Oh no no don't worry, he didn't switch to Starbuck also! In fact I wanted to talk about that as well, but let's keep that aside for a moment.
First about Starbucks. I love it! I love it soooo very much. Simply put, I'm a die hard fan. Well OK I wouldn't die if Starbucks goes bankrupt, not that they will ever. But you just get the drift right. When I first came here, I wasn't much of a coffee fan, but I did enjoy the odd coffee. But since I came here tried a lot of coffee, well basically because there are a lot of coffee everywhere I go. And Starbucks is like the undisputed king of them all. It has this amazing flavor to it - well it has many - that makes you feel like addicted to it. There's nothing like enjoying a Starbucks in a cold evening, preferably with a book too.
So this evening I went to see a friend and was on my way back home. There is a Starbucks nearby, so naturally I had to go there. Now, there are a couple of flavors I enjoy a lot, that I buy a lot. But today I felt like trying something else just for the sake of it. So I looked at the menu card and decided on one, just by looking at. Why I said by looking at, because all the menus are in Japanese, and it takes me approximately one and a half hours to read a menu card. Instead I went for the other option and ordered one by looking at it trusting my intuition. Paid the bill and went to collect the coffee.
And the goddamn coffee turned out to be an ICE COFFEE!!!
Laughing at my intuition, I drank the goddamn thing outside the shop - all the seats inside were taken - in a weather with the temperature close to zero degrees.
Now about Sanga.
I'm sick of people bitching about him turning to AirTel. Or rather, about him advertising AirTel. I mean what the fuck? For fucks sake he's just making some bucks. It's not like he's going door to door and asking people to switch to AirTel is it? In the past few days I got like hundred emails bitching about him switching to it from Hutch. There's no rule saying he can just represent only one company for his whole life. He's making some money while he can and there's nothing wrong with that. How many others, in fact, have represented more than one brand? Why all the fuss now?
I know there are a lot of people in the Sri Lankan blogsphere that related to advertising field.
What do you guys think?
First about Starbucks. I love it! I love it soooo very much. Simply put, I'm a die hard fan. Well OK I wouldn't die if Starbucks goes bankrupt, not that they will ever. But you just get the drift right. When I first came here, I wasn't much of a coffee fan, but I did enjoy the odd coffee. But since I came here tried a lot of coffee, well basically because there are a lot of coffee everywhere I go. And Starbucks is like the undisputed king of them all. It has this amazing flavor to it - well it has many - that makes you feel like addicted to it. There's nothing like enjoying a Starbucks in a cold evening, preferably with a book too.
So this evening I went to see a friend and was on my way back home. There is a Starbucks nearby, so naturally I had to go there. Now, there are a couple of flavors I enjoy a lot, that I buy a lot. But today I felt like trying something else just for the sake of it. So I looked at the menu card and decided on one, just by looking at. Why I said by looking at, because all the menus are in Japanese, and it takes me approximately one and a half hours to read a menu card. Instead I went for the other option and ordered one by looking at it trusting my intuition. Paid the bill and went to collect the coffee.
And the goddamn coffee turned out to be an ICE COFFEE!!!
Laughing at my intuition, I drank the goddamn thing outside the shop - all the seats inside were taken - in a weather with the temperature close to zero degrees.
Now about Sanga.
I'm sick of people bitching about him turning to AirTel. Or rather, about him advertising AirTel. I mean what the fuck? For fucks sake he's just making some bucks. It's not like he's going door to door and asking people to switch to AirTel is it? In the past few days I got like hundred emails bitching about him switching to it from Hutch. There's no rule saying he can just represent only one company for his whole life. He's making some money while he can and there's nothing wrong with that. How many others, in fact, have represented more than one brand? Why all the fuss now?
I know there are a lot of people in the Sri Lankan blogsphere that related to advertising field.
What do you guys think?
Posts
LOL was it ice coffee a la Chariot or Sponge, or was it just cold black coffee (that's what they gave me when I asked for ice coffee in S'pore. Grrrr.)?
ReplyDeleteRe Sanga...well as long as his contract with Hutch didn't prevent him from advertising for a competitor, then he's not doing anything wrong. However I think what has annoyed a lot of people is the wording of the ad - apparently he says that he switched to Airtel - which can be taken to be a negative reference to Hutch. It's fine to promote both brands as long as you don't favour one over the other.
HI Al,
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't see any problem with Sanga and his behavior in this case. Sanga had a contract with Hutch till August 2008 and it was expired, where Hutch didn't wanted to re-new the contract. Subsequently Sanga became the Brand Ambassador of Airtel. [ It was after 5 months of Hutch contract expiry ]
If people are sick of the wording of the advertising!, well, it's not Sanga's fault, it's the wrong doing of the person who did the script and the wrong doing Airtel who started the advertising in an non-ethical manner.
That's what I believe...
yup - so true - he's just saying what was in the script - which was obviously written to cause some kind of commotion.
ReplyDeleteI like him, and i think the Airtel ads are pretty cool. All the bashing prolly got started by another competitor *ahem ahem*, cz everyone at Hutch knows his contract is over, so it couldn't be them.
Kudos to Sanga.
Heh he - Iced Coffee in chill-ass weather - reminded me of a French meal I ordered once, sounded amazing but its a piece of carrot, couple of some peas and an asparagus: art on a plate!
ReplyDeleteI just wrote about Sanga, cos everyone I meet seem to blame him. I blame the ad agency for not signing an air-tight contract that avoids these mishaps.
http://wijitha.blogspot.com/2009/02/sangas-sixer-to-hutch.html
thing is, it isn't exactly ethical to switch from one brand to another in the same field... and well, when the Hutch contract was over, I'm sure Airtel offered a better deal... but perhaps he should've gone easier without sayin "I switched to Airtel"
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Airtel ads are very nice.. and well, Sanga isn't going to be a great Brand Ambassador later I think.. dunno... it's subjective.
Other than that, life goes on..:) but people haven't quit talking about it.. and there are so many emails going around which are quite funny too..:) like there's one which says "I switched from Viva to Nestomalt" lol
I think people just need to chill. Sanga is one of the most gifted batsmen this country has ever had and he's doing a great job out there representing our country, and, in my book, what's unethical is to sling mud at a person like that.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I think the people responsible for the ad should have spared a thought for the other company. As far as I know, it IS considered unethical to openly "diss" a competitor.