Advertisements: Mélange of entertainment, arts, economics, science, great message, zeitgeist, communiqué....

Asli swaad jindagi ka..

Darr ke aage jeet hai..

What an Idea Sirji..

Daag Acche Hai..

Neighbor’s Envy Owner’s Pride..

Dobara mat poochna..

There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there’s Master Card..
Mango Frooti, fresh and juicy!..Wherever you go, our network follows..

Glucon-C(D), yeh jaan mein jaan daal de - peete hi..

Namak ho Tata ka, Tata namak!.. or Desh Ka Namak..

Yeh Fevicol ka jod hai tootega nahin..

Yeh to bada toing hai..

There's nothing official about it, ‘Yeh dil maange more’, ‘Yehi hai right choice baby’, ‘Yeh pyaas hai badi..

All these popular tag lines from Indian advertisements crowded my mind space instantly when I saw an e-mail that my friend had forwarded to me, which was an assorted collection of various billboards from Amul. Sample this..

 

Amul has covered everything of significance from all echelons and all walks of life right from social, economic, political, non-political to geological. Amul has always been known for their sardonic and topical ads and are almost always the first ones to come up with such fantastic campaigns, then how can current hot topics like Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th century or Anna Hazare’s Fast movement be left untouched? (For those who wish to enjoy historical Amul billboards: http://www.amul.com/m/amul-hits) 

As I started to think further about those advertisements, that had created an impression on us the list started to grow. Sashaying down the memory lane to recollect those advertisements was really fun!

How can you forget the ad of Woodwards Gripe Water:

Mom taking care of kid. Grandma walks in. "Kya hua?" "Bachchi ro rahi thi" "Woodwards Gripe Water de de. Wohi to mein tumhe deti thi jab tum chhoti thi” Gramma's Mama walks in. "Kya hua?"... this ad goes from mother to great-great-grandmother. Wow! What a way to drive the point that Woodwards Gripe Water has been around for a long long long time. 

Or

An old man narrating to us that whenever he committed something wrong/ mischievous he was caught because of a certain Bajaj bulb illuminating the room to its full glory!! (“jab main chhota bachcha tha, badi shararat karta tha, meri chori pakdi jaati, jab roshni deta bajaj!”) 

Or

An advertisement of Sylvania Laxman bulbs, where at the end, customer asks for 6 bulbs that are world famous and when confused shopkeeper enquires, customer tells him Poore Ghar Ke Badal Daloonga!!!

Such fantabulous ads meant that various taglines like Dobara mat poochana, Poore Ghar Ke Badal Daloonga, Thanda matlab Coca-Cola, Pappu paas ho gaya, etc transcended from television sets, billboards, hoardings, magazines into our colloquial lingo.

On serious note though, advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering.

Advertisement is an encapsulated communication about a product (good/services), a clearly designed, concise, aesthetically appealing and content-wise accurate communiqué intended to effectively persuade the target audience(viewers/listeners/readers) to arrive at a decision as desired by the advertiser often concerning the product (goods/service). It can also educate the target audience about the various other details such as the products cost, availability, usage modalities, problems that may arise whiles using it and the probable solutions to those problems etc.

Even in today’s world of Viral Marketing, Social media marketing, Social Networking, Online marketing; print, TV Commercials are still very important for building and maintaining the brands.

Not for nothing, Advertisement (Promotion), is one of most important of 4P’s of Marketing.

If gone wrong, promotion/ marketing could mean a doomsday even for a good product; case in point could be Tata Nano. Though not a flop, Tata Nano failed to notch the sales numbers it was initially expected it could reach, because of the general perception that it is poor man’s car, and this was also acknowledged by Ratan Tata. 

Encouraging or persuading an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action, or to make them buy your product, your service or idea is a continuous process for which ad campaigns are built where the concept of ad or salient points of the product are hammered on the minds of target customers. Indian ad chest is certainly not bereft of such great ad campaigns. (I am mentioning only few there are many more examples. I would be delighted if somebody shares a personal favourite ad with me) 

We had a terrific ad campaign from Coke India, where Aamir Khan breathed life in various characters that he enacted be it Jaat, Bihari and as a result, ‘Thanda Matlab Coca Cola’ not just remained a mere tagline but was also on everybody’s mind and lips. 

In the same vein, Fevicol ad campaign has been one of the finest ad campaigns that Indian Advertising Industry has produced. Innovative ads like ultra overweight truck traversing the desert terrain or Cannes award winning hen and egg ad, clearly emphasized long lasting and strong adhesive capabilities of Fevicol.

