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Tag: advertising

  • We expanded our audience basket to include millennials: Flamingo’s Rakesh Kumar

    We expanded our audience basket to include millennials: Flamingo’s Rakesh Kumar

    Flamingo, the flagship consumer healthcare brand from Ascent Meditech has been ramping up its marketing efforts as it looks to tap into a younger consumer demographic. The parent company, having been in the business of offering pain management solutions since 1991, has been proactively introducing new products across its categories led by its flagship brand. Having charted an ambitious growth path with the appointment of Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador in 2019, the brand forayed into the personal protection space during the pandemic. The brand’s product-focussed campaigns for heat belt, knee cap, lumbar sacro belt and cool pack featuring the actor have resulted in the organisation’s revenue growth by nearly 40 per cent YoY.

    Flamingo recently kickstarted a 360-degree campaign with the launch of three TVCs- the latest one being released a little more than a week back-, showcasing brand partner Hrithik Roshan using the brand’s pain-navigating products. The campaign overarches the brand’s motto of ‘An Aid for a New Life’ and aims to engage the millennial consumer, as well as engage with its existing audience base. With its 400+ range of products spread across orthopedic soft goods, healthcare, mobility, wound-care and personal protection, the brand is all set to launch its products in India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns in the present year. Recognising that Covid-19 has completely changed the marketplace dynamics, the brand plans to have an undivided focus in developing the alternate channels.

    Since taking over as the company’s VP – sales and marketing in October 2019, Rakesh Kumar has worked closely with brand Flamingo, even as his expertise across sectors like FMCG and Healthcare in various multinational companies and two-decades-plus work experience has helped the brand identify new sales opportunities and create innovative marketing strategies. Notably, the brand ‘Flamingo’ bagged ET’s best healthcare brand for 2019 and CNBC’s most trusted brand of country for the year 2020.

    IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet caught up with Rakesh Kumar for an exclusive interaction on the brand’s evolving consumer demographic and brand image post-teaming up with Hrithik Roshan. Kumar also shared his thoughts on being one of the early movers in the competitive domestic Healthcare market and the expansion plans adopted by the brand in 2022.

    Edited excerpts:

    On the celebrity collaboration and the impact it has created on the brand image

    The ethos of brand Flamingo matches with the overall personality of Hrithik Roshan, who himself has fought many personal battles and emerged stronger every single time. This association has only made the partnership strong resulting in evolution of the brand across a period of three years.

    During the initial years, focus by brand Flamingo was restricted to senior citizens however we have expanded our audience basket now to include today’s millennials. This holds true with Hrithik Roshan being our brand ambassador whose appeal cuts across all age groups. The brand enjoys a very fruitful association with the Bollywood superstar and our product- focussed campaigns for Heat Belt, Knee Cap, Lumbar Sacro Belt (L.S Belt) and Cool Pack featuring the actor has resulted in organisation’s revenue growth by 35-40 per cent year on year.

    On the new-age marketing strategies adopted by the brand

    Understanding the consumers are the crucial puzzles every marketer has to solve. If the understanding is right, other elements of the marketing mix fall into place automatically. In the period of over three decades since our existence, consumer behaviour has changed drastically and there has been a tremendous growth of the millennial population, who are tech savvy. Virtual experience of our offerings has become critical in making final purchase decisions. Along with it new age marketing research techniques help in unearthing critical data points and further remarketing it to the end consumer.

    When it comes to tapping the influencer marketing segment, Hrithik is already a revered influencer with whom the brand enjoys a successful association and his influence has been availed for our OTC (over the counter) range of products. Additionally, a big Rx (medical prescription) portfolio is driven by healthcare professionals.

    On gauging consumer behaviour to enhance brand connect

    Here at brand Flamingo, the bricks of regular market research help the marketing team in gauging the ever changing consumer behaviour. It was earlier believed that offerings by brand Flamingo are surgical in nature and accordingly target audience (old age) and distribution channels were defined. However, thorough research threw light about the millennial population and the sedentary lifestyle they were leading. This gave a window of opening of offering selected pain management solutions to a large growing population as a preventive way of protection plus making certain offerings available in trendy colours. It is also to be noted that in the space of support offerings, Flamingo is the only brand who with the tools of market research is expanding the overall market.

