MAM
“Guts Vs Vision”: Anything is possible
MUMBAI: Innovation and change is not about vision but about guts, says the creative energies’ steward of the Arnell group.
The personification of that validation is Peter Arnell himself, who swears by the above statement. The obese Arnell weighing a whopping 150 kgs 22 months ago, is today, with his guts and willpower, half the man physically speaking. It was not his vision to be a slimmer man but the guts to dream and implement what he sought out to do, that reaped the dividends.
Trend hunting is something Arnell thrives on. Clarity on content vs. context is crucial when one is talking about spotting the next big idea, he says. Speaking at the Youth Marketing Forum on Thursday, Arnell noted that insights into what is happening, why they happen and what can’t and what can happen are crucial in building the brand momentum. The question of significance here is how does one develop a trend and place it in a market place.
He made an interesting point; pointing out the talking vs. listening syndrome. Most consultants start talking and stop listening to justify their huge costs, and there arises the first fatal problem. A hunter’s mentality is what one should seek for optimum utilization of one’s immediate environment. One needs to train oneself to look at what is ‘not there’ to ensure a trend setting paradigm.
Another factor which brings us closer to this are accidents. Accidents act as a catalyst making room for the gateway of creativity. To get lost and find one’s self and rediscover is an exercise in itself spurting off very out of the box thoughts. Once it is identified as a trend then it needs to be nourished and throughout one’s career, the trend needs to be nurtured and fostered over all obstacles. Every path breaking process will attract criticism galore, and one needs to fathom that criticality is the biggest foe of the endangered species of creativity.
Trends can be accepted and translate into essentially two categories:
” Short term
” Cyclical
The Krispy Kreme doughnuts brand for instance is the best example. With the low carbohydrate diet in vogue and the fight against fat has slaughtered the profitability of the company by nearly 1000 per cent in the last few years. So the key learning here is, “Anything is possible.”
Arnell shared his strategies on how he built the ‘Simply Samsung’ brand out of the fact that there was nothing to build on. He cashed in on the fact that “Sex does sell and everybody likes to see a good body male or female.” And hence one needs to understand the convergence of ‘What if’ and ‘What could’. The first spot was a naked man carrying a microwave progressing to the second with Nicole Kidman hugging her TV in a sensual manner and so on and so forth. Also the tag ‘Simply’ although was born out of desperation managed to work for the brand at the macro level, and hence worked brilliantly with its efficacy working across all the Samsung products.
So, Arnell basically used grassroot strategies for years. They were simply simple and cheap.
Another interesting point is that a product brand and its attributes complemented by a celebrity endorsement making the brand and the celebrity synonymous is combination worth giving a hard look.
Tina Turner did not just endorse Hanes hosiery, she stood for it. She was the epitome of resilience, strength, beauty and longevity which was what the brand was trying to communicate. It was the mother of all revelations as a 56 year old Turner was talking about hosiery using the characteristic ” All you’ve heard about me is true.” Apart from this, Oprah Winfrey was partnered with Turner ensuring the show which makes dreams of women world over come true.
DKNY was another interesting campaign where Arnell incorporated the statue of liberty in the K of the DKNY. Slowly and steadily the campaign became the nation’s pride and after 9/11, DKNY was no more just a brand as it had attained historic importance as the twin towers was a part of the whole picture. So the next key leaning would be, “Everything we are doing should have tremendous ‘talk value’.”
Make a compelling story which makes everyone participate.
Reebok is also a unique case study. With a brand that was perceived as a grandmother brand, Reebok made a U turn with its campaign, becoming once of the coolest hippest brands around. In order to attract the young consumer, Reebok went in for a makeover that was actually frightening. A serious corporate formal brand transformed into being a funky, wild, irreverent one with a little help from Terry Tate, Arnell said.
Bottomline; kids hate preachy brands. They thrive in irreverence.
The above case studies will be possible only if the below is followed:
” First one needs to identity a great agency.
” Second is to give them the freedom and trust them.
Muktesh Pant, the former marketing guru at Reebok and also the man behind the chain of boutique yoga schools across the US and other countries was also present at the YMF. Pant is all set to provide an authentic lifestyle solution that pre dates technology. Product ‘Y’ as it is referred to is looking at revolutionising Yoga . The brand also proposes to have extensions in a variety of related fields.
So cheers for the duo in crime and hopefully “Product Y” as a brand will be as wild and out of the box as the duo itself.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
