Local brands at 'Fair' advertising - Literally fair !

India’s obsession with white skin doesn’t seem to be fading any sooner. Watching foreign models and actors dominating the beauty segment ads and promotions for products being offered to Indian consumers (who have a very different skin complexion and skin type) has always been a little perplexing to me. Perplexing not due to ‘exploitation’ of this trend by the cosmetics companies but because I wonder for how many more decades we will be coaxed by the myth- more fair is more beautiful. Nevertheless, as far as beauty products are concerned the white-skin obsession was always a legitimate excuse for empowering this trend, but do the same “rationale” works for segments outside beauty and cosmetics? Looks like it does!

It is hard to miss the wave of home-grown Indian companies in segments like automobile, apparel, consumer durable using foreign models as part of their brand communication through advertisements.

Which companies' use of foreign models and location is baffling

Before we go any further we must distinguish between the companies on the basis of whether or not they are home-grown and where do they ‘extensively’ generate their revenues from, Indian market or foreign market (where is the major consumer base?). 

We must also differentiate between the use of foreign models (not-known to the audience to whom ads are exposed) and foreign celebrities (Hollywood actors & actresses, sportsmen & sportswomen and other famous personalities).

How having a celebrity in the ad a different ballgame than
having just a 'foreign' face and exotic location instead?

There are multiple reasons for foreign MNCs with target market as India as well as Indian MNCs with target markets in foreign countries to employ foreign models and locations in their brand communication and promotion through advertisements. Also using foreign celebrities as the face of certain brands in India is also backed with some sound and logical arguments. Very briefly put, these could be -

• When an international brand creates a single ad for multiple markets and hence saves on the cost of creating multiple ads for multiple markets
• When an international brand aims at a globalized marketing strategy which has to ensure the right and exact communication spread into multiple markets across the globe
• A foreign brand specifically wanting its genesis to be exposed, portrayed and made to be talked about in the target market, thus helping its cause. Example – ‘German engineering’ for automobiles, ‘From the coffee bowl of the world’,"Premium English chocolates" etc.
• Signing one very famous celebrity helps the company to cut costs on signing multiple celebrities from target markets thus saving cost and adding credibility and brand following to the brand and the product
• Legal reasons to avoid controversies in target markets. Eg. Ads from Jockey and Triumph in India

There are many other reasons which can be looked into detail to understand how using foreign models or celebrities by international brands help them build a credible image in a market like India. 

However, what is to be seen is why are home-grown companies who mostly sell their products in India and hence have to largely communicate with Indian audience are giving more importance than ever to foreign models and locations in their ads.

Apparel segment –

Madura Textile and Raymonds are two major homegrown companies that have built their apparel brand around relevant communication and effective advertisements that are based largely around foreign models and exotic lines. Some of Madura’s famous brands are – Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England etc. On the other hand, Raymond created Park Avenue, Parx and Color Plus etc. Have a look at the flyers of these brands which boasts foreign models showcasing the desi brands. Interestingly, even the locations picked are alien to the Indian consumers.

Van Heusen by Madura Garments

 Allen Solly by Madura Garments

Peter Englnd by Madura Garments

Parx by Raymonds

Mobile segment –

Some home-grown mobile phone players are Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, Spice etc

When we look at some of the recent advertisements by these companies for promoting their products and brand as a whole, it’s difficult to miss an overall exotic and foreign feel that is tried to be served to the audience watching these ads. It starts from the actors in the ads who are mostly foreign models, the locations which look exotic and even the central theme which tries hard to seal it as an exotic affair. Below are links to some video ads for these companies which are peculiar with their foreign cast and locations.

Micromax Canvas 2 

Micromax Canvas HD

Karbonn Titanium

Spice Cappuccino 

Spice Pinnacle Series 

Why this trend?

There are many arguments to justify this ever-growing trend. Indians are considered to be having a chronic hang-up with the white skin syndrome which many blame on the British colonial rule. Britishers ruled India for more than 200 years and that did something more than just nurturing servitude as an acceptable behaviour evident in our political and bureaucratic mechanism. India grew older under the sense of how the white-skin was always more smart, more successful and dominating over the dark-skin.

