INNOVATION IN ADVERTISING: FROM PURSUATION TO SENSITIZATION BY Kunal Pant IIM Ahmedabad There’s a quote in Latin the English translation of which is ‘To be, rather than to seem’. Interestingly, a slight variation of this quote appears in the business world; Esse, Non Videri (To act, not to seem to be) is how the Wallenberg family makes itself known in the corners of Biz spaces, especially the ones it own. Its holdings include ABB, Aleris, AstraZeneca, Electrolux, Ericsson, and many more. The reason why this particular trivia is relevant for studying advertising in today’s time is that brands have evolved from facing the Shakespearean question of ‘to be or not to be’ to ‘to be or seem to be’. The answer lies in their approach towards marketing and advertisement. Through advertisements however, brands choose what they stand for and covey their meaning and purpose to everyone who matters to them. To realize the weight of this statement, consider
how New York Times converses with its readers. The organization is not one of the most profitable; in fact it has turned its losses last year into profits this year. But its circulation (2nd in US and 17th in world) speaks a lot about its image: Journalism that stands Apart. It has committed to shift focus from page views to subscription, and ensuring excellent reporting. Times proved to readers that they are their revenue and not ads. With the advent and proliferation of social media like FB, twitter, instagram along with search engines, screens (TRPs), advertisers engage in developing very precise mind maps and brand maps (look figure for one of its many variants). These maps chalk the way of brands from their introduction to target costumers’ homes. While these tools have helped in achieving success in the markets, they are not an island unto themselves.
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In the 21st century, more and more brands advertisers are now realizing that they are circumspect by a society which is diverse and has multitude of perspectives. However, one seemingly revolutionary change is a way how some marketers are even acknowledging some inherent and long standing problems and stereotypes in the society, and affect their audiences to change their perspectives. Of course, it can be difficult to root out the deep seated antagonism in human groups or communities, but seeing a possibility and refusing to give up even in the face of criticism from the major-
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ity. Just look at the recent advertisements of Surf Excel and Brook Bond Tea, which have used creativity to promote Hindu-Muslim harmony.
To take a case in point, Gillette is the best example of how ads have evolved from persuasion to sensitization. Gillette’s earlier ads were centred on its tagline ‘the best a man a get’. But after the #MeeToo too everyone to their feet, Gillette came up with this excellent ad and introduced a subtle change in its tagline to ‘the best a man can be’. It showed it’s apprehension of the toxic masculinity that colours all the spaces in the society.
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Let us give ourselves a theoretical perspective by considering one of the most widely used models: AIDA – Attention or Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. Manual for the Study of the Psychology of Advertising and Selling by H.S. Kitson details the following 6 step process in AIDA model:Stage I. Secure attention. Stage II. Hold attention Through Interest. Stage III. Arouse Desire. Stage IV. Create Confidence and Belief. Stage V. Secure Decision and Action. Stage VI. Create Satisfaction. It is not difficult to notice that over the years, each of these stages have become non chronological, as well as flexible and advanced as opposed to fixed and rudimentary.
Today, the very name is a popular of commercial failure all over the world. It has been hailed as the ‘wrong car at the wrong time’. Wrong car because it was introduced without considering demographics and purchasing power of Americans, and as result was perceived as unattractive, overpriced and overhyped. Wrong time because it was introduced during the US recession of 1958. This is one of the stories that remind the marketers to take a dynamic approach and be more inclusive of the customers in decision making. Therefore, the importance of PESTEL analysis has only increased with time.
To conclude, I would like to go back and say that brand marketers and advertisers today are involved in a dilemma called ‘to be or seem to be’. However, they are not very different, as the current information Ford in 1958 introduced an autoage requires brands and their parent commobile marquee called ‘Edsel’, named after panies to take action for it to be perceived Henry Ford’s only son, Edsel Ford. Ford as active; to do good, for it to be perceived expected it to be the model that will make as good. Brands that fail to live up to their it equal to its competitor General Motors motto, that have been involved in alleged in American automotive market. However, controversies, can tarnish their image in destiny had something else written for it. the minds of costumers throughout lives, Edsel couldn’t survive further that 1960s. be it costumers’ or the brands’ themselves.
