zahir.in » Brands

Tagline Trauma !!!

vishaal.s.shah — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:13:55 +0000

Supposedly an Open Letter to James Thatcher, Brand Manager, Proctor and Gamble

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years, and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core™ or Dri-Weave™ absorbency, I’d probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I’d certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can’t tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there’s a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from “the curse”? I’m guessing you haven’t. Well, my “time of the month” is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I’ll be transformed into what my husband likes to call “an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.” Isn’t the human body amazing?

As brand manager in the feminine-hygiene division, you’ve no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers’ monthly visits from Aunt Flo. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it’s a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend’s testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey’s Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in capri pants. Which brings me to the reason for my letter.

Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: “Have a Happy Period.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness—actual smiling, laughing happiness—is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you’re some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything “happy” about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlúa and lock yourself in your house just so you don’t march down to the local Walgreens armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out, man. If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn’t it make more sense to say something that’s actually pertinent, like “Put Down the Hammer” or “Vehicular Manslaughter Is Wrong”? Or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your accounting department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flexi-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that’s a promise I will keep. Always.

Best,

xxxx xxxx
Austin, TX

Protected: What is Banyan Tree?

Malay Shah — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:30:02 +0000

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

360 degree Solutions for Enaltec Labs

Vishaal S Shah — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:30:31 +0000

How do you make a world class API suppliers look passionate about what they do and yet appear non-pharma like?How do you capture their spirit of creation without sounding clichéd?

How do you provide a 360 degree solution that reflects their core values?

Enaltec Labs is a company driven by a group of young, raring-to-go professionals with a passion for innovation. The challenge for PHI was to not just conceptualize and evolve a strong brand identity for Enaltec Labs in terms of design and outlook but also to carry the flavor across its various mediums of communication – right from house styling to corporate brochure to website.

The genesis of the new brand identity for Enaltec Labs started with its new logo design. Inspired from the concept of five elements that create life, we designed this logo keeping in mind the company’s values, ethos and its great work. A five-spiked star with each spike representing one of the elements of nature and as a whole signifying ‘creation’. Fashioned in five bright colors, this logo emerges like a bright colored star with a promising fire within.

The website carries forward this concept with menu function categorized thematically on nature’s 5 elements. A subtle play of flash animation coupled with brilliant design treatment takes the website to a new aesthetic level.

The brochure recreates the magic of this concept, displaying all the five elements together on its cover page, with each inner page taking further on one of the element. The house styling does complete justice to adaptation of this new identity. From visiting cards to letter heads and envelopes, each is as fresh as the energy behind Enaltec Labs. Successfully adapting a common theme across different platforms is what truly makes this a milestone project for us.

For website visit www.enalteclabs.com and to see brochure work click on the following.

Market Watch

Vishaal S Shah — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:27:05 +0000

Ghalla Bhansali specializes in financial trading and management. One of the leading wealth creators, they offer an array of services like stock trading, portfolio management, insurance, mutual funds etc.

More…Being an information heavy website, the challenge was to create an interface that was easy on the eyes, made mining information effortless and at the same time was simple to steer. Besides, the website also had to interact with dynamic data from external 3rd party sources.

The enormous data that goes into the making of a financial portal is made remarkably lucid by means of orderly presentation. A robust CMS for the internal news and happenings makes content management as easy as sending an email.

The design and layout has been kept extremely immaculate and minimalist with just the right use of colors. The end result is an extremely user-friendly website with an easy navigation system and constantly updated market data.

Check yourself – http://www.ghallabhansali.com

Ranch Events – Celebrating Life!

Vishaal S Shah — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:26:08 +0000

Ranch Events is among California’s largest event management companies providing total solutions.

Apart from designing a website, the challenge was to consolidate the various services (from hosting an event to rentals and catering) provided by them into a single brand identity as Ranch Events.

The creative strategy involved positioning Ranch Events as more than just an Event Management Company. Ranch Events, through its service, brings smiles to people’s faces and creates memories out of every occasion. The website makes an effort to portray Ranch Events as a company that covers and renders a host of services under one roof and makes every effort to add its magical touch to each and every event.

The services base of Ranch is very wide. Hence, the information that goes into the website is also vast. The challenge was to organize the information based on the user’s requirements. Navigation is made easy by asking questions based on requirements like what, when, where and how.

Right from the home page to the detailing done on the inner pages, everything stands up to the essence and ethos associated with Ranch Events. The inner pages provide comprehensive information and yet remain clutter free. The visual imagery is optically pleasant and adds to the beauty of the website.

Check it out at http://www.ranchevents.com

Being Carbon Clever

Vishaal S Shah — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:36:08 +0000

Since January 2007, The Carbon Clever Promotions company has helped big and happening brands buy promotional merchandise according to carbon footprint, and environmental and ethical credentials – rather than simply on price.

They measure and offset the CO2 on products and tell the clients if / how a product has exploited workers or the environment. This means that the clients can go for environmentally and ethically right stuff and will know that once their brand appears on that item, it won’t have contributed to world problems. Above all, living up to their corporate social responsibility.

Now that’s about the company. I am sure the concept must have fascinated you. But, the catch here is that the client wanted the website to go live in ONE day. Yes, you read it right. One working day. Desired website look and feel: Simple. To the point. And intriguing. Whoever said it was tough to be simple…knew just right!

In order to make the most in minimum time, our approach consisted of three major stages:

1. Forming the creative skeleton for the website (visuals, copy and animation).

2. This stage consisted of optimization. Making the best creative choices inspite of the time constraints.

3: Execution of ideas and production in motion. And Voila! www.carbonclever.co.uk was up, live and happening.