White is Might?

This ill-gotten belief automatically brewed some more erratic behavioural changes in Indians who started to believe that everything that has a white-skin endorser is a quality proposition. However, it might not be completely inaccurate to say that local products due to substandard production techniques and lack of consumer-focused marketing have let down Indian consumers over and over again and hence strengthened their belief about the superiority of foreign products over their national counterparts.

Hence, international brands and products promoted by foreign models became aspirational and soon consumers wanted to be associated with these products and brands, not necessarily due to functional (& technical) but emotional attributes.

How is this consumer behavior trait utilized by marketers? 

With these starting points, it has become an easy approach for local companies to add an international touch in their communication which in turn heightens the brand image in eyes of its consumers, as the product will be seen accepted and endorsed by ‘smarter’ and ‘better-looking’ brigade of foreign models. Behaviourally, a consumer starts looking himself or herself in place of the model of the ad who is shown to be the center of attraction, and is ‘coincidentally’, also white-skinned.

What does it actually do for the brand or the product?

Is the color prejudice typical with Indians only?

• Automatically induces a ‘quality product’ belief in the consumer
• Make the product look being accepted by higher evolved markets and more informed consumers hence rendering credibility to the product and brand promise
• Increases the acceptability of the brand and the product due to an international touch
• Makes the brand aspirational by strengthening brand image
• Place the brand above some other local brands helping it climb the value ladder without much real technical innovation
• Such communications add a premium-ness to the product allowing the manufacturers to command higher price which can be invested to product improvement leading to actual ascent in the segment against competitors (instead of difference in communication level only)
• Changing fence-sitters into consumers
• Reducing cognitive dissonance

The last point mentioned is important in many senses. A marketing tactic for promotion can only take the product so far. Beyond a point a product should speak for itself. Such a strategy if systematically implemented may give a higher end to the brand at the start but eventually a superior product is what is needed to take the brand further. An ordinary product will soon be recognized and the gross mismatch between the appeal created through brand promise for the product and actual product will leave no option for revival. Koutons’ debacle is an example of such a mistake though there were other major loopholes in its marketing strategy as well.

How long – Can & Will marketers use this erratic and stereotypical behaviour of Indian consumers, answer to that question lies in another question - How long the whit-skin syndrome will keep its hold on Indian consumers?

Cheers,

IndusInd Bank - Hitting lucky number just right!

Riding on its central theme of “Responsive Innovation” and superior customer-centric approach, IndusInd Bank has been unveiling a string of services for its existing customers. These services reinforce its commitment to identify and bridge need-gaps for its customers.

 Latest feather in its ‘responsive innovation’ service-cap is the – ‘My Account, My Number’ scheme. Just like other services introduces earlier this year like – ‘Direct connect’, ‘Quick redeem’ and ‘Cash on Mobile”, MAMN too is a result of extensive consumer and market research undertaken by the bank and it seems that the bank has gotten it right this time too.

My Account, My Number – This service allows a customer to choose 10 of the 12 digits of his or her bank account number. The other 2 digits are fixed to identify the type of bank account. The move is a unique one and will benefit the bank in multiple ways.

This proposition specifically aligns with the preference and sometimes obsession Indians have with numbers due to emotional, rational and even superstitious reasons. Preferred vehicles registration numbers and mobile phones number commanding exorbitant premium in this country justifies the assumption and research results.

A well-planned (Business approach), extensively researched (Consumer preference), efficiently implemented (Operationally) and effectively communicated (Business proposition or offering) marketing approach has given the IndusInd bank the credibility in the eyes of its customers (existing and prospective) in terms of it customer-centric culture. This will help IndusInd bank in attracting new customers not just due to existing unique services but also because it will keep the customers anticipating further propositions due to a well-managed marketing offering and communication plan in the past. It also helps in retaining existing customers by reducing the cognitive dissonance as the customers feel that the bank care about their needs and comes out with consumer-centric propositions regularly.