Cause Marketing – Doing great by BY Harshvardhan Gautam Doing good KJ Somaiya In this era of information, people are lot more aware about organizational practices that were once hidden. From clothes produced in the sweatshops to avocado sales causing deforestation, people nowadays know and care about these topics; 80% of the consumers believe that businesses must play a role in addressing the societal issues. In the age of customer, when brands must compete on more than price, this area is a booming opportunity to help champion a cause and be a force for good. In a global study, 91% of customers state that they were likely to switch to a brand that supports a great cause, given similar price and quality. 92% said they would buy a product or service with a social or environmental benefit given the opportunity, and 67% said they had done so in the past twelve months. Cause-related marketing is not just a greatest aspect to make the world a better
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place. It serves genuine organization goals too. Cause Marketing Cause marketing, also called cause-related marketing, refers to 2 related, but slightly different forms of marketing. The first involves a combined effort between for profit brand and non-profit entities for the mutual benefit. The term also helps in more general sense to refer to marketing programs by for-profit brands based around a social or charitable cause. There are also two other relatable but different phenomena: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate giving. CSR means going beyond ensuring compliance to engage in actions that leads some social good. This activity of high ethical standards drives good public relations for the business. Corporate giving generally includes a specific donation that is tax-deductible.
Cause marketing strategy How should one approach cause marketing? It comes in many different forms and will look altogether different in various industries, and for various brands. There are some common points, however, that should be taken into consideration for a successful partnership or campaign.
awareness also.
Choose something you believe in – Cause marketing will work efficiently if the cause is believed by the employees. If the staff buys into the concept, they will work even harder and feel passionate about helping others. This collective energy will be reflected in the work one performs.
Strong emphasis on social and earned media – The best cause marketing campaigns will develop multiple media designed to increase the effectiveness of each channel. Dumb Ways to Die, a safety campaign from Metro Trains Melbourne was particularly good at this aspect.
Find a related cause – There are lots of examples of seemingly random partnerships that have been much hit, but in general cause marketing came across as more genuine if the cause is related to the brand.
The campaign began with a catchy and hilarious song, before branching out into social campaigns with video outtakes, physical dolls, and mobile games. It also supports user-generated content, which mentions a series of parodies released.
Don’t just contribute money – Money is helpful and essential, but often time and expertise can be helpful. In fact, 64% of consumers surveyed about cause marketing states that contributing money alone is not sufficient; brands should integrate social good directly into their business. It’s not all about raising funds, but raising
Collaborate with the non-profit – While it is safe to assume that any charity would like to have extra funds and exposure, working with them to define the most helpful strategy will ensure you maximize the effectiveness of your cause.
Cause marketing examples There are lots of examples of cause marketing, and it seems to be increasingly prevalent. I have included an example of both types – a partnership between forand non- profit organizations, and a brand engaging with a social cause.
Maker’s Mark and One Warm Coat “Give cozy, #GetCozy” Truck Tour Maker’s Mark partnered with One Warm Coat – a nonprofit entity whose mission is to provide anyone in need with a warm coat, free of cost. For the nearly 15% of Americans living below poverty line, a warm winter coat is a budget “extra.” Maker’s Mark “Give Cozy, #GetCozy” Truck Tour campaign included multiple social media, PR, paid media and event activations. Lush and the SpyCops Campaign Some companies are willing to go for risky causes, such as Lush Cosmetics, a UK-based business selling soap, shampoo, and other well-scented products.
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While a support of animal rights causes for years, Lush started a campaign with store window displays in support of the SpyCops campaign, which wanted to raise awareness around undercover police officers and their action plans under their assumed identities. An insecure move for any organization, it was seen as an attack on the police by someone, with a call for a boycott going out on social media. It didn’t look good until it was announced that the company saw a 14% increase in sales year-on-year for the period of the campaign. Not what people expected. It is bold territory to make an entry, but the risks surely pay off.
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A-mull over one of the greatest ad campaigns ever BY Anish Agarwal
SIBM Pune
I was in the office cafeteria with my colleagues on a regular Tuesday, gathered around the counter to order for our food. We ordered our usual sandwich. While at the counter, I started a random conversation with the cook and in that randomness, I happened to ask him about the brand of butter her uses in his preparation. He mentioned a brand whose name I can’t recall. Manish, who was standing next to me was shocked at the cook’s reply. The shock was not due to the unfamiliar brand name he had just heard, but because of a name he hadn’t. The obvious question that followed was- ‘Don’t you use Amul butter in your sandwiches?’ The cook replied with a nod. After that day our ‘usual’ sandwich order wasn’t usual anymore.
ably dates back to the 1960s when the Amul girl was born as the mascot for Amul Butter. The Amul girl was the brainchild of Sylvetser daCunha who wanted to give a fresh look to the Amul marketing campaign. The strategy was simple – to use wit and humour to grab everyone’s attention. The first ever Amul hoarding read – “Give us this day our daily bread with Amul butter” with a picture of the Amul girl in the background. This advertisement was simple, yet subtle and effective and soon, the Amul girl became a hit among the Indian household.
