The Satyamev Jayate Way - Chot Dil Par Lagegi Tabhi Baat Banegi

A Moving Ad that questions the society of its guilt-free attitude while sitting on a pile of flesh-trade of its own. The poster conceives an idea and expresses it in a strong message pin pointing at the 'root-cause of flesh-trade which, unfortunately is flourishing like none.

Prajwala is an anti-trafficking organization based in Hyderabad, India.With a touching story of its genesis and inveterate efforts made to attempt what many dismiss as in-achievable and hence untrod. Hats off to the people who are making it possible.

The print ad made for Prajwala does two things distinctly. The first is "obvious" - It educates the prospective victims who fall for false promises, assurances and lies before finding themselves into this abyss that what part of bargain will they be entitled to. Humiliation, Pain and Trauma. It also tries to educate and hence shock the existing and prospective 'buyers' with the guilt of pushing a fellow-being into this dark hole.

 How successful they have been in this attempt, it is not a question to debate but to introspect, as individuals as well as a ‘civilized’ society. This must atleast make people try to spread awareness of one of the biggest shame of the society these days, where a fellow being is pushed to a point where she gives in for an act knowing what she is getting into. The idea is not to show women in bad light of weak and ignorant as many might argue but to shake-off the comfortable lack of conscience of the muted un-compassionate bunch (called society)

The end-text of the print ad leads to an "inferential" conclusion that the prostitution only exists till the buyers do. This further puts the onus on people for allowing such a shameful practice not just to continue but to also flourish. Prostitution breeds on vulnerable and marginalized sections of society and hence, an illusion of a day when no woman will be pushed into flesh-trade is as imaginative as it could get.The message hence, rightfully so puts the real culprit in the dock- the society which guarantees that this tragic experience of hundreds of thousands of women will continue till it itself decides to put an end to it.

You can check Prajwala'a website for the terrific work they are doing - http://www.prajwalaindia.com/genesis.html

Want to open a joint account like the Gandhi couple?

I came across an interesting ad that was created by Mudra communications for Union bank of India a couple of years ago. The ad shows Kasturba Gandhi's image next to Mahatma Gandhi's picture on a 100 Rs note. The ad ofcourse can irk a few who might find the use of Mahatma Gandhi and his wife's images and a photo-shopped currency note unacceptable to accomplish a commercial objective.

Nevertheless, the ad does the job brilliantly.

• The ad builds an imaginary story for the promotional piece. It subtly shows arguably the most revered couple of the country on a currency note which for sure catches the eye-balls due to its peculiarity.

• It also does well to piggyback its message on a light humor.

• It also educates the prospective customers on the idea of a husband and wife sharing a joint account, hence accentuating the service penetration by educating the customer of potential use of this service

• It may also lead to give an emotional platform for a couple to share something as confidential as a bank account

• Another aspect that is worth a mention is that the ad does not rely on any functional attribute of the service(joint account in this case) since it is not trying to build the category(which it assumes is already known to its prospective customers)

• It was especially interesting to see the ad 'pick' someone as venerable as Mahatma Gandhi as the brand's "virtual-celebrity endorser". Some might find it strange but what the ad has been able to do is - use a trusted prop(a currency note), trusted virtual-brand ambassadors' pictures together(Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi) and put across the message in a very simple and plain tone. (No mention of the message anywhere except in the corner along with the Union Bank logo)

It is worthwhile to mention that such an ad coming out from a public sector bank with Indian government having a majority stake in it, is especially perplexing.

Cheers,

Cheers

What's up there? - Its a flogo!

Chemtrail forming X in sky
to promote X-Men

Skyvertising – I was quite enchanted by the word when I heard it first time. Portmanteau words always have that charm, don’t they?

As you might have guessed it, it is a form of advertising in the blue sky (well not necessary blue, blue sky just sounds good!).

When I first heard the word it took me to the world of aerial advertising with all the aerial banners, airplane messages, flying banners, aerial billboards, skywriting and banner towing etc, but I was especially drawn towards the fact that clouds can be used as a marketing tool too. Astonishing, isn’t it? Flogos, as was called by its inventors, Francisco Guerra (Founder of Snowmaster factory) and Dr. Brian Glover does exactly that.

