Yes, advertising and humor goes well but this does not mean you go away from the logics. In the recent times we have seen quite a few TVC for job sites from Times Group 'peanut ad' and Naukri.com 'hari sadu' which targets job seekers to log on and post resumes.
Both the above concepts though executed differently but has one message 'not happy with your boss/job? try our job site'. Hmmm.. may be it gives the message and if you like such ads you will end-up with a grin. Fair enough.
In the recent news, we have monster.com TVC with another humor based ad (is it so?)
I was just reading the write-up of this from 'the brand reporter' site…
The creative agency behind monster.com ad JWT, Delhi and the creative director 'Arindam Sengupta' says… "The idea behind the TVC was to dramatise how odd people will look if caught in the wrong profession." If other sites merely 'find a job' for you, with an accurate search engine as a starting point, Monster's opportunity lay in 'finding the right job', something which is a powerful motivator for the target audience.
I dont know about you all but i am not convinced with this Ad or for what he is trying to tell the audience. How can anybody be in a wrong profession? a software engineer by default will be a software engineer and not a lawyer or a fisherman, a crickter will be a crickter and not a laundryman unless he is a 'dhobi' to wash clothes when he is not playing cricket… and why will a Bharatanatyam dancer will be controling traffic if she does not have any shows to perform.
Now, someone please make me understand, i am asking you again how can anybody be in a wrong profession? One can be in a wrong place of work and so you ask him to find a better place. The logic should work foremost. And for all the job sites the logic is as simple as to find a better job with the employers and openings listed there.
Read the full article here: http://www.thebrandreporter.com/perl/tbr/afaqs_link.html
Hitesh Mehta | communication designer 
for all that seem to be an authority (no offense) i suggest you’ll watch that ad time and again until u realise
1. what a simple and comprehensive way it is of communicating
2. lots of people are stuck in the wrong jobs!
a cricketer, born in a poor family, might end up going his fathers way unless guided properly (uh, by the way, this is where Monster comes in). obviously the only way we (the viewers i.e) know he’s a cricketer is because of the outfit, which is meant to be symbolic of what he desires or rather wants to be.
you don’t really need me to walk you through the whole ad, do you??
Comment by nsk4819 — June 17, 2006 @ 12:28 am
Very interesting perspective Hitesh.
I do accept to a few of there and and a few of here… Well, ads anyways are based on people and thier perspectives, which varies like crazy.
NSK: I like the way you trace the ad to its initial perception. But there are a few things I might want to ask you, lets say just to get myself clarified 🙂
1. And ad’s life is about 30 seconds… the challenge doesn’t lie in catching an interested person as yourself to think and talk about it later. Its about getting an un-interested person to have an effect on the product and make me want to try it out. Like the AXE for instance… it bloats so much… that you’d wanna try it. But that is one such approach. Isn’t it?
2. And second, why always negative? Why say demote saying what you are doing is trash, what ever job you do is what you have opted. And ethically it aint nice to say what you are doing is “XXXX”. Get a better job. That way, negativity on your surroundings is better. Aint it??
3. Besides, isn’t kind of demeaning other jobs like being a dhobi, traffic cop, fisherman or whatever chosen. Don’t you think???
~fEelix (When your eyes close, your mind sees)
PS: Looking forward from hearing your comments.
Comment by ~fEelix — June 17, 2006 @ 1:44 am
I tend to disagree with your view. I agree to the fact that there are times when you can be caught in wrong profession. It’s not necessary that if a person has cleared his MBBS means he would become a qualified doctor. I personally know of instances and cases where people have switched from their profession to a different one coz somewhere down the line they realised they were not cut out for that profession. I will cite an example. In 1997 when I had joined Contract, Delhi as a Copywriter trainee, I came across a copy guy – Raghu, who used to work on NIIT account. I found out that he was a qualified Mechnical Engineer! He had passed out from IIT-K and joined Reliance Industries. But after 1 week of stint there in reliance, he quit the job coz he realised he is not made for it. At that time, Contract was running a management trainee program called Windows. He joined that and during the program realised he is cut for copy and ended up as a copywriter. Last heard he was working as an ACD with O&M.
Few months back when I was getting interviewed by US consulate staff for my B1 visa, the firang officer was quite amused or rather perplexed by my ‘qualifications’. He said “you have been working in IT for over 6 years and yet you don’t have any computers degree or anything that is remotely connected to alphabet C in your qualifications! I replied, well it’s my skill sets and fascination for my ‘alternative’ profession/work that has sustained and helped me grow in my field (I started my career in advertising but now work as an usability analyst). Well, the officer was impressed and gave me the visa 🙂 but the point I was making was just because you are working in a chosen profession doesn’t mean that profession is ‘always’ ideal for you.
