Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease. ~Author Unknown
The Ad war is always on, fiercely and ferociously with all the Khans and Bachans, Gangulies and Tendulkars, as weapons on either side in this battle of ideas, designed and executed by ad agencies through various media in varying combination, for the corporate with loads of money, in pursuit of attaining their business objectives-sales volumes, profit or competitive edge.
Advertisements are generally considered as torture or at least an unwanted intrusion in between our valuable hours of infotainment says my class where I last taught Marketing and this topic accidentally came into discussion… Is it so? Not exactly was my answer (biased that I am to the ad world)….. Some recent studies, I told them reveal that many people, youngsters in particular see commercial breaks as more interesting and entertaining than the main programmes in between where these ads peep in…. There the class got struck.. they didn’t protest and it looked that they to an extent agree to that study… The variety of Pepsi ads related to a world cup cricket some years back was chosen as the most interesting TV show by youngsters and college students in a survey conducted in Chennai city at that time… It was shocking for the researcher but that was it…
What does this mean? Does that mean that these ads are doing their jobs? They are reaching their intend targets and are driving people in herds to drink Pepsi or Coca Cola? It doesn’t matter, which brand… come summer the cola sales are up and this summer is no different….. “What is Coca Cola?, it is really water and syrup. But the stuff about the brand is so big and Americanized and refreshing it makes the product really big” … now who doesn’t know that and yet why people buy the yankee stuff and gulp down?
The hype and hoopla created by the continuous and persistent influx of advertisements, termed as ad campaign so influence the consumers psyche, that there will be no place for logical reasoning or to be more genuine many a times logic slowly hides behind hype and slowly fades into oblivion … Repetition is the key and our ad guys know it… Joseph Goebels , the propaganda guru of Adolf Hitler is the inspiration for the Ad world… “tell a lie and it shall remain a lie”.. said he… “but repeat it and it becomes the truth”
Advertising, as per the American Advertising Association, is “any paid form or non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor”. In the process of advertising, the partners at work are the sponsor (manufacturer/marketer), the ad agency and the media, with the consumer or the prospective consumers as the target. The degree of compatibility and like levels of thinking between these partners is the most important ingredients towards success. The agency creates message contents for the sponsor, and executes through the media to the target audience and such messages should be able to gain attention, hold interest, arouse desire and elicit action as far as the audience is concerned…
Regardless of whether an advertisement uses rational or an emotional appeal, regardless of the USP or ESP used, ads work, only if it is identified and owned by the segment of the audience for whom they are designed and executed. New ideas may be resisted or even be counterproductive if the message is poorly designed. This becomes a headache for international marketers in particular because of the cultural, linguistic and racial variations from continent to continent, country to country and even within a single country.
As per Keegan, there are five international product and promotional strategies namely ‘Straight Extensions’ – into the new market, “Product Adaptation” – as per the new market, “communication adaptation” –for the new market, “Dual Adaptation” –where the product and promotion changes for the new market and “Product Invention” – creating new products ….Read your Marketing text books guys… It is a wonderful Model by Keegan….
Theories apart, in practical market, every new entry is a nightmare for the sponsor and the agency, through which they communicate to the consumer. Successful ad agencies do their homework keeping in mind the cultural difference and behavioral pattern of the target audience … But it is easier said than done… This home work thing… is it not??
Tail Piece:-
Ram: I can't understand why you failed in business...
Guru: Too much advertising
Ram: What do you mean too much advertising? You never spent a dime on advertising.
Guru: That's true, but my competitors did.
Showing posts with label ad shooting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ad shooting. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
God !!!..was she faking????
Republished under the best of adformula series...
oh ! what an entangled web we weave ,when we first learn to deceive...
Last night I got a call from an agency friend of mine...(I have non agency friends too) who wasnt able to attend my repeated calls during the week and was full of apologies for not able to do so..
The time was about 11.30, I was about to sleep after a hard days slogging."Tired of pitching preparations yaar".. she lamented..."and our hits are far less than the misses". We last week went to pitch for the new car account , you know the small car guy who announced a change from their current agency owing to non compatibility issues".
I got curious... having left the world of advertising when it started getting internationally and intentionally murky, such field reports keep me in touch with the industry.
"We shed all the intellectual laziness you know"- she chuckled- "for a long period and got our act together,, we pursued the account as hunters would pursue animals"..
