Celebrity circus.... Recession time Advertising....

Recession has hit all of us as different reasons, for most of us as an excuse or a pretext ....

It’s a mad rush for young blood in the celebrity endorsement scene….the recession that has hit the world so badly seems to have chucked the age old celebrity circus that ruled the roost .The Venerable guys who sat on the thrones of the Indian celebrity endorsement empire are all now slowly being shaken… some are already our and some are there in the queue…

Post March ,the new financial year has given the brand owners a lot of scope to rethink on the wrinkled faces that sold their wares… recession as some one said is a reason, and excuse and an apology for anyone to do anything….and here we are seeing the likes to the great SRK, Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee, Sushmita Sen, Priety Zinta etc etc etc giving way to the likes of Katrina, Deepika, Priyanka, Genilia ( the stupid Cadbury’s perks ad is disgusting though!!) and the hot Dhoni who sells anything from Bikes to Fans…

The Pepsi youngistan campaign was a bit odd considering the fact that it was led by an SRK who was 40 plus… Recession has taken its toll on the deal when Pepsi refused to renew the contract and instead felt happy and YOUNG with Deepika, Ranbir Kapoor and Dhioni….Sachin got out from Pepsi as well, and so did Hrithik Roshan from Coke…

It seems the bad times for SRK is giving him sleepless nights.. Hyundai ended the long association with the Fauji Guy whilst Toyota said a sweet goodbye to Amir khan…Katrina Kaif has deseated the most beautiful Aishwarya in Nakhstara diamonds while she did the same with Sushmita in Pantene..L’ oreal is now with Sonam Kapoor, loss Aishwarya, and BSNL ( the amazingly rich and blissfully boring ) is now with Deepika, loss Priety Zinta…

Genelia displaced the old Rani from Perks ( her ads were better I guess ) and from Fanta (no comments !)…Asin ( the slim mallu girl) who shot to fame after Gajni is now with every brand and every market, so much so that her brand is under dilution than the brands that she endorses.. but who cares? When the sun shines, the clever ones make the hay!!!

Now this is definitely eye catching and attention grabbing but is it going to be a change that the ad industry was looking for?

The money part, is the same… considering the fact that a Deepika will charge no less than a Rani, if not more…

The old faces are too familiar and hence people may not have the charm in spite of the brand spending crores on the contract is an argument that I thought will stand closer to reality..But hey…. Isn’t Deepika over exposed…? Isn’t Dhoni seen everywhere? Every damn product and brand..? (Thank God he don’t sell Mysore sandal soap any more)….

Is this the change the ad world wanted?

Will this oscillation from Tom and Dick to Harry and Martha help??

The comfort zones in which the people in Advertising (the agency, the clients and the others) is often a no entry zone for others…. Its often known to everyone that there could be a better solution and a better option but what is it?

In normal circumstances, normal actions would do…. But in abnormal circumstances………., should people go MAD?

Need not be, for sure but people got to think really really abnormal… For me at least for God’s sake it doesn’t make a bloody difference whether it is Genelia, Deepika or Preity Zinta who cries, convinces ,cajoles ,seduces and stops me to buy what they sell…

I am living with a cut in my salary … Damn it !!!!

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Tail Piece :-

A rich, dying man, laid on his deathbed, requested to be joined at his bedside by his vicar, his bank manager and his lawyer.

He instructed them that he wished to be buried, when he finally passed away, along with all his money. He gave each of them fifty thousand pounds and asked them to throw the money on top of his coffin, in the burial plot, when he died.

A couple of days later the old man passed away and was buried within the week. At the wake, the three men were chatting and the vicar was suddenly overcome with guilt. He confessed to the other two that he had only thrown only half of the money onto the coffin, as the church needed urgent repairs to the roof.

The bank manager thought, ‘What the heck if we are having a confession,’ and told the other two men that he had also only thrown half the money in, as the ‘Credit Crunch’ was hitting hard and he needed some money for the bank to stop it going bust.