The bank’s earlier service offerings were also based upon extensive research and were meant to solve some specific pain points which customers pointed out during the research. Direct connect is one service which is longed by almost all the consumers. It is a well-known fact that in the era of ‘customer-service’, reaching actually to a customer service executive through your phone is nothing less than solving a jigsaw puzzle. This maze of selections on phone before reaching to the executive was cut short by ‘Direct connect’.

Other services like Quick Redeem and Cash on Mobile too were launched in response to pain points, ‘must-haves’ and ‘good-to-haves’ identified through consumer research.

The campaigns to communicate these services adopted a 360-degree integrated marketing approach to propagate the service message. Print, Television, OOH, Radio and  Digital mediums have been brought to use.

The ad campaigns have a subtle humor which manages to draw in customers’ attention and ensure higher brand recall. Message clarity is the key in all the campaigns as the service message is the central character of all the ads. Be it the ‘calling web or kabaddi’ for Direct connect or the number-obsession for the MAMN offering. An intelligent choice of the celebrity does the trick as well. The celebrities (Sharman Joshi, Jimmy Shergil and Neetu Singh) though are well-known but not that big of stars which may risk taking the attention away from the central message and the value offering. Also, you don’t see these celebrities endorsing too many products which avoid the risk of the product and message getting lost in too many endorsements undertaken by the celebrity hence diluting the credibility.

Overall, IndusInd bank has used extensive consumer research and put across its innovative service offerings effectively to its customers. How this approximately 20 crores marketing expenditure pays back in terms of top-line and bottom-line addition? We have to wait to see that. 

My Account, My Number - video

Call Kabaddi - Direct Connect Service - video

Cash on Mobile - video

Guerrilla Marketing by Renault - The Va Va Voom campaign

Guerrilla marketing has always been a subject of great interest. Not always because how catchy or even relevant they are but due to the sheer amount of strategic thinking and object-drive approach applied in a seemingly random act.

Wikipedia defines Guerrilla marketing as an advertising strategy in which low-cost unconventional means are utilized, often in a localized fashion or large network of individual cells,to convey or promote a product or an idea.

 Everything about the definition looks fairly simple and seems like basic common sense. But the tricky part is to achieve that. How does one create an advertising strategy that is - Amazingly relevant, reasonably cheap and craftily result oriented.

One such campaign was launched by the French auto-maker, Renault for its car Clio 4.

The campaign was conceived and created by Scorch London’s Director, Steve Jay together with Unruly Media’s Creative Solutions team.

There are three major factors that a marketing campaign like this is based on.
- The context or what
- The objective or why
- The theme or how

The Renault Va Va Voom campaign scored well in all the three aspects and was justly rewarded with more than 3 million views and 78000 shares in the first week of its launching.

Context - Renault was showcasing its Clio 4 car which it claims, is made keeping Va Va Voom in mind. Va Va Voom can be loosely associated with a feeling filled with inspiration, excitement and energy.

Objective - Renault wanted to demonstrate the Va Va Voom attribute of its car through a story that would induce the same feeling in its customers.

Theme - Renault chose a story where it subjected its unsuspecting test-drivers(2 males and 2 females) to a situation which had all the characteristics to instill in them, the Va Va Voom feeling.

Renault invited 2 men and 2 women separately to test drive the new Clio 4. At a stop during the test-drive the car agent asks the customer to press the specially fitted "Va Va Voom" button. The moment the button is pressed the place is transformed into a classical french set-up with aroma of coffee, a kissing couple, motor cycles and the audible french conversations on the st
reet. But the final stroke is yet to come. A few seconds later there appears a group of  women dancers for the male test-drivers
and a group of shirtless men for female test-drivers. Each one trying to get attention of the driver in his or her own way. Needless to mention the test-drivers are spellbound and

keep asking for more!

The story does two things in particular.
One, It invigorates the customers with the Va Va Voom intensity which the car is claimed to bring to its driver/owner. The campaign shows how does the car makes its driver feel and takes the driving pleasure and owners pride to an all new level.

Two, Renault puts across its authentic French car-maker credentials in a very subtle manner. In the process it show case the french attributes of romance and pleasure associated with itself and its cars.

Link to the Girls video (Male test-driver)
Link to the Boys video (Female test-driver)