I chuckled too, for a moment, visualising the familiar lazy gooses of agencies whiling time in the name of creativity and research......An account review by some client is a time generally when, agencies wake up from slumber, some even from their death beds and get into action. It is a mix of comedy, politics, apathy, latenights, peeping Johnies, blame games, expectations, courage, creative oupour and a lot of celebrated humbug.Agency heads directly take charge, if the client is big,(now a days even for the smallest corporates) - lavishing his divine charm and diplomatic aristocrazy-- people are given special charges.. even expertise from outside is hired if needed so(if the agency have not experienced/worked for similiar accounts)..individuals are identified for specific tasks..research guys spring in action,questionnares and key boards,assuming, tabulating concluding what the consumers need , want , demand...media guys burn their midnight and early morn oil to find some media where the new ads(assuming that the account is won) could be placed..Vox pops.. field interviews..focus interviews... dealer opinion records ..brainstorming, ...creative blockbusting...Dictums like....“You can’t have an ego in this business, but be aware that everybody has lots of them"...7 day weeks.. Friends meaning four letter words.....positioning statements............creative teams and briefs-who "will weave from its plain threads the rich tapestry of flackery that envelops a big idea" and then with all the hype and hoopla ,baggage and politics- proceed to the clients side for what the industry calls as 'pitching'..
"We got the big idea.. we cracked an amazing one" -she continued
"hhmmmm"... I listened with patience."How big is your family? that is the idea..in which the small family in the small car is shot in different locales and shown.. to demonstate how the car becomes an essential part of the family"
"Not bad"- I commended.
"Exactly'...she said .."and that is what they also said"...
"Then"...I threatened her stony silence..
" Then what .. liars.. scoundrels..that was a ploy...you know they didnt drop their agency,they stole all the ideas that we dumbos, gave them in the pitch"....she wailed..." and now my guys tell me that the 'How big is your family ' idea will soon appear on screen and in print with their tag"..
"Amen" ..I managed to say as I gasped for breath.
" We are blacklisting them"..she muttered.."never again, we will try or work for such bad clients"
"Thats good"- I said even as I laughed over the BLACKLISTING thing,,,- "may be now you can start a new agency with tired old people and try again"
******************************************************************
If you try and dont succeed ,cheat.. repeat until caught..then lie..
oh ! what an entangled web we weave ,when we first learn to deceive...
Last night I got a call from an agency friend of mine...(I have non agency friends too) who wasnt able to attend my repeated calls during the week and was full of apologies for not able to do so..
The time was about 11.30, I was about to sleep after a hard days slogging."Tired of pitching preparations yaar".. she lamented..."and our hits are far less than the misses". We last week went to pitch for the new car account , you know the small car guy who announced a change from their current agency owing to non compatibility issues".
I got curious... having left the world of advertising when it started getting internationally and intentionally murky, such field reports keep me in touch with the industry.
"We shed all the intellectual laziness you know"- she chuckled- "for a long period and got our act together,, we pursued the account as hunters would pursue animals"..
I chuckled too, for a moment, visualising the familiar lazy gooses of agencies whiling time in the name of creativity and research......An account review by some client is a time generally when, agencies wake up from slumber, some even from their death beds and get into action. It is a mix of comedy, politics, apathy, latenights, peeping Johnies, blame games, expectations, courage, creative oupour and a lot of celebrated humbug.Agency heads directly take charge, if the client is big,(now a days even for the smallest corporates) - lavishing his divine charm and diplomatic aristocrazy-- people are given special charges.. even expertise from outside is hired if needed so(if the agency have not experienced/worked for similiar accounts)..individuals are identified for specific tasks..research guys spring in action,questionnares and key boards,assuming, tabulating concluding what the consumers need , want , demand...media guys burn their midnight and early morn oil to find some media where the new ads(assuming that the account is won) could be placed..Vox pops.. field interviews..focus interviews... dealer opinion records ..brainstorming, ...creative blockbusting...Dictums like....“You can’t have an ego in this business, but be aware that everybody has lots of them"...7 day weeks.. Friends meaning four letter words.....positioning statements............creative teams and briefs-who "will weave from its plain threads the rich tapestry of flackery that envelops a big idea" and then with all the hype and hoopla ,baggage and politics- proceed to the clients side for what the industry calls as 'pitching'..
"We got the big idea.. we cracked an amazing one" -she continued
"hhmmmm"... I listened with patience."How big is your family? that is the idea..in which the small family in the small car is shot in different locales and shown.. to demonstate how the car becomes an essential part of the family"
"Not bad"- I commended.