The lawyer jumped up and said to the other two, ‘I think that is a shameful act on both of you. I threw a cheque in for the full amount!”......

The Recession conundrum& Agency blues...

The husband leans over and asks his wife, 'Do you remember the first time we had sex together over fifty years ago? We went behind the village tavern where you leaned against the back fence and I made love to you.'

'Yes', she says, 'I remember it well.'

'OK,' he says, 'How about taking a stroll around there again and we can do it for old time's sake?'

'Oh Jim, you old devil, that sounds like a crazy, but good idea!'

A police officer sitting in the next booth heard their conversation and, having a chuckle to himself, he thinks to himself, I've got to see these two old-timers having sex against a fence. I'll just keep an eye on them so there's no trouble. So he follows them.

The elderly couple walks haltingly along, leaning on each other for support aided by walking sticks. Finally, they get to the back of the tavern and make their way to the fence. The old lady lifts her skirt and the old man drops his trousers. As she leans against the fence, the old man moves in.. Then suddenly they erupt into the most furious sex that the policeman has ever seen. This goes on for about ten minutes while both are making loud noises and moaning and screaming. Finally, they both collapse, panting on the ground.

The policeman is amazed. He thinks he has learned something about life and old age that he didn't know..After about half an hour of lying on the ground recovering, the old couple struggle to their feet and put their clothes back on. The policeman, is still watching and thinks to himself, this is truly amazing, I've got to ask them what their secret is.

So, as the couple passes, he says to them, 'Excuse me, but that was something else. You must've had a fantastic sex life together. Is there some sort of secret to this?'

Shaking, the old man is barely able to reply, 'Fifty years ago that wasn't an electric fence' ……

My good old friend Raj who works as a Client servicing sup in a reputed Ad agency came online and was available to chat after a LONG time... recession and the related under employement I guessed, when he suddenly said Hi...

Raj: Hi man...

me: hey dude.. wassup?

Raj: cool man…njoying…

me: hehehe you sound like you just had an orgasm?

Raj: well nothing much to do so yeah kinda orgasm…now we face (like most of agencies here another probs….we can't release ads

me: ?

Raj: huge payment backlog to publications…

me: hmmmmmm

Raj: so they are not accepting the material that we send them for publishing…

me: ohhhh why u guys aren’t clearing it???

Raj: so we tried another 2-3 agencies to release through them atleast…. they also have same probs….

me: sounds tricky…..

Raj: so if they are insisting on a no release, we can very well close down….

me: shit……but who is keeping it pending….you guys or the clients?

Raj: client is paying us it seems….we roll it for some other things…. complete goof up

me: now that is totally unfair… now how u expect media to accept it?

Raj: True.. I am handling the account and now I don't know what to tell them…

me: u ask your bosses… the rolling stones…..

Raj: hehehe… you will be shocked…they are also clueless

me: huh.. what the fuck man…?

Raj: they are all ready to leave… it looks like no one has any idea about what it is going to be… recession is the reason.. but I don’t understand how in March it is affecting us.. it should be after March only….We even thought its like Austerity you know... but now we know its all goof up....

I left Raj there and started wondering… why do some people, never come back to life in spite of electric shocks?

Why is my beloved industry like this?

Tail piece:- So-called austerity, the stoic injunction, is the path towards universal destruction. It is the old, the fatal, competitive path. Pull in your belt is a slogan closely related to gird up your loins, or the guns-butter metaphor.....


Also read my other BLOGS... Chicken curry & Confusion

Advertising & Recession- Why should it coexist? ...part III

6. Advertising makes you innovate

What is advertising for you?
Innovate the reason to advertise when you see the slump. Tell yourself what it is for you.
A tool to react to competition?
A tool to keep your brand growing?
A tool to keep your buyer informed?
A tool to announce new products? Variants?