    Defining the right target audience and developing appropriate communication for awareness/realisation forms the heartbeat of the Marketing team managing the brand Flamingo. Keeping in mind the nature of pain management solutions that brand Flamingo offers, the marketing vertical comprises teams managing the Rx business (through doctors’ influence), OTC business, digital and the overall marketing communications.

    On how the Flamingo’s brand image has evolved over the years

    The indigenously developed India’s first electric Heat Belt was marketed under brand Flamingo to cater under the ‘Therapy’ section. Despite the perennial problem of electricity, the brand believed in its vision and over time consumers shifted their user behaviour from hot water bags. Completing the segment of ‘Therapy’ brand Flamingo also introduced Cool Pack to offer convenience and reduce swelling and pain.

    The brand then diversified into the ‘Compression’ segment and introduced Orthopaedic Soft Goods for the human musculoskeletal structure viz. Knee Cap, L.S Belt, Stockings etc, before entering into the Wound-care and Mobility Aids segment. The innate need among consumers for protection and being independent has helped Flamingo diversify into the Personal Protection and hygiene segment.

    On the brand’s ad spends allocation across media

    Brand Flamingo operates in the problem solution category and have traditionally preferred and invested in the visual medium viz. print and television to communicate about the pain problem and resultant pain relief solution (product). However, the pandemic has drastically changed consumer behaviour and their media consumption. We are fully sensitive to new age e-commerce and accordingly digital spends are also getting prioritised.  Thus we have charted our ad allocation through diverse media interfaces such as television (across GEC, films, music and news channels), print (in major dailies), digital (promotions over social media networks), BTL (activities to be executed in chemist shops across India) and DTH networks.

    On the pandemic’s effect on the brand’s productivity, sales & revenue

    The global pandemic has its impact across industries and brand Flamingo was no stranger to it. Mobility is inbuilt in the ethos of brand Flamingo and when mobility itself is restricted due to lockdown brand metrics did look uncertain for some-time. However, there is always a silver lining at the end of the tunnel and the pandemic presented an opportunity to expand our net of protection and enter into the ‘essential’ category with FlamiMask and Flamitizer. This strategic decision clubbed with increase in lifestyle disorders due to practice of work from home drove the healthcare market and helped Flamingo in its recovery process. The pandemic also facilitated us in maintaining our relationship with channel partners (read, chemist) and empathy in times of distress only made the relationship healthier and stronger.

    On the brand’s Target audience & consumer demographic and expansion plans for 2022

    Brand Flamingo has evolved over the years and so has its target audience. During the initial years, our focus was restricted to senior citizens however we have expanded our audience basket now to include today’s millennials. In terms of demographics, we target individuals (31+ years) residing in metros and Tier 1 cities of India. As part of expansion plans, brand Flamingo is looking to expand the distribution of pain management solutions to 1.5 Lakhs chemist shops across metros, tier 1 and 2 towns. Apart from this, the brand is also increasing its Healthcare Professionals coverage to 15K thereby increasing the awareness of the various pain management solutions.

  • HUL becomes biggest advertiser in week 7: Barc

    HUL becomes biggest advertiser in week 7: Barc

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 4940.43 (against last week’s 5080.24), FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was once again the top advertiser in the seventh week of 2022 (12 to 18 February), according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) data. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser and Cadbury India at 3626.47 and 922.97.

    Procter & Gamble, Godrej Group, Amazon Online India, ITC, Tata Group, Colgate Palmolive and Marico followed, in that order.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean was the most advertised brand with ad volumes of 491.96 (704.34 in week 6). Amazon India was second with 393.59. It was followed by Ultratech Cement (318.51).

     

    Dettol Foaming Handwash, Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid occupied the next three slots. They were followed by Moov Strong Diclofenac Gel, Rummycircle.com, Harpic Bathroom Cleaner and Strepsils Orange (new entrant).