Still from T-Mobiles flogos campaign

Flogos (again a Portmanteau word made from  Floating”+”Logos”) are customized clouds at your service! Flogos are basically logos which can range from anywhere between 24 inches to 48 inches in size and are made from proprietary surfactant (soap) based foam formulations and lighter-than-air gases such as helium which makes them look and fly like clouds. Of course they can be made to achieve any given shape (almost!). These flogos in sky can last for anywhere between few minutes to an hour and can fly for 1 to 30 miles at a height of almost 5000 fts. Watch T-Mobile's Flogos video here.

citi bank flogos, India

Flogos are generated by an equipment which consists of helium and a compressed air bubble generator positioned below a custom stencil cutout (this will be your logo/message which is going to turn into a cloud!). As the bubbles form, they are forced into a relatively tight formation as they exit the stencil. Once a nice thick layer is established, a small plastic arm is dragged across the surface, liberating the foam from the stencil allowing it to float through the sky. Check video here

There are umpteen advantages of this form of skyveritising(even against its peers like aerial banners and messages). Some of the most important ones are –

• Cost-effective: The whole campaign may not cost more than a few thousand dollars (rented equipment for $1,000-$2,500). A company can choose to buy or built one of these for frequent usage.
• Novelty: It is an innovative way of marketing which breaks the clutter and hence is bound to attract eye-balls
• Successive marketing: Being innovative and effective will buy you free pieces in media talking about the campaign and the brand.
• Lack of competitors: Missing competitors at the platform(unlike television, internet or print media) helps building single equity for the brand and help in cultivating top of the mind recall
• Unobtrusive: It does not interfere in the life of your target audience and delivers the message in a subtle manner.
• Right Targeting: The equipment can be set-up at any place to target the right TG(Target Group)

These flogos events can be held on beaches, parties, streets, sports events etc to garner maximum audience. One need to be cautious about things like the location, chosen message/logo, height, size, time, weather conditions etc to make most out of this marketing exercise.

Have a look at the flogos employed by certain companies outside India.

  

In India, Citi bank used this marketing technique in Dec ’12 to promote its ‘Dil V/s Bill’ no-extra-cost EMI campaign. The whole campaign was run in parallel with social media platform and was deemed as extremely successful by the citi executives. Check video here.

Indian companies are yet to embrace this new marketing tool to reach and enthrall its TG but I guess it is just time before we see Ashirwaad and Godrej clouds in our skies.

Cheers, 

Nike – Just did it…again !

It is remarkable how Nike manages to get into the wrong bogie every time. For the most innovative company of 2012 (Fastcompany.com), it is ironical to be astonishingly innovative and sadly, succeeding in finding a terrible end to its celebrity endorsement spree, with so much consistency!

When Oscar Pistorius was caught on charges of murdering his girlfriend earlier this week, Nike added another feather to its embarrassing “endorsement-gone-wrong” cap (Other feathers being Marion Jones, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Joe Paterno etc)

Oscar Pistorius

Celebrity endorsement has always been counted as one of the safest marketing tactics. But the times have changed and so is the perception of brands endorsed by celebrities. In the backdrop of multiple surveys it may be safe to assume that celebrity endorsement, to say the least, is no more a safe bet when it comes to ROI for marketers. However, endorsement of sports products by sports personalities still remains to be fairly effective. 

Celebrity-Brand connection due to endorsement

It is largely because of the very association which a consumer can make between the endorser and the product. Since the endorser is not just the propagator of the brand and its advantages, but is also an aspirational figure for the same audience, the brand identity is strengthened due to such endorsements.

Consistent brand communication, synergy between the endorser and the brand, brand personality created due to the endorser and the overall credibility of the endorser are some of the other reasons why companies are still relying upon sports figures for brand endorsements.

At first look, it may seem like this is it; the big marketing tactic for any product under the sun. But since we are only halfway through this post, I guess you must have realized that I would say, No!

Factors affecting celebrity Brand endorsement

Celebrity endorsement is not a no-risk game. There are substantial risks involved and multiple aspects must be considered before going on with one. Check the smart-art figure for some pointers on these.

Nike, for sure must have done extensive research work before inking endorsement deals but these did not turned out to be as favorable as Nike wanted them to be. Hence, what also must be clearly put through is a mitigation and contingency plan in the event of risk actualization. That is where Nike has had problems too, which is rather sad considering that the other factors, of course, were beyond its control, but its own response to the disaster was rather perplexing and self-defeating.

