The Jugni of Punjab: The Jubilee of Queen Victoria?

Great piece this by Indu Vashist, carried as a guest post by Kafila; I have often wondered about the origins of Jugni. There is hardly anything on the web - and frankly, the Wikipedia article on Jugni is quite unconvincing. It was never convinced Jugni is a woman, or that it has to do anything with spiritualism.

In Alam Lohar's version of Jugni, all she does is go from place to place; and in each stanza, after announcing her arrival, the poet directly gets down to celebrating (or introducing or characterizing), with a varying amount of seriousness but unmistakable revolutionary undertones, the setting to which Jugni has traveled.

Also striking is the construct 'mere ali Jugni' (my version of Jugni), as if there was another Jugni that was well known, but the poet was conjuring her own version of it. All this is quite in line with a wandering poet's attempt at 'shadowing' the Queen's Jubilee, a creating a parallel 'Jugni' as a vehicle of dissent, discontent, resistance or opposition. My heart goes out to the two poets whose artistic vocation took them to dreadful end in Gujranwala. We need to know more about them. (Talk about 'unsung' heroes!)

Kudos Indu Vashist. Well done Kafila. The post can be read here: Who is Jugni?: Indu Vashist « Kafila

Egypt's Anger and a Facebook Page That Gave It Voice

“Prior to the murder of Khaled Said, there were blogs and YouTube videos that existed about police torture, but there wasn’t a strong community around them.”

Facebook and YouTube Fuel the Egyptian Protests - NYTimes.com

What Starbucks Logo Redesign Means

"Starbucks possesses one of retail’s most familiar brand marks, and the company will celebrate its 40th anniversary by introducing a new modification of its trademark siren logo, the inspiration for which goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler. Most notable in the redesign is dropping "Starbucks Coffee" from the ring encircling the mermaid.

"There have also been less obvious tweaks to the visual itself—more emphasis to the top of the siren and less on the scales—but consumers may see stylistic patterns reminiscent of the tails used elsewhere in Starbucks’ graphics. Terry Davenport, Starbucks' svp, marketing, spoke to AdweekMedia about what the company’s changing visual identity reveals about the brand’s expanding business model."

AdweekMedia | Q&A: Starbucks Marketing Svp on Logo Redesign

Digital Advertising Inspirationally Projected Into 2011

With the New Year just round the corner, the world is abuzz with prophecies of every color, size and breed - but not all predictions are created equal; some are plain old common sense, which commodity, by the way, is notoriously uncommon. Take, for instance, the 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011 by Jesse Thomas; quite a few of them come across as a matter of putting two and two together - once you have read them.

Heck, let us not be too unkind to ourselves and too grudging in giving credit where it is due; all things inspirational seem obvious once revealed, but impossible before.

Questions Fundamental to Strategy, Execution

"Business leaders can't develop and execute effective strategy without first gathering the right information, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In his new book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution, Simons explains how managers can identify holes in their planning processes and make smart choices. Here's an excerpt outlining the seven questions every manager should ask."

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution — HBS Working Knowledge

'Ugly and Different', Google Logo Works

"There are however many examples of what can arguably be called ugly design that have done very well in creating a strong visual brand.

The example that comes to mind is the Google wordmark. The same typeface, rainbow color scheme, drop shadow and beveled look applied to any other entity would never make it as logo of the day on the sites we frequent. Aesthetically, I find the wordmark horrible with its inclusion of many elements I would hesitate to put into any logo, let alone all of them into one. But wow, does it ever work."

Ugly and Bland Can Win the Race – idApostle: An Identity Love Affair / Logo Designer, Ottawa, Canada.

AdFreak: FDA unveils 36 warning labels for cigarettes

"The Food and Drug Administration today unveiled 36 proposed designs for new warning labels on cigarette packs, required under a new law that gives the FDA power to regulate tobacco products for the first time. The agency wants feedback, and will pick nine labels next June to use on packages beginning next October. There are a few gross ones, though frankly the imagery could be worse (and is worse in other countries). My favorite is probably the one above, which appears to be based on the scene in Poltergeist when Craig T. Nelson stands transfixed next to the gaping jaws of hell. See all 36 images here. What do you think of them? And will they have any effect on smokers? Via The Awl."