This campaign gradually started taking inspiration from current events and thus began the journey of Amul topicals. These This small incident made me wonder why topicals cover topics from all genres rangwe are so attached to Amul butter. Of ing from sports and entertainment to policourse, Amul is perceived as a pioneer of tics and global events. Another fascinating trust and quality but the Indian market aspect of these topicals is the use of hand is flooded with competition from varisketched comics which hasn’t changed ous other reputable brands too. Also, this over the last 50 years. Probably the hand brand domination is not present in other sketched nature of these comics gives it categories like milk, curd or any other the Amulish image that is stuck in our dairy product. I will purchase a different minds. With its sweet blend of humour, brand of milk from the general store if wordplay and cuteness, the Amul ads are they don’t have Amul, but I don’t think I amusing to viewers of all age groups (with will buy any other butter except the ‘Utter- a sense of humour) ly Butterly delicious’- Amul. A few humorous ads on sports and movies The answer to this brand popularity, prob-
1) When The Serbian Tennis star – Djokovic made a comeback by winning Wimbledon 2018.
2) When Rafael Nadal won his 11th French Open title in 2018
3) On Neymar’s overreaction during injuries
4) A spoof on the Bollywood movies Ghajini and Sanju
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Through these topicals, Amul not only focuses on throwing a punchline but they also focus on sending a message on important current affairs. Due to this, people perceive the Amul girl as a ‘social observer’ who is taking her stance on serious issues. It conveys to the people that the brand is not just about selling its products, but they also voice their opinion on important matters. This is important as it not only gives the brand a positive image but also gives it the stature of a thought leader, which is exactly what Amul has achieved. 5) On Environment protection
6) On Data breach and selling of data
ing a story as people are already aware of the current events and viral posts on media. The brands can simply ride along the wave of virality at the same time, connecting with the viewers on a deeper level. 9) When the Canadian PM Justin
7) On Nuclear tension between USA and North Korea
8) On rising fuel prices
I think the use of current affairs in marketing campaigns is a smart idea and lately many successful brands like Zomato, Netflix, Durex, Ola, etc are also basing their ads on current affairs. The main advantage of using current affairs is that you don’t need to make efforts in build-
Trudeau came to India However, the strategy of using current affairs is not new and is being used widely under a slightly different form. We have all come across festival ads, haven’t we? When a brand is making a Diwali advertisement during Diwali, it wants to connect with its Diwali-celebrating customers on a deeper level to make a long-lasting impression. The same is the case with current affairs. The only difference is that this is impromptu, and brands must respond as soon as news hits the surface. 10) When Elon Musk launched a car into space
The last 50 years has placed the Amul campaign among the catchiest advertisements of all time and probably we will continue seeing the amusing Amul topicals in the future as well. The level of creativity and word-play used in these ads is praiseworthy and serves as inspiration to all folks in the advertisement space. Thankfully, Amul has compiled all its hits
on the Amul website so you don’t have to store newspaper cut-outs every time a new topical comes in the newspaper. You can view all of it here - https://www.amul. com/m/amul-hits
“In the modern world of bus useless to be a creative, origi thinker unless you can also s you create.� -David Ogilvy
siness, it is inal sell what
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#BUZZFEED
Amazon #DeliverTheLove campaign This Mother’s day Amazon has come up with a heart-warming campaign #DeliverTheLove. Even though during this period many brands usually come up with campaigns, Amazon has excelled in creating a wonderful video as a part of campaign. It depicts the journey of a child, right from birth till the old age and how a mother plays a crucial part in every important sphere of life and helps in shaping his/her life. The video is very relatable due to the simplicity shown and the selfless love by a mother. The brands these days are playing more towards the emotional side so that the audience can relate well with their ideas.
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Power of Influencer Marketing
TGBL has approached key shareholders of Hector Beverages with a proposal to buy out the company along with its popular brand Paper Boat to spice up its portfolio. Even though a formal approach has been made, the talks around Paper Boat are still at an exploratory stage and there is still no guarantee that it will lead to a
With social media used by a lot of celebrities, it creates an advantage for the brands. Since youth are present on all major social media, they follow the celebrities and for some, they are even their role models. Bloggers and Influencers do not only hold the power of having high number of followers but also the power to make an impact on their choices. As such influencer marketing holds a lot of scope when it comes to making their presence felt amongst the youth. As an example, One Plus 7 is creating a buzz across social media with Influencer Marketing. Understanding the power of Bloggers and influencers to make a difference, OnePlus India collaborated with some of the best influencers, bloggers, TV actors and models. OnePlus who is also one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in the world recognizes the power of social media.