  • Keep your brand ‘Top of Mind’ with DTH advertising

    Keep your brand ‘Top of Mind’ with DTH advertising

    Mumbai: As the home to nearly 68.89 million active direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers, India has witnessed significant growth in DTH advertising. With this top DTH service providers like Tata Play are also ramping up their game as an effective ad medium for brands.

    According to an expert from the marketing and communications industry, presently 30-35 brands out of 50 prefer DTH to advertise their products and services.

    Interestingly, the medium has attracted brands across categories, from banking giants like SBI and Axis Bank to the leading automobile brands like BMW and Honda.

    Realme, who partnered with Tata Play, formerly Tata Sky, for advertising, sees DTH as a traditional advertising medium with high potential to connect the brand to communicate with audiences in tier 2 and 3 areas.

    From providing direct entry to homes and enabling them to deliver messages to their target audiences, DTH has emerged as an effective communication channel for brands to enjoy top-of-mind recall.

    “It’s the opportunities and advantages of DTH that has attracted the retailers to advertise on this powerful medium,” said AliveNow founder & CEO Advith Dhuddhu. “At the same time, DTH is highly clutter-free and provides exclusive space to the advertisers to engage their target audience.”

    While ads on digital platforms lose exclusivity due to distraction, DTH helps deliver targeted messages. It allows brands to connect with their audience when in a happy environment, mostly when they’re calmly sitting and watching TV at their homes.

    At the same time, the attention span on DTH ad mediums is higher. Patanjali Ayurved COO-media & communications Anita Nayyar feels that DTH as an option that helps unmissable attention from the audience will always be sought after by brands.

    DTH’s growth as an advertising medium

    However, DTH has not suddenly become a popular platform for advertising but has been relevant ever since its inception. If we look back to 2010, when DTH subscribers were barely half of the present number, the platform was still seen as a strong advertising medium among retail brands. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that DTH has always been among the top choices of media planners, according to experts.

    Over the years, DTH has developed its own set of audiences which makes DTH advertising an interesting option, noted Nayyar.

    She credited the present growth of DTH advertising mediums to the halt on other major advertising platforms due to the pandemic. For instance, the consumption of newspapers fell during the first lockdown, so did print advertising. But television still registered 9-10 per cent growth, which is evident for the growth of DTH too.

    How did DTH platforms level up the game?

    DTH companies are also doing their bit to harness the medium’s potential. For instance, Tata Play, with over 23 million connections has had associations with more than 100+ brands, including Swiggy, RealMe, Lotus Herbal, over the past 15-18 months. Buoyed by the advertisers’ response, Tata Play has rolled out various mediums for advertising over the last few years.

    This is not it, Tata Play advertising medium has a whopping reach to over 80 million individuals, which makes it a favorite of brands. The platform offers multiple ad mediums to brands to connect directly with the viewers.

    S&S banner is a notable ad medium by Tata Play. The S&S banner appears on the screen every time the channel is swapped. It provides the advertisers an exclusive presence for a minimum of one hour – appearing on every channel swap. It also ensures an average of 35 million impressions delivered on any time band! Over time, many brands have come forward to reap benefits from its S&S banner ad medium. From Paytm to Realme and from Honda to Swiggy, brands across the spectrum have been leveraging this feature with great interest.

    The ad medium also turned out to be very effective for the financial sector. For instance, The State Bank of India, which is known for its strategic marketing, collaborated with Tata Play in the festive season.

    According to The State Bank Of India VP- media strategy & operations Shweta Sinha enhancing visibility and evoking recognition with a niche audience is an advantage that the bank eyes on while advertising on DTH. “For instance, Tata Play’s S&S banner is a great platform to inform consumers about a new product/service launch, with its clutter-free delivery of the brand message,” said Sinha.

