Raise Your Voice...Women

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GcAYMToBjQ

                     

The Television Commercial Spots for Officer's Choice Blue seems contemporary remake of the hackneyed Hero rescues Heroine plot. The films supposedly urge only men (not women) to Raise their Voice against atrocities committed against women while women conveniently tolerate them without showing any offense forget putting up a fight.

Nothing can get more regressive than showing two emancipated women, one a corporate woman and other a suave modern woman becoming victims to violence and harassment just to make a male, a hero. These two women could have Raised Their Voice and easily taken control of the situation especially in the setting they have shown to be; a restaurant & an office, both have enough public to support them in case they want one. Out of the huge crowd setting, why only a single male is shown to resist the atrocities, why a female isn’t shown with the same poise?  

Can such an ad proclaim that it is made to reduce atrocities against women when it explicitly encourages the same?

If fairness creams could be attacked under the pretext of encouraging racial discrimination, such films should be condemned for promoting gender discrimination. As they portray women as weak creatures who are dependent on others (in this case, males) and attribute strength and power to the male dominion.

Without delving into the discussions on whether these films will be able to position the brand within its Target Audience, I would like to conclude with one message that as long as women are made to depend upon only external factors like system, police, officers, men to protect their sovereignty without Raising their own Voice, the atrocities against them are going to amplify without having a choice.

Painting becomes Brand Identity for Padma Binani Foundation

Padma Binani Foundation, the cultural and social wing of Braj Binani Group approached Muse for Creative Development & Branding of their annual event, Vatysalya Awards. The brief consisted of developing concept theme, event branding, creative event merchandising, collaterals, invitations and giveways for Vatsalya Awards which gives awards and acknowledges regional language writers of children literature.

Muse Approach:

Muse is always excited to work for projects with social and cultural relevance. The Padma Binani Foundation strives to create a widespread awareness of our rich cultural heritage and endeavors to bring Indian cultural heritage closer to the younger minds.

After one to one interaction sessions with the team members and advisory board of the Foundation and having researched their past work, Muse suggested to develop a concept that will give a comprehensive view of the Foundation’s mission and activities. The Padma Binani Foundation has established three bodies - Vatsalya, Akshar and Suranjali to achieve its objectives to make notable contributions in the fields of education, literature, the fine arts and music. Muse suggested that branding exclusively only one of the three wings of foundation, in this case Vatsalya will not be able to create the desired brand identity of the same. The three bodies though catering to different elements of the society and culture (literature and music) share a common core essence, which is the vision of the Foundation.  Hence, Muse proposed to develop an exclusive painting which will not only encompasses all the aspects of the Foundation but will give a unique identity to each of the Foundation’s bodies. The painting will visually journey through the core values and goals of the Foundation.  The proposal was welcomed by the Foundation with hope and excitement. 

Decoding the Elements of the Painting 

The concept of developing a Painting for The Padma Binani Foundation was envisioned and executed by Manoj Maurya, Director, Muse Advertising. Says Manoj, “It was a challenging task for me as it is difficult to segregate a part from the whole, without disintegrating the whole. It is just like human beings and the universe; though identifiable as separate persons, we are fully connected parts of the larger physical world."

In order for me to create a piece of art, I need to be completely convinced with the ideologies and the values. I started thoroughly researching the goals of each of the bodies of the Foundation. The first arm- Vatsalya has projects that are child-centric and are envisioned as conduits to knowledge for young and impressionable minds. On personal front, I been working towards propagation of importance of knowledge and the same has been one of the core defining values of my being. For me knowledge is the light, (Tamso ma Jyotirgamaya). The potential of this light to create positive impressions is very high when the mind is young and raw. Hence, I have used the raw earthen effect with footprints which gradually turn into light with a small twig. Any seed to reap requires fertile soil, water and light. In case of young minds, they require love, knowledge and encouragement which Vatsalya provides.

As another part of the whole, Akshar as the publishing arm of the Padma Binani Foundation continues to enrich the future of children with Indian literature in all the major languages of India. Well equipped with the knowledge, the twig develops into beautiful well spread branches.

Since Suranjali, the musical wing of the Padma Binani Foundation was conceived by Smt. Padma Binani, in fond remembrance of  late Shri G.D. Binani, I was driven to use reds for this section. It not only represents fondness but music as way to enlighten soul finds perfect resonance with this color scheme. By this time, the branches have well grown into a wonderful tree which is capable of giving love and warmth to the society.”

The painting summarizes the goals of the Foundation and visually depicts the positive outcome that the Foundation is headed towards.

