BRANDING LESSONS FROM ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

 

Roadshows alone won’t win hearts

State Elections Results 2021: A Branding POV

Every election campaign is a case study for marketers and branding professionals as these campaigns are aimed at convincing a large target audience within a short period of time. At the end of the day both a brand owner and a political party is trying to ‘win hearts’ by promising a value through their product/service.  Verdict of the audience on state elections 2021 is out and here is an opportunity for marketers or brand owners to learn how the winner could reach out to the target audience convincingly and how the losers couldn’t do so. Different states went under elections just now. Maybe what we are going to analyze here is applicable to all the states but let us stick to one state, Kerala, to make the analysis shorter and clear.

Road shows alone won’t win hearts: ATL alone won’t bring customers

All the three major political parties carried out road shows, yathras and mass rallies for the election campaign. But what made the winner smart is that the CPM under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan used their entire party machinery to go to the ground level and talk directly with the voters. They meticulously went door to door convincing the voters about their proposition, replying on the spot to clear the doubts in the minds of the voters. BJP and the congress depended more on road shows and yathras and mass rallies to ‘win hearts’. Here is an important lesson for brand owners too. ATL advertising or mass advertising in mass media like TV can make your brand name register in the mind of the consumers but if you want to convert that consumer as your customer, then you have to find ways to connect with your target audience directly through BTL advertising too. All avenues including digital medium will have to be used to connect with the target audience directly, introduce the product/service proposition, reply to their genuine concerns and be interactive. ‘Winning hearts’ is what creates a loyal customer and winning heart is not possible through one side communication but only through interactive communication.

Brand loyalty among your employees and trade partners

Any brand to be successful has to go through different channels of participation from the brand owner, inner core of the team, partners like dealers/distributors, retailers and so on before it reaches the final customer. Only if all these channels believe in your product/ service proposition, will they promote your brand to the end consumer. The winning party in Kerala and its leader did the same with their strategy. They convinced their political partners or allies about their stand on each subject, made them believe they are one for all & all for one and at times they even corrected according to the feedback from their local partners. This resulted in creating a unified voice in their campaign and this in turn made clarity in communication for the voters. This is another lesson for any marketer or brand owner. You cannot go out there and sell your product/service directly to every end consumer. Your distribution channels or anyone who takes your product/service to the end consumer should be seen as your brand ambassador. To do that you have to convince them that they are a mutual partner in your success story and for that you are ready to hear them out and do any corrections if necessary.

Clarity in brand proposition

Any campaign to reach your target audience should have clarity in your campaign proposition. The more positive the campaign thought is, the more receptive the target audience will be. LDF had a very clear slogan as their proposition whereas the UDF and NDA had vague communication platforms. ‘URAPPANU LDF URAPPANU THUDARBHARANAM’ (Sure it is LDF, Sure it is continuity for LDF) was very clear about what they are asking for and it showed the confidence in their approach. ‘naadu nannavan UDF’ ( to make this place better, vote for UDF) is a vague statement that anyone can put forward and there was a need to clarify how they are going to do it. ‘modikkoppam puthiya keralam’ (new Kerala with Modi) is also a vague statement which is not clear about the campaign platform or the brand proposition. Here is another lesson for a marketer/brand owner. Be clear first in your mind about what you are going to propose to your target audience. Create campaign platforms which will motivate your target audience to buy your product/service through clarity in your campaign thoughts and stick to the campaign platforms throughout your campaign period. Communicate in different levels to your target audience on what you mean by your campaign platform and what they can expect from your proposition.

Believe in your campaign platform and stick to it

Once the LDF decided on the campaign platform to have the word “Sure” in their slogan it is interesting to note that every leader, whether from the main party of the LDF or the smallest party in the LDF, tried to use that word even in their local press meets. This is a great example of how your campaign thought can be made popular among the public. The campaign platform should be believed in by the brand owner first and should adamantly try to stick on it during the campaign period. Everyone associated to the brand should be motivated to believe in that thought and they should propagate it whenever they get a chance. A campaign platform should be created after long thoughts over it and once decided has to stick on it rather than changing it during the course of the campaign.

Disclaimer: Pictures downloaded from internet just as reference images.

