Posted on July 27, 2011 by sanjay

At first, you trusted them with your emails. Then it was time for your important documents to be handed over. Soon enough, your entire music and movie collection that switched places. And now your entire personal computer?

No this is not a rant about hackers or viruses, considering they happen on a regular basis and hence demand relatively lesser attention and brooding.

This blog post is about the now trending topic of cloud based operating systems. This is  a concept that arose after the observation that most of the personal computer users aren’t really using their machines to ..well..compute. Its mostly a ritual of checking the occasional email, typing a word document,saving a spreadsheet, watching a video and updating status messages on social networks.

With a cloud based operating system, all the user needs or will ever need is a web browser and a broadband connection with a speed count that doesn’t embarrass a snail. The browser acts as a gateway between you and your basic computational demands.

This solves a lot of headaches:

  • You can take that money you’ve been saving up to buy the latest version of your existing OS and buy yourself that new dress you’ve always drooled over at the neighborhood mall.Why? Because cloud OSes are free. You can virtually grab a copy online and in a matter of minutes if all goes well, you would be staring at the newest and the fastest and lightest way of computing.
  • Should i upgrade my hard disk? Is my current memory sufficient? No and Yes! Since everything runs off the OS provider’s superfast computers and your data is stored on their servers, a bare-minimum no frills laptop is more than sufficient to reproduce data in their full glory.
  • With cloud OSes like Google’s Chrome OS updating their builds every passing day, you would soon be able to virtually do anything via. the cloud.
  • Hard drive crash? Laptop exploded? Not to worry! You’re data is always safe on the provider’s superfast supersafe servers. You will only have to reinstall the OS and log in with your credentials and voila! you’re back in the game.

So far, its been a visual monopoly of cloud OSes by Google with its Chrome OS which has received quite a warm response especially with the launch of unbelievably cheap laptops called – Chromebooks.

Did you think after seeing all this the makers of the world’s most used browser application would remain silent? No way!

Mozilla has announced a cloud based operating system for mobiles. What’s interesting here, is that it plans to use a slice of rival Google’s popular Android framework as the foundation. Tentatively titled Boot2Gecko (B2G), the OS will be made accessible to all phones irrespective of their native OS including iPhones and Windows mobiles.

Given the exorbitant amounts charged for mobile broadband and 3G access, it will be interesting to see how B2G leverages mobile broadband scarcity over operating efficiency.

Posted on June 22, 2011 by sanjay

Internet address names will now be able to end with almost any word in any language, thanks to the ICANN’s decision to include new domain name endings to the World Wide Web.

Following many years of discussion, debate and deliberation, a plan to increase the number of Internet domain name endings — called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) — which includes familiar domains as .com, .org and .net. has been approved

This opens up limitless possibilities for brands and advertising minds alike. Off the top of our heads, we could already imagine the kind of creative explosion that would take place such as

  • brands cleverly incorporating their tagline into their website domain ending;
  • personalities naming their online portals based on their nature of work,
  • Region-specific websites being able to connect to the local crowd via. native language

To an end user it could be an equally exciting experience, enabling easier navigation, more relevant search results, etc. Will this be as promising in real life as it does on paper? This remains to be seen.

ICANN will soon begin a global campaign to tell the world about this dramatic change in Internet names and to raise awareness of the opportunities afforded by new gTLDs. Follow this page for more updates.

Posted on June 22, 2011 by sanjay

It seems only like yesterday when all a brand needed to get its name out  was to spew self proclamatory, shameless chest thumping lines via. the local loudmouthed radio jockey .

It was no less different for movie promotions  either. All that was needed was a blindingly colorful poster at a busy intersection and the ritual of playing half a song  in the weekly popular music countdown show.

Times have now changed. Thanks to the ridiculous boom in economy, the once sterotypical  middle class family  that owned a scooter, lived in a cramped rented two room row house, now comes across in a shiny Nano frequenting malls every alternate day swiping a dozen credit cards like there’s no tomorrow.

Considering this spend-happy crowd forms the lower spectrum of the target customer base, meaningless dialogues delivered in high pitched voices and technicolor posters outside the local park is just not going to lift that sales graph one bit.

Today’s average citizen sports a refined outlook , is web savvy, practically dwells on social networking sites and has come to closely scrutinise a brand’s communication/voice before confiding in it. An indivdual is now judged on the basis of the brands he/she associates himself/herself with.There have been many a businessman who’ve  had  unimaginable amounts of vision and focus but faltered miserably when it came to marketing their brainchild. The same applies to the entertainment industry that has seen several  critically accaimed movies not quite making the cut when it came to box office collections due to poor marketing runs.