Adaptations of the painting:

1. Brochure

The Foundation could easily assimilate itself with the painting and decided to adopt the painting as its Brand Identity. The Foundation was given the rights for adaptations into print and electronic media. Muse Advertising designed a 24 pages brochure for the event. The brochure talks about the Foundation and Vatsalya Awards. The scope of work for the brochure consisted of concept, design, content writing and illustrations.

Muse suggested development of an illustration and copy for each for the three bodies- Vatsalya, Akshar and Suranjali in order to instantly communicate their objectives directly to the masses.

2. Invitation Cards

The invitation was as Indian and exotic as the event and its target audience consisted of political class, community leaders, literary stalwarts and dignitaries. The Invitation was given the shape of a flower whose each petal carries an important announcement of the event. Along with the Invitation Card, we designed a personalized letter from Shri. Padma Binani inviting the guests to be a part of the event.

3. Event Backdrops

The Vatsalya Award 2008 was given to the eminent Marathi writer Prof. Shri. Anant Bhave at a glittering function organized at Taj President, Mumbai. The function was presided over by Shri Ashok Chavan, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and other eminent guests were Shri. Dilip Walse Patil and Shri. Nana Chudasama. At this event a music album for children titled ‘Nanhi Kiran’ and a book ‘Bharat Darshan’ were released in the scope of Suranjali and Akshar respectively.

4. Event Give Aways for the Dignitaries

The Give Aways in the form of the music album titled ‘Nanhi Kiran’, the book ‘Bharat Darshan’, event brochure and other event merchandising were presented to the guests in the form of an exclusive customized box made for the event.

5.Website & Social Media

The official website of the Foundation and its social media perfectly synched with the Foundation’s branding.

SOUND OF VISUAL

Build your Brand with muse

An Idea is an illusion till it kicks the sales.

We are in the business of making brands grow through ideas. Our grey cells exercise to keep your brand fit and young. A healthy brand has all the reason to feel proud. If health is wealth, your brand remains always prosperous with us. 

Advertising that cannot provoke thought is merely marketing.

The thought-centric agency derives its power from the eccentricities of its inhabitants. Unanimously, the elements of art, aestheticism, imagination, intellect and research feed your brand and fulcrum it towards its goal. 

Your investment in media will become charity if you try to save on creative communication.

Our strategic creative communication helps you buy visibility and sales for print(newspapers, magazines, bulletins…),electronic (radio -television), OOH, social media campaigns. We potentiate your investments by:
Creative Campaign Planning, Designing, Copy

 If you are in the trend, you are out from setting the trend.

We protect your brand from being stereotyped in the market (unless required). We manage your internal and external communications to sync the brand to a uniform tone. Brand identity (logo, corporate stationery) forms an integral part to the above process in addition to Collaterals (brochures, catalog, direct mailer, and posters, pop). 

Unless Brand transfers its energy, it gets depleted.

Your brand gets various channels to transfer its energy through Corporate Videos, Infomercials, Public Service Video, Sales Video, Demo / Presentation Video, Film Promos, Television Commercials, Radio Jingles, Documentary Features.

If you are not seen, you are not sold

How can brand escape audience’s amnesia? How can shelf life of brand be prolonged? What does it take for the brand make a red carpet entry into public’s long term memory?

Advertising, Branding & Marketing Trends for Education Sector

The changing phase of Creative Communications in Public Service Sector

Today, if creative communication in public service sector should continue its power of achieving long term sustainable behavior within the community, it needs to be coherent with the evolving needs of the society. The public service campaigns, in contemporary times, need not be only mass awareness driven but mass infotainment driven. Earlier where our IEC prototypes reflected more colloquial influences, today they are enjoying more universal feel. The reason for change in the pattern and type of communication lies in the changing aspirations, new media and its easy accessibility. Where youth in rural India is connected with his peers across globe with just a shake of social networking app, there is a desire to move from local to global. Though the same implication may not hold true for the older generation in Indian rural, the need for change is penetrating deeper. Earlier the expected mothers in rural areas looked for the information in the collaterals and communications. Today the ‘moms to be’ are looking for the aesthetics of the collaterals and the depiction of their own personality.
They better connect with those artworks which depict ‘them’ more beautifully.  As a part of our primary research in Bihar, we developed two artworks and sent them across the community where our campaign was to go live.  One artwork was developed keeping the strong local influence and the other artwork was given a more universal feel. The target audience found better connectivity to the latter artwork as the latter depicted progressive and beautiful characters. The important thing to remember is that rural India is receptive to only those innovations/changes/products which add modernity to their existing Indianness not the ones that endanger their social structure.