    The State Bank of India leveraged this feature for the Yono Shopping Festival which is targeted to a particular segment with superlative offers and discounts. “Advertising on Tata Play helped us to get a very high reach build up with effective results, making our campaign a success. At the same time, the S & S banner helped us to mark our presence in every DTH household. As our campaign was about a festive sale, we had a very crisp message to deliver- the date of sales and the discount offers, thereby S&S banner turned out as a best-suited platform for our campaign,” added Sinha.

    Axis bank too collaborated with Tata Play to leverage the benefits of S&S banner medium. With this, it is quite evident that DTH advertising is significantly booming in the BFSI sector too.

    Another brand, which rolled out its campaign on S&S banner said DTH was a perfect choice for the campaign, which was targeted to the Indian middle-class household who spends a significant amount of time watching television. “We rolled out the campaign at a time when the entire nation was under lockdown, and other advertising mediums like OOH became immaterial. We also realised that our targeted households spend two to three hours on television every day so we decided to not opt for any other medium and go with DTH,” said the brand’s spokesperson.

    DTH also provides ample advantages over other advertising mediums in terms of cost. The ad rates for advertising on other mediums are skyrocketing when compared to the advertising expenditures on a DTH service. Nayyar also feels that DTH will remain in the race, co-existing alongside other options.

    As far as cable TV is concerned, which happens to be a direct competition to the DTH, operators like Tata Play offer audience measurement and monitoring, giving brands the confidence to invest ad money than cable.

    Sharing her thoughts on the future of DTH Ad mediums, Nayyar said, studying and working from home is a new normal, as long as these phenomena are prevalent, the relevance of DTH will continue to rise at a high pace.

    The time is now for the brands that have not yet taken the DTH route. As experts believe it to grow even bigger in the coming years, reap the benefits for your business.

  • ‘Dil Ki Baat Zubaan Pe’ : Center fresh launches new tagline in latest TVC

    ‘Dil Ki Baat Zubaan Pe’ : Center fresh launches new tagline in latest TVC

    Mumbai: Chewing gum and mint brand Center Fresh has refreshed its core communication of ‘fresh breath confidence’ to something that’s more in sync with changing times. The brand has launched its latest TVC to showcase its new positioning – ‘Dil Ki Baat Zubaan Pe’.

    Known for always having the youth at the center of its communication, the new TVC also sticks to the same approach and showcases the brand as an enabler of confidence to help speak your heart out.

    The storyline of the new TVC showcases two young adults in a classroom where the female protagonist and her friend are trying to find the keys of her bike. The male protagonist happens to see it lying on the floor but is hesitant to speak out because of his feelings for her. At this moment, Center fresh gum consumption not only helps him gather the confidence to approach her with the missing keys but also asks her to spend the history class next to him in a truly unexpected & charming gesture. This sweet gesture helps the male lead get a positive acknowledgment from the girl apart from helping her get the keys back, and helps him say what he feels out loud – “Dil Ki Baat Zubaan Pe”.

    Perfetti Van Melle India director-marketing Rohit Kapoor said, “Consumer love and adulation for the brand has helped it emerge from the challenges posed by the pandemic and reduced out-of-home consumption occasions of the last two years. Center Fresh has started the year with a strong sales performance and we felt it was only appropriate to go one step further on our positioning with a new tag-line and theme communication. This ad spot duly brings alive a new tagline “Dil ki Baat Zubaan Pe”
    Conceptualised by Ogilvy India, the new TVC will be on-air across various TV channels, followed by amplification on key digital platforms and an Out Of Home (OOH) campaign in key cities across India, announced the brand.

    Ogilvy India managing partner – creative (Mumbai) Anurag Agnihotri said, “How does a Gen-Z boy strike a conversation with a Gen-Z girl in a classroom where the session is about to start? How about, “Will you spend the History class with me?” That’s what the new Center Fresh TVC is all about, of course with a twist & deeply rooted in reality. Firmly connected to the youngest of us, giving them the confidence to say it as they feel it.  In other words, staying true to the new tag-line, ‘Dil ki baat zubaan pe.’

  • Stashfin introduces its new ‘All-In-One’ Card in latest ad film

    Stashfin introduces its new ‘All-In-One’ Card in latest ad film

    Mumbai: Neobanking platform Stashfin has released a new brand video introducing its all-in-one card that promises to meet all the needs of its customers.

