Hope you got the point. I don’t really know why people believe everything they hear about Facebook and start copy pasting the message.

Rest is all just inspirational talk!

Happiness is a word that you learn for your dictation at school. It’s something close to a piece of cake and a beautiful peroxide blonde girlfriend, they say. But you can be peaceful without these. Being peace at heart is the key. We all are doing great. I mean, we all are doing really great without all these. Smile, live and die. All other junks are just inspirational talk.

Mr. Creative Director, will you marry me? Asks a Dubai Copywriter!

“Tell me Denis, why female copywriters often marry creative directors”?  Well, that is a question. And coming from a T shirt wearing fresh graphic artist, this question has some value. Freshers time and again point out things (read truths!) we normally miss. This CW marrying CDs is not a hidden/new thing though. The phenomenon is old as the industry itself.

May be it is something like doctors marrying doctors and lawyers marrying lawyers. (Or is it true for every profession? Do rig welders marry rig welders? I am not sure…lol). These women content/copywriters with square glasses, pony tails, lose fitting white shirts and denim jeans see something special in our CDs. Is it the dedication our CDs show to their work makes them attractive?  May be it is their creativity that is acting as a big magnet. (But magnets attract and get stuck with many nails, but that is another BIG story!).

When you accidentally bump into your ex-creative director after a very long time, you will be happy to know that he is now running his own advertising agency. He will ask about you and your career and even invite you for a beer. But only when you drop him at his house, you will come to realize that he is married to that copywriter intern you worked and fought with. While driving you start to wonder about a creative soul’s ability to keep secrets. 

Coming back home you just ring the bell and wait patiently for your sweetheart to open the door. As a square glass wearing woman in white kurtas and pony tail welcomes you in, you will wink and smile at the world.

It’s a strange world my masters!

Watermelon Advertising, will that be ever true for advertising agencies in Dubai?

First it was a surprise. Then as I settled down I understood it as a phenomenon, a cultural specialty. I had to finally accept the fact that advertising in GCC is more about visual presentation than copy. Splash a big picture of a gorgeous woman with blue mascara with a big logo and a clichéd tagline, you are almost there. Brand positioning is never heard of. For real estate ads it is just lifestyle imagery; pictures of SMILING people-family running on a meadow with father wearing a striped blue T shirt while a smiling mother sits on a mat making lunch ready with a 4×4 parked in the backdrop. Almost all ads look like pseudo slaphappy posters.

Every ad looks inviting from the outside. Like cherries, they tantalize you and you can guess what you are going to get. Intellectual teasing or smart twists hardly exist. Ads like watermelons are nowhere to be seen, where they invite you subtly with their pale green color, hiding red treats under their skins and you dig into their flesh to get entertained. And the sweet taste stays.

Now I realize I am not alone in this. Many have told me the same. But clients are worried that if they take a different route they might lose their money. Why take a risk when there is always a minimum response guaranteed in the cliché?

Every teenage beauty queen knows. She loves it. She reads it in their eyes and revels in the aura of admiration as she passes thru the college corridor. Time slowly passes by and in the blink of an eye she becomes a mother of two. A kind hearted, understanding partner becomes her hero, her greatest asset. She loves it. Every housewife knows.

The moment right after you finish reading this, you are persuaded silently to make choices; to either like this, comment this or leave it like you haven’t ever read this. Like that, we can leave each others alone, right? Isn’t it a little too ironic?  We are in FB to connect, but are silently watching each others like we don’t exist. Oh! As you are leaving now with a small smile after reading this, let me wave at you! Take care.

Keep on running!

Happiness is a personal thing!

One good thing about making money is that you can convert it into things that you desire. It will help you surprise your spouse with a GUCCI and butter your ego with a Lamborghini. Money cannot bring happiness, I know. But neither can poverty, so it’s better to have money. This is the real truth. Existence precedes essence. Sartre can wait. Don’t let them tell you that happiness can’t be found. Sell your soul today!