Tiger Woods hurt the brand due to his off-field behavior when he was alleged of having multiple affairs outside his marriage. The scandal hit both his credibility as well as personality. However, Nike kept faith in Tiger Woods and made an argument that being a world-class sports performance brand it builds upon the elitist athletic performances of its endorsers and draws a line between their personal and professional conduct. It though suspended certain ads for some time but got on with them after some time again.

Tiger Woods

Nike was a tad late in dropping Lance Armstrong as its endorser after he was charged for doping, which was as per the US Anti-Doping Agency, "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping programmme that sport has ever seen". It even stood by Armstrong initially, before disowning him emphasizing that since Lance Armstrong had betrayed the spirit of sportsmanship, which the brand stands for, there was no reason to continue supporting him.

Lance Armstrong

In case of Oscar Pistorius, Nike was quick to take off its “I am the bullet in the chamber” ad featuring him and seems to be on back-foot. This is in stark difference with the other two cases. Though the affecting behavior again is outside the field but the response was one which was supported by Nike for conduct on-field (in connection with Nike’s argument in case of Tiger Woods).

It’s a Deja-vu moment for Nike with Oscar Pistorius. It is to be seen how it respond to this known threat externally and internally but for sure, the celebrity research teams got their job-descriptions extended with - comprehensive personal information collection, analysis and risk calculation. May God be with them!

Cheers,

Organic Food Market in India - Challenges and Way Out

Photo Courtesy - Business Today

News can be bewildering sometimes.

Two reports on the same subject but vehemently polarized, caught my attention recently. It was about Organic food market in India. While one of the piece spoke about how the organic food category has been unable to mint money for the producers as well as retailers, the other story was all gaga about how organic food market is racing away with a remarkable growth.

To start, Organic food products are those agri-produce that are cultivated without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers (process is called - Organic farming). Obviously, when these products do not grow on pesticides and chemicals, the chances of being affected by harmful chemicals are diluted to none (almost!).

This benefit, however, do not come for nothing. Organic food products are priced at approximately 40-70% (a few are priced doubled!) higher than the conventionally grown products. But the story isn’t as simple.

Much to the dismay of organic produce propagators, British economist Roger Cohen dismissed organic food as a fable and an "effective form of premium branding". Then a four-year Stanford University study found that “organic products have no significant advantage over conventional foods".

Photo Courtesy - Business Today

A Nielsan survey showed that 53% of the people are willing to pay the premium on organic food, if it meant that they could avoid toxins and chemical to enter their bodies. So, as Philip Kotler would have said, the need, want and desire are all available. Why did the product not bell the cash registers then? Multiple reasons –

•  Inconsistency in availability of the products (Missing effective supply chain)
• Premium charged on these product acts as a deterrent for customers to buy and hence they remain more talked-about than purchased products (Costs not ‘sold’(convinced) to the consumers)
• It is claimed that Indian consumers do not find the organic food palatable or fulfilling to their taste
• Skepticism about the real benefits of organic food which hinders the justification for its high cost & primary agenda of being eco-friendly

What needs to be done to establish organic products/food in the Indian market is easier said than done, especially in a 500 words blog post. But I will try to put in a macro strategy with step-by-step approach.

Reemphasizing the importance of organic food, building trust around the food category and justifying premium pricing are three major challenges for this product to settle-in.

Three levels of a Product: Applied to Organic food products

As the figure shows, the core product or benefit is good health. Actual product to achieve this core benefit is chemical or pesticide-free food products (Organic food). The Augmented product that the consumer expects is the palatable nature of the products. Hence to establish organic food in the Indian market following must be done –

Category building:

• How pesticide affected food is harming people (Negative state of consumer in absence of the marketed product)
• How Organic food is the answer to all the worries about contaminated and chemically-affected food (Positive state on acquiring the product). Females who are the influencer as well as buyers must be the TG.
• Marketing wrapped in a social message showing roping credible personalities (Activists who believe in the cause, chefs etc) and housewives.