Marketing by brands - World Cup 2019 With ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 set to begin on 30th May, it is a great time for brands to catch this opportunity to grow and make their presence felt on the large scale. The brands who are confirmed are PhonePe, Havells, Amazon, MRF, Royal Stag, Dream11 and many more. Star India has already launched its campaign #CricketkaCrown which we have already seen during the IPL. Brands will get maximum attention due to two main reasons. Firstly each team will play 9 matches initially due to Round Robin stage. Secondly, the matches will start at either 3 or 6 P.M. IST which makes it a prime time for gaining more reach. As an example, Amul has decided to sponsor Afghanistan cricket team and aims to grow more in the country.
#BUZZFEED Personalisation: The New Era of
Marketing New Brand Ambassadors of Himalaya Men Personalised marketing advocates for fitting of at least one parts of the Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been recently signed in as the Brand Ambassaassociation’s advertising blend to the individual client. Personalised mardors of Himalaya Men Face Care Range. Himalaya is focused towards being Wellness keting extraordinary division, withwill anbe objective section of latest size partner shows to everyan consumer. Both Virat and Rishabh seen rapping to the one. There by areHimalaya two types of“Looking one-to one marketing: personalization and proposition MEN, Good…And Loving It”. With young males concerned more about personal grooming than before, it creates a great opportunicustomization. Personalization is the point at which the firm chooses, ty for Himalaya to leverage it to their gathered advantage.client Henceinformation, the choice of Virat Rishgenerally in light of beforehand whatand marabh seems to be perfect as people look up to them as good looking and confident. keting blend is appropriate for the person. A decent illustration is AmSo it becomes important for companies to have a right Brand Ambassador to repreazon.com’s book and music suggestions. Amazon utilizes sent them socustomized that He/she resonates well with the Brand Personality. cooperative sifting to figure out what music or books to prescribe to its customers. Systems of large-scale manufacturing, beliefs of standardiza-
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GAME OF THRONES MARKETING IS OUT FOR BLOOD
BY Sachi Ahuja NMIMS Mumbai
Game of Thrones has become one of the most popular and talked about the show in the history of TV-shows. It’s not just that the fans are enraptured all the time and have put all the permutations and combinations of the fan-theories but the conversations are extended to even the nonfans– while coming for work, the coffee machine in office, on social media, back at home, and just about everywhere! Game of Thrones has become a universe and the non-fans are unequivocally left confused when exposed to this universe. There are two kinds of people: 1. Who watch Game of Thrones 2. Who do not watch Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is the grand apotheosis of an outstanding story the scale of which television has never seen before. Even if HBO’s promotional budget for the show only ran to a single classified listing in a small town’s residential newsletter, you’d still know about it. The world would.. But this fantasy show is more than just red witches and blind teenaged assassins, it is insightful into human nature. We all are aware of how important it has become for the marketers to understand people to build and sell to their targeted buyers. To date, the show is telecast across no less than 170 countries and has amassed a
global fan base of 33 million and counting. Marketers take note- Game of Thrones is digital marketing done right. Let’s break down some of the interesting marketing tips we all can learn from the epic drama:
Internet is the place to be in but in the real-life brands take customer loyalty to the next level. Before the last season premiered, HBO launched its blood driver experience with the American Red Cross called the “Bleed of the Throne” for the 1. To build excitement among the audipeople who had lost tens of thousands ence, use location of scheduled donations this winter after With the last season kicking in, HBO chal- freezing temperatures and storms. The exlenged people to a worldwide scavenger treme weather had led to the cancellation hunt- hiding half a dozen real-life replicas of hundreds of blood drives around Texas. of the Iron Throne and encouraging fans Donors who participated in this blood to do it. With this, the fans are only given drive or any of the other simultaneous a basic YouTube video clue of the throne blood drives across the nation could win a replica to solve the task and beat the trip to the premiere of the final season of countdown. The TV network is enhancGame of Thrones. ing the show’s experience by letting social #lesson-learned-by-marketer: Covering media rumors and adventures pop in. the gap between digital marketing and #lesson-learned-by-marketer: Tasty nugreal life can be the key to providing heartgets of information creates dragon-sized felt customer experience, especially when appetites for a full meal. For marketers, it communicated through omnichannel. is important to leverage social media hype as well as location targeting. Sending the 3. With co-branded collaborations, try to relevant content at the right time and at take the hype to the next level the right locations to maximize marketing Anheuser-Busch, a major American Brewcampaigns experience. ing company gave its commercial airtime of ultra-valuable Super bowl LIII to HBO. 2. Immersion, Offline Experiences should The storyline of the commercial is brilbe leveraged liant- by destabilizing expected tropes
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with the unforeseeable demise of a central character, the end result is a great work of co-branding marketing. Anheuser-Busch is not the only one – Oreo had also leveraged the growing excitement of the last season, with brilliant co-branding commercial recreating the title song of Game of Thrones. #lesson-learned-by-marketer: The capability of covering the untapped customer segment increases when two brands are paired well. Fans love seeing everything linked in unexpected ways, and marketers
need to leverage until the customers are loyal fans. The ultimate aim of a marketer to increase profits by increasing the customer base. Hence, the aim here of HBO is also to maximise the number of Game of Thrones viewers. For those who have resisted it so far, HBO is trying to convince them, in a hope that that they will watch other HBO shows, fall in love with them and continue with their subscriptions.