"Exactly'...she said .."and that is what they also said"...
"Then"...I threatened her stony silence..
" Then what .. liars.. scoundrels..that was a ploy...you know they didnt drop their agency,they stole all the ideas that we dumbos, gave them in the pitch"....she wailed..." and now my guys tell me that the 'How big is your family ' idea will soon appear on screen and in print with their tag"..
"Amen" ..I managed to say as I gasped for breath.
" We are blacklisting them"..she muttered.."never again, we will try or work for such bad clients"
"Thats good"- I said even as I laughed over the BLACKLISTING thing,,,- "may be now you can start a new agency with tired old people and try again"
******************************************************************
If you try and dont succeed ,cheat.. repeat until caught..then lie..
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Scene 1.. Take 1 ( Part II)
Continued from Part I
Tril was supposedly a path breaker with Endura007 which cleaned the clothes, killed germs and gave sparkle like no one else did… It still wasn’t sinking into the jug head Indian buyers mind set that India and its dirty clothes needed German help to sparkle… The Indian detergent market was not the same like Europe from where Tril came from if it was P&G ‘s Ariel which ruled the charts , in US it was Tide and no Ariel would be available… definitions of premium varied and so did the varieties of Tide or Ariel that one got in their respective markets
The Rs.5,700 crore detergent market in India which is segmented into two product categories - powder and cake was one tough nut for Tril to crack….. Sub categories like concentrates/compact (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), premium (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), mass premium/mid price (Rin, Mr.White, Tide and regional brands) and popular (Nirma, Wheel, Chek) made it difficult for the brand managers and the advertising agency to decide where to enter and where exactly to position. Tril after careful analysis decided to take the mass premium category and that is why this actor from the south was chosen to come all the way and dip dirty clothes, take them out and show ho it sparkles…research said she had the appeal… she was loved by the mass and yet had a premium appeal… she looked premium and yet was mass like material…
The first Tril advertising (launch ad) which Ram and co had made with no famous star in it had shown the offer of this unnamed product for maximum whiteness effect…. The sparkle and the clean which no one else did gave,….. The house wife tries the product and lo and behold, she gets the promised whiteness. After which the product's brand name appears from heaven as Tril….
The competitor was not to be left behind…. He had to prove that this unnamed detergent powder that is offered for trial does not provide that super whiteness and even if they do the unnamed new fellows cannot be trusted…. And they showed a lead female actor who wore cotton saree to look like an ordinary bharathiya nari waxing about the super whiteness of the time tested age old brand while unnamed detergent gets pushed to the background by a group of women talking about the excellent performance of the old brand…
What could Tril do but get another star to counter propaganda..? And the research luckily agreed to the very obvious… get the competing star to kill the other one….
The phone rang again….
Hello … said Ram….
Hey Ram…. We are on the way… said Guru….is everything ready?
Ram didn’t say YES… it was understood that when the unit was there since early morning they would be ready and tired of waiting….
Ram let out a huge sigh of relief … he had his plans for the ad shoot and release… had to rush back to Chennai after the post shoot works… had other brands in his kitty competing for his attention… The life of a client service director was in soup… the more clients in his kitty the more was the confusion… the bigger ones got the better attention and the smaller ones were never happy with that fact of life… the bigger ones weren’t happy either with the divided attention that they got… after all they paid through their noses for listening to them at least ,full time…
The phone rang again….
Hey Ram ..said some one… this time it was not Guru…
Khurana here… I have sad news for you and Tril…..
What is that? Asked Ram
The other guy is reducing its price by half… said Khurana who was head of the research team back in the Chennai agency office…
That means?… asked Ram visibly annoyed
That means now Kite detergent powder will be available at 23 Rs and not 43… said Khurana…. They call it as the biggest ever consumer advantage transfer…
My foot …..said Ram…..
He knew what it meant to his brand… Tril…. It was a price war that was launched… and quite un expectedly,,, the whole shoot now became futile an effort.. after all the strategy was to talk about value for the mass premium segment…
A car came and the whole unit stood up….
