Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Quiz Fizz

So you took the Marketing Maayaajaalam Quiz after all. I am not going to ask your scores. Keep that to yourself. I intend answering some of the questions raised and comments shared by some of you, with the fond hope that they were raised and shared for that very reason!

Q.1: The ads were probably not intended for us. If the brand is not for us, why should we even recall it?

Fair point. I completely agree with the two who had raised this point. But tell me, if we, marketing students, can’t recall the brand names of the ads that were quizzed, are we to expect the layman – the advertising illiterate, if I can call them such, even if they are the target audience, to recall it with aplomb. Moreover, I had a fair array of categories from which I had picked the ads for the quiz. Don’t tell me you are not the target audience for a Good Day or a Mobile Store or a Citi Card or a Brylcreem! And most of you couldn’t recall these brands from their ads. Sad.

Q.2: It’s perhaps a myth that advertising boosts sales.

Yup, it is absolutely unfair to expect advertising, by itself, to drive sales. After all, advertising is one of the four ‘P’s on offer – all collectively aiming to make the consumer buy. It would be grossly unfair if we expect ‘advertising’ alone to do the job of garnering sales when the other three ‘P’s goof it up. All four ‘P’s need to work in harmony to galvanize a sale. But advertising is the biggest tool in the marketer’s arsenal to stop the consumer and make him/her look at the brand. If the advertising does the ‘attracting-the-consumer-bit’ but fails to add the brand name tag to the advertising, how is the consumer supposed to recall the brand name and buy it? Advertising better establish awareness and build knowledge about the brand in the consumer’s mind. That’s its job. Anything less, and the advertising ceases to be called such.

Q.3: An ad might be the first one to be recalled while its competitor might be the leader in the category.

This happens in many categories. To me, it’s the sign that there is a close competitor breathing down the leader’s neck. Pepsi ads are remembered while Coke is the leader (in most countries). It is a telltale sign that the leader’s leadership is being questioned and the follower’s brand is gaining momentum. A warning to the leader to get its act together. A motivator for the follower to keep pushing. If Vodaphone’s ad and brand recall are higher than Airtel, Bharti better start buckling up.

Q.4: There was nothing unique about the brand name for me to recall it.

That’s the whole point I am trying to drive through this quiz. Call it the fizz of this quiz! The ads in question do not have a property that they can claim to be their own. No clear identity. A lack of a clear and unique thought that envelops the ad and shouts the brand’s name. A singular thought called a ‘Selling Idea’. The one unique concept on which the brand’s advertising is built. A singular thought that ties up all streams of communication across multiple mediums. A powerful idea that unites all brand advertising for a reasonable period of time. A persuasive thought that easily identifies the brand name no matter what medium the communication is on. For Axe the idea is - ‘For young men who like to play the mating game and would like the girl to make the first move’. For Surf it’s ‘dirt is good’. Ideas that are relevant to the consumer; unique; differentiated; and persuasive. Importantly, a Selling Idea is something that represents the brand’s promise. And when the brands that have these unique Selling Ideas advertise, we don’t miss them. No matter how infrequently we see them or how feeble their media decibel levels are.

So…is there anything for us from all this. I think there is. I think the ads, many of the ones quizzed and most of them in general, are creatively cute but are fundamentally flawed. Most, if not all, are bereft of a ‘Selling Idea’. And hence your poor scores when quizzed! The fault lies not with you but with the brands.

Now, take this test. See, if you can identify the brands that the following ads are trying to promote.

1. The ad that starts with a jingle: ‘Washing powder ______’

2. The detergent ad that questions the whiteness of the dress of the person on the screen subsequently followed by a streak of white patch/light passing over the dress making it milky white.

3. The ad with lots of kids drinking something with a jingle in the background that has three interesting words in it: ‘Ipaang Gupaang Japaang’.

4. A dentist talking to a kid/kids about the virtues of strong teeth with some experiment – two shells being smashed to prove the strength of one of them or two chalks immersed in a liquid and one breaking easily when attempted and the other one staying strong.

Did you score better in this version of the quiz? If so, do you realize why you did better this time around?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great follow-up Satheesh.I was little disappointed with u'r previous post since it was leading no where, I disagreed with many of u'r points. But you have proved yourself.Either it was about the product category chosen or on the stand for whom the ad was intended to..your substantiation was perfect. This is were you stand!
Keep the good work coming up. Guess you are into teaching too, khash... I had good professors like you to interact with when I was in college. Lucky the students are!

Anonymous said...

That was a fabulous analysis (Trademark Satheesh analysis:)) after which I really don’t feel that embarrassed for that not-so-good-attempt in the Marketing Maayaajaalam Quiz-I. The second quiz was definitely easier both in terms of Recognition and Recall. But there’s something I want to know regarding “Selling Idea” in advertisements. Does the “Key Selling Idea”have to always directly relate to an attribute of the product/category in question? To illustrate, in the current Vodafone ad (the one which shows the pug running behind the girl), it ends with saying “Customer Care….Always ready to help”. Let’s admit, we all remember the Vodafone advertisement more because of the pug. Ditto with the jingle in Horlicks and Nirma (Considering there can’t be much uniqueness when it comes to whiteness and removing stains). Do the makers of the advertisements add these purposefully to enable recall or is it that these assume more dominance in the mind of the consumer compared to other aspects of the advertisement? Because can the jingle in Horlicks or Nirma, the pug in Vodafone be selling ideas?

Vetri said...

i took your second version of quiz sir and got all right.. I feel its the magic of jingles and humor. we can also add Britannia in this category. Here in these ads they are not asking the consumers to buy the products.(No direct sales motive ).Their idea and need is to make a top of mind recall. So that when consumers go for shopping next time will see the brand and they will be automatically remembered about the Jingle. You can also see the consumers picking up the brand with a smile and confident not bothering about the price...unlike Colgate ad where they scare the consumer by their comparison. Thats their USP or Value Proposition.

Anonymous said...

but what about the exposure of those advt ? ? ? Can an advt of citibank metro card be compared to that of nirma. i have been exposed to nirma advt more than citibank ???

Anonymous said...

Someone please bring this blog alive...
No more hibernation Satheesh..

SatheeshKrishnamurthy said...

Anonymous: Agreed that Nirma has had more exposures than Citi Card. But the point is, Nirma had been consistent; and, Citi has had a fair bit of exposure and still not ensured recall.