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5 Bang on Diwali Campaigns

Ah! Diwali…the festival of lights, sweets and awesome brand campaigns! That’s right; Diwali hits the motherload when it comes to creative communication. Brand creativity is really pushed to its finest limits – All those hours spent ideating for a creative brand-centric campaign do pay off, as you can see with the five campaigns we’ve chosen from last year.

  1. Canon

Reminding us to shift the focus of our Diwali celebrations from ‘me’ to ‘we’ is this ingenious campaign conceived by Canon.

The festive season is always looked at as a time of happiness and enjoyment, Canon encourages its customers to magnify their Diwali celebrations by focusing more on giving rather than receiving.

Posted across all social media platforms with the hashtags #ShiftYourFocus and #SpreadTheFestivity Canon’s campaign takes us through a number of causes one can give to, to spread the festivity.

  1. Coca Cola

Trust Coca Cola to always deliver a heart-warming connect to their campaigns. Their campaign ‘Iss Diwali, Har Dil Bola Tere Naam Ki Coca-Cola’ aims to connect cultures in this time of festivity, through a heart-warming one-minute video. Coca-cola’s approach to Diwali as being a time for cultural harmony is what gives this message an edge and makes it memorable for many.

  1. Oppo F9 Pro

Oppo integrates their brand message into their campaign with subtlety, reminding us that the best Diwali gifts are the ones that keep us connected. In four and a half minutes, Oppo manages to weave a touching tale about a mother and her adoptive daughter. We loved the positive way in which Oppo has approached the discourse around adoption, giving us a message that families are not made by blood, but by bond and acceptance.

  1. Saregama

Saregama’s #ShorYaSangeet Diwali campaign shows us how a social message coupled with ingeniously understated product promotion makes for a great campaign. This campaign urges people to be considerate of the safety of not just aged people, but also of animals, bringing a humane touch to Saregama’s product.

The ad’s use of an old couple’s home, an Indian dog-breed and old Hindi songs brilliantly brings a little nostalgia and an Indian cultural connect to their brand.

  1. Vodafone

A simple message reminding us to take our Diwali celebrations from the mobile screens to experiencing it ourselves is Vodafone’s #LookUp campaign. This video underlines how technology has gripped us and distanced us from the true warmth and essence of Diwali, but finally ends on a happy, positive note.

Turns out some of the best Diwali brand campaigns are not only ones that are brand centric but also ones that help us attain a new perspective on how we celebrate our Diwali, which is exactly why this campaign makes it to our list of 5 best Diwali Campaigns of last year.

 

– Donna Amo

 

Best Picture Designing Apps
Content, Design & Development, Postcard Media, Social Media1 Comment

Designing On The Go

The combination of a good copy and an appealing picture is the (open) secret to an engaging post! As it isn’t always possible to have access to Photoshop, one sometimes has to rely on mobile photo editing.

There are several good apps on your phone that help you create stunning content without having to open your laptop, and that too free of cost! Being spoilt for choice, however, isn’t always a good thing. There are so many of these apps that it becomes difficult to choose the best and the most versatile one. So here’s something to make your job easier – a checklist of things to consider while choosing a quick editing app, and a list of our top recommendations.

There are a few things you need to keep in mind to decide which app to opt for:

  • Usability – The app should have a user-friendly interface that’s simple to navigate, so that even if you have no experience in editing, you can still master the app and edit images with ease.
  • Features – It should provide basic as well as some unique features so that one can rely on it to create different varieties of content. For e.g., If the app has only a few filters and limited fonts, one might exhaust all its features after using it for a few times and need to move to another app relatively quickly.
  • Sharing – The app must make it easy to share the edited content without a hassle.
  • Upgrade – It must be able to deliver impressive results with the filter trends, font choices and features it offers. An app which regularly renovates its templates, filters and fonts is a good go-to app.
  • Video + Picture editing – 90 percent of the apps do either photo editing or video editing. An app which does both efficiently, is a clear winner. (We are yet to find a good one, suggestions, please!)

Here are the apps that made it to our list of on-the-go editing apps:

1. Canva

It’s amazing how simple Canva makes designing. Its simple drag/drop format surely scores very high on the usability front.

Pros

  1. Its minimal design, incredible fonts and thousands of templates make it a favourite.
  2. It has a website + an app, so one can switch as per convenience.
  3. The drafts that you are working on are saved on your account and you can continue designing them as and when you desire.

Cons

  1. The only con is that the templates are easily available for everyone to use. If you are editing for a brand, you don’t want your posts to look like someone else’s. One needs to customise them to avoid repetition.

2. Snapseed

Snapseed strikes a good balance between amateur and professional photo editing. There’s your typical level adjustments for exposure, contrast, highlights, etc. but there’s also a bunch of filters for quick adjustments.

Pros

  1. It’s intuitive and suggests good edits for your pictures.
  2. It has a minimalist interface which makes editing easy.
  3. It has a great selection of photographic filters.

Cons:

  1. It requires a little bit of photographic expertise for optimum use.

3. Unfold – Create Stories

One simply cannot deny the growing importance of Instagram stories! Unfold helps you create beautiful stories with its minimal design templates on the go. When Instagram fonts and filters get boring and you want to create minimal yet appealing Insta stories, unfold is your go-to app!

Pros

  1. It has easy-to-use, beautiful templates for your stories. There are a number of fonts, layouts, and designs.
  2. The design interface is user-friendly.

Cons:

  1. Sharing from within the app isn’t available. The edited stories have to be saved on your phone and then shared.

4. 9square FOR INSTAGRAM

Firstly, let’s talk about why we need Instagram grids:

  • Grids make your Instagram feed look great.
  • They give you 3X,6X or 9X times the engagement.
  • They are best used for product reveals and introductions.

If you don’t have access to photoshop, 9square works as a good replacement to get a picture cut into a grid.

Pros:

  1. It gives you high-resolution grid images.
  2. It doesn’t stamp its own logo on your pictures.
  3. The interface is simple to navigate.
  4. The sharing option is available within the app.

Cons

  1. The customisation is limited. You must cut the pictures in the pre-defined format which is available on the app.

5. PicsArt Photo & Collage Maker

Pics Art is your all in one creative suite! With its collage maker, drawing tools, picture editor, camera and more, it becomes a convenient on-the-go editing app.

Pros

  1. It offers a variety of editing tools and filters.
  2. It has a bunch of creative user controls.
  3. There is a robust collage feature available.
  4. It has a wide range of picture import options

Cons

  1. Its interface is cluttered with too many ads.

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Please note, none of these apps have the power that something like Gimp, Lightroom, or Photoshop has. So for complex picture editing, you’ll still need Photoshop and a graphic designer! Having said that, these apps make on-the-go picture editing quite easy and quick. So take your pick, and go for it!