CHANGING LAWS WILL CHANGE THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

 

IT IS THE LAW THAT CREATE BIGGEST DISRUPTION IN BUSINESS. EVEN MORE THAN A PANDEMIC OR A DISASTER

  

We are amidst a pandemic that has shook the world and have created disruptions in businesses. It has forced us to change and create innovations in the way we live and do business. Still I believe the biggest disruption in any business is created by the laws of a state or a country. If you don’t agree imagine this. The pandemic has created lots of new business opportunities for eg. Sanitizers. But each state has different set of rules to procure, manufacture or distribute the contents which create sanitizers. So any business man who thinks this as an opportunity and invest in it should be aware of the laws that govern the industry he is investing in. Now imagine there is another business man who has huge supply of sanitizers with him and there is huge demand in another state but that state has stiff regulations to do this deal. Many people had started selling homemade cakes & bakery items to overcome the present financial burden but there are laws which they have to conform to even for such businesses. In states like Kerala the authorities have warned that unless these business-from-homes are registered under FSSAI they are liable to be prosecuted. So it is not the supply, demand or opportunity that creates or disrupts your business but it is the law that does it. An entrepreneur should never forget that any business in any country is governed by certain rules & regulations made by the respective governments. Even there will be different set of rules for different states within a country.

NEW LAWS FOR ADVERTISING (The Consumer Protection Regulation Act 2019)

From July 2020 a new law has been implemented in the field of advertising and without knowing this new law it would be suicidal for any business house or advertising companies to go ahead doing earlier kind of advertising. The new law seeks to hold manufacturers, service providers, advertising companies and celebrity endorsers accountable for ads, stipulating heavy fines and even jail terms for misleading claims. There is a provision in the new law which allows for ‘e-filing’ of complaints and a video conferencing option to participate in complaint redressal. Gone are the days of escaping from customer complaints by simply stating on your documents or packages that any dispute can be filed in the remotest place on earth.  Till now we had only ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) as a self regulator which had no legal authority to prosecute the offenders. Now, a Central Consumer Protection Authority, headed by a government-appointed chief commissioner, will be set up in Delhi to regulate violations of consumer rights, unfair trading practices and false or misleading advertisements. And keep in mind this new law is not applicable only for the traditional media of advertisements but also for the new age media like the digital.

CELEBRITIES, BRAND OWNERS, AD COMPANIES BEWARE

This new law brings into its umbrella everyone involved in the marketing of a product and even the so-called digital delivery platforms or aggregators are also held responsible for false claims or misleading advertisements. The biggest move is to bring the celebrities who endorse a product into the ambit of this new law which for sure will make celebrities think twice before doing blind endorsements without checking the facts of their claims. Guilty manufacturers and service providers face jail terms of up to two years, along with fines of up to ₹10 lakh. Celebrities found endorsing misleading ads can be fined up to ₹10 lakh. For repeat offences, the new authority can impose a fine of up to ₹50 lakh and a jail term of up to five years. It can also bar a celebrity from endorsing ads for up to a year, extending it to three years for repeat offenders.

HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

We are in the midst of lots of false claims by even the biggest of brands in the country. Most celebrities even don’t care what they are endorsing as far as they are paid hefty sums. For eg. The 99% germ free ads has become so outdated that people now see only that one germ that remains on the screen as every ad looks and claims the same for similar products. People know these claims are outright false ones that they don’t even care whether it is 99% or 95%.  All this will have to change with the new law. The approach and language of advertising in marketing a product or service is going to change or else you will be held responsible by the consumer as this new law is giving full control over to the consumer. This will bring back good copy, good content, based on sound strategies back into play in the field of advertising. This will bring back the creativity of thinking how to place the product or service into the consumers mind by sticking to the originality of the product or service rather than with misleading loud false claims. Advertising companies will have to work more closer with the brand owners to create brand awareness on a long term basis rather than the short term loud speaker ones. As an advertising professional who always believe in the power of good advertising, I personally am more than happy with this change in law. Good advertising for me is simply communicating the true good elements of a product or service to the consumer in such a way that the consumer finds it satisfies a need or solves a problem for him/her. Bringing in a celebrity for the sake of influencing a consumer with false claims is not good advertising. Offering discounts which you don’t get in reality is not good advertising. So the new law for sure will make the brand owners, ad companies and the celebrities more responsible toward the messages in their ads. This would bring a more level field to play with words and visuals and only the real professionals would be able to create ads which help a brand to be on top of mind of the consumer. Both advertising industry and brand owners will have to innovate to adapt to this new disruption which is going to be out there in the market, even after the pandemic has left us. So all the stake holders in these industries better learn the rules by-heart so that they won’t be forced to leave the field of play.

Branding in the Time of Corona

“Florentina Ariza had kept his answer ready for fifty-three years, seven months and eleven days and nights. 'Forever,' he said.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
The great novel gives us a message - even if you have to face uncertainties in life, patience will lead you to your goal. At times we may have to step back to reach that ultimate aim. A brand owner has to be patient to make his customer loyal to the brand just like the lead character in that ever-famous novel by Marquez. It is not about bragging about what you have but end of the day it is about the customer falling in love with your brand.
 