If you advertise only because your competition also does and they cut back during recession, you also do it. But remember the competition’s objective may not be yours even if both are in the same category. Pepsi and Coke are selling cola and in the same war but the strategies need not be same. One is the leader and one is the follower. Even if, or to see it the other way round it is better to keep the marketing spending on particularly if your competition has cut it. And in any case the grounds to advertise during the happy season may not be the same to advertise during sluggish times. It has to keep going.

7. Seeing is believing

More so during dull times this rule is applicable. When you are not to be seen, as compared to your omnipresence when the boom was on, you will be seen with suspicion. The brands are friends as well .The friend who disappears during bad times will not be trusted. The customer needs to be constantly told how you are with them and how much you are working to help them by supporting them with cost effective offerings.Imagine a B2b firm who disappears from a trade show that they are part of year after year one year due to recession, just to cut costs. There can be better ideas to save money but one needs to think beyond the obvious. To quote Zyman “If you don’t stay on top of the situation, you will be right back where you started: building the brand from scratch. The logic is simple.

8. Advertising is an Investment in Success

Advertising gives you a long-term advantage over competitors who cut back or cancel advertising . A survey of more than 3,000 companies found that advertisers who maintained or expanded advertising over a five-year period saw their sales increase an average of 100 percent, and companies that cut advertising grew at a less than half the rate of those who advertised steadily.Competition is competition pre recession, during recession and post recession. The pie of the market cake that is yours, to keep it intact at least, advertising has to go on. And even other wise for second and third players in a given market, it is the right time to change competitive positions by wise spends, extra pressure and use of creative strategies. Looking for cheaper creative and cheaper production however because recession has come, will end up in a disaster and make your brand look cheaper.

9. Advertising Keeps Your Business Top-of-Mind during recession

With Shoppers with lighter wallets roaming in malls from store to store comparing prices, quality and service, top of the mind recall has become more important than in good times. Some may even stay at home postponing buying decisions unless it is that pressing or that extra ordinary. Advertising must get in touch with them progressively through the complete decision-making process. Your name must be fresh in their minds when they decide to buy .
Now that is a dream which to be true, you need to be seen, constantly and consistently. Bigger brands many a times make the mistake of switching off their engine after they have attained a certain height. It is ostensible, what will come about in such a case.

10. Advertising Gives Your Business a Successful Image

In a competitive market, bad news travel fast both within the firm and outside. Advertising kills rumours by telling the buyer and the market place of your buoyancy and vibrancy and that in turn boosts the morale of everyone from the employee to the buyer. The more so when there is a crisis situation, the ad agencies that handles you will be more bothered about the ROI, the media spends will become wise (particularly in commission based fee structures) media efficiency can be improved and asked for, and the brands will get constant attention by the agencies- both creative and media, which otherwise would have been even lacking.

Conclusion:

Advertising is a tool to successful marketing and brand building. There cannot be two opinions about it. It is a question only when bad times come and recession looms. This is an opportunity for marketers to redefine business and strike new paths than to resort to easy ways like cutting the marketing budgets. The ten points above is just to direct the reader’s attention to the fact that Advertising during Recession is not an oxymoron but instead something which can co exist. As the saying goes “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going” and only the tough gets going.

To quote Prof Andrew Raseghi “ If you are already in the process of tightening your belt anyway, you might as well consider investing in a new pair of pants.”
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Also read.. my other blogs ---- Confusion & Chickencurry .....

Advertising & Recession- Why should it coexist?...part II

In the scenario that was analysed in the first part, this second part takes stock of why marketers should not cut advertising expenditures as is the norm and why advertising has to go on.
The big WHY?

