The world at our feet

This was the headline of the country’s leading English daily on the morning after India’s historic World Cup win. Honestly, I thought it was a highly arrogant headline by a responsible media giant. It is prudent that emotions should not getter the better of media. Humility and being humble are the traits of a leader.

But hey, this is not a blog on leadership; it’s on critically reviewing ad campaigns. And just like my post on ads during IPL 3 last year, here is my take on the best and worst of the television advertising world during the unforgettable momentous WC 2011. Again, like IPL 3, I was highly disappointed with the quality of ads on television during the tournament. I am told that in all there were 80 advertisers on board putting their moolah and I am sure all of them were ecstatic (including me in my professional capacity) for having chosen to ride on this vehicle which garnered unheard TVRs in excess of 20! But at the end of the day, it’s not all about the money, honey. It’s about making a difference to the brand. And I suspect if most advertisers succeeded in getting it right.

The Idea campaign of ‘make cricket clean’ was disappointing. The concept was good and it was bang on with their strategy of social relevant messaging. But, the connect was missing and landed up being a mere force fit. What had getting Idea got to do with keeping cricket clean? Just can’t understand how losing signals in elevators and trains can end match-fixing. While Idea wants to keep cricket clean, what are they doing? It can’t be as ridiculous as getting an Idea connection to keep cricket clean!! Very absurd.

The Maruti SX4 Diesel ad campaign was perhaps the most male chauvinistic in recent times. And quite insensitive too. While it may appeal to the wannabe male audience, it surely loses on its sensibilities. Especially, the ad where the father is not around at the time of the birth of his kid due to a test ride of SX4. I would be ashamed to be such a father and to miss out on the most important moment of a lifetime, for such a frivolous reason. The Maruti SX4 is surely not for me.

The Kareena Kapoor Airtel DTH ad was strictly ok – great production values but no breakthrough idea. And so was the SRK Dish TV campaign. The several ads of CEAT of streets being filled with idiots didn’t make an impression too. The ‘Brrrrr’ campaign of Coke was perhaps the worst they have doled out in recent years. And the razzies equivalent winner of them all was the ‘Krishidhan’ campaign, especially the part where the son tells his farmer father’ mein india aa raha hoon’ with a backdrop of a US flag. The scroller which read ‘SMS 1800…..to win exciting prizes’ was the final nail in the coffin!

The Pepsi ads using cricketers highlighting the Doosra, Upper Cut and Helicopter shot were conceptually brilliant but to my mind, badly executed. These had the potential to become memorable ads.

The Reliance ‘mix your world’ campaign did force a smile. Some of the ads were entertaining while some were slapstick. But the execution was spot on. Must say that Reliance Communications does a better job without celebrities.

And now for the honours. The TVS Wego ad – the bike with body balance trying to show two women trying to outsmart each other with their gymnastics on the bike, and watched by an old parsi couple in their antique car was outstanding. I have always believed that an ad should be entertaining, relevant to the brand and communicate the brand values effectively. This one surely passes the bill on all accounts. Great track, good production values and an amazing sense of humour with the old Parsi woman closing the eyes of her soft toy monkey to prevent him from getting exposed to obscenity and a possible accident. Way to go. If I were to ever buy a bike, the first thing I’d surely ask is ‘body balance’. That’s what advertising can do for a brand.

And finally, my winner again are the Zoozoos of Vodafone. Just like they were in IPL 3. You may say that I am biased, but the best part about this cult of zoozoos is not only about creativity. It’s embedded in sound strategy. The marketing and creative team have taken the zoozoos to the next level, which is not an easy thing to do. The sound track this time was the icing on the cake. For sure, Vodafone will be top-of-mind in the 3G space.

As we head into IPL 4, the big question is whether it will garner higher viewership than IPL 3. After all, we’ve won the real thing and the anti-corruption campaign has ensured that IPL4 has been the least hyped amongst all seasons so far with hardly any media attention. IPL has always been an advertiser’s dream come true, but I wonder if it will stand up to its expectations. I guess only time will tell. Perhaps, Lalit Modi will have the last laugh!

The Dabangg Cult

No, this is not a post on another film review; it’s a brand review of the Salman Khan starrer Dabangg! Marketing of movies has always intrigued me. It’s a product with a shelf life of just days, where word of mouth and PR can seriously alter the stakes of the product and where the opening collections are a critical success factor. Quite a challenge to create equity and awareness for an unknown brand in perhaps just a few weeks prior to the release. And compounded by the fact that there is no possibility of altering the strategy. If the first three days of the collections aren’t good, that’s the end of the story!