Branding in the Time of Corona

These are testing times to the human species as a whole and every individual has a responsibility towards the global community in fighting this out. The corona virus has unleashed never seen terror among people through COVID 19 and every brand is getting affected by its devastating hold. So what should Brands do during these testing times?

Do’s and Don’ts

Be Silent – This is not the right time to try to sell your products or services through advertising. Nobody is going to even read out what you have to offer unless it is useful for their daily life to face this difficult situation. For eg. A bank should refrain from offering their products like fixed deposits, A hospital need not advertise about its huge infrastructure or equipments, A retail showroom need not offer discounts to lure customers. On one end these won’t get any eyeballs from your target audience and from another end the customers in these troubled times would look your brand as just plain insensitive. On the other hand a hospital can advertise its new video consultation services, a bank can advertise its digital services especially those services which may help the customer financially during these difficult times like allowing them to overdraw their salary accounts, a retail showroom can allow their customers to buy online and allow returns & exchanges on such purchases or even introduce EMI schemes so that the customer can pay later for their apparel purchases.

Care your customer from your distant shores – Brand loyalty is all about making the customer feel the brand as their own. It is not about the colour of the logo or the emblem but it is all about the perception of a customer on a brand’s ability to satisfy their personal needs, it is about the perception of the customer about how a brand cares them. For eg., When a bank advertises about all the covid care measures but don’t even sanitize their ATMs a customer doesn’t feel the brand cares them. When a hospital advertises about their infrastructure the customer may not notice them but when the hospital provides sanitizers for free it may connect to the general public. When a retail showroom announces discounts the customer may not even look at it where as when it does something to give out masks to the general public it may get noticed. In short it is not about shouting in their ear but about caring your customer to overcome these tough times.

Be patient, Shut your mouth – These are the times when the authorities under the Govt. and everyone world over are trying to spread the message about how to fight COVID 19. There is no need for the brands too to spread the same messages. Just sending the same messages they get from every other source along with your brand logo doesn’t make any change in the daily life of your customer in these difficult times except you are one more another person who clutters their mobiles and mail boxes. So be patient, shut your mouth and open it only when you feel you have an idea which may contribute your customer another tool to fight this deadly disease. Save your money & resources spend on useless advertising, wait for the good times and wait for your loyal customer to return to you on their own at the end of this mayhem.

Experiential branding – This is the time to create experiences for your customer that influences their perception about you. The other day I saw a 3 star hotel in my town, which was not that popular earlier, being appreciated by everyone passing by. What they did was simple. They put out their hand wash sink on the pavement outside their hotel walls which can be used by at least 5 people at a time to wash their hands with soap and water. Now this is what makes the customers notice than the hotel spending huge sums on advertising in mass media. These are little things for a brand to think about but make huge difference in the perceptions of the customer. They experience the care directly rather than the brand speaking for itself. When your target audience is facing difficult times create experiences for them which might reduce their pain a bit. Yes that too should be considered as a branding exercise for the brand’s long term benefit.

'The Hindu' - the mainstream Indian newspaper had the guts to publish an ad in their own newspaper saying it bluntly against the misuse of ad space during these difficult times. Kudos to them for saying it on the face.

EXIT TRADITIONAL HOARDINGS. ENTER DIGITAL WALLS.

What it means to Brands down South?

Static Advertising will change to Real-time Interactive Advertising

End of the Traditional Hoardings/bill boards

Two decades back we were amazed by the huge painted hoardings on a highway or bill boards on top of a high rise building. The people who painted such exquisite works were called artists, even the great M.F Husain was one of them. All of a sudden entered flex printing technology and all those artists went jobless and nobody even knows how they survived later on in their lives. Not everyone is a M.F Husain in any way. Every brand moved on to hoarding advertisements using flex printing and the past decade saw huge developments in such hoarding advertisements. Now we don’t know what will happen to business men, both small & big players, in this field. In every field it is inevitable that new technology will replace older ones and that is what happened to the painted hoardings of yester year. Smart brand owners would have easily adapted to the change as they will be always updated about such technological changes. But in our country, especially down South, we never really get ready for changes that come up in future due to changes in the laws of the country. Now the time has come to say good bye to the hoardings/bill boards as we see a huge change in the way the law perceives such huge hoarding constructions. After all though a horse rickshaw might seem economical, environment friendly and a low cost maintenance option, if the law does not permit it on the road we have no other way but to change our mode of transport isn’t it?

