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?

You’ve come a long way, baby! What an Idea, Sir ji!

When the cellular network Idea was launched, believe it or not, it used a Sumo Wrestler as its brand ambassador! I guess they were desperate to break clutter and differentiate from the well entrenched brands. But there was no relevance. A couple of years later, they came out with a jingle ’98 la la la….’ which was catchy but again made no impact. Idea was yet another me-too brand trying to fight for mindspace in the cluttered environment.

But when Aditya Birla Group took over the reins of Idea, their strategic intent led to a quantum jump. One major difficulty, which even the Vodafone marketing head admitted in a conference I attended a few months back, is that the TG for any cellular network is right from a vegetable vendor to a CEO. How does one create an ad which is SEC independent and effectively appeals to all strata of the society?

Idea came up with the big ‘Idea’. Make the brand communicate a socially relevant message which is relevant to a cellular network. With the help of the brand ambassador, Jr AB, they came up with a commercial where a priest/father of a convent school used cell phones to teach children who could not travel to school. Brilliant! They then followed up with politicians using SMS-based polls to take policy decisions. Outstanding! Here was a brand that created communication which appealed to one and all and the relevance was bang on. Also, this is a glaring example, where a brand is much above the brand ambassador. Even if Idea has to part ways with Jr AB, it would only have minimal impact. While, I am a little disappointed with their latest ‘walk-n-talk’ campaign, I still give Idea full marks for its sound strategy to drastically change the way a brand is perceived. What an Idea, Sir ji!

Wanna start something new? And stupid too?

Shoppers’ Stop is my favourite store. I simply love the experience. They don’t hard sell, don’t bother and leave you to enjoy the experience of shopping. Their mantra of ‘Experience while you shop’ was bang on! But when they changed their logo, something happened! They came up with a bizarre tag line of ‘Start something new’. Why? What was the relevance? I am still trying to figure out. How does starting something new help a brand in garment and lifestyle retail? Not sure at all.

And then I saw a hoarding of my favourite store at Juhu Circle one day. It showed a sexy girl with ultra short skirts with the headline ‘Wear short skirts. Hitch hike. Conserve Fuel. Start Something New’ It left me stunned for sometime. What was that all about? They were actually literally saying that you can lure, intice and create a lust in drivers with your well waxed legs to give you a lift? And that too to save energy and contribute to the cause of global warming!

This is not some perfume brand where I would expect this kind of sexist communication. This is my favourite store we are talking about. What is the all oomph about? And would women get sexcited by this thought of getting a lift by seducing someone? Completely ridiculous! One takes years to build a brand and how easily it can all go down the drain. Wake up Shoppers Stop! It’s indeed time to start something new.

Aaj Pehli Tareeq Hai – Want some chocolates?

I have always respected Cadbury for their strategic branding. After all they changed the way chocolates were consumed in the country by making it appeal to all ages rather than only kids. The jingle of their famous TV commercial in the nineties showing a young lass celebrating the success of a match on the field with a chocolate – ‘kuch khaas hai zindagi mein’ still resonates in my mind.

But of late, I have been very disappointed with their communication. After parting ways with AB, I guess they felt that they needed a breakthrough idea. The one that they came up with was to make chocolates a monthly affair rather than only being a festival food. Aaj Pehli Tareeq hai, its pay day, so come on and grab some chocolates. I was not sure about the strategic intent. Whom were they trying to target? Only those who live hand-to-mouth and wait for the 1st to get a 10-buck chocolate! Weren’t they trying to alienate the others who have chocolates regularly by perhaps implying that you need to have chocolates only on the first of the month?

‘Mera Munch Mahaan’ Nestle completely decimated the campaign. The smart team immediately came out with a counter campaign that Nestle Munch is affordable and so you don’t have to wait for the first of the month – you can have it throughout the month. They got this opportunity on a platter! Using a competitor’s share of voice to get your proposition across is a marketer’s dream. Kudos!

Often, brand communication is like chess… you must foresee what the competition is likely to do in response. Cadbury had to overnight withdraw their ‘pehli tareeq’ campaign. And Nestle Munch had the last laugh! Check Mate!