Of course, the inherent advantage with a brand like movies is that more often than not they come with celebrity ambassadors featured in the movie which immensely helps in creating awareness. But integrated marketing communication using the celebrities is the key. To my mind, to make movies successful the producers must employ the best of the minds in marketing. I’m sure Dabangg did! I must admit that a day prior to its release, it has created a buzz like no other film in the past. The main protagonist named Chulbul Pandey in this movie, enacted by Salman Khan is quite a cult prior to release.

So, what did Dabangg do differently which most of the other movies have not? While I have not researched their marketing strategy in detail, I think they excelled in showcasing the protagonist of the movie rather than Salman Khan. While in most other movie promotions, the stars appear in reality shows and soaps around the release of the movie, they actually create more equity for themselves rather than the movie. In this case, Salman has created equity for the protagonist of the movie (a corrupt police inspector) by appearing in soaps and reality shows enacting his character in the movie rather than himself. That is a smart move based on sound marketing strategy. When you create equity for a product or a service using a celebrity, the brand custodian strives to use the celebrity to communicate the brand values. Dabangg has done exactly that by creating a cult around Chulbul Pandey. Since the movie appears to have a mass appeal, the vehicles chosen are also mass – mainly the general entertainment TV and radio channels.

Of course, a lot has to do with the fact that it’s a home production for Salman. So, he has done what is best for the movie rather than himself. Another notable innovation is that one of its item numbers actually has a brand name of Zandu Balm in the lyrics. This is the first time I’ve heard of a brand name appearing in the lyrics of a song without it being in your face! Could be the start of a new trend.

While I don’t know whether the movie will be a hit or not (and I wont be surprised if the content is really bad!), here are some stats. Dabangg has registered a record breaking score on awareness prior to its release, according to Ormax Media's film awareness tracking product Cinematix. Cinematix track is conducted across the key theatrical revenue markets-Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Indore and covers theatre visitors in the age group of 15-34 years in SEC AB. As per its latest report, with an unaided awareness of 50 percent, Dabangg may have a bumper opening on the box-office. Even if the movie isn’t great, it will make money. 50 percent unaided awareness is absolutely unheard of this in age of media and movie clutter. Yes, Marketing wins again!

Youngistaan ka wow! Way to go, guys!

Finally, an ad from Pepsi that brings a smile on the face! After the disastrous ad featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt on the lines of ‘Pepsi bhi gayi, sexy bhi gayi’ (how ridiculous is that!), this one’s a winner. A perfect entertainer communicating the brand proposition effectively and instilling a sense of country pride.

Ranbir Kapoor is shown as a butler working in a presidential palace of a country that looks like Germany or Russia. The Prez needs a Pepsi and Ranbir notices that there’s a last one left, which he was vying for. The Sergeant orders him to take the Pepsi to the Prez directly. Ranbir, on his way, deliberately tries hiding the Pepsi and starts shaking the bottle as if to show that he has mixed the drink with something. The CCTV of the palace catches that and asks the Sergeant to intervene. The Sergeant who is quite positive that Ranbir has poisoned the drink, forces Ranbir to instead drink it. Ranbir seizes the opportunity, drinks it one gulp, leaving the rest confused. And Ranbir then leaves the scene with a tongue-in-cheek comment in Hindi which says ‘They couldn’t even save a Pepsi’. Very creative, indeed!

Pepsi’s brand ambassador, Ranbir Kapoor, is a perfect fit for the brand value proposition of ‘Youngistaan ka wow’. He is a promising star in the next gen and is surely idolized by the aspirational youth. And considering that Pepsi is an impulsive purchase product, they needed an ambassador, who would truly represent the youth of India and to whom the youth will look upto. Also, since the youth in the country is the largest percentage of the population, it’s a smart platform to take as well. Specifically, what I like in the ad is the fact that it instills some amount of national pride through the youth. I am not a fan of patriotic ads and honestly quite disappointed by some Indian brands like Siyaram who use the country as the differentiator coercing Indians to use Indian brands rather than MNCs. Don’t think Indian brands need to do that; they should be competitive enough to sell on their brand image. Pepsi, being an MNC, has managed to do generate patriotism with a lot of finesse. Kudos! Here’s raising a toast (of Pepsi) to Youngistaan.

The IPL Ad Blitzkrieg

IPL Season 3 came to an end finally on April 26, 2010. And as Lalit Modi, the now suspended Chairman of IPL, was giving his Mark Antony-akin speech quoting sholkas from the Bhagvad Gita, I was reflecting on the Rs 800 crore odd that TV advertisers had spent on the live telecast of the 56 matches on SET Max.