Hoardings as an advertising medium 

Hoardings are one of the biggest components of the media mix in South India now. The rise in cost of advertisements in print & electronic media and ineffectiveness of the digital marketing activities due to the absurd handling of the digital media space by spurious digital marketing agencies also have contributed to brand owners spending a huge amount from their media budget for hoardings as part of their OOH advertising campaigns.  Governments, Courts & Environmentalists have time and again warned about the dangers of the flex material used for hoardings and the danger of the huge hoarding constructions itself. While most of the major cities in North India have moved on to other methods of erecting hoardings, here in South India especially Kerala we still go on erecting even unauthorized hoardings and use every trick in the book to sell them to brand owners. Brand owners too seems to be unaware about the changing perception about such flex printed huge hoardings and are going on spending huge budgets on such advertisements. Chennai for instance had banned flex hoardings years back and they have kept such boards out of the city limits for past several years. Now the latest instance of an unfortunate death of a girl in a mishap involving a huge flex board is sending repercussions around the brand owners and the first ones to see the need to change are the biggest spenders on hoardings – film fraternity. Both Tamil and Malayalam industry leaders have come out with statements clearly against use of such hoardings in their future campaigns. Brand owners will have to follow suit not out of the need but out of the necessity to abide the law enforcement agencies.

Now what next?

We South Indians have a general attitude towards change and are well known for being late to adapt to changes most of the times. So what next for OOH advertising should be phrased as ‘what is the present’ in hoarding advertising just because world over and even in major cities in India digital bill boards have already replaced traditional hoardings? Digital bill boards are using digital images or videos to show advertisements. These are environment friendly and at the same time cost effective to both the hoarding companies and the brand owners. Cost effective for the companies erecting digital boards as they can sell same space to multiple companies. Cost effective for the brand owners because they can use a same space to advertise different messages per day or even per hour. 

Change in advertising approach

Digital bill boards are already in and it is going to stay for quite some time though the medium may change drastically along with the progress in new age technologies. For instance we may not have to wait for many years to see digital moving walls and even digital advertisements on moving vehicles as already commercial production of flexible screens have started in more developed countries. A product coming out of a screen and talking to us personally or a brand ambassador coming out of a screen on a street and talking to us about a product are not imaginary concepts any more with the advent of new age technology applications of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. So it is high time brand owners looked at these prospects and be ready to use such new mediums. What this means for your advertising strategy? A change in advertising content is inevitable as we are moving towards a digital, more interactive medium from a still image based content used in flex printed hoardings.

In shorter terms be ready to change your existing static communication content to real-time interactive communication content. This needs a lot more new set of tools & ideas to make your advertising content relevant to such new mediums. If still thinking this is not going to happen in the near future just check how many advertisements in a print medium like a newspaper or magazine you can see at least a QR code which is the basic tool to make a static print advertisement more interactive. This means even the print media which is the most static advertising message tool is adapting itself towards being interactive. Again down South most of the brands use a QR code just to divert the customer to the website or face book only to see the same advertisement displayed there where as smart brand custodians use such tools to make the customer interact with the brand or product and even initiate a purchase directly through that tool. Brand owners will have to be more focused on their idea or the story about their brand and the communication will have to be more interesting to the viewer in future rather than just announcing what the product or the brand wants to communicate. Every disruption brings in the need of new expertise and it is time to think how to adapt to this future challenge.

PROMISE LESS; DELIVER THE PROMISE - CHANGE IN CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

Gone are the days when big promises used to bring customers in flocks to the store. Technology and specifically the internet have changed the whole business scenario. Though we perceive that the easy accessibility of online stores has made the customer more demanding, if we look at it from another angle it may be working the other way round. Yes the customer is more demanding still but the customer demand has become more specific rather than waiting for lots of offers and goodies.

Let us make this clearer through real life scenarios. Imagine yourself as a customer. You have booked a hotel room directly over phone in one of the three star hotels in a city. You got the best price after bargaining over the phone and the moment you enter the room you start complaining on the size of the room, to the size of the bathroom, to the colour of the window shades, the service quality of the room boy and what not. Now if the same room was booked by you through a mobile app like OYO and you get the same room for the same price as before you don’t complain on anything. You will just stay there in the same mediocre room with mediocre facilities till you have completed your business trip. Yes it is all about the quintessential PROMISE. The customer expectation while booking an OYO room is way less than the hotel offering its facilities directly just because OYO promises less and the customer EXPECTS less.