    The film conceptualised by Havas Worldwide India (Creative) showcases the diverse offerings of the card in a humorous way while attempting to dispel the notion that fintech is boring or tough to grasp.

    With a brand promise of ‘Nobody in India should be credit starved’, Stashfin has been working towards the financial inclusion of various customer segments who find it hard to be accepted by traditional banking systems. “As consumers, everyone seeks perfection from the products they use, and our latest brand video is an attempt to cater to this insight. This led to Stashfin partnering with Havas Worldwide India (Creative) for creating a relevant communication campaign that aims to make the fintech space accessible and relatable in an engaging way,” the brand said in a statement.

    “For our all-in-one brand video, we wanted to integrate our ethos of ‘nobody should be credit-starved, in an easy, relatable format. I’m glad we could work with Havas Worldwide India (Creative). This has been an extremely fruitful experience,” said Stashfin co-founder Shruti Aggarwal.

    Havas Group India chairman & chief creative officer Bobby Pawar said, “It’s not every day that one gets to participate in a project that will be impactful, or decide the positioning of a product. Fintech is often perceived as a boring space, perhaps even one that is tough to grasp. We wanted to dispel that perception, and comedy was the best way to do that. The all-in-one brand video communicates the brand proposition and product features in the most meaningful and engaging way possible.”

  • HUL biggest advertiser in week 6: Barc

    HUL biggest advertiser in week 6: Barc

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 5080.24 FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was once again the top advertiser in week 6 (5 to 11 February), according to Barc data. It was followed by other FMCG majors Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble at 3939.77 and 1168.74.

    Godrej Group, Cadbury’s India, Tata Group, Marico, ITC, GSK and Amazon Online India followed, in that order.

    Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean was the most advertised brand with ad volumes of 704.34. Harpic Bathroom Cleaner (342.66) and Ultratech Cement (325.52) were at number two and three. Last week’s top performer Rummycircle.com dropped to fourth position.

    The rest of the slots were occupied by Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, Policybazaar.com, Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Foaming Handwash, Mesho App, and Clinic Plus Shampoo.

  • Adex to surge 20 per cent to reach ₹89,285 crore in 2022: Pitch Madison report

    Adex to surge 20 per cent to reach ₹89,285 crore in 2022: Pitch Madison report

    Mumbai: Despite the lingering impacts of the pandemic, advertising expenditure is set to surge by 20 per cent to reach nearly Rs. 90,000 crore, according to the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2022 (PMAR) unveiled on Wednesday.

    Launched by Pitch in partnership with Madison World, the report forecasted a robust recovery for the industry in 2022, with the traditional media, expected to grow at 15 per cent while digital to grow at 2X of traditional, and eventually overtaking Television in 2022.

    According to the report, India will continue to be the fastest-growing ad market in the world. The Indian Adex registered an unprecedented 37 per cent growth rising to almost Rs 74,000 crore – the highest growth that Adex has registered in nearly the last two decades. The AdEx figures in 2021, according to the PMAR report, surpassed those in 2020 by Rs 20,000 crore and was over Rs 6,500 crore higher than 2019, bettering it by 10 per cent.

    Television remained the only traditional medium that surpassed the pre-Covid revenues, recording a 25 per cent increase over 2020 and an 11 per cent increase over 2019. Print, the second-largest traditional medium registered a growth of 39 per cent in 2021, but could not cross its 2019 levels, having fallen short by as much as 17 per cent, as per the report. Similarly, OOH and Radio also grew significantly by 69 per cent and 36 per cent respectively, but were nowhere near the 2019 levels. Cinema, expectedly, was the only medium that could not even reach its 2020 level, with theatres shut across most states.

    TV and Digital now contribute 72 per cent of overall Adex. Digital Adex rose significantly by 50 per cent to make up for the lower than average 10 per cent growth in 2020.

    Madison World chairman and managing director Sam Balsara said advertisers should take advantage of the evolved digital infrastructure for distribution and advertising to prepare for future growth and invest in building their own D2C channels.