There were several campaigns that were launched during this season and I thought it prudent to dedicate this posting to the best and worst of IPL Season 3.

I must admit that the quality of the ads from most brands were far below their normal potential. I have always believed that for an ad to be successful, it should be relevant, communicate the brand values and above all entertain the audience. If an ad can’t bring a smile or a wow from the viewers, it has made no difference to the brand. I suspect that most ads were unsuccessful in doing that.

I was quite disappointed with the Idea Oongli Campaign, though it did have an element of humour. My concern is the brand’s digression from its socially relevant messaging. The Godrej ‘Go Jiyo’ campaign was completely senseless. What were the animated characters communicating? And what was Vidya Balan trying to achieve by spraying Good Knight on some enemies in the animated space? If you’ve successfully decoded the Godrej campaign, do fill me in. I have already decimated the Havells Hangman campaign, though the shock laga ad of the pati, patni and the maid on a hair dryer did force a smile. The Pepsi campaign was bizarre. Some strange SMS options were flashed on the screen. And Ranbir Kapoor declaring to the villain that ‘Pepsi bhi gayi and sexy bhi gayi’ was the last nail in the coffin of this ridiculously stupid campaign. The customer centric ICICI Bank Khayal Aapka ad was quite absurd too. I wonder if a bank executive needs be so patient with an irritating customer. Where’s his productivity if he’s spending all afternoon with an old lady! The Hyundai i20 and i10 campaigns were so-so; and so were the campaigns of Indian mobile players like Maxx and Spice. nothing great. The Samsung corporate campaign was quite striking, though not clutter-breaking.

And now for the honours. I think that the three major telecom players took the cake. The Airtel campaign featuring Sharman Joshi was relevant, communicated the brand features well and did entertain. Especially, when he scares his girlfriend’s brother to study for next day’s exam or is trying to extract more pocket money from his dad. Extremely impressive. So was the Docomo campaign – sophisticated, premium and is giving Vodafone a real run for its money in the premium brand perception space. The ads of the tattoo on a lady from a traditional South Indian family or the loser getting a job were quite innovative. And finally, my heart goes out to the Zoozoos. I had spoken about their end of innocence in an earlier post and the fact that they have not been able to create a furore like last year. But I completely agree that the ads were highly creative, intelligent and I give the O&M team an absolute thumbs up to take the zoozoos to the next level.

The way its going, not sure if IPL Season 4 will happen at all. Quite a few advertisers like Samsung and Godrej have expressed their concern on being associated with a sport that may not be clean. Though, from an advertiser’s perspective, IPL has been a dream-come-true; as long as one has the money. The reach and visibility for a brand is tremendous and can translate into an enormous competitive advantage. IPL has been, perhaps, the biggest reality show of all times!

Feel like hanging yourself?

During IPL Season 3, I came across a bizarre TV commercial which showed a hangman responsible for executing death penalties announced by the court. The ad depicted this hangman pulling down a lever and executing death warrants, whenever he was instructed to do so by his senior. At the end of the day and after being responsible for several deaths, this hangman is shown going back to his home as a frustrated man. Quite a story, I felt. No one has thought from the view point of an executionist. I was sure that this would end with a corporate social message. Perhaps an NGO which is fighting death penalties. The production values of the ad were also quite impressive.

The hangman, after a hard day of deaths, then enters his home and switches on his lights and fan. He looks upto the fan, and for a moment I thought that he was planning to hang himself too. It then ended in a VO in Hindi which said that you have committed many sins in your life and now you have an opportunity to redeem yourself - use an energy saving fan from Havells!!

By saving energy, you can earn some brownie points and trade in your sins of killing people! I was speechless and honestly, quite mortified to be a part of this advertising/marketing fraternity. How insensible can an ad get? Where is the sensitivity? How can a brand equate a serious subject as a death penalty to saving energy? And in any case, who is the brand talking to? Is it talking to executionists and murderers? I am still at a loss of words. Any adjective cannot aptly describe the ridiculous nature of this TVC.

Havells have always tried to create some ‘out-of-the-box’ advertising. Their creative of ‘shock-laga’ is still memorable. But this time, they’ve gone too far by making a mockery of a serious subject and rendering it frivolous. While an agency has the tendency of going berserk at times, the advertiser must know where to draw the line. I am still stunned about the fact that something like this actually hit the screens. Honestly, the only thing I feel like doing after seeing this is hanging myself! Perhaps, with a Havells fan!

The Zoozoos – End of innocence?