If you are not yet convinced extend the imagination to any other product. Say you are a customer who has gone to buy a pair of shoes from an offline store which advertised 50% off (of course with a *conditions apply that no one can read). Your expectation is to get a good deal on a good brand. The moment you enters the store you come to know it is only on selected models. Years back in a same scenario you may try to select from those 50% items but in today’s world you would just walk away from the store as you have other hundreds of options. Now even if you buy from the store after umpteen number of try outs and checkups, the moment you come back home you might think it was not a good deal and want to return it. If the same shoes you buy on an offer from an online store like myntra you don’t expect your shoes to be more valuable than you pay, even expect it to have some faults but most probably end up using it even though returning it to myntra is quite easy. So again it is all about the PROMISE. The less you promise the better the customer will be satisfied. The better a customer is satisfied the better they come back. If still not convinced just go to any store, even big brand showrooms and you can see any tall claims with hidden agendas out rightly being rejected by customers. Extend this thought to any product be it cars, airlines or any service offerings or even movies and you will be convinced of this change.

This doesn’t mean offers & discounts are not attractive to customers. Actually customers are all the time looking out for offers but they bite only the ones they feel are genuine ones. So promise only what you can deliver. Try to deliver more than you promise. Customer expectations are more realistic nowadays and this is a blessing in disguise for businesses. Less offers means better bottom lines and turning out your customer to a loyal one is not any more based on cut throat competitions on price but on the genuineness of the product or service. The new age customer is not looking for tall claims from you but transparency in what you are offering them. The customer is not looking to buy from the No.1 in the business all the time nor is he looking to buy from the biggest showroom in town. His expectations have come down. He is looking out for genuine PROMISES, the ones that he expects you to deliver. Mind you, PROMISE LESS; DELIVER MORE is one of the basic theories of brand building & marketing communication. Better go back to the basics to meet the new customer expectations rather than being worn out by over feeding the customer expectations with tall undeliverable promises.

In-film branding & Content Marketing down South

Though late as always, Kerala brands are waking up to content marketing. Thanks to demonetization, the subsequent fall in business and less black money to flaunt around, business houses in Kerala are now thinking different. From the all-out spending on creating television commercials & traditional advertising they are slowly but steadily moving towards content driven advertising including online & in-film branding and they have started to look for other avenues for their marketing communications. But as usual there seems to be a tendency to misuse these new mediums both in terms of creative content and expenditure on such media. This might be either because of the ignorance about the basic concepts of such marketing tools or just because of the age old misconception of advertising - ‘the more you spend the more it reaches out and the more you spend the more you should have voice in such content’. Times have changed. It is not how much you advertise but what you advertise that matters. Today content is the King. Future is in content driven marketing ideas and the content will be influenced and even created by customers.

In-film branding

Recently I happened to watch a Malayalam movie which had in-film branding by about a dozen brands in Kerala. Unfortunately it was done in such a bad way that it didn’t do any good to the movie or the brand as such. The basic concept of in-film branding is that our brand subtly slips into the narrative of the film rather than shouting at every opportune moment. In most of the recent films we can see blatant use of in-film branding techniques which makes a negative impact on the viewer’s mind rather than a positive affiliation to the brand. It would be good if some basic points are kept in mind while going for such branding techniques.

·         Viewer is sitting out there in the theater to watch the film not our brand. So never should our brand be shouting at the viewer in between the film’s story line.

·         Whatever be the brand’s spend on a movie, tweaking the story line to suit the needs of the brand should never be done as it spoils both the brand and the movie. First the movie gets spoilt by such in-film branding and second it results in wastage of money for the brand to be in a flop movie.

·         Hear out the whole story line and decide whether your brand could fit in somewhere in the story line. For eg. a movie about atrocities in a medical institution and your hospital brand being used in the film as that hospital will be disastrous for your brand.

·         Do not shout your brand at your audience because you are not airing your TV commercial within a film. Keep in mind that James Bond is not every now and then waving his Omega watch at the audience; rather it is a device that helps him all his way. James Bond is not mouthing out the words ‘I am using an Omega watch” rather the brand is promoting James Bond films in their other communication materials.

Content Marketing

Though content marketing has reached its advanced stages in India and abroad, Kerala brands still don’t use content marketing as a part of their marketing tools. Online is all about content which is relevant to the viewer. Even Social Media like FB, Twitter etc. are used in a wrong sense by most Kerala brands just as another medium to showcase their print ads or TV commercials. Better be aware of some basic points while using online as a medium.

·         Internet is a medium which can be used to make loyal customers but it can be done only by giving them relevant content. For eg. a print ad put out as an FB post wont create a customer for your saree showroom but a relevant information about a particular cloth material may create interest in the mind of an FB user.

·         Nobody is going to search out and see your TV commercial in YouTube. Create short films, music and other contents which help out to reach your brand to viewers instead of posting your TV Commercials.

