Impossible is nothing
Taglines of advertisements fall into many categories: many of them fall by the wayside, some of them stand the test of time, some of them go on to join their superior counterparts are age old adages. The cola wars used to create some of the best tag lines - Nothing official about it, yahi right choice baby aha!, yeh dil maange more and so on.
Now it is the age of insurance companies vying with each other to create senti pitches that a strike an emotional chord with the viewers. The Sar Uthake Jiyo series of ads is quite nice. So are the Be life confident ads of the little son adding letters to his name while his proud father watches on, or the one in which the new father jumps with joy on knowing that he's had twins. For that matter, even the zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi ain't so bad, even though the ads are. I am not sure how effective these ads are in translating into incremental revenues, because I can hardly identify these taglines with the brands themselves.
When I talked of some taglines becoming age old adages, I was talking about Geography is history. I am sure everyone of us has heard it as a one line statement for globalisation; it is apparently an tagline for a product that failed completely. It is a powerful statement about shrinking distances and effective communication. Another one is the Impossible is nothing tagline which I simply love. A simple juxtaposition of words of the vintage Nothing is impossible, this is much more powerful than its parent. For one thing, Nothing is impossible is a global statement that is a good philosophy to live by, but is of little practical applicability. The 'nothing' part of it can apply to just about anything, and in consequence applies to nothing (pun intended). On the other hand, its variant is a complete opposite. When you say Impossible is nothing, you are talking about something that is widely considered to be impossible, a definitive thing, and then you are saying with confidence that it is easily achievable.
When you say Nothing is impossible, in some sense you are acknowledging the massiveness of the impossibility, and meekly put up a brave front against it. There is no ring of truth about it when you make that statement. However, when you say Impossible is nothing you just pooh-pooh the task on hand. You say that for someone else it is impossible, but for me it is nothing . Nothing is.. is a strategy statement, while impossible is.. is an operations perspective.
Well, so much for Adidas' campaign (I had to google for this, for I was quite sure that it was a Nike campaign until my husband suggested otherwise - again proving ineffectiveness of ads for brand recall). It takes a brilliant stroke of creativity to come up with something as simple and as profound as this.
Someone else thought it was a smart idea to juxtapose a common saying/statement/question (what category does this example all under?), and came up with Next is what. My foot! It would easily go down in history among the worst taglines ever created. What on earth does it mean anyway?
Now it is the age of insurance companies vying with each other to create senti pitches that a strike an emotional chord with the viewers. The Sar Uthake Jiyo series of ads is quite nice. So are the Be life confident ads of the little son adding letters to his name while his proud father watches on, or the one in which the new father jumps with joy on knowing that he's had twins. For that matter, even the zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi ain't so bad, even though the ads are. I am not sure how effective these ads are in translating into incremental revenues, because I can hardly identify these taglines with the brands themselves.
When I talked of some taglines becoming age old adages, I was talking about Geography is history. I am sure everyone of us has heard it as a one line statement for globalisation; it is apparently an tagline for a product that failed completely. It is a powerful statement about shrinking distances and effective communication. Another one is the Impossible is nothing tagline which I simply love. A simple juxtaposition of words of the vintage Nothing is impossible, this is much more powerful than its parent. For one thing, Nothing is impossible is a global statement that is a good philosophy to live by, but is of little practical applicability. The 'nothing' part of it can apply to just about anything, and in consequence applies to nothing (pun intended). On the other hand, its variant is a complete opposite. When you say Impossible is nothing, you are talking about something that is widely considered to be impossible, a definitive thing, and then you are saying with confidence that it is easily achievable.
When you say Nothing is impossible, in some sense you are acknowledging the massiveness of the impossibility, and meekly put up a brave front against it. There is no ring of truth about it when you make that statement. However, when you say Impossible is nothing you just pooh-pooh the task on hand. You say that for someone else it is impossible, but for me it is nothing . Nothing is.. is a strategy statement, while impossible is.. is an operations perspective.
Well, so much for Adidas' campaign (I had to google for this, for I was quite sure that it was a Nike campaign until my husband suggested otherwise - again proving ineffectiveness of ads for brand recall). It takes a brilliant stroke of creativity to come up with something as simple and as profound as this.
Someone else thought it was a smart idea to juxtapose a common saying/statement/question (what category does this example all under?), and came up with Next is what. My foot! It would easily go down in history among the worst taglines ever created. What on earth does it mean anyway?
Comments
or the Sahara insurance ad in which the guy signs up the insurance policy and goes to challenge Gabbar in his own den!
I dont remember the tag lines - but quite like these ads.
Look fwd to ur updates on this space.
Keep writing.
~Keku
Thanks for your comment. It's nice to know that someone reads my blog. Yep, telecom services companies and insurance companies have completely cracked the ad scene in the recent days - most of them resonate well with the common man. In addition to the maddy & vidya airtel ad, the reliance ad on the digital clarity is nice, so are all the vodafone 'happy to help' ads, though they don't live up to their claim ;). Even the tongue-in-cheek virgin mobile ads bring out a smile.
Vidya
You should be able to use the same recipe in a microwave too. Bake on low for 8-10 minutes till toothpick comes out clean.