We at Black & White use the following communication vehicles to effectively get your brand’s message across to the customer in a such way that he finds it acceptable and eventually embraces it. We do this in a number of ways including:

*Print Design

*Social Media

*TVCs

*Website

By listing these, we have  merely scraped the tip of the iceberg – the real magic happens when the experienced creative team here at Black & White put our heads together to arrive at the final communication language . This coupled with the above listed marketing vehicles is sure to glide through the target customer thus enabling your product to peak amongst your competitors

Posted on June 10, 2011 by sanjay

Congrats !

Your company has just developed a new product! You praise your team for all the weekends they showed up for work. Everyone gets a raise, everyone’s happy! The future looks ripe!

Now all that remains to be done is for you to explain the advantages of this new product to your prospective buyer. If the deal’s  through  your company’s practically going to be swimming in currency.

Just when you are about to bask in eternal glory and fame, do you make that unforgivable mistake. A mistake that will flush all the good fortunes of your firm for good.

“What could that mistake be?”, you ask. The answer is a boring product presentation.

Nothing could make a client dive for the exit (assuming he hasn’t dozed off by then)  quicker than a dragging, pointless PowerPoint presentation with endless lists, graphs, histories, pictures of cats, childhood photos, etc. Not to mention the ever-so – dependable software crashes that in some mysterious cosmic manner, manage to show up up whenever you least expect them to.  In a way, the fact that the customer has to stare at the same piece of presentation/word processing software every single time from every single seller also takes its toll.

Customers these days are almost always on the move, they see newer advancements with every passing day. Unless you and your works are on par with his frequency, any chance of a favorable outcome is pretty slim. The present day customer feels the need to interact and virtually process the potential pros and cons of the product, only after which he feels convinced. Interactivity is the mantra for the modern day entrepreneur trying to put his product out in the open for all to see. Embracing the benefits of interactive media is probably the quickest way to get oneself seen and heard in today’s competitive market.

Why is there a seemingly high level of excitement surrounding Interactive media?  A few reasons as follows:

1. Conventional presentations are monochromatic, monotonous and biologically sleep inducing.

2. Interactive media adds a dynamic twist to your product showcase by coming across as full of energy, color and oozes a feel good effect overall.

3. The target audience can visit/revisit the presentation at his/her own pace. He/She can skip past topics that are irrelevant and cut to the flesh and bones.

We live in a day and age where 3D Televisions and Motion Controlled Gaming are no longer imaginary objects in a futuristic sci-fi flick. Touch based inputs are taking giant strides in the digital market. Old school presentations will simply not work.

Given the plethora of software and online tools available currently, the non tech-savvy entrepreneur is sure to be left helpless wondering which path to tread on.

A professionally crafted video presentation not only goes that extra mile in delivering a respectable impression about your company, but also ensures that its purpose be achieved – be it a product showcase or a company initiative.

So what are you waiting for? Success is out there for you to grab. Rest assured, you can focus your  entire might on that delete key and say good riddance to that prehistoric ‘Client meeting.ppt’  and head over to smarter and effective media.

Simply put, not many of us remember that boring physics teacher that put us to sleep the moment her lips parted ways, but we do remember the English teacher who always showered us with chocolates irrespective of whether we gave the right or the wrong answer. Let us be the latter to our clients.

More on the tools involved in interactive media in our next blog post. Keep watching this space.

Team B&W

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Nanditha

When a picture speaks a thousand words, who needs the words anyway?? Although I’d hate to concede (the non-designer copywriter that I am), alas it’s a designer’s world alright. More so when you are a ‘creative digital agency’. Even more so, when you are constantly told to KISS – Keep It Short & Simple (i.e) – ’cos people don’t really READ content, you know? Yeah, I know! So what I don’t know is what propelled Black & White to have its own blog??!! Doesn’t this mean that those almost always omnipresent, omnipotent visuals, graphics, images – call them what you will – will now take a back seat??  Wow, way to go! Finally, good old copy gets the prominence it so rightfully deserves. And long overdue as well. So, as we kick off the blog, here’s wishing Team BW happy blogging.J

Posted on December 8, 2010 by sudha

In recent times, social media adoption by organizations has been on the rise, with most companies realizing the importance of engaging their customers at all touch points to create conversations, facilitate feedback and grow their business. It is a great way to build relationships with clients helping businesses get quick feedback and response from the users.
Continue reading →

Posted on December 4, 2010 by bwblog_admin

We are a contemporary multimedia company, with an eye for generation-next Media & Communication Solutions. Our services span the entire spectrum of Online & Offline communication – from Print to Presentations, Animations to Ad-films, the World Wide Web to the whole gamut of promotional media.