Advertising - Hotspots and Rankings - They came, we saw and everybody reviewed!

An ad is a product of painstaking craftsmanship. Various elements, ranging from positioning of the product, clarity of the idea behind the product to visibility of the brand, its persona and the power of communication have to be intelligently weaved together. But while some ads manage to rewrite preset creative benchmarks, some go the wrong way, fall by the side and fail to excite viewers. In this section, we review three ads that came out tops, for the right and also for the wrong reasons.

Now i love logistics!

Advertiser: Mahindra
Baseline: Outperform
Agency: NA

4Ps B&M Take: Advertising can be defined in five simple steps – why to communicate, what to communicate, where to communicate, how to communicate and whom to communicate. Much to our disappointment, the latest commercial launched by Mahindra to promote its new age Navistar range of trucks, pathetically fails to sufficiently fullfill any of the above mentioned requirements. The creative (with creativity channelilsed in all the wrong directions, though) opens outside a house where a man standing beside his car is waiting for his son Amar. His son comes out all dressed up in a business suit. He looks disappointed as he feels that his parents failed to understand him. As it turns out, he has been roped in to the family business, which primarily deals in logistics. Now he is confused. Why was he motivated to pursue an MBA in the first place if his father had eventually planned to redirect him to the trucking business? Nevertheless, the father and son duo board a BMW as they set out for an important meeting (or so it seems). Moments later, we see that they have landed up at Mahindra’s showroom to collect the order of trucks they had placed. Soon, Amar seems impressed after seeing the modern trucks. And all of a sudden, the entire business starts making sense and he is proud of his dad’s decision. The end. First things first, we don’t really understand how a fancy truck could motivate this kid (in case his kinds are the target audience). Secondly, logistics is about transportation. It’s a pretty straightforward business. What good would a dozen new and expensive trucks do to the business when the same could be achieved by acquiring second hand trucks at a fraction of the cost? Or maybe they would, but if so, shouldn’t the advertisement have talked about the benefits of the Navistar range more prominently and clearly? The kid may be clear, but Mahindra certainly needs some introspection.

dumb... dumb... dumb... d-uh...

Advertiser: AMD
Baseline: Processors that...
Agency: NA

4Ps B&M Take: If you happen to be a brand involved in the business of selling products to the youth segment of India, which has considerable disposable income, then you don’t just need to have a good product. Your brand positioning and communication should be as clear and impactful. Unfortunately, AMD fantastically failed to realise this. The commercial conceptualised by the chip major to promote its six core processor will in all probability do no good to he brand. The TVC opens inside the bedroom of a newly wed couple. As they start undressing each other (they don’t look convincing here either), one starts presuming that this might be a condom ad. However, it turns out that they had been wearing their wedding attire over military uniforms! As you sit perplexed wondering what’s going on (provided you haven’t already switched the channel or banged your head against the wall yet), the couple starts playing a video game and are shown having a lot of fun. VO: With the AMD six core processor, movies, games and music become so really real, you’ll forget everything else. We just have one word to describe this TVC – pathetic. Idea’s 3G ad had a similar theme just a few fortnights back. Besides being original, it was definitely much more likeable.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Aman ki (FIAT’s) Asha?

The flag-off ceremony by FIAT India for its ‘Securing borders drive’ took place on Independence Day this year. Under this activity, NCC cadets from Chetana College of Commerce will be driving the recently launched Fiat Grande Punto 90HP Multijet through an epic 18-day drive, which started from the Wagah border and will traverse via Sir Crick in Rann of Kutch and Longewala battle field in Jaisalmer. The event was flagged off by Marius D’Lima, Head- Corporate Communications, FIAT India and Shirish Chaudhari, Vice President, Chetana Trust. The drive is to promote relations between India and its neighbouring countries. FIAT is expecting to gain positive consumer awareness with this initiative – and subsequently, through similar such future exercises.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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MAD. AVENUE: NOT SO HOT ANYMORE?

Marketing bigwigs globally have been favouring small, closely-knit agencies for their personal attention for sometime now

Watch Kenny Tomlin – his eyes fixed on a huge flat-screen monitor - in his mousy office housed in an equally nondescript business centre in Wal-Mart’s home town Arkansas and you may at first refuse to believe that he’s the CEO of an agency that is betting on bringing in $7.8 million as revenues for 2009. But Tomlin intends to do exactly that with his three-year-old digital agency, Rockfish. Tomlin’s start-up has stacked some big brands into its purse, including Wal-Mart, P&G, Tyson Foods and Hershey’s. During a year when many big agencies were choking on the recession storm that swept America, Tomlin’s lean and unique business model has kept Rockfish Interactive afloat and growing. So why have biggies like Wal-Mart (which usually works with large agencies like Martin Agency and R/GA), chosen Rockfish to conceive and implement their online marketing initiative? Suraya Bliss, Sr. Director for Communications at Wal-Mart Stores gave the answer to Adage in a recent interview. “They helped us address tough issues, and haven’t lost sight of creativity in the process,” says Bliss, adding that Rockfish helped Wal-Mart with “challenges on the back end as well.”