1. Advertising Attracts New Customers

The market changes constantly. People earned more money, pre recession times which changed their lifestyles and buying habits which cannot disappear suddenly because of recession. Going back is impossible for many, may be some cutting down may happen. The customer may become a bit choosier and may see you in the shelf now. The shopper who wouldn't consider your business a few years ago may become a prime customer now. And same the other way round -the shopper whom you wouldn’t see should be seen by you now. The real estate scene for example- you have to keep advertising because the one who couldn’t afford to buy a flat may be able to at least consider one now and how will he know who is there selling what until you tell him…?

2. Advertising Creates purchase even when it is recession

The more people who come into a retail store, the more opportunities the store have to make sales .How do the store generate traffic without advertising?
Even outside the store, the gap between the need and the want is widening according to the recession figures, leading to deferring of many decisions. This Gap of Thought (GOT) where the marketer plays games to lead the prospect to buy a particular brand over some other brand, has to be kept occupied. You have but to listen to the market, keep scanning for unmet needs and the GOT and fulfill them. Advertising is a great tool for such reaching out.

3. Advertising Encourages Repeat Business

Brand and store loyalty is a bye gone phenomenon, maybe except for cult brands. It once did exist but not any longer. To generate newer people in your buying list and to keep the ones already buying from you, intact advertising is a must. The super market where I go, I go back probably only because of the price factor. That is regardless of the fact that I often get confused between value for money and cheap price. I am sure many buyers have the same dilemma. More involved and more frequent customer research is required to understand how consumers are redefining value during such odd times… Advertising can lead people to your brand for sure if it can reach them in believable formats.

4. Advertising stays, recession do not

History and annals of business has enough tales of companies that retained or even hiked their ad budgets during recession and found that at recession’s end they had surpassed their competitors by wide margins. The Kellogg’s and Post cereal companies who raced neck and neck in the 1920’s to dominate the breakfast cereal business story is an often discussed case. The great American depression came in 30’s when Kellogg’s kept on the spend and the competitor saved his money only to fall flat on his face after the depression when the race came to an end . The rest is history. Now that cannot be an example for everyone everywhere but at least that should drive home a point that when you are flying high and when you have a crisis you don’t switch off your engine. Do you?

It is a question of maintaining momentum, once you let it go off, it will be not that easy to reach the same level yet again.

5. Advertising alone does not make the mix

Clever companies don’t just cut ad spend during a slump, but instead they react with rearranged marketing mixes. A lower range variants of the same products to keep the ones in there intact, a price program to keep steady customers unswerving, unique discounts intended to offer temporarily lower pricing (if you have room to do so) etc can be various ways but a sharp cut on ad budgets as if that is the only tool is a fools job. consumers will be looking for more value, so focus more on consistency, durability, safety and performance and less on attention-grabbers .It will take the company no where if marketing is not seen as a sum of all the p’s and if promotion is kept separate and is seen as a luxury.

To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>>.

Advertising & Recession- Why should it coexist? ...Part I

My article as appeared in The Advertising Express FEB 09....

Introduction:

It is recession time and the bad word has suddenly become a reality all over. The marketer is the worst affected among the various parties in business. This statement is not disregarding the fact that layoffs are happening, stocks are piling up and salaries are cut. Come a dull season, but the first thing to get affected however is Marketing and in Marketing it is Advertising- the most non-measurable of the 4 P’s. The reason as always explained is that recession connotes lower sales and hence lower net income.

Decision makers believe that reducing discretionary expenses such as promotion can be easily made, and there won't be any negative result. This however is not the case when the whole issue is seen in a long term perspective and if the past has taught us, the marketing world, any lessons it is largely that it is suicidal to be cutting ad budgets without any raison d'être.

This article intends to go into this issue that grips the marketing fraternity and to offer reasons as to why it is required to keep the ad budgets on, even in a recession time. It will also underline what Bruce Burton- the founder of BBDO and a great advertising legend once said -In good times people want to advertise, in bad times, they have to.

In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. Those who maintained or increased their advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession achieved considerably higher sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those firms who decreased advertising. By1985, sales of companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had risen 256% over those that didn't keep up their advertising.

