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?