Bliss is not the only marketer harboring such radical sentiments. While the trend has only now begun catching on in India, big marketers in the US have been favouring small, closely-knit agencies that give them personal attention for sometime now. The fact that they also come 15-20% cheaper than the fancy agencies – with large overheads and swank offices – on Madison Avenue is just an added benefit tipping the scales for recession-hit marketers. And that (recession) is another cause and effect syndrome that is prompting a new craze for agency entrepreneurship in American ad-land. Prompted by layoffs, job insecurities or simply personal dissatisfaction at big agencies, these outfits mostly specialise in digital or social media.

But exceptions like P.J. Pereira and Andrew O’Dell are creating waves too. Both of them quit high-flying executive jobs with big agencies and launched their namesake multidisciplinary agency in San Francisco last year. In an interview, the pair told WSJ: “The problem with most existing ad agencies is that they either have a traditional focus or a digital orientation — and either way, marketers aren’t as well-served as they could be.” They pride themselves on their USP of hiring employees with unusual backgrounds rather than advertising experience, including a wine expert, a music producer, a shark wrestler and a Hollywood screenwriter – some of whom have already delivered award-winning works during the agency’s 18 months. Pereira’s strategy: To think outside the box, one must have people who’ve lived in different boxes! And it works because Pereira has a small team that functions in a casual ambience. Point is, global marketers are increasingly getting convinced by the logic of ‘small is big on delivery’ - Pereira O’Dell has already landed hi-flying clients like toymaker Lego, Pony and the University of Phoenix. The agency’s “strong growth, significant client wins and outstanding creative work” has already landed it the title of ‘Small Agency of the Year’ in AdAge’s first such awards.

Agency consultant Michael Gass believes that there has been a paradigm shift in the manner that small agencies acquire business. Breaking popular perception, he argues that now 80% decision makers find their agency and not the other way round. And if pull is hotter than push in ad-land now, then ‘delivery’ is bound to have more weight than candy floss dressings and plush office decors. Going by recent accolades, awards and new business wins, the small guys are certainly ‘pulling’ in the crowd with their cost effective deliveries, and above all, involved solutions for client problems.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Can a mere name change help erase the past perception of a company in the minds of stakeholders,

especially in the case of PR disasters a company might have faced? Or is a complete restructuring of the management, operations and structure required to make an impactful comeback? Ratan Lal Bhagat investigates the india connection

“Just a change in the name cannot be significant enough to undo the past deeds. The new name has to accomplish a noticeable and significant change in the ways the business entity under the new brand name would function,” Anand Halve, Co Founder, Chlorophyll, a brand consulting firm, enters the war room with all guns blazing. Does that mean that a name change is not enough, but is still a necessary factor to change the perceptions prevalent in the various stakeholders? Then why is it that Cadbury India, when it was hit by the biggest controversy some years back [monikered the worm controversy: some consumers found a few chocolates of Cadbury non palatable and some, even worms in those chocolates] and registered a gut wrenching decline in its sales, never changed its name but came up with a new marketing strategy [it roped in Amitabh Bachhan as a symbol of trust] to regain its customer base while revamping critical touchpoints in the packaging process of its chocolates?

“That’s because an organisation’s name carries value; it’s monetised globally and it’s called brand value,” says all India head of ICMR, Namita Chhetri, “For example, a globally top ranked Superbrand like Coca Cola would never change its name despite pesticide issue because though controversies scrape off brand value, if at the end of the tunnel the brand value remains significantly positive. That’s the case with Cadbury too!”

It is true that the Mahindra-Satyam management is undertaking tactical restructuring steps to make the most out of the situation and to win back the faith of its existing stakeholders and prospective investors. “With the current initiative, we will witness steps by the management to adopt and inculcate the values of performance, ‘customer first’, good corporate governance and citizenship, which are drawn from the Mahindra Group,” envisions Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice-Chairman, Mahindra-Satyam Board. But still, many experts do comment that the Mahindra Satyam name change is actually not a perfectly positioned move as the name Satyam, after the controversy, has acquired too much of a negative value [Disagrees Nayyar, “This is a significant milestone towards the recovery of the company. We are optimistic that this new brand will re-energise the organisation and will be well received by all our stakeholders”]

Accenture’s initial public offering in July 2001 got a heartwarming response as on the very first day, it raised a record $1.7 billion approximately. And much of it perchance thanks to the new name. Axis Bank, with its great marketing strategy, has evolved as a renowned brand in itself and has made considerable financial advances (an increase of 69.4% in its net profits for FY09 at Rs.1,814 crores) since it rebranded itself. In this case, although branding helped considerably, it is true that even restructuring contributed at large to the increase in profits.

In the case of AIU and Mahindra Satyam, it’s yet early days to gauge the aftermath of their recent re-jig. But if one were to take away the biggest learning, from this exercise, it would surely be that there is ‘much ado about something’, and that’s the name. A name change does go a long way in reorienting a corporation’s positioning within stakeholders; but only in the case when a corporation’s past name has negative brand value... Think about it; if I were to change my name, would you still read my articles? Hey, do you even know my name in the first place?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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