Another study documented a 1.5 point increase in market share among businesses increasing ad spending during recessionary periods. On the contrary during good times , 80 percent of all competition heaved up advertising budgets but resulting in no major growth in market share, because that is what most of the other competitors also did.

This is not to suggest that Advertising has to go on, no matter whether it is useful or not, whether it pays back or not. This is to suggest that advertising should not be seen as just a tool for short term sales, and even if it is before the cuts are made, think as to whether your objectives are defined? And whether with a reduced ad budget these objectives will be fulfilled? Think whether you have done a cause and effect studies on those in the past have done the same and their results?

Think whether this cut will allow competition to overtake you, even if they just maintain their current ad spend? If you are not doing this and just on a cost cutting spree with recession as a reason, disaster will be the result. Sergio Zyman lampoons such companies like Samsung who in 2001 decided to “eliminate unnecessary costs by seeking ways to reduce travel, traffic, advertising and miscellaneous expenses”. When advertising becomes as negligible as other miscellaneous expenses, it is only natural that it gets to see the axe first, when remote signs of a recession appear.

Past recessions have shown that marketers who have taken the approach of “going through this together” with their customers have been more successful at maintaining share and revenue during a recession than their competition. Not surprisingly, value driven brands tend to do better than brands positioned as premium. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good times. This is simply indicating that advertising and recession can co exist at the same time and can turn to be coming out with flying colours as well.

This year as the overall financial year has seen superior growth and with the allocated marketing budgets for the financial year almost exhausted, the slowdown is more of a concern for the imminent financial year than for the present year. But having said that the crisis that is looming us and can get worse according to observers can last long and can go on till April next year and even more, is sending shock waves across industries particularly the marketing one. Ad agencies across are gearing up for a change, with cost cuts by clients about to happen the good ones have realized that in trouble times they too are ready to cut costs and co operate.

To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>>>

A recession letter !!!

Dear,

Recession regards!!!

I am sitting at my office where till a week back we had about 21 guys with lots of fun and frolic but as of today, this Saturday (yeah we have started working on Saturdays as well) we are just 15. I know you are bad in numbers so I will make it easy for you… 21-15=6…..the rest of 6 has gone… not in search of greener pastures but for want of a choice. You know the agency world….. Its fun… may be we have had so much and too much of fun that even God’s would have felt jealous. The sword of recession has fallen on us so sharp… every day when some one from the top calls some one to his/her cabin the heart beats go up… pink is not only a color denoting gays ..Not any longer… when the creative guys who sit opposite to me were asked to leave last week, they didn’t cry but didn’t laugh either…... they were still and didn’t talk anything… for all the beautiful verbal skills that they had and displayed in umpteen ads, that day no words in their literature could convey what their eyes did… fear… now which is reflected in mine as well … the media manager who took me in here is asked to go in what came as the ultimate recession shock for me…

Now it’s only a matter of time when I too will have to go or else some miracle should happen… The airline client that I am working on as a client service executive should up with his ad budget or at least go back to his volume of advertising before this Bloody f&^%$ng recession… or else as Chithu ( India ka FM yaar) promises things should go back to normal very soon… hey Chithu is the home minister now na… anyways… that doesn’t make any difference to the real situation here… in my agency the only creative work that is happening is to indulge in a guessing game as to who next and which client next will call up and say what… every time the phone rings we all shudder…and since I am the only guy in account management I at times feel relaxed but at times feel odd and insecure…

I love this place dear, this industry… and hence cannot really believe that when hard times come; it’s the ad money that gets cut first… what is the reason…? When you are in a plane and flying high and when there is a crisis that is developed, which fool will switch off the engine…?

Is it not the same??

Or am I in the wrong line..? if everything is coming on my way I guess I am in a wrong lane…

Will it remain the same for ever…….this beloved industry?

Regards,,,,,

What is in a name yaar??? 27-Dec-08
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