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    Despite a large number of viewers moving to OTT and Connected TV, TV Adex put in a spectacular performance, registering a high spend of Rs. 28,151 crore. Advertisers’ faith in TV, Covid, or No-Covid continued and the medium commanded strong loyalty amongst both large and medium-size advertisers. In fact, with its 38 per cent share in 2021, India shared the credit of one of the top TV advertising countries along with Brazil (46 per cent), Italy (42 per cent) and Japan (34 per cent), as per the report.

    Whilst Q1 started softly with a de-growth of minus six per cent over 2019, each subsequent quarter gained steam with TV Adex growing in size with Q4 of 2021 registering a sharp increase over respective quarters of 2019- thanks to IPL- which started in Q2 but got suspended and resumed in Q4.

    Emerging categories : Ecommerce and ed-tech

    Ecommerce ad spend almost doubled from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore taking its share up from 8.5 per cent to 13 per cent and making it the second-biggest category of Adex, as per the PMAR report. Ed-tech sector also doubled its volume on the back of brands like Byju’s, WhiteHat Jr, Vedantu and Unacademy. BFSI also increased its share from two per cent to three percent on the back of new age Fintech Companies and CryptoCurrency players. For the first time in many years, BFSI showed a massive growth of 70 per cent in TV Adex, said the report. FMCG, the most dominant sector with a share of 51 per cent in 2020, lost as much as five percentage points and was down to 46 per cent. Ecommerce increased its share from 11 per cent to 18 per cent and Education from four per cent to six per cent. Telecom dropped its share substantially from eight per cent to four per cent.

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    TV AdEx by genre

    An analysis of ad volume beamed by various genres shows that all genres have grown significantly in 2021 versus a year ago with the exception of English movies which registered a de-growth for the second consecutive year. Hindi GEC continued to be the largest segment amongst all genres followed by Sports and then News, which came a distant third Sports genre on account of IPL, T20 WC and many bilateral cricketing tournaments across the globe, is 2nd in the pack in terms of absolute revenue. Despite the absence of Barc India ratings for the News genre, it registered a high growth of 19 per cent over 2019 and 29 per cent over 2020.

    The Digital Juggernaut

    The Digital Adex juggernaut moved ahead unabated, and grew by a phenomenal 50 per cent in 2021, taking Digital Adex to Rs. 25,438 crore. It even showed growth of 10 per cent in 2020, when all other mediums showed degrowth. Digital Adex has now reached a share of 34 per cent and is within striking distance of the largest medium TV. What helped Digital Adex grow, according to the report, is that it is firing on several verticals – Ecommerce, Search, Social and Video. With online sales galloping, the intense competition now has extended to online. Ecommerce advertising on brands such as Amazon and Flipkart have spiked. Traditional brands are also adopting Ecommerce and many of these brands in addition to using the E-commerce platforms are setting up their own online systems. D2C is expected to take off in a big way in the coming years.

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    Top Advertisers in 2021

    In keeping with the technology boom, 15 new-age Companies/start-ups entered the top 50 list, altering the composition of the list. These are Dream 11 at third position, BYJU’s at five, Phone Pe at 12, Upstox at 13, My 11 Circle at 14, and many others including CRED, Netmed, MPL, Policybazaar, Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr, Swiggy, Netflix, Coin Switch Kuber and Coin DCX, coming lower in the pecking order. The report shows as many as 14 new Advertisers in the list this year compared to ten last year. Six out of the top 10 are FMCG Advertisers, Hindustan Unilever, Reckitt, P&G, Reliance, Mondelez and ITC. FMCG still dominates the list with 15 players all with high ranks, but their dominance is decreasing.

     

  • Cadbury Perk urges people to ‘Lighten up’ in new campaign

    Cadbury Perk urges people to ‘Lighten up’ in new campaign

    Mumbai: How does one ensure that absolutely no one takes offense to content one posts online? Simple- add a disclaimer that denies any accountability or responsibility whatsoever! Taking this thought further is Mondelez India’s latest campaign for Cadbury Perk titled, what else- ‘Disclaimers’.