·         Think yourself as an FB user. The third time you see an irrelevant post from a business house or a brand you would hide such posts. So no need to insist on daily posts of your brand in social media. Rather go for interesting posts keeping intervals between the posts and make sure they are relevant for your target consumer.

·         Internet is not only about social media and social media is not only about FB, twitter & Instagram. It is a wide wide world out there which includes blogs, travelogues and much more. Use online media in such a way that internet has rich content about your brand or product, again make sure it is relevant to the reader.

·          Mobile games, mobile apps are all alternatives to increase your brand visibility but again it all depends on how you create content specifically for these mediums.

·         Last but not the least, online marketing is all about interactivity and even a single post on FB can create interactive sessions with your customers if they feel it is beneficial for them to interact. Better stop shouting online about what you have to say about your brand/product and start speaking what your target audiences want to hear.

Advertising makes this world a better place to live in

Yes.  Advertising does bring about positive changes to the world around us

Every now and then we stumble upon debates on TV where they fight out like cats and dogs on issues both trivial and significant. At last the so called experts reach on an agreement – Yes Advertising & Films are the culprits for all the evils in the society.

Always on the wrong side of the table it’s high time someone stood up for the ‘Advertising Professional’.

Yes Advertising has changed the world we live in.

For hundreds of years advertising has contributed its part in changing the world around us. Whatever may the critics voice against advertising they can’t take away the contributions of advertising in making people’s life more easier, providing information to the consumer, making the consumer more powerful, providing solutions for marketing problems, innovating products & services and last but not the least uplifting the less privileged people.

We provide solutions: Even if an advertising campaign provides a wrong solution let us make it clear – we don’t create problems. Problems are created by the marketers themselves and we at advertising try to solve those problems, it is not the other way round. Most of the times it is an idea from an advertising company that provides solutions for a problem faced in the society or in a market.

We do influence that too in a positive way: Never ever in the history of advertising have someone created a product successful through negative communications. So atleast for once please own up for our own cravings for over consumption, for our own stands & beliefs  getting influenced in a negative way just through an exposure to an advertisement of a product or service. If it was so easy to influence people out there, advertising would have been extinct as a profession or the world would have been a better place to live in by its own. As advertising professionals we are hired to find something positive about a product or service, not the opposite.

We do inform and help consumer: Without advertising, people might not have found how to use oranges in juice form or how to use even a safety pin. Yes it’s true. These are not exaggerations but facts that you can browse yourself to find out how advertising have passed on information about innovations over all these years. Every day it is through advertisements, whatever be the medium, that consumers find out new ways to use an existing product/service or find out entirely new products/services. Also let us be clear about one thing- If we see misguided information about products, those are the works of such people in advertising who doesn’t know the basics of advertising. No product can be successful in a market over the long run through misleading advertisements. Transparency is what makes all those brands standing out there facing all weathers. Just because there are some scrupulous doctors out there we don’t blame that the whole medical profession is without ethics, do we?

We are always innovating: Every now and then it is advertising professionals who find innovative ways to a marketing problem and often entirely new products are devised by marketers from an idea borne out of an advertising professional’s brain. Innovative applications of existing products have helped people out there and not to mention the innovations coming out in service sectors. It is we advertising professionals who most of the time has to fight it out in board rooms of corporate companies to include an additional service or something out of the usual for the customers.

Yes we change the world: A good advertising is the one which makes way into people’s hearts. World over we have lots of examples where advertising have changed the people’s lives for good. Even a bus shelter made by a brand is a contribution towards the society. And be reminded that most of such activations are proposed by advertising companies not only because they are needed for the brand to reach its customers but also we too try our level best to give something to the society while using such advertising methods. Be it a brand raising awareness about cleanliness in Rajasthan through product sampling within a village festival or be it a government using advertisement campaigns to raise awareness about the need of vegetable cultivation, we as advertising professionals are involved from creating such an idea to making it reach among people. Especially in this age of CSR initiatives gaining importance in marketing mix of a company, we in advertising world are the happiest folks as now we can propose novel methods of sponsoring initiatives for uplifting the less privileged people using corporate money. Earlier we had to fight it out with our clients to allow us such proposals in our strategy.

Yes we do our bit to change the world within the limits of our profession just like the ones who sit there and debate on the floor of a TV channel. Just like any Doctor, Lawyer, IT guy, Mason or a Carpenter we in advertising world do care about the public. Sorry friends we have to find the real culprits for the evils of the society, maybe through individual introspection. Till then leave us alone. We are bent upon finding positive elements in a product, service and the society as a whole. Let the debate continue instead of using us as a reason to end your discussions.

