Authored article – TV Naarayan, Head – Marketing, SugarBox Networks
Only in cheesy Hindi movies do we see a menacing business tycoon spurt out dialogues like “Any publicity is good publicity”. And those kinds of movies surprisingly do well sometimes. The critics hate them, the man with taste balks at the very thought of them, meditates, takes deep breaths just to forget them.
Advertising or marketing at large is going through a similar phase in India. A new breed of content marketing is taking over brand strategy. Brand marketers seem to have consumed too many of the cheesy movies and seem to have imbibed that philosophy of “anything that becomes a talking point” is good for the brand. Then there are ones who believe that growth comes from controversy. You must push the bar so high on the progressive thought process that the “woke” teenager (read millennial) connects with your brand. There’s a core difference that brands need to understand – progressive doesn’t need to be controversial. Not forgetting that controversy often hurts brands and business. The primary job of a brand marketer is to build the brand and grow business. Not make a splash and dash!
Again, I don’t think there’s been a generation that’s so deeply involved with brands and so vocal about it that their opinions are divisive.
Dealing with a trigger- happy Social Girl or Guy
In the last 2-3 years, the one thing we are increasingly seeing is this phenomenon where brands are bashed openly in social media. Instant messaging and other platforms are raging grounds. Now where does this leave brands?
Famous Jewelry ads have faced the brunt on social media for trying to push the bar. They had to pull back the ad immediately. Very recently, a well-known clothing brand had to pull back their ads because a lot of people ended up saying that they were anti-tradition. Now, the clothing brand itself has a line of traditional wear. If anything, they’ve kept tradition alive by having ethnic wear going for the last few years. And what was the issue? They used a combination of Urdu words to describe a Hindu festival – Diwali. Now, the world is divided as to whether they were right or wrong. And this piece is certainly not an opinion on whether what they did was right or wrong.
We’ve also seen a prominent food tech brand getting pulled up on social media. Many felt the brand, in its day-to-day operations, put undue pressure on delivery boys and the ad kind of fueled that thought. The ad just spoke about the delivery man caring enough about making his deliveries on time to the extent that even when he saw a celebrity, he wouldn’t wait for a selfie or an autograph.
The production quality itself was neat. Now, let’s try and make a case for the brand. Would you, as a customer be fine if your food showed up cold? I’m not sure, you would. And there lies the double standards of people commenting on the issue. I would also be very keen to see how many people actually tip the man making the delivery. It’s like the mentality of the average person who says that a cricketer or an actor should donate more for covid relief because they make more money, while complaining about the taxes that they themselves pay.
Very recently, a famous Indian FMCG brand put out something on Karwa Chauth (the festival where the wife observes a fast for her husband and most husbands do so too). This one had a very different take- it showed two women observing the ritual. As expected, it had the world divided. Some called it progressive, others called it everything else.
As a brand there’s one consideration that you need to place before everything else. Am I talking to my core audience base? Would they be happy seeing this or are they likely to walk away from my brand? And more importantly, the distinction of whether everyone seeing your ad is a customer or just another viewer with an opinion. For example, if you are luxury fashion brand, you shouldn’t actually be worried about someone who’s never likely to buy your product. You want to come across as fine, suave, aspirational, and more often than not “by invite only”. It’s like Tywin Lannister saying, “A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep”. That is not to say that your aim is to get people at large irritated, in order to get their attention.
In many ways, the worry for a brand should be, not making any difference at all. Brands should definitely worry about not being one among a thousand faces.
The Purpose conundrum – Over Indexing on Messaging
Most people see corporates as cold-blooded, money-making machines without a heart, and they want them to pay for it. And that’s why brands that come across as warm and caring do better than the ones that come out as progressive, for the sake of progressive. It’s crucial for brands to walk the talk. If you are progressive, show it in action. If “Black Lives Matter”, show us how many black people you’ve supported. If you’re talking about being an equal society, show us how fair you’ve been. One thing is to show ads, the other is about actually doing something about it.
There’s this new thing that I keep reading about. Customers don’t care about what you do. They care about why you do it? The purpose, in other words. If ever there’s a moral of the story, it’s this- don’t buy into philosophies that sound like this.
Of course, you need to be ethical. That’s the foundation of any good brand. Own up to your mistakes, do right by your customer but don’t ever over-index on sentences like “customers care only about why you started this business”. It doesn’t work that way. Let’s say a car company “A” puts out a message that says that they donate a billion dollars to charity every year. Car company “B” does nothing of that sort but offers you safety features that are way better and throws in a discount of Rs. 25,000, as accessories. You do know that company “ A ” comes across as noble, its purpose sounds great, but would you buy that car?
If you said yes, you just lied to yourself. You care more about your family’s wellbeing than someone telling you in an ad that “we care”, to the soft tune of a piano playing in the background. Customers always pick value proposition over anything else. Its human nature to take a better deal. And there’s nothing wrong with it. Brands that make profit, do so because they have a better product, solid marketing, and a better purpose that they can build on. Only talking purpose – “the why”, isn’t going to cut it.
The Loudest Voice builds the Brand
Fin-tech is the “in-thing” these days. Every alternate ad you see during the T20 world cup is about crypto or rewards and discounts on paying for your purchases. I do think both these categories have great potential.
Now, most of these companies have used celebrities. Some have used multiple celebrities – a belief that comes from the content marketers turned brand specialists.
Again, as a marketer I would always think about one thing – is your core audience going to go for it? If yes, they’ve pulled off something great. Social likes and conversations aren’t the gold standard for building a brand. It’s like the number of candles people light up on Facebook for a cause but aren’t willing to show up when its needed.
In summary, the last brand standing is the one that’s messaging its core audience with razor sharp insights to back it. It’s okay to have something that looks ordinary to many but amazing to the ones who matter. Millennials are a great base to target for every brand, but at the same time there’s nothing wrong with legacy. Legacy is a privilege. Own it. There’s a difference between legacy and Outdated. You can’t be – Stone Cold Steve Austin – one day and Mother Teresa the next day!
Marketing may sometimes look like doing something despite public opinion. But remember, if it’s a viewer with an opinion, it doesn’t matter. A customer is one who has the will and the intent to buy. And brands need to curate a message for that customer.