    The digital times we live in have been shadowed by a climate of social media-triggered outrage and ‘cancel culture’. Brands and advertisements have come under the scanner for allegedly offending the sensibilities of a section of the netizens. Keeping this in mind, Cadbury Perk has come out with a quirky yet impactful campaign that throws light on today’s cancelled culture and urges the country to ‘lighten up’. To bring the ‘Cadbury Perk Disclaimers’ campaign alive, tongue-in-cheek disclaimers have been inserted into popular YouTube videos, to draw attention to the most trivial things that people may take offense to in today’s times.

    Reiterating the brand’s proposition of ‘Take It Light’, the campaign conceptualised by Ogilvy, highlights how people today have become overly sensitive and take offense over the smallest things, and need to lighten up. The inserted disclaimers that border on the hilarious help draw attention to the most trivial things that people may take offense to in today’s times. While the internet bursts with criticism at literally every scroll, this campaign urges netizens to chill and lighten up a little.

    Mondelez India vice president – marketing Anil Viswanathan said, “‘Cadbury Perk Disclaimers’ is our attempt at addressing the growing cancel-culture, especially the most trivial things posing as strong triggers – right from someone’s hair or holiday plans. Whether it’s a website or a post on Instagram, this culture has augmented the use of disclaimers, and we aim to parody this trend through offbeat disclaimers calling out the frivolousness of some of these issues. Thus, just like Cadbury Perk, urging everyone to ‘Take It Light’.”

    To do this, the brand created disclaimers for the most trending videos and top video searches and then used back-end automation to further customise them for countless videos.

    The campaign is supported with a digital film that puts the spotlight on controversies the country has witnessed playing out on social media platforms on a frequent basis, which is invariably followed by an apology and another wave of criticism debating the very nature of it. The film concludes by showcasing the brand’s idea of placing mock disclaimers for the most trending videos across genres on YouTube, about hilariously absurd reasons to be offended, thus driving home the message, ‘Cadbury Perk Khao, Light Ho Jao’.

    Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak said, “These days we get triggered by anything and everything. Perk has a history of work that has always stood for keeping things light and fun. So, our idea is quite fun and modern, adding a fun warning before any video that you may watch. Ensuring things remain light, no matter what.”

    “Through Perk Disclaimers campaign, we intend to create a counterculture to the habit of finding something controversial in the most unexpected of topics,” added Wavemaker India chief client officer & head – West Shekhar Banerjee. “To give the campaign scale, we needed to find the content most watched by the youth. Since this could mean a massive number of videos, we leveraged the power of AI and automation to create custom ad versions and deployed them against the video which suited it the most. We have created a custom API with Google that would help get a pulse on the most trending videos on YouTube. Custom bumpers would then be created and played before top trending videos on YouTube.”

    The campaign is currently live on YouTube and will be further amplified through other relevant digital platforms and content creators, the brand said. Similarly, there would be multiple renditions of the core campaign proposition- whether in the form of a fun consumer or influencer engagement, to remind people to ‘Take It Light’.

  • A must-read ad & marketing book

    A must-read ad & marketing book

    Mumbai: Political advertising and marketing case studies might be a bit of a bore for many. But once you pick up ‘Don’t Forget 2004 – Advertising secrets of an impossible ELECTION VICTORY’ by Jayshree M Sundar and start flipping through its pages, you can’t put it down. Written in the manner of a fast-paced diary and personal narrative, it keeps you thirsting for more, and it hardly feels like you are reading. The pages flip by so fast, and before you know it, you are at the end of the book, a lot richer in your understanding of what politicians think like,  how ad agency executives can interact with them, and what it takes to draw up a winning election strategy and brand campaign.

    Jayshree should know. The senior advertising executive was heading the Delhi office of Leo Burnett India (once Chaitra Advertising founded by Walter Saldanha) when she got a call from Congress (I)’s senior leader Salman Khurshid’s office. The voice at the other end informed her that her agency was in the running to help the Congress (I) as it sought to make a comeback in the 2004 hustings at the Centre. The party had been out of power for more than a decade and a fierce opposition BJP was riding high with top media expecting it to win again by a thumping margin.

