Docomo'. Since Social Media is the new buzzword, I'll use Facebook status updates this time. I read this website is growing and might become a phenomenon in the future. I hear they are planning to make a movie about it too (insert fake laughter).
I'll leave it to your intern to finish up rest of the analysis on this. I guess he is on facebook the whole day, trying to improve your brand's digital presence.

Good luck with your campaign. I am sure your message will reach millions and you'll grow your user base. And when an odd Docomo user calls up your customer service to complain, I am sure you'll have a stale joke or two up your sleeve to calm them down. And of course, fake laughter.

Comments

  1. I think Ranbir's only job here is to address female audience..thats why it ends with a statement like 'Keep it simple,silly'. Still, the humour could have been better.

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  2. i agree man .. but how on earth in singapore do you follow this stuff

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  3. hahaha, this was genuine, I wasnt faking anything!! :)

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  4. I dont know which is worse, the docomo ads or the "no idea, get idea" ones. I even hesitate to say "no idea" now. What has the world come to!??! Or maybe its just Abhishek Bachhan, it is infact a deadly combination.

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  5. Our indian sense of humor is either crassy or there's always someone else's ideas to steal from.If only the imitation bit was done more sincerely, the commercial could have been a lil' more palatable
    A forced attempt at making the audience laugh...

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  6. kya man! not writing for a long time... look forward to see new posts!

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