 Market Bursting

• Targeting very tightly-focused segments which creates a special equity for the category and bran(Utilizing the 4Ps accordingly)
• This segment in turn(while traversing through the brand pyramid and reaching on top) advocates for the category as well as the product (word-of-mouth and segment-leasing tactics) (Consumer advocated branding)
• Justifying the costs by certain packaging or labeling (A small label with a sign to differentiate it from the other products) (Building brand differentiation and equity)
• Working around the researches which have showed positives of organic food products(Confidence building measures moving away from defending the stance to propagating it)

These are some of the steps that must be taken in order to rejuvenate this product category. However, as I said, the task is easier said than done and there are lot of other factors that must be considered while devising a comprehensive strategy for it to succeed. How does the fore-runners and loyalists of organic food take it forward from here, that would be interesting to watch.

 Cheers,

Brilliant Marketing or Privacy Invasion?

 Two ads recently caught my attention with two different thoughts that they invoked one after the other without much delay.

The first time I saw these ads, I said to myself - brilliant!

I was astonished with the idea conceived and effectuation. But in no time, the first feeling I had started to sink and the second one made its way.

Really? This is what it has come to? If I put myself in shoes of the audience who was subjected to this brilliant marketing campaign, will I still be pleasantly astonished? May be not.

The first campaign is the much publicized campaign by HUL which is conceived by Ogilvy & Mather.

HUL and Ogilvy partnered with some 100 dhaba owners to have this campaign executed during the Kumbh gathering going on at Allahabad,UP. Special heaters were made to stamp rotis with the statement “Lifebuoy se hath dhoye kya?” (Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?) so as to serve a warning for people to wash their hands before eating.

The creativity of the idea has pushed the boundaries for the marketing for sure, But isn’t it a dangerous intrusion to our lives? The marketing has reached on to our lunch plates. It is going to be consumed with every bite!

Intrusion of privacy by social media has been a long debated topic, but Intrusion doesn't get worse than this. While you sign in for an internet account (email, facebook, LinkedIn etc) you can complete the registration only when you have clicked on the terms and condition page which also has a statement “…..We use the information we receive about you in connection with the services and features we provide to you and other users like your friends, the advertisers that purchase ads on the site, and the developers that build the games, applications, and websites you use”. Hence, I believe that it is difficult to protest for intrusion when you sign such an agreement for yourself.

However, this cannot be said in the given case. How have the people who have been consuming these rotis have reacted to this campaign, is yet to be reported but of course some people may feel disgusted of the idea of chewing a bite of roti which has a soap ad stamped on it.

Marketing is getting competitive and intense with every passing moment and marketers have no choice but to be innovative yet effective. The above ad will reach approximately to two and a half million people at a very low cost and hence will keep the ROI healthy. Hence, the campaign may hurt few sentiments but for sure is a marketer’s delight.

Another such campaign is for Pantene. The salt shakers on the serving table to add salt in your meal has a woman imprinted on it. When the customers sprinkle salt and place the jar on table, some residual salt appears like dandruff on the woman’s scalp. The jar also has Pantene Pro-V written on it to remind user about what to do to tackle dandruff.

Here too, the marketers have hit the right nail. First, the campaign will be stuck in the mind of its customers for its brilliant conception and implementation. Second, will remind user of a problem, which is dandruff, at an unusual time and hence made a place in the mind of the customer for a long time. Lastly, it has ensured itself the first recall whenever customer thinks of tackling the problem. Whether, it disgusts the customer who is sprinkling salt from this shaker, is debatable. But, does it do what it was supposed to? Yes, definitely.

HUL and P&G have pushed the envelope of intrusive marketing. Be ready for others to follow the suit!

Cheers,

Celebrities to Creative Directors - Hits and Misses

When Alicia Keys was asked about her role at Blackberry, her first act was to tell how much she loves BlackBerry. 

What does it tell us about the role of a creative director in a serious company like Blackberry? 

To me it looks like it’s an endorsement candy wrapped in a ‘serious-looking’ responsibility wrapper which has got printed “Creative Director” on it to make the candy offering more credible!

Ms. Alicia Keys went on to say that she’ll be working with app creators, designers and carriers to make sure BlackBerry is the most efficient phone out there. And how does she intend to do that? Nobody knows.It is hence unclear that how much she will bring to the company other than her celeb status. The same applies to Lady Gaga's role while she maintained that she has substantially contributed in the new product designs revealed by Polaroid some time back.

will.i.am(Black eyed peas) though, has been vehemently averring that his role, unlike his industry peers (err…old industry peers) is very different since he will be contributing during monthly brainstorming meetings at Intel headquarters along with his new industry peers, Intel engineers and coders.

What does all of this actually mean? 

