Gutter Ka Maal

An unusual name for an advertising site, one would have thought. Gutterspace.com is meant to help you search for, identify and interact with advertising executives and creative professionals to work out solutions.

Gutterspace may not be one of its kind. There are other advertising and marketing related sites like adwalla.com or brandquiver.com, but gutterspace gives you quite comprehensive information about the advertising world.

From advertising ideas to model portfolios, from media plans to different product ads, the home page lists it all. Though the length of information can at times leave the surfer confused. The home page looks clustered and crowded and does not attract on looks.

 

Some useful information on the site includes a list of 40 top Indian ad agencies along with some details, as well as a showcase of the creative talent in the industry. There are sections also that show all-time classic advertisements. And one can also win T-shirts and CDs by participating in contests relating to advertising. One can also post one's CV on the site and inquire after jobs.

There is also a section called Timepass!. Here you can play games and read "fun" news.

The guttershop offers software, hardware, books and knowledge that can be bought but at present these are only available in Delhi.

On a whole a good informative site and do not forget to go through the gutterspace guardbook before you log out of the site.

Freekamaal.com is one site that promises you various products free of cost. But the site does not mention the hidden costs like Internet time and phone bills that come into play once you log onto the site.

One thing is clear that dotcom companies have realised that no one likes to see advertisements flashing on their screens. But these banners and panels are the major source of revenue on the Net. Thus, companies are coming up with incentives. Click on the ad or product picture and you can win cash prizes and other gifts or play a `simple' game and win.

This has increased traffic to the site.

In freekamaal.com you have to first register yourself and get a user id and password. Then the visitor is taken to a gallery of products. T-shirts, cassettes, CDs, cellphones and much more are listed. When I visited the site, most of the racks were out of stock. Mostly dinner with celebrities were left.

The catch is when you are filling in your details then one column asks about your profession. And when you are clicking on a particular product gallery, the system matches that product with your profession. Suppose you are a student and you click on mobile phones, do not expect free ka maal as cellphones are reserved for executives and people like that. The chances of a student getting a CD or dinner offer is more. Also, there are certain number of hits one has to make on that particular product then only it is delivered.

That means for a cassette one might have to visit the gallery eight times and only then would he be entitled to the product. Also, in a day one can only take two visits on a product.

Thus, freekamaal is not that free after all.