VIP Skybags and their attack on black

You must have noticed the new ad campaign for VIP skybags featuring John Abraham to mark its foray into the Backpack segment. I was asked to weigh in on the campaign and the segment.

The new Skybags campaign

I believe that categories like watches, vehicles, clothes and women's bags have all undergone change and have become products that are used to make a statement, and backpacks are no different, as I mentioned in a campaign profile on Afaqs.

You can read the whole article and my other thoughts on the segment here.  

Side Role

How John Abraham survives in Bollywood, with a combination of hard work, canny marketing and average acting skills, and why he has never endorsed underwear.

He traded his dream of playing football at the national level for the safety of an MBA degree. In that, John Abraham perhaps made the best decision of his life. The actor's decade-long career is built on a series of smart marketing moves that have made him into a brand largely unaffected by his stock at the Bollywood box office.

Brand consultant Ramanujan Sridhar says, Abraham's image as an Everyman is his greatest asset. "What he lacks in superstardom, John makes up in endorsements. He comes across as a regular middle class guy who is successful today, which makes him an aspirational figure among young urban Indians," says Sridhar, who believes this image has been carefully worked on for years.

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