Internet is no more a competitor but a facilitator

C’mon Kerala Retailer, Internet is no more a competitor but a facilitator.

Let us slow down opening up huge stores in every small town.

Its high time the brand custodians in Kerala, be it the client or the branding agency, wake up to this reality. The customers out there have turned smarter in a blink of an eye and they are using their internet facilities in their smartphones or on their desktop/laptops not only to get info about products/services but also to make their purchase online. 

 

Still not convinced?

Just order something from a popular online site and instead of getting your parcel delivered at your doorstep visit the courier office of Blue Dart or DHL directly and get your product. Your consignment will be picked up from a room full of parcels from online sites. Maybe this activity will clear your doubts whether your customer still prefer the traditional way of purchasing. If still in doubt just ask your friends, relatives, their sons & daughters whether they have ever purchased online. It would be an astounding number of online buyers that you had ever imagined.

Internet is not a competitor

Let us make this clear. Internet is not a competitor any more for the traditional stores. Or let us put it this way. Traditional stores in their traditional mode of operations are not at all a competition for online sellers today. Why? Its quite evident. An online customer has more options to choose from, get all the info & comparisons of a product, will get back his money if damaged, can send back the product within a limited time (in some sites it is more than 30 days), even exchange one thing for another if not satisfied and all this they can do on the go. The advantages for a customer are enormous when compared to traditional stores.

Still opening up huge stores?!!!

Most of the Kerala retailers are on a spree to open up new, that too huge ones boasting in terms of the sq.ft of shopping area they occupy, stores on every nook and corner of the state. Small towns are being focused for this strategy where the investment cost is too much when compared to the footfall of customers or even the total population of that small town. All this is going on while even small town customers are the biggest online purchasers and even if not purchasing online they love visiting their nearest big town for their exclusive purchases be it a brand or an occasion. Unless it is an exclusive store or a traditional store with an innovation in product or their service its better think twice before going into all out store expansion gear.

Yes, Internet is a facilitator

I just did an experiment on this subject. I browsed through different online sites for a mid value smartphone.  Of course I need to get the best price and also wanted to buy it directly from the store. So the search narrowed down to sellers in my hometown and just as expected the best price was quoted by a small time vendor who has just one store in the entire district. Is it because they get it at the best price. No, it is just that they have grabbed the opportunity to use internet as a facilitator instead of seeing it as a competitor. While the bigger stores fight with the internet for their geographical reach by opening up unviable stores all over, small time vendors are using the internet as their extended store. Dear big time Kerala retail brands as the old saying goes ‘Better befriend your bigger enemy rather than go down fighting with them’. And by saying this using the internet doesn’t mean just updating the company facebook page, it is way much more than that. Overhaul and manage your website, use online partners to sell your products and instead of just using that old time web banner in your online advertising creatives use online platforms to interact with your existing & prospective customers, get them to visit your website and if possible make them ask for a quote from you.

Customer engagement & Loksabha election advertising in Kerala.

Reach out to customers or face the music. A new brand communicates better than the big brands. Customer engagement & loksabha election advertising in Kerala.

A 500 crore budget by the ruling party, 300 crore budget by the opposition party and undisclosed but definitely low budget by a new entrant makes up for the Lok Sabha Election Advertising Campaign 2014. Advertising to the customers in Kerala market always brings up interesting analysis whether it is a new product or an existing product. It turns out all the more interesting when it is a national election which is the biggest festival of all. All the political parties are trying to woo customers (read voters) by advertising their products (read candidates) and the most interesting part is the big names in advertising are behind creating each campaign.

Glaring mismatch

All the while we ad fraternity cry to clients that knowing the target audience and reaching out to the TG is more important than old fashioned advertising technique of spending a lot of money on bombarding all the media. Then here comes an election campaign where all the parties are made to do the same thing that we ask every client not to do. Every time a change in a copy of an ad is met with disdain by us adpeople and here comes an election campaign with glaring use of misappropriate words.

Local Markets differ

It is a fact that India now has more diversified local markets. Unlike in the old days where a single national campaign would work across all the markets (of course because the ads were mostly targeted to the urban market in each region), now every national campaign is either translated/adapted or even made in local languages taking into consideration the subtle cultural nuances in each region. The local markets have upgraded in their knowledge/info thanks to the technological advancement. Especially the easy accessibility of the internet & smart phones has changed the rules of the game like never before.