Does it really make sense to spend a fortune on these out-of-box ideas on toying around with designations that use to be serious once? 

Some real creative directors that had adorned these designations before doesn’t seem to be happy with this new vogue. George Lois, who created "I want my MTV" campaign asks if these celebrities even understand what is the job all about? Simon Doonan, the longtime creative director of Barneys opines that these roles are more ambassadorial in function rather than technical or designatory.

But there has to be something for which these companies are scouting for creative directors from a historically unknown territory for them, entertainment industry. Following are some benefits that such tactics are expected to pay off – 

• Improved, increased and expanded Brand reach and Identity 
• Access to a vast un-reached audience through celebrity relationship and network(Celebrity+Industry1+Industry2+Product) 
• Access to a huge number of fans and followers who instantly connect to the product or brand that the celebrity is so seriously involved with
• Higher celebrity involvement with the brand, makes its success or failure more important to the celebrity than what it would be if the celebrity was a limited tenured ambassador 

However, there seems to a fair number of problems as well in honking this horn. 

• The company/product brand association may suffer if the celebrity brand takes a hit
• It is always a big gamble in terms of money and reputation invested into such arrangements 
• Chances of irking the real brains working on a concept, product or a brand by throwing away higher designations like this as part of marketing strategies.
• The consumer base or loyalists of company or product have a brand image about the same and bringing in a celebrity for a serious role might create negative impressions in terms of companies attitude towards its consumer segment as well as seriousness of its ethos and work-culture 
• Investors and consumers may look at these attempts as desperate measures to fill in for real good marketing tactics pointing toward weak business strategy

Where does this trend leads these companies to and how does it evolve further, we will have to wait and watch!


Cheers,

Celebrities to Creative Directors - A Marketing Gamble?

Let’s jot down what does it take to be a creative director of a company, or to make precise sense, a technology company. A creative director of a technology company must have an acute understanding of technology, not just the one which the company deals with, but what is around it.

A creative director has conceiving creative solutions, programs and applications, planning project scheduling and execution, recruiting the right team to do the job, managing and/or overseeing the project execution and bringing the project to completion as some of the most important items on his/her job description.

Alicia Keys - Creative Director, Blackberry

 It makes the point clear that a creative director just not have to be “creative” to be adding value to his/her job and organization. A creative director must also be an excellent team leader having a keen sense of technology, be amazing at communication and have managerial skills to build a real house instead of imagining castles.

Do the recently anointed creative directors like Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, will.i.am, Justin Timberlake etc have it in them? No doubt they have been achievers in their fields of entertainment. No doubt that they have the passion of doing things what they like doing and doing it with the flair so as to be successful. But does being creative in their field make these ladies and gentlemen the right choice for a serious post like creative director for serious technology firms like Blackberry, Polaroid and Intel? We will have to wait for the answer.

It does make sense to mention here that inspite of all the efforts by these tech giants and their new directors to paint these affairs to be serious milestones, not many are taking them seriously. A majority of people take this pay-rolling of celebrities lightly calling it nothing but a marketing gimmick.Though this trend is not finding many serious takers in the technology industry, the sheer number of celebrities being welcomed into the executive list is alarming and hence cannot be ignored. However, if it is a serious business tactic or a tactless marketing maneuver, that remains to be established.

will.i.am - Director of creative innovation, Intel

So why did it happen and continues to happen?

The problem surface from the use of the word ‘creativity’ (as in Creative Director or Director of creative innovation) which along with ‘innovation’ and ‘strategy’ is probably the most abused word in today’s world. It has always been a misconception that anything to do with art (singing, dancing, craft, painting etc) is a lifetime membership to the “i-am-creative” club.

  

When this misconception is taken very seriously, the positions which were historically secured by professionals with exemplary qualification and experience starts getting adorned by celebrities who, in many cases, have a shallow or no understanding of the product, company or industry as such. Their creative credentials are deemed enough for them to sport a lanyard.

Victoria Beckham’s appointment as a Creative Director of Range Rover also baffles me in-spite of her claims of making serious contributions to the design ideas. Similar claims were also made by Lady Gaga while launching Polaroid products earlier. Will.i.am went on to say that he actually sits with coders and analysts and visits the Intel office every month for a meeting with his peers.

However, the question remains, does it really help the companies? The answer is yes and no.

I am sure you would be able to figure that out as well, We will take this in our next post anyways.

cheers,