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Changing Trends: From Macro Influencers to Micro Influencers
BY Tanvir Singh IIM Visakhapatnam “82% of consumers have a higher likelihood of acting upon recommendations from micro-influencers.” Influencer marketing is still a prominent marketing tool, but when it comes to celebrity accounts, people find it hard to believe that a celebrity is a real fan of a product. It has led to a shift from an archaic trend to a more cost-effective trend of 2019, i.e. Micro Influencers. Micro Influencers are people with small (1k-100k) and engaging audience. The fact that they have a trusting relationship with their audience is making them a lure for brands.
balls that care about it. 2. High Post Engagement Macro-Influencers (100k+) have only 1.7% post engagement on Instagram, while users with 1000 followers get post engagement of about 9.7% . With higher post engagement brands have a higher chance of generating authenticity and bringing effectiveness to their campaign both in terms of reach and conversions.
Factors behind Effectiveness of Micro-Influencers
3. Cost Effective In a recent influencer marketing study, Neoreach concludes “the larger the influencer, the lower the ROI.” Influencers with 50K to 250K followers deliver a 30% better ROI per dollar spent than macro-influencers, and 20% better than influencers with 1+ million followers.
1. Loyal Audience As most of the followers of Micro-influencers are known connections, Micro-influencers are proven to be highly effective in improving brand visibility, authenticity and generating engagements. “85% of consumers trust peer recommendation over Brand Advertising.” With Macro-Influencers you may get more eyeballs, but you won’t get the eye-
4. Authenticity People, in general, tend to be much more trusting of those people who are authentic and have an organic approach towards promotion. If an influencer is aggressive in the way of pushing a product or a brand, it will put a negative effect on their followers. It could even impact the advertised brand negatively. People often trust influencer who has a good knowledge of the
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product.
3. More Efforts for brands “97% of consumers believe micro influSince Micro-Influencer has a smaller set encers are highly knowledgeable.” of followers, thus brands often reach out to more number of Micro-Influencer to This in return helps the brand to reach a offset the reach, the more individuals that high degree of niche. For example, consid- a firm needs to work with, the more exerer the promotion of a Motor-Cycle event, tion it takes them. The work required with a person with an active interest in Biking working with ten miniaturized scale influwill have also have many connections who encers is likely more than multiple times share this interest, thus to choose such a the effort associated with working with Micro-Influencer will be much more effec- one Macro influencer. tive than a macro influencer. Macro-Influencer in Action Challenges Though the trend is picking up in 2019, 1. Identification some top companies have already recogIdentifying a niche micro influencer is nized the potential of Micro-Influencer, often a very tedious job, and it may take a Let’s look at some of their successful camconsiderable amount of research and time paigns. to find the Right Micro-Influencer. a. L’Oreal 2. Less Real Engagement with wrong MiL’Oreal is one of the early adopters of cro-Influencer Micro-Influencer, they kick-started the It is vital that brand make their sincere campaign in 2016, under the name #beaueffort while choosing the right Micro-Influencer for their products. While most Micro-Influencer has a more noteworthy engagement rate than those with gigantic followings, that won’t be the situation for everyone. A few people look encouraging superficially, yet this is because they have utilized dodgy techniques in the expectation of conning some brand to pay them.
tysquad. Instead of partnering to one major influencer they partnered with 5 UK based beauty bloggers of diverse ethnicities with slightly smaller followings. b. Dove Real Beauty Campaign Dove launched a campaign for real beauty in 2004, and it has been called a “game changer” in which they picked women of different ethnicity who were not models but normal ladies.
c. Garnier Garnier partnered with 150 Micro-influencers for promotion of their Fruictus haircare line, which generated 33 million+ impressions, 10 million+ reach and 300k+ engagement. “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway” - Edward Bernays
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marketingclub@iimrohtak.ac.in DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the stake holders of IIM Rohtak EDITOR : Sai Jagtap DESIGN : Rashi Baghel FOLLOW US ON :