Advertisements seem to be getting crazier by the day in India. Now that Google has jumped into the fray with ads for Chrome, I wonder how many retards actually typed ‘fast.www’ into their browser today.
Google Chrome’s outdoor ads in the UK though (the picture above was taken at Guildford railway station) on the other hand are…cute. 🙂 In comparison, the Chrome India ad is lame, as if DAVP had conceptualized the ad.
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“This is a news website article about a scientific paper
In the standfirst I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an important scientific finding?
In this paragraph I will state the main claim that the research makes, making appropriate use of “scare quotes” to ensure that it’s clear that I have no opinion about this research whatsoever.
In this paragraph I will briefly (because no paragraph should be more than one line) state which existing scientific ideas this new research “challenges”…”
14 replies on “wtf.www?”
Okay, not that bad. I’ve heard that it’s something about focussing on the middle-aged/? whatever people who’ve just started using the internet regularly and still use their default settings.
The UK ad’s a Mastercard rip-off. Priceless.
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:42:
SMILEYS ARE AWESOME MAKE THEM WORK ON YOUR BLOG TOO!!!!!11!!1!!!
Ah, holidays.
Smileys have no place in this new design based on Taoist principles.
Hmm, now that you mention it, it is indeed along the lines of Mastercard ads. Still, I connected strongly to the Google Chrome ad because I don’t know cooking and the story somehow stood out. For an ad selling a technological product (a browser), it’s quite unique too! It doesn’t harp on technical features, and instead gives an example of how something as simple as a browser touches our lives daily.
It’s their money to spend, but I don’t think Google India’s Chrome ad will make the impact it wants too. People in market segments who don’t know what a ‘browser’ is will not bother clicking anything other than ‘the blue e’, and those who know what a browser is probably already know about Chrome. This ad however is one that I don’t think that will convince the latter group to switch. To the former group, this ad doesn’t explain much, so why would they bother to switch? A more intelligent ad might have been more effective in hooking those who are willing to take ‘risks’ with their computers.
As I see it, Google India’s ad is loud and obnoxious. “Look! We have so much money that we can afford to take out crappy full-page ads!” If the ad was minimalistic and classy, then I wouldn’t mind that the ad was full page. This ad tries to reach out to the lowest common denominator and in the process turns everyone off.
Of course, it could’ve much been better. All I’m saying is, not the worst.
I mean, you gotta agree, after nothing came up on fast.www, they must have googled chrome. Even people who don’t know what a browser is do know what google is. Or they might just type in the link given, the one on the side, in fine print.
UK ad’s ok. I’m just in awe, or something, of them actually taking an ad out in India. Will it work though, do you think? Maybe it will, despite the crappiness. Any publicity’s good publicity, and all that.
You’re always too harsh on not good stuff. Look on the bright side! Although there doesn’t really seem to be one in this case. The ad, itself, is pretty bad. The second huge, shiny logo just killed it.
I don’t think it will work, simply because the market they’re trying to reach by dumbing down the ad doesn’t know or care what a browser is. I know people who type google.com, then type in ‘facebook’ and then click on the resulting link. Do you know what’s the result for typing in ‘fast.www’ on google.com / google.co.in? The results have nothing to do with Google Chrome. And these aren’t exceptions – many people I know do this.
Google has carpet-bombed it’s homepage, Gmail, YouTube and every other property it has with ads and links for Chrome already. Those who wanted to switch, have. From what I understand, their intention in this ad was to reach out to people who might not have come across the links on these service and/or not given much thought to it. ‘fast.www’ is so utterly lame – and as you can see after Googling the term – totally useless.
On the point of me being too harsh, well, extremes is what people talk about don’t they? You write about something when you really like it, or find something unique – or if you really dislike something. This is one of those occasions. “I ate a egg mayo sandwich today. It’s like every egg mayo sandwich I’ve ever eaten till now.” is not a story one can talk about. “I ate durian today…it tastes disgusting/delicious!” on the other hand is something worth writing about, and maybe worth reading for others.
Hoo boy. This conversation is turning interesting. 🙂
(PS – No, I didn’t eat durian today.)
Haha, I was TOTALLY gonna ask if you’d had it. Have you come across it, though? Is the smell really THAT bad?
I still don’t completely agree with what you’re saying, but let’s agree to disagree 🙂
PS: I know NTU is huge, but have you met Sidhant Jain? He’s doing comp science, or something like that, and he’ll be in my year. Cousin.
Haven’t had the courage to try durian yet after…all the delightful stories I’ve heard from people who have tried it, and all the ‘No durians allowed’ on the metro trains here. It’s a popular food though, there’s a chain called Durian Mpire that sells nothing but durians, durian pancakes, durian icecreams and whatnot. I’ll try to pluck up some courage to try it one of these days!
I haven’t met Sidhant Jain so far…or have I? Is he this guy? The picture’s unclear, but I did meet a guy called Sidhant yesterday on an Amazing Race type competition and he seems somewhat similar.
Yup, that’s him. Annoy him with your 42ism and freaky uncontrollable laughter!
You hold a grudge against him, don’t you? I cannot fathom any other reason why anyone actively want to introduce me to someone.
Everyone that I’ve spoken to from DPS VK tells me that they “have a cousin in NTU”. I wonder how that situation came about.
Choice comment from the linked article
facepalm
(and oh, nice new theme – don’t blast me if I’m the last to notice it – read everything almost exclusively on Google Reader)
Haha, I reckon I’m the last person to notice theme changes too since I always read from Google Reader. Choice comment on Labnol! 🙂