IPL Season 2 in 2009 was quite a washout…literally as well, with a lot of matches being affected by rain in South Africa. But along with IPL 2, came perhaps the most successful advertising campaign in recent times – the Vodafone Zoozoos. Riding on the high reach that IPL offers, each match had a different creative involving the Zoozoos. The Zoozoos created a furore, advertising honchos were gaga about the creativity of Vodafone and the O&M team, and general consumers were absolutely overawed by the cuteness of the Zoozoos. So much so, that it seemed that the Zoozoos were more popular than the IPL matches itself. The campaign was touted to be one of the most triumphant campaigns in the history of Indian advertising and Vodafone had successfully got the pug off its back! Expectedly, the campaign walked away with most of the awards at various ad fests.

IPL Season 3 has begun with a bang, and the Zoozoos are back. But there’s a twist to the tale. This time, the Zoozoos seem to be a washout. They haven’t been able to create a buzz at all. It is quite unbelievable that the same characters that created unprecedented history last year are now hardly noticed. The advertising fraternity is blaming the creatives – they feel that the storylines are far more complicated. I am not entirely convinced that this rationale is accurate. If Vodafone had run a similar campaign as last year, I am not sure if it would have met with the same success. There are some who attribute it to the novelty factor. It was a novel idea, but over exposure has made it repetitive, is the contention. Again, the same country where a Fevicol ad still gets a smile on the face despite it being aired for over two decades, cannot decimate the most loved characters of last year so soon.

So, where is the problem? If I were the brand custodian of Vodafone, I must confess that I’d be thoroughly confused. It is quite an anti-climax (ironically like a T20 match) for a campaign that consumers loved last year to have fallen like a pack of cards in less than a year. For me, I think its all about innocence. For whatever reason, the Zoozoos don’t look innocent anymore. The lesson that I draw is that there are some characters like Tom & Jerry and Spiderman which stand the test of time and there are others which ride on innocence and just can’t last long. I guess that creative and brand teams need to take cognizance of the difference between the two.
I am sure Vodafone may be contemplating to get the pug back. I think that they must get back to the drawing board and chart out a brand map soon, coz the Zoozoos aren’t just working anymore. It’s sad but true for the Zoozoos – it’s the end of innocence.

Pure Pleasure!

A couple of days back, I came across perhaps, one of the most interesting media innovations in recent times. I happened to tune into Radio Mirchi and its famous RJ Jeeturaj proclaimed that there will be no ad aired on Radio Mirchi all day, thanks to the launch of the new Mango Slice beverage. Why? What’s the connection? The proposition of Mango Slice is pure pleasure and that’s what they wanted to give the listeners of Radio Mirchi all day long – the pure pleasure of listening to only songs rather than radio commercials. So much so, that Mango Slice was itself not airing its ads on the channel. Only its jingle of the famous Katrina Kaif commercial, ‘Rasiya Aa Jaa’ was mixed well with the Radio Mirchi jingle. Outstanding!

While, Vodafone did something similar by blocking inventory on all channels for its ads on the day Hutch was being re-christened to Vodafone, this was different. Slice actually used the irritating factor of commercials to its advantage, by not only blocking all commercials but also not airing its own commercials, thereby making listeners feel obligated to them. This is what I call a perfect ‘win-win-win’ media innovation. The channel benefits (as I am sure that they would have been paid a bomb for this), the listeners were also benefited since they got to listen to only songs all day and the brand is likely to benefit the most as consumers like me are not likely to forget the tagline of Mango Slice for a long time – pure pleasure.

However, from an advertiser’s perspective, this could be the start of a new dangerous trend. This innovation, to my mind, is the first acknowledgement by a brand that it believes that ads irritate consumers. If others join the bandwagon by aping this innovation, this will only add to the movement against ads. And given that most media vehicles in the country have business models revolving around advertising revenues, this could be a concern. But for now, we have a clear winner. Here’s to the Pepsi Team for having the brains to pull this off! It’s surely been ‘Pure Pleasure’.