Now taking the ad. if you see the ad. shows 2 facets of a person’s personality. A case where the lady is doing bharatnatyam while parking an aircraft or a chef in a salon. While 1 facet shows the area where he or she is working – his chosen profession but the other facet shows his or her love for the ‘other profession/skill sets that he/she possess’ and perhaps wanted to join but couldn’t coz of reasons best known to him/her (peer/family pressures?) So when the ad says “Stuck in a wrong profession”? I think it stands out from other job portal ad of naukri coz the ad says it will help them find job in the profession of their ‘choice’ and not just any job. And I think you will also agree – nothing matters more than job satisfaction.
Comment by Lokesh Sapre — June 17, 2006 @ 11:58 am
well… my 3 points:
1. look at the mass, a lot of people are not in the job/profession change, this ad is not for the few who are, somehow into different professions (by mistake? by chance? or just for a change?)
2. One does not have to see an ad again and again till he gets the right message and understand what actually was the idea, the ad should strike the audience the first time and with the right attitude and message.
3. Being creative is fine, making a funny, striking & colorful ad is fine too… visually superb, yes. But then again… think practically keeping away the smart looking ad away..
Comment by Rajesh — June 17, 2006 @ 12:45 pm
The ad is fabulous! Many people get a qualification in one stream but then down the line find their interest waning or interest growing in another field altogether.
I’ve known architects who’ve taken up advertising, mathematicians who’ve taken up classical dance, IT professionals who become chefs.
The ad has portrayed the difference between the ‘present job’ and the ‘potential/ dream job’. And very creatively so.
Being a design person myself who has taken to dance, although as a hobby for now, i can well relate to the concept behind the ad.
What’s more the professions shown as the ‘right job’ are refreshingly deviant from the beaten path: chef, dancer, cricketer. Can remind people of their long forgotten dreams.
I think it’s a great ad on many levels!
Comment by Meera — June 17, 2006 @ 6:21 pm
hi hitesh
it is confusing.
i agree.
it could have been
“Caught by the wrong Company”
rather than “Caught on the wrong job”.
we cannot get a wrong job unless (a trap!!- job rackets!!) we agreed to do it.
so it becomes right.
anyway i would like to see the ad as i am not residing in India now.
regards
umd
Comment by umenondamodaran — June 18, 2006 @ 3:54 pm
Actually, its quite easy to get caught up in the wrong profession. Unless you’ve had a chance to test out some options and figure out what you are really cut out for, it is hard to say what you are best at, as well. Not everyone who graduates as an engineer works as an engineer. I have lately realized that a lot of them work in Call centers, where an engineer’s position is quite esteemed in the west – also mostly cause its very tough to get into universities and pass the exams. At the end of the day, its about options. If something provides you with the “options” of different jobs available, then you have a chance to try to it, and if it fits… well, then its your glove 🙂
Comment by Vijay — June 26, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
yes hitesh..i personally liked this ad…not only because i m intern in this agency..i didnot know about it too…i agree that its ot very new concept but ad brand value or objective don’t u think that it communicated very well…there are so many ppl who are not satisfied with their job an some of them are not even knowing that is there talent…the reason for TVC shown with wearing cricket or dancer outfil its just to show that this person is actually good in this areas but caught up in wrong job but monster.com gives them job which is of their interest and talent…what u say buddy?
Comment by Sneha — June 26, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
Well, I’ll sit on the fence on this one.
Hitesh, while I agree that it isn’t possible for people to be in the ‘wrong job’, it is possible that people might be in a job that they aren’t best suited for. The TVC just exaggertated that premiss: a software engineer might make a better insurance salesman, for all you know. The exaggeration just made it humourous and increased recall.
Comment by The Unrest Cure — July 3, 2006 @ 10:07 pm
Forget this intellectual debate. I saw an article which claimed that Monster traffic jumped 3 times after the launch of this ad leaving other sites behind. How often an ad campaign produces such results?
Comment by S Karat — August 24, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
Retro clothing is the bomb! My favorite place to find it is Goodwill or any thrift store. Ebay is also a great place to find what you are looking for.
Comment by retro clothing — January 4, 2008 @ 9:31 pm