Like a dream which came true, the star descended from it…
Tril was supposedly a path breaker with Endura007 which cleaned the clothes, killed germs and gave sparkle like no one else did… It still wasn’t sinking into the jug head Indian buyers mind set that India and its dirty clothes needed German help to sparkle… The Indian detergent market was not the same like Europe from where Tril came from if it was P&G ‘s Ariel which ruled the charts , in US it was Tide and no Ariel would be available… definitions of premium varied and so did the varieties of Tide or Ariel that one got in their respective markets
The Rs.5,700 crore detergent market in India which is segmented into two product categories - powder and cake was one tough nut for Tril to crack….. Sub categories like concentrates/compact (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), premium (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), mass premium/mid price (Rin, Mr.White, Tide and regional brands) and popular (Nirma, Wheel, Chek) made it difficult for the brand managers and the advertising agency to decide where to enter and where exactly to position. Tril after careful analysis decided to take the mass premium category and that is why this actor from the south was chosen to come all the way and dip dirty clothes, take them out and show ho it sparkles…research said she had the appeal… she was loved by the mass and yet had a premium appeal… she looked premium and yet was mass like material…
The first Tril advertising (launch ad) which Ram and co had made with no famous star in it had shown the offer of this unnamed product for maximum whiteness effect…. The sparkle and the clean which no one else did gave,….. The house wife tries the product and lo and behold, she gets the promised whiteness. After which the product's brand name appears from heaven as Tril….
The competitor was not to be left behind…. He had to prove that this unnamed detergent powder that is offered for trial does not provide that super whiteness and even if they do the unnamed new fellows cannot be trusted…. And they showed a lead female actor who wore cotton saree to look like an ordinary bharathiya nari waxing about the super whiteness of the time tested age old brand while unnamed detergent gets pushed to the background by a group of women talking about the excellent performance of the old brand…
What could Tril do but get another star to counter propaganda..? And the research luckily agreed to the very obvious… get the competing star to kill the other one….
The phone rang again….
Hello … said Ram….
Hey Ram…. We are on the way… said Guru….is everything ready?
Ram didn’t say YES… it was understood that when the unit was there since early morning they would be ready and tired of waiting….
Ram let out a huge sigh of relief … he had his plans for the ad shoot and release… had to rush back to Chennai after the post shoot works… had other brands in his kitty competing for his attention… The life of a client service director was in soup… the more clients in his kitty the more was the confusion… the bigger ones got the better attention and the smaller ones were never happy with that fact of life… the bigger ones weren’t happy either with the divided attention that they got… after all they paid through their noses for listening to them at least ,full time…
The phone rang again….
Hey Ram ..said some one… this time it was not Guru…
Khurana here… I have sad news for you and Tril…..
What is that? Asked Ram
The other guy is reducing its price by half… said Khurana who was head of the research team back in the Chennai agency office…
That means?… asked Ram visibly annoyed
That means now Kite detergent powder will be available at 23 Rs and not 43… said Khurana…. They call it as the biggest ever consumer advantage transfer…
My foot …..said Ram…..
He knew what it meant to his brand… Tril…. It was a price war that was launched… and quite un expectedly,,, the whole shoot now became futile an effort.. after all the strategy was to talk about value for the mass premium segment…
A car came and the whole unit stood up….
Like a dream which came true, the star descended from it…
Monday, October 27, 2008
Scene 1.. Take 1
While John Ford was directing a film for Sam Goldwyn, he fell one day behind the shooting schedule. Goldwyn came to the set and wondered what Ford was going to do to get back on schedule....
Ford asked, "Sam, how many pages a day do you expect me to shoot?"
"About five, I suppose," answered Goldwyn.
John Ford picked up the script, ripped five pages out and said, "Okay. .....Now we're back on schedule.....
***************************************************************
The heroine came late as usual for the shoot and the crew sat there waiting, with no complaints, and even if they had, with no one to hear, it was pointless.... The shoot was for the German Detergent powder TRIL which has Endura 007 ( Now don’t ask me what is that... no questions in stories...) and the heroine, half clad ( again no questions please... she is half clad, regardless of the fact that she is not going to bathe with the detergent but to wash, still have to be half clad and wet, as she is the heroine and was bought to Mumbai all the way from Chennai, (with the client paying through the nose..) will dip dip and dip a dirty cloth into a bucket of water made black and the cloth when lifted will shine – white and sparkling…
Ram was in his humorous best and hence was ok with the fact that the heroine was getting late .Even otherwise it wouldn’t have made much of a difference since Guru was away at the airport to pick up the heroine who was flying from Chennai . She would come, then check into her hotel room and then later come for the shoot. The location was in one corner of the city, the hotel in another area and the airport in some other place.. Mumbai traffic will derail all the plans and the heroine missed the first flight and was taking another flight that could accommodate her, her big mother and her personal make up women who also doubled up as her secretary and chief motivator.
