Conditions apply* Anand Halve *Exploring the not-so-obvious aspects of Indian advertising, culture and media often hidden in the fine print of life © Anand Halve, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any storage or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Published by Anand Halve, 12-B, Sagar Sangeet, 58 Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, using iBooksAuthor software. All brand names, logos, TV commercials, etc mentioned or shown in this book are the property of their respective copyright/trademark owners, and the author makes no claim to them. THIS BOOK IS MEANT FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION i About the author Anand Halve, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Manage- ment Ahmedabad (IIMA), has worked in several advertising agencies including Lintas and Enterprise, before becoming a founder-member of the chlorophyll brand and communi- cations consultancy team in 1999. He is widely known as an expert brand strategist and has consulted with companies and groups including Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra, Taj Hotels, PepsiCo, Edelweiss, MSD Pharma (Merck), Crompton Greaves and others. He has addressed members of the HSBC Asia Pacific group and the Chambers of Commerce of Malaysia and China on the branding challenges for businesses entering India, and has conducted workshops in Nepal. He has written over 100 articles on brands and advertising in newspapers, maga- zines, blogs and industry websites, and authored three books: Darwin’s Brands (2012), adkatha: The story of Indian advertising (2011, lead co-author) and Planning for Power Advertising (2005). He has also been visiting faculty at IIMA and MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad) for many years. 2 Conditions apply* Anand Halve *Exploring the not-so-obvious aspects of Indian advertising, culture and media often hidden in the fine print of life To those who still enjoy the act of reading articles and essays longer than a tweet, sms or WhatsApp message. Thank you. Without you, this book would have no reason to exist. iii Contents Preface 6 Section I: Consumers & Communication Did Mrs. Kulkarni attend Advertising 101? 9 Cliches as characterization 13 Just a few words between friends 16 My orang utan can beat your ylang ylang 20 “Marketing man speak with forked tongue” 22 Persuasion by threat 24 The Existential Dilemma 26 Consumers @ the speed of tech 29 The youth market is older than you think 34 Availability as the root of aspirations 36 Section II: Brands & Branding Jaane kahan gaye wo din... 40 Everyone wants to be a brand 45 Blurred vision 50 Pretense and reality: The brand is the behaviour, not the communication 53 Tattoos on arms do not an iconic brands make 56 Amazing quarter-ly results 59 4 Section III: Perspectives & Principles Lessons in advertising 63 Gone google-fishing 66 The medium is the mucilage 68 The map and the territory 71 Statistics, Lies and Innumeracy 74 We, the unevolved 77 Why Good morning will kill Namaskar 80 What is the shelf life of your passion? 83 Seeking non-stop titillation 85 Tokenism as hollow action 88 Chasing aspirations 91 The problem of scaling human excellence 94 The cultural bias of innovation 97 Appendix YouTube links for selected TV commercials 99 5 Preface One of the things I have found fascinating about advertising is that it can portray different, even opposing perspectives in the same product category and that it is not necessary for one of them to ‘win’. Because each reflects a view that some group of people hold. One brand of motorbike promotes companionship; another celebrates the man and his machine alone on the long road. One brand of apparel is the quintessence of the Establishment while another becomes the hallmark of the rebel. One brand of computer is the palette for the artist while another claims that it is a business tool. To my mind, this indicates not merely a choice of target group. Or even the judgment by the advertiser about what kind of advertising will stand out. I believe that more importantly, it is a reflection of the fundamental point of view that the brand presents about people. Advertising is merely the visible part of the brand’s electromagnetic spectrum. I was fortunate in my career to meet advertising greats, who too represented very different points on the continuum of perspectives on advertising. People like Kersy Katrak. Alyque Padamsee. Arun Kolatkar. Mohammed Khan. Subhash Ghosal. Ravi Gupta. Kiran Nagarkar. Balwant Tandon. Looking at their work and listening to them, encouraged me to arrive at my own point of view. I was also lucky to have been presented with several opportunities (that I grabbed eagerly with both hands!), to present my point of view. In the teaching work I did, it was essential for me to not merely repeat material from text books, but to share with the students the lessons I had learnt. In much the same way, the articles I enjoyed writing for magazines and newspapers, compelled me to think about my point of view on the issues about which I was writing. And so did the talks I gave at various advertising and marketing seminars. 6 And one of the most important lessons I learnt during this process was that one can only teach or write or speak with conviction if one has a clear point of view on the subject. These essays written over the past decade or so, reflect my own perspective on media, advertising, brands and the cultural context that informs people’s attitudes towards these. They represent what I read between the lines of the obvious. What has amazed me, as I compiled them now though, is how many of those views are still valid today, although of course many examples mentioned certainly belong to the time when the piece was written. (Links to YouTube in an appendix will enable readers to see some of the TV commercials that are referred to in the essays.) The essays are organized in sections covering three broad areas, and are in chronological order within each section. However, each essay is complete in itself, and the essays can be read without any problem in random order. Undoubtedly, readers might share some points of view wholeheartedly and equally vehemently, disagree with others. One man’s roast chicken is another man’s “dead animal in the stomach”. The essays do not attempt to convert anyone to my point of view. Nor are they are going to provide any simplistic answers. My hope is only that they will prompt some readers to ask pertinent questions. Anand Halve, 19 May 2014, Mumbai Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @anandhalve 7 Section I: Consumers & Communication 8 Did Mrs.Kulkarni attend Advertising 101? Many moons ago, when the relentless pressure of the quarterly result did not exist, and advertising was the 'most fun people had with their clothes on', there was a wistful hope heard from creatives who felt advertisers were step- ping on their right to keep the logo invisible. And the hope was:"Advertising would be great - if only there were no clients!" That of course has changed. Advertising professionals have come to terms with the reality that as publicly held entities, advertising agencies must meet shareholder expectations just as much as publicly held companies in the steel, widgets or polyester businesses. And that they must learn to respect the wis- dom of the stock-market. (Which Knows It All - except of course when it dem- onstrates its irrational exuberance and gets it all horribly wrong.) And increase the size of the logo when requested by the client to do so. But can we at least expect the consumer to play by the rules? Surely we have a right to expect that Mrs.Kulkarni (the name I have given to the quintessential Indian consumer), will follow some of the principles of consumer behaviour, as she heads off to "do her marketing". I take this opportunity to take a look at the conventional wisdom and tenets about advertising, and see if they are validated by observations about what the consumer is actually doing. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case. Consider some examples. (I am of course basing the comments that follow, on the not unreasonable assumption that, if advertisers continue to run certain advertising, it is because they believe the said advertising is working, and is persuading the consumer and/or the trade to support the brand with zest and vigor.) Consumer Insights These are the gems of understanding, which are supposed to turbo-charge advertising, and get consumers to say, "Ah ha, I am so glad that someone has realized that hemorrhoids are a fundamental barrier to working long hours!" 9 and rush to the nearest store to buy Brand X Soothing cream, so that they can put in the 16-hour work-day. Now I am all for insights, but what is the insight that you suppose illumi- nates the advertising we have seen recently for a certain brand of blended spices? There is little in the communication, apart from the fact that several in- distinguishable packs drift across the screen in turn, and a jingle which doesn't even rhyme. ('sach-sach' can only rhyme with '...H' if you pronounce 'H' as 'yechh"). And of course the ancient patriarch. So what do you suppose does Mrs.Kulkarni sees in it? Brand Stretch & Extendability The text books also tell you about the core associations of brands and the values which are supposed to guide the kind of extensions that a brand should launch.