My Tryst with Peace!

Vishaal S Shah — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:01:06 +0000

Tucked away in a corner in Thane near the Upvan hills is Ma Niketan – a shelter of 350+ destitute girls who have either been abandoned on the streets or have been brought to the shelter by relatives or single terminally ill parents who could no longer afford the upbringing of the child.

Of all the holy places I have visited, and trust me, the believer in me has been at many places, right from Hindu temples to Muslim mosques to churches to Buddhist pagodas to Jain Upashrayas, the peace and calmness I experience @ Ma Niketan is equal to the one I experience @ these holy places.

The first visit of Ma Niketan is always a reality check for people. At least it was for me – in a strange way. After meeting the girls, right from age 4 to 22, and hearing their stories, I suddenly felt privileged beyond words.

After facing so much at such a young age, these girls have probably weathered it all – and still have emerged out stronger and smiling out of this ritual. No doubt, the credit of all this goes to a very large extent to the sister’s @ Ma Niketan but the spirit of endurance and survival these girls display is extra ordinary.

The sisters, lead by Sister Barbara, have their task cut out. They want to create strong individuals out of each and every girl that comes to Ma Niketan, so that when they leave the shelter, they are ready to take on the challenges that life has a habit of throwing up.

Maybe that is the reason; Ma Niketan does not have a school of its own. The girls are sent to schools in the locality and the default learning medium is English unless they have an academic background in Marathi (the regional language). This makes the girl interact with the outside world in a controlled environment and to a large extent prepares them for it.

Also, the extra curricular activities undertaken at Ma Niketan, right from computer classes to yoga, kathak (traditional Indian dance form) to Tai chi, personality development to science awareness classes, Time Management to Behavior Patterns – these girls are prepared in every way. All these are voluntary activities, done by individuals and organizations who strive for the development of the girl child.

The accommodation and food is adequate. After all, feeding, housing and educating 350+ girls are no mean task. Ma Niketan runs on donations made by individuals and corporates alike. If you go there and sit in the reception on some evening, you might see locals from neighboring low-cost housing colonies coming in and offering fruits and old toys to someone stepping out from a luxury car and writing down a cheque and meeting the kids.

There have been many success stories out of Ma Niketan. Right from air hostesses to nurses to teachers to secretaries to fashion designers to hotel management graduates – these girls have graduated out to the world and are leading a life of their own. The shelter finds the right grooms and many are married into families.

I still remember at one of the lunches @ Ma Niketan, I came across a lady who had grown up @ Ma Niketan. She was accompanied by her husband and the happiness on her face said it all!

The fact remains, that Ma Niketan is an institution in itself. Girl child is most vulnerable on streets and here’s a bunch of saintly ladies bringing them under their roof and making independent individuals out of them – giving them a chance at life !!!

My friend Sunil and myself had personally started our tryst with Ma Niketan some 18 months back by teaching computers to girls. However, the time investment that we used to do @ Ma Niketan took a back seat due to the usual excuses of work pressures, domestic and international trips and other social pressures.

Despite everything, Ma Niketan had always been in our thoughts and the well being of the girl child is always @ our hearts. We have adopted Ma Niketan as our personal and organizational cause and shall strive for better visibility of Ma Niketan and bring it to corporates and individuals who would like to support the cause of girl child.

For further information please visit the Ma Niketan website at http://www.ma-niketan.com or call on + 91 22 2534 17 73 or + 91 22 2536 69 49 and ask for Sister Barbara.

If you have any ideas of how you would like to team up with us please email me @ vishaal.shah@phicreativity.com

Brochure Designing for an Upcoming Pharma Company

Vishaal S Shah — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:41:15 +0000

Medilux Laboratories is a manufacturer of world-class bulk drugs intermediates and fine chemicals, catering mainly to the global pharmaceutical market. The company has over the years created a niche for itself in the international as well as the domestic market.

Medilux as part of their expansion plan were launching a new API plant. They wanted a brochure highlighting the plant and explaining the various Unique Selling Points of the new facility. Having worked with Medilux before, we knew what needed to be done. However the challenge was creating something in 5 days!!!

An 8-page brochure in 5 days, right from design to conceptualization to layout, for a niche international clientele!!! Phew!!!

Did we manage it? Of course -!!!

But was it any good?!?!? Hmm…well both the Medilux team and us surely feel.
so….why don’t you decide for yourself.

Bridgestone Corporate Brochure – Our way to excellence

Vishaal S Shah — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:09:50 +0000

The World’s no. 1 tyre and rubber manufacturing company, Bridgestone wanted a corporate brochure that portray Bridgestone’s rich history, its way of working, offering and philosophy.

So right from visualizing the brochure to research to copy writing to photo shoot carried over 3 days at their manufacturing plant to our project coordinator and photographer getting sunburned to the final product in hand – we enjoyed it all the way !

To Bridgestone’s passion for excellence, we add our essence of creativity. Striking a balance between aesthetics and information, the final outcome came about as a 22-paged, A4 sized corporate brochure that tells the Bridgestone story.

To have a look at the brochure, kindly email us a request for the PDF version of the brochure or fix an appointment.

ForbesLux – Online Web Identity for an International Group

Vishaal S Shah — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:08:29 +0000

What happens when Asia’s largest direct sales company and Switzerland’s 100 year old company come together – You have Forbes Lux Group.

Forbes Lux Group is all about building healthy relationships. With water purifiers, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, steam cleaners and more, Forbes Lux Group offers innovations for a healthier, happier life at home to people across the world.

Simple, elegant and universal in appeal, the website is a total brand building exercise for Forbes Lux.

Click here to view the website.