Kerala market is all the more unique

High rate of literacy, high rate of English knowledge, different dialects even in their mother tongue (Malayalam) across the state, hypocracy in ideals, always ready to experiment are just some of the key features of Keralites which makes it a unique market. And coming to figures, Kerala has the highest gender electoral ratio which stands at 1,079 women to 1,000 men. 9,06,420 more women than the male voters to be exact as per the figures released by Chief Electoral Officer for 2014 polls. Now comes the most interesting figures – 8.1 percent of the total electorate in the state are first-time voters, 19,33,844 to be exact. Apoliticisation of campuses in Kerala has resulted in making these first- time voters non lenient towards any one political party and the majority of them would vote based on issues or specific candidates. This number of new voters is much greater than the winning margin of LS polls in 2009, in 17 out of the 20 constituencies in Kerala. So the target audience is quite clear in this campaign but yet all the leading parties have gone haywire in their advertising communication.

Why the money gone down the drain?

Communication blunders & wayward selection of media

Congress: 

The campaign thought or the idea behind the campaign is quite interesting provided the fact that it tries to convey that the party has a broader outlook & is inclusive of all sections of society at the same time promoting its brand ambassador Rahul Gandhi as a person who leads from the front. Now let us have a close look at the outdoor campaign and there comes the glaring mis-match in communication. The meaningful Hindi words in the national campaign was translated to Malayalam painstakingly but resulted in words of the meaning which may have to be analysed and interpreted by Malayalam professors if even an educated Keralite should understand. Instead of the campaign being simple it became all the more complex where it doesn’t connect to the uneducated or the educated.

BJP: 

The campaign revolves around the brand ambassador Narendra Modi alone and instead of a campaign that showed what BJP could do right if elected, the campaign focussed on what the other brand (read congress) did wrong. And the worst communication blunder is seen on the outdoor campaigns of BJP where no sense has gone into the translation of the Hindi words into Malayalam. For those who don’t know Malayalam here comes the explanation - A retranslation of the outdoor campaign of BJP from Malayalam to English goes like this “Lots of atrocities against women happens, this time it’s the turn of Modi Government”!!! Is BJP asking for a chance to do the same? Maybe the translators or the agency people know about it. God save them.

Left Front: 

In shortest words LDF campaign can be defined as wrong positioning. Elections are for Lok Sabha and the voters especially the new ones think it at a national level whereas the whole LDF campaign revolves around the disadvantages of the Kerala ministry. The PR & better use of their cadre party system though has done much damage control still doesn’t clearly know who will buy them and who will not. The use of independent candidates to woo the non political votes in some constituencies seemed to be a smart move but only the results will tell us whether it has backfired as the new products were not backed up with good advertising support. Also the low usage of digital media & the high usage of outdoor (flex put up at every single street) doesn’t seem to be a good proposition in this market.

AAP: 

For a new brand entering a new market, they have outclassed the big brands in their PR & Advertising that too without spending too much money. First thing they put up famous personalities in their chosen field who were well known especially among women & youth in Kerala. Maybe they knew that most of the Kerala media have political leniencies and won’t give much space for their candidates unless they were famous. They overcame this scenario through its candidates where it became the products-speaks-for-itself case. Second when Congress, BJP and the Left Front concentrated more on high cost media like outdoor, electronic & print, AAP used customer engagement, one of the most powerful tools in modern advertising, and low cost advertising to reach out to the target audience. For this AAP candidates went down to the target customers directly by conducting grama sabhas (nobody thought it could be done in a sophisticated market like Kerala) and the first direct communication to reach the voters in most constituencies were from AAP candidates through their B&W leaflets inserted in newspapers. The content of the leaflets were so specific to each districts that a lot of time & energy seems to have invested in the study of each market where the product has to be sold. Third, the high usage of digital media has helped AAP to reach out to its customers at relatively low cost. Fourth, they gained free PR from activities by its brand ambassador Arvind Kejriwal at a national level and at the same time at the local level they were involved in every single issue happening on the streets as they didn’t mind whether another party was already involved in each issue. But does that mean this new brand will outsell all other brands? Ofcourse No, But only the results will tell us how much this new brand eats into existing market share of the bigger brands.

In short,  the selection of outdoor as the main media for bigger brands is just opposite to the new age advertising of reaching out to specific target audience & let them experience their product before making a decision. A mass media like outdoor drains out all the money in this case and especially the first time voters & the women voters will expect to meet the candidates or atleast be able to know what each of them stands for. Time is fast running out for all the political parties as the election date is on April 10th, so dear candidates its better late than never to beat the road and reach your voters directly if they should take notice of your worth as a candidate.

On a lighter note, it is better to keep in mind that it is said that nobody can sell a product in Kerala market unless accompanied by a dream. So next time for election campaigns keep in mind that better weave a dream around your candidature or the product will be pushed out of this market for ever in no time.