Since the time I read about advertising and I understood clearly what advertising is all about. I realised the difference between Weak and Strong Schools of Advertising. However today’s topic is not about those theories, it is about how advertising become a tool for government propaganda. British government started a campaign in Pakistan to prevent youth people in Pakistan from turning into extremists and hating Britain. 

There were many articles already written about this, so i will not stop too much on details. You may read it from here. What really surprised me is that a government makes an ad campaign in other country to promote itself. Before I used to hear about propaganda and PR articles. I even heard that the US has about 28,000 agents who supply the world press with articles about how the US is a wonderful country. But the open advertising campaign is a new concept for me. Maybe you know more about it.

So, I would like to hear your point of view. Which is more effective open advertising in other country or hidden propaganda?

I would like to see comments of rare visitors for this question. I will try to write my comment about Uzbekistan on that matter later, but for now I will copy the post by Seth Godin about this.

Which comes first, the product or the marketing?

Well, if you define marketing as advertising, then it’s clear you need the product first (Captain Crunch being the only exception I can think of… they made the ads first.) This great clip from Mad Men brings the point home. If the Kodak guys hadn’t invented the Carousel slide projector, Don Draper could never have pitched this ad.

But wait. 

Marketing is not the same as advertising. Advertising is a tiny slice of what marketing is today, and in fact, it’s pretty clear that the marketing has to come before the product, not after. As Jon points out, the Prius was developed after the marketing thinking was done. Jones Soda, too. In fact, just about every successful product or service is the result of smart marketing thinking first, followed by a great product that makes the marketing story come true.

If someone comes to you with a ‘great’ product that just needs some marketing, the game is probably already over. 

So, feel free to leave your comments!

Here is the print adverts for creativity and how it could be killed by Portuguese agency. I liked and it is very interesting.  Currently I am working on article for local Uzbek newspaper about creativity and creative people. You may leave your comments if you have about creativity, I will really appreciate it. 

The Credits go to:

Advertising Agency: Fuel Lisbon, Portugal
Creative Directors: Pedro Bexiga, Marcelo Lourenço
Art Director: Pedro Bexiga
Copywriter: Marcelo Lourenço
Illustrator: Scott C.
Retoucher: SniperShot
Published: November 2008

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I found this funny picture and I would like to share it with you. I hope that some of you will have smile on your serious faces. Please enjoy.

I found very good website that shows collection of present and old print adverts. 

The first advert is about Mercedes. I like the nature and the concept. It really in the sense of luxury cars. I really liked the quality of the picture. It really in the best examples of German quality. 

The second advert is about Smoking. I hate smoking, sorry guys. So, I really like this type of good adverts that stop people from smoking. We need to build healthy generation. I can’t say that the advert is really good, but what is really good is that it attracts the attention of the audience. The ads were made by Canadian agency for a NGO that promotes non-smoking in India. 

To see adverts, please proceed… (more…)

How famous is TV now. Some reports say that it is very famous and even replaces the sex when it comes to favourite activity. However, I guess currently internet is overcoming this thesis. Anyway, here is a print ad for DirectTV made by Deutsch L.A. and published in Sports Illustrated issues. It runs as a ““The Coucha Sutra”, for guys too lazy to have sex”. I really like the idea and I guess very soon we could have a deskoSutra for desktop computers, taking into account following report. After the break enjoy the print ad. (more…)

I would like to share one more guerrilla ad campaign that i have found in the Internet. Very interesting concept and well created campaign. Ads appear at the end of the escalators, so people can see them. I will not stop too much in details but will show the ads for Revita Beauty Center by….

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