Ram had his mobile singing loud…
Yes Guru tell me… he said
Ram ….. The flight is late… Guru shouted from the other end…. Air traffic congestion….
Not again… said Ram … and when man..? hello hello….
Guru went off air as suddenly as he came and Ram sat there thinking of the expenses that are going to mount up.
Green pepper productions were in charge of the shoot and production works.Ram had chosen them after various faux pas that he had done in the past with various production houses some his choice or the agencies, some the client’s persistence.
Tril had no such insistence except for the director who was of their choice and was a good choice one had to admit...
The phone rang again
Ram Ram…. She has come… shouted Guru..,,, what a beauty ram…. Drop dead gorgeous my gawd….
Shut up you asshole… blurted Ram ….and stop drooling.. come fast…
Come where?... asked Guru… she will go to her hotel now and then come.. You know what she asked me my name… I even told her that before she goes I need to take a pic with her…. and you know what ..she agreed… she even said MY Pleasure…. Ha ha ha … can you believe it?
LORD….. cried Ram…. I can’t believe this … you are true… I can't believe this.. why the hell am I tolerating you….
Ok ok… I know you are jealous…now wait ok…..don’t keep calling… we are going to the hotel and will be busy in chatting … TATA… said Guru as he disconnected the phone…
But… hey… Ram desperately hoped that the guy other side still was there…
All humour had evaporated… Ram stood there burning in the hot sun !!!
To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ford asked, "Sam, how many pages a day do you expect me to shoot?"
"About five, I suppose," answered Goldwyn.
John Ford picked up the script, ripped five pages out and said, "Okay. .....Now we're back on schedule.....
***************************************************************
The heroine came late as usual for the shoot and the crew sat there waiting, with no complaints, and even if they had, with no one to hear, it was pointless.... The shoot was for the German Detergent powder TRIL which has Endura 007 ( Now don’t ask me what is that... no questions in stories...) and the heroine, half clad ( again no questions please... she is half clad, regardless of the fact that she is not going to bathe with the detergent but to wash, still have to be half clad and wet, as she is the heroine and was bought to Mumbai all the way from Chennai, (with the client paying through the nose..) will dip dip and dip a dirty cloth into a bucket of water made black and the cloth when lifted will shine – white and sparkling…
Ram was in his humorous best and hence was ok with the fact that the heroine was getting late .Even otherwise it wouldn’t have made much of a difference since Guru was away at the airport to pick up the heroine who was flying from Chennai . She would come, then check into her hotel room and then later come for the shoot. The location was in one corner of the city, the hotel in another area and the airport in some other place.. Mumbai traffic will derail all the plans and the heroine missed the first flight and was taking another flight that could accommodate her, her big mother and her personal make up women who also doubled up as her secretary and chief motivator.
Ram had his mobile singing loud…
Yes Guru tell me… he said
Ram ….. The flight is late… Guru shouted from the other end…. Air traffic congestion….
Not again… said Ram … and when man..? hello hello….
Guru went off air as suddenly as he came and Ram sat there thinking of the expenses that are going to mount up.
Green pepper productions were in charge of the shoot and production works.Ram had chosen them after various faux pas that he had done in the past with various production houses some his choice or the agencies, some the client’s persistence.
Tril had no such insistence except for the director who was of their choice and was a good choice one had to admit...
The phone rang again
Ram Ram…. She has come… shouted Guru..,,, what a beauty ram…. Drop dead gorgeous my gawd….
Shut up you asshole… blurted Ram ….and stop drooling.. come fast…
Come where?... asked Guru… she will go to her hotel now and then come.. You know what she asked me my name… I even told her that before she goes I need to take a pic with her…. and you know what ..she agreed… she even said MY Pleasure…. Ha ha ha … can you believe it?
LORD….. cried Ram…. I can’t believe this … you are true… I can't believe this.. why the hell am I tolerating you….
Ok ok… I know you are jealous…now wait ok…..don’t keep calling… we are going to the hotel and will be busy in chatting … TATA… said Guru as he disconnected the phone…
But… hey… Ram desperately hoped that the guy other side still was there…
All humour had evaporated… Ram stood there burning in the hot sun !!!
To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>>>
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