Fun With Print - The Noel D'cunha Sunday Column

We believe all bad printing is created with thought and the best print is a product of chance. While the best print is often ignored, the quirky and the bad remains in memory for almost ever. Some chance errors and some calculated strategies with print have always been in focus for us and the readers. Looking at some work of print, which tickled our funny bone.

29 Mar 2014 | By Noel D'Cunha

        
 
I spotted the Adidas OOH campaign for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament. Haresh Nayak of Posterscope Group India said, “We believe OOH works and helps create brand largeness and impact.” The Adidas ad and book branding at the back of a BEST bus ensures an idea reaches out to key audience.
 
 
        
 
OOH messages that grabbed my attention

 
It’s not about translites, scroller boards, hoardings but the old fashioned hand-painted signage plays a crucial role in one of India’s best known hill stations. The local administration has ensured that it has transcended its utility of being just a media vehicle and is slowly but surely transforming the way in which a simple message is being communicated.
 
Simple proof at Ooty that old-fashioned OOH works best.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

There is a lot of razzle-dazzle that surrounds 3-D technology. This doodle by Mumbai's favourite cartoonist Hemant Morporia said it best.

 

 

 


 

 
                   

Before                                                                  After
This OOH campaign raised many eye-     The Indigo campaign was remedied within hours, but brows. Was it an innovation?                       within seconds these pictures went viral           
Or a goof up?     

   

 
 
 
Our team in Delhi happened to stumble upon this hilarious warning outside a certain gentleman’s house who shall go unnamed.  A classic old-fashioned usage of OOH.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Kerala’s literacy figures are the reason for envy for all the other states in India. PrintWeek India received this photograph from a vendor. It shows why Kerala has a near perfect literacy rate while the national literacy rate is tottering at 74%. This colossal stack of textbooks on the shopfloor of a well-known book print firm in south Kerala goes a long way to explain why – and how – reading is taken so seriously in god’s own country. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Glimpses of packaging display at the duty free counter
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The above picture by my colleague and old friend, the military man Shardul's son, Sachin Shardul is the Mithi River. Unfortunately there is not much of a river. This section of Mumbai’s water-line at Vakola in Santacruz is a paper and plastic detritus. It showcases the horrors of city debris and a serious damage to our environment.How can we prevent it?
 

This picture was in Faridabad; wherein after a long and arduous day, we spotted this sign outside a wine shop. Not sure if they are selling cold brew or young ones of an endangered species.

 

 

 

 

 
On 6 January 2014, The Times of India took us back in time as they sometimes tend to do in order to remind us of important events in the country’s past. A popular dental hygeine brand used it as tool to promote itself, with this advertisement.
 
 
Mihir Joshi, a football fanatic and a observor of American history trudged to the movies to see Lincoln, Steven Speilberg’s homage to the 16th president of the USA.
At that time, Joshi saw an installation of mannequins that were wrapped in newsprint as part of a fashion statment.
 
This fashion pack in paper showcased the best of brands in that upmarket mall in Juhu.

 

 

 

 
 
The revenues from OOH is approaching Rs 2,251 crores. This indicates a growth figure of 10% during 2011. Other than OOH print campaigns which we see at airports and retail outlets and multiplexes; we come across a lot of informal OOH branding.

One of our readers (who wishes not to be named) sent us a special OOH campaign that is visible in Dadar in Mumbai for a Neera shop. The OOH is innovative and most importantly ensures footfalls for the Neera shop.

Our reader informs us that a similar OOH exercise is visible under the street lamps on the Eastern Express Highway; where the mobile number of an electrician is mentioned. Now that’s what we call genuine OOH.
 
 
Mumbai has long been abuzz with street paintings and wall graffiti, by the city’s not so famous street artists. This is a trend in other Indian cities too. For instance, Bengaluru comes to mind. Then there’s the mandatory political sloganeering and family planning or AIDS messages.
But the big deal about Mumbai is that the project has the blessing of the local municipality, which provides an opportunity to desi Dali’s and Da Vinci’s to discover their voice. And so, come Sunday morning, hordes of eager artists (and their parents), will be involved in a bit of culture jamming. Some of the work has  its roots in traditional graffiti, stencils and drawings.