Innovative Hoarding and Ad impacts

Advertisements impact our lives. Not just in forming our purchasing habits, but also in changing the way we think and live. Some ads boost our morale, while some simply entertain. But when a new mobile service had the daunting task of announcing their arrival on the Mumbai airwaves scene, Aircel broke into new ground. Have you ever seen an outdoor hoarding been put to use by the general public? Kudos to Primesite, Aircel’s ad agency for being innovative when they put up this hoarding near the Milan Subway, which provided a inflatable raft, which could be used when the place gets flooded. “In case of emergency - cut the rope”, said the hoarding.


Milan subway has been a landmark – always submerged once Mumbai experiences rains. All TV channels have begun camping here since the last 4-5 years. So when the water rose waist high, the lay public here did cut the rope as you may read here. We can only hope that whenever we are likely to face any adversity or difficulties, there is always some help available at close quarters.


Last night I met my friend from New Delhi, who told me that our honorable Prime Minister has been greatly influenced by another telecom ad, Idea Cellular - “An idea can change your life”.

How can you say that, I asked. “Well, the latest Idea Cellular ad keeps saying walk and talk all the time. So our PM has walked, though former minister, Yeshwant Sinha alleges ‘not just half the way but all the way to the Pak camp’, though all may not agree here” he said, “and…and… he also wants to talk – walk and talk, walk and talk, walk and talk!”

“Ahaaa!” I say, upon being enlightened.

“Our PM has been toying with several ideas ever since”, he continued, "Having roped in Nandan Nilekani, the corporate head honcho of Infosys into his fold, the PM checked on him whether he could work on a computer program that could generate error-free, trouble-free joint statements in future!"

“While Nandan has begun working on the development of this computer program of great national importance, our PM has been working on other ideas that can change our life”

“Such as?”, I ask eagerly.

“He wants a mind reading machine to read the scheming minds of our neighbours, who keep bumping into us at Sharm-El-Shaikh or wherever”

“Oh, that would be of great help!” I exclaim.

“Well that is exactly what everyone in the Indian Government also exclaimed – you know if they ever knew what our PM was thinking about or contemplating – we could have averted this bad drafting episode”, he said.

“We have such great people capable of drafting here in India” I added enthusiastically, hoping our PM would, sooner than later, send out word for me, though I know there would be many in the fray.

“I am completely in agreement with our PM that we must keep talking to Pak, keep them engaged”, he said.

“How about sending a team consisting of Navjot Singh Siddhu, Rakhi Sawant, Cyrus Broacha, Karan Thapar, Shekhar Suman….they can all talk until eternity, cant they?” I asked. Feeling outsmarted by this one, my friend sensed it was time to leave.

“Stay on, tell me some more inside stuff, dear friend”, I coaxed him.

He then pulled me closer, in a hushed voice confided:
“Our PM had been waiting for a SIM card from the US, which Hillary Clinton delivered during her visit here recently – nobody knows this - not even the media”

“A SIM card? Why do we need a SIM Card, don’t we have several of them here?” I asked.

“This is a special one for our country ................
the Superpower-In-Making Card for India”, he concluded.

So that we can walk with our head high....and talk, I thought!
What an idea Sirji!

Blogger's Postscripts:
1. This blog does not encourage you to walk while you talk on the cellphone. There have been several criticisms about this ad campaign - the unsafe manner in which pedestrians are busy talking on cellphones without being watchful of vehicles or potholes on the roads could be disastrous. My personal choice is not to walk when you talk.

Read more about the walk and talk about talks with Pak head straight to my friend, Vinod Sharma's blogpost here.