Getting Docomised

One more cellular operator in the fray. Another me too? Nah… this time it was for real. Tata Docomo entered the bandwagon and hit everyone hard where it really hurts. Except for the consumer who is surely delighted by the latest developments in the market place. The best part about the Docomo launch was its communication. When life changes in seconds, here’s an operator who charges 1 paise per second. The communication was classy, upmarket and absolutely aspirational. The ads had a subtle element of humour and were thoroughly entertaining. I remember that over 5 years back, I had a BPL Mobile connection where the tariff was indeed 1 p/second – of course only for local calls. But there was no strong branding around it. However, this campaign was a rage. It created a furore in the market place and had the other players gasping for breath. They were in denial until they realized that Docomo was not only eating market share but actually gobbling it. And then history happened. The so-called leaders followed the latest entrant just like timid mice followed Pied Piper. They all began offering the tariff of 1 paise per second, and their communication looked absolute me-too. Despite celebrities like SRK, consumers will surely feel that the brands they trusted for so many years were taking them for a ride until the ‘Docomo Effect’ hit them. And Docomo did it all without any celebrity. Kudos. The smartest part about their communication strategy is that as soon as all the other players began taking about their been-there-done-that value proposition of 1 paise/second, Docomo exited the 1 paise/second bandwagon and created an impressive jingle based ad. While I don’t understand what the friendship express ad is trying to communicate, the memorable jingle does the trick. Obviously, the brand strategists of Tata Docomo realized that having got this platform, they cannot continue to be successful being a price leader – they need to be a powerful brand that can stand the test of time. Not sure what time will tell…but as of now, lets give it to the player who by sheer strategy docomised the world’s fastest growing mobile telephony market.

The Devil’s Advocate

When I was young, the only cult brand that I can think of was the one with the devil. ‘Neighbours Envy. Owner’s Pride’ is a tag line that surely still resonates in the minds of thousands of Indians. The devil had attitude – completely new to the Indian branding context in the eighties. Using a devil to create a powerful brand was one hell-of-a achievement by Mirc Electronics, the company that owns the brand ‘Onida’. So powerful was this homegrown brand that many perceived it to be better than even Sony and JVC.

However, over the late eighties and the nineties, the devil lost touch. The Koreans stormed into the consumer durables business and changed the game. With a basket of consumer durables and heavy advertising, their proposition to dealers was compelling. And the devil started bleeding.

I did not see much of the devil thereafter. Onida had only televisions to offer and not a basket of consumer durables. They started losing retailers as well as share of voice in advertising. And the Koreans kept marching ahead.

A few years ago, Onida decided to enter the market with a basket of consumer durables and challenge the Koreans and Japanese. The devil was back and I was really happy to see him after years. He had mellowed down, had less attitude, but was still a strong differentiator. The advertising, to my mind, did not really leverage the attitude of the devil; the devil turned more into a sutradhar explaining product features.

To my utter disappointment, a few months ago, Onida decided to kill the devil. This surely was a sad moment in the history of Indian advertising. Onida felt that the devil is not relevant to the Indian consumer anymore. I beg to differ, though. Don’t think it was even relevant in the 80s. But it displayed a lot of attitude. The devil was a cult and I think Onida should have been more patient with the devil. A brand, especially in the commoditized consumer durables business, needs a strong differentiator. Onida had it with the devil. They threw it away.

Their latest proposition mooted by their agency McCann Ericson of ‘Tumko dekha to yeh design aaya’ is far from a differentiator. Onida is looking like yet another me-too next door consumer durables player. An Indian brand who had what it takes to take on the Koreans threw their trump card trying to ape the Koreans.. The ‘Koreans Envy. India’s Pride’ is no more. Whatever happened to the Devil’s Advocate?

Daag Acche Hain? Really? I can’t see them do any good.

The Surf campaign of Daag Acche Hain (stains are good) has perhaps been the most applauded campaigns of Unilever. Making stains a hero, rather than a villain is surely an orbit shifting innovative idea for any detergent. And I must complement the spirit of thinking radically different.

But while the campaign is being lauded all over, I often wonder whether it achieved what the objective was. I am sure the motive behind most advertising is to get into the consideration set and command a premium. Will Surf be able to do that with this campaign? I guess only time will tell.

I recently saw Surf’s latest TV commercial, where a small school boy tries acting like a dog, getting dirty all over, trying to console and appease his teacher who had recently lost her pet dog. That got me thinking. Would I want my daughter to do something like that? No way. I felt that Surf had taken this over the edge.

If you really see from the TG’s perspective, I am not sure if the proposition is appealing. No parent would like to see their kids get mucky and dirty just because they have the support of a good detergent. Because with dirt and muck, any kid can get sick. Forget about the clothes; I am more concerned about my kid’s health than super white clothes. I would hate to see my daughter skid over puddles, no matter how compelling the reason. My kid matters the most, not the detergent. I would not like her taking any risks in this age of super infections and flu.

I am a parent and I am sure quite a few parents think like me. Are stains, therefore, really good from a parent’s perspective? I don’t think so. Will it persuade me to buy Surf? Perhaps not, because my kid may get encouraged to fool around in the muck if she saw me buying this brand. I know I have shifted this completely reverse and many may not agree with me. But if you really see the psyche of a parent, I do believe that stains are not good. At least for my child; who cares about clothes?