AdFreak: FDA unveils 36 warning labels for cigarettes:

Information is Meant to be Shared, Not Hoarded

"There are still people within organizations that limit access to information and, presumably, they believe that such limiting affords them a measure of power. That game is sadly common in companies that motivate through fear. In my view, such places will be short-lived; the power and influence of social media will destroy them."

Thank you to Barry Lowenthal, the president of The Media Kitchen, for this insightful piece: Hoarding Disorder.

Cannes Lions Launch Creative Effectiveness Category In 2011

"Creative Effectiveness Lions will honour creativity which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business - creativity that effects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and where identifiable, profit."

Cannes Lions Launch Creative Effectiveness Category In 2011 | Ads of the World

My Brand New Facebook Presence

Sifting through information for relevant bits can be a chore these days. To make things easier for my friends, I have created a Facebook page for this blog; and to go with it, a new Twitter ID.

The benefit I expect to immediately flow from this new approach is that my blog posts will not appear in your Facebook or Twitter feed by default; of course, you can opt in by going to the page and clicking the 'Like' button, or by following the dedicated twitter ID (@admanahmer).

Does this make things easier or messier? Please do let me know.

The State of the (Adveritising) Affairs of the State

Here's a comment Business Recorded carried on the Pakistani government advertising. No too wide of the mark, I would say.

Activists Spoof, Shadow Chevron Campaign

The NYT's Media Decoder blog calls them pranksters - but is this just a prank? See for yourself at the website environment activists have created to shadow the Chevron campaign "We agree".

The body copy of the shadow campaign goes: "For decades, oil companies like ours have worked in disadvantaged areas, influencing policy in order to do there what we can't do at home. It's time this changed. People in Ecuador, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico, Richmond, and elsewhere have a right to a clean and healthy environment too."

Caveat: Thanks to the proliferation of ICT, groups once operating in the margins now have the power to successfully torpedo mainstream communication efforts.

Harking Back to the Great Ogilvy

Here’s a pick-me-up that goes out to all you pen pushers out there: The world-famous aphorisms from the great Ogilvy, organized into an article aiming to capture the essence of his advice to copywriters. Thank you, Nathan Hangen, for this brilliant piece: David Ogilvy’s 7 Tips for Writing Copy That Sells.

Don't You Love Contests? Here Are Two for Presentation Pros

Don't you love contests? Apart from the prizes and giveaways, the participation itself can be rewarding. Here are two contests most advertising professionals should be eligible to participate in: World's Best Presentation Contest 2010, and Presentation Horror Story Contest. Good luck to any minded to take part.

Was GAP Logo Switch (& Aboutface) a PR Gimmick?

"It can be difficult to tell, but from a PR point of view you could certainly get worse coverage than having all the mainstream media report on how much people loved your brand and didn't want it to change. Any PR team would take that story over other types of negative coverage any day. So will we see more brands conveniently 'forget' about their brand equity in order to get their current customers to start caring more about the brand for a day or two?"

The GAP Logo Poll: Is Ignoring Brand Equity A New Marketing Trend?

Smell Like A Monster: Sesame Street's Grover is Also on a Horse!

See how Sesame Street taps - and multiplies - the power of the "I'm on a horse" meme unleashed by the Old Spice viral campaign starring Isaiah Mustapha: Smell Like A Monster: 'Sesame Street' Spoofs The Old Spice Guy (VIDEO): "

There Is No Sky!

The flight of fancy - to the orbit! Thank you AoTW, for sharing this ISS print ad from the past:
Lego: Taj Mahal | Ads of the World:

Using Creativity to Fight Islamophobia

One agency's stab at a creative approach to debunk the Islamic identity of terrorism.

"Want to be a terrorist? The opposition to the Muslim community center and mosque being considered in downtown Manhattan is based on a purely visceral reaction that condemns an entire religion for the horrible acts on Sept. 11."

Adweek has the story: Open Dialog: Addressing Perceptions of Islam.

Minimalism in Web Design: A Guide

"It’s easy to see how a minimal web design can be misconstrued as something that requires less effort or time to create. After all, conveying the feeling of simplicity and a primary focus is really the purpose of a minimal design.

"However, saying that it requires less work couldn’t be further from the truth. Minimal web designs are strategically stripped of excess features and gimmicks in order to deliver a clear and concise message to the target audience." Here it is: Minimalism in Web Design: A Guide

Lara Croft's New Mission: Flood Relief Pakistan