    Some of us may have a recollection of the savage campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi titled “Labour is not working” which swept Margaret Thatcher’s conservatives to power in 1979. Jayshree, along with her team, took a similar tack, working against impossible deadlines for a client which had no idea about the political marketing direction it should take. What made it even more challenging was that the BJP was looking smug as hell, splurging top dollar on ads all over the nation talking about how India was shining.  

    The Congress (I) mandarins provided no brief and they had limited budgets. Jayshree and her team had to come up with the communication that would position the Congress (I) right and yet show up the failures of the outgoing BJP government. Agency executives had to work and communicate with political heavyweights like Sonia Gandhi, Salman Khurshid, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, Ahmed Patel, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi, Motilal Vora – folks who commandeered a lot of respect, and whom they had only seen on TV.

    Through the book, you find out how she and the agency’s creatives pivoted to get quick answers through cheap and cheerful primary and secondary research. That and the fact that it approached the assignment as a regular brand campaign helped it come up with a pitch presentation that was bought by the steeped-in-the-old-ways-of-working Congress (I) senior leaders. The riposte to BJP’s India Shining slogan was “Aam aadmi ko kya mila?” “Congress Ka Haath aam aadmi ke Saath” and addressed the heartlands of India, against the former which was more focused on the urban Indian. The B&W visuals featured farmers, unemployed youth, the middle class and children, women as against the BJP’s well-dressed urban Indians.

    The book details how the agency came up with the four phases of the campaign, the steps it took to maintain utmost secrecy while creating the campaign, and later when ads and TVCs were released to publications and TV channels in various languages all over the country.

    Jayshree’s effort is not just all about words; she has peppered the book with advertising artwork which made it to the newspapers over the various phases of the campaign.

    The Leo Burnett team’s communication and marketing strategy did work well if you recollect. Despite the BJP’s bigger advertising war chest, it and its allies managed to retain only 185 seats (1999 count 298). The Congress (I) however celebrated as it individually captured 145 seats (against 112 seats in 1999) and 220 seats (as against 135 in 1999) with its allies. It of course came to power, and the rest they say is history.

    ‘Don’t Forget 2004’ is a must-read for students and practitioners of marketing and advertising as well as those in the political ranks, given that there is very limited literature available on political advertising. It is rich in detailing the learnings the agency had while working on the Congress (I) campaign. Be sure to pick up a copy.

    (Don’t Forget 2004- Advertising secrets of an impossible ELECTION VICTORY – Jayshree M Sundar, pp284, publisher Vitasta Publishing, Rs 495)

    You can buy it on Amazon too by clicking on this link: https://www.amazon.in/-/hi/Jayshree-M-Sundar/dp/9390961289

  • HUL most prolific advertiser in week 5: Barc data

    HUL most prolific advertiser in week 5: Barc data

    Mumbai: With ad volumes of 5635.09 (‘000s) FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was the top advertiser in the fifth week of 2022 (29 January to 4 February) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) data. Reckitt Benckiser grabbed the second position at 2359.58.

    Procter & Gamble replaced Tata Group at the third slot with ad volumes of 888.46. Tata Group fell to the sixth position with 600.08 (‘000s).

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    Cadburys India and Godrej Group were at fourth and fifth positions. LIC India, Marico, TVS (G), and Coca-Cola India were placed in the last four spots.

    The brands list was more balanced this week with the slots being equally distributed between FMCG and other categories.

    At number one was a digital brand, Rummycircle.com with ad volumes of 388.0. Harpic Power Plus 10X Max Clean was second (376.23), while Clinic Plus Shampoo finished third at 246.61.

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    Horlicks, LIC Corporate and Thums Up were at the next three positions. Tata Play, which was last week’s most advertised brand, was at the seventh spot. TVS Jupiter 125, Meesho App and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid grabbed the last three spots.