Cadbury ads that created feel good factor in viewer’s mind and came up with some thoughtful slogans like, “Kuchh khaas hai hum sabhi mein, Kuchh baat hai hum sabhi mein’ i.e there is something special in each one of us or ‘khane ke baad kuch meetha ho jaye’ is another nice example of good ad campaign.

Some ads from house of Cadbury’s are etched in every viewer’s mind e.g.

Cadbury cricket ad where a vivacious girl throwing all inhibitions, dodging the security guard breaks into an impromptu celebration of dance 

Or Cadbury mehendi ad Or very recent ad with very catchy slogan, Khaane ke baad, meethe mein kuch meetha ho jaaye 

Also not to forget, the ads of Hutch with great lyrics You and I in this beautiful world and with great tagline, 'Wherever you go, our network follows'. The transition from Hutch to Vodafone was well depicted by  Hutch pug and Vodafone kennel...What an idea Sirji!!!!!

Such ad campaigns also meant creation of iconic characters be it Utterly Butterly Amul Girl or then ubiquitous Lalitaji or Nirma Girl or Fido-Dido, omnipresent Hutch pug or very recent and very much innovative and iconic ZooZoo characters.

One such ad campaign and a character that really comes to my mind is ‘Balbir Pasha’.

It was commissioned in 2002 by PSI, a Washington DC – based non-profit organization, as a part of its Indian operations. ‘Operation Lighthouse', a program was aimed at bringing about behavioral change in target group members in order to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS contraction. The campaign was launched in Mumbai.

Balbir Pasha ad campaign was really unique. It dealt with the then taboo subject AIDS. The task ahead of Balbir Pasha was humongous, it had no product/service to sell, but it had to bring about the behavioral change in target group not only to make them aware of AIDS and it’s causes but also to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS contraction and improper pitching of the campaign could have proved disastrous.

Catchy slogans in conversational tone, apt billboards were followed by TV and print ads giving out crisp and clear message to the target audience. The creative people behind the campaign really need to be applauded for apt handling for had it not been handled properly, the messages could have been classified as vulgar.

Have a look at some of these taglines-

·     Balbir Pasha ki regular sirf Manjula hai par Manjula ke kai regular hai. (Balbir Pasha has only Manjula as his regular. But Manjula has many regulars)

  

·    Pasha sirf swastha dikhnewalon se sambandha rakhta hai. Par dekhne se pata nahi chalta kise AIDS hai. (Pasha is in contact with only healthy people. But you won’t know who has AIDS and who doesn’t.)

   

·    Aao milkar haath badhaye Balbir Pasha ko AIDS se bachaye. (Come join hands to save Balbir Pasha getting infected from AIDS)

To say that Balbir Pasha campaign was huge hit is complete understatement. As it was successful in breaking the taboo, these posters, TV, print ads initiated relevant discussions on AIDS at tea shops, colleges, paan shops. I am sure all Mumbaikars will vividly remember this entire campaign.

Not to stop at half way mark, the campaign went ‘full monty’ by conducting a post-campaign evaluation which was conducted by TNS Mode. 1500 people revealed that a quarter of all respondents recalled the Balbir Pasha campaign spontaneously. Of the respondents, 62% recalled the campaign after hearing the word ‘HIV/AIDS', while 90% remembered the campaign after hearing the words ‘Balbir Pasha'. 

This documented behavioral change in target group members brought to the fore well known but almost always forgotten to the extent of being oblivious sagacious fact that advertisements are not just entertainment, catchy slogans or great visuals, but is also a science.

By the way, ‘No-subject-beyond-our-realms’ advertisers of India, the great Amul, came up with hit billboard using Balbir Pasha campaign. ‘Who does Balbir Pasha wake up with every morning? Amul butter, regular item.’

Another campaign aimed at changing behavioral pattern is Tata Jaago Re! campaign on corruption. These ads targeted and depicted, wide range of fields where corruption is prevalent, be it government office or examination paper leak. Current, Soch Badlo ad tells us to change our thought process and hopes that the current turmoil, anger of peoples of India would lead to a change/ revolution in the country.

I will not be pardoned if do not mention one of the most famous and lovable animation films India has ever produced. This deals with the subject of national integration (As far as my information goes, this is the first ever animation film created in India). Well absolutely no prizes for guessing. ‘Ek Chidiya’ animation film on national integration and unity.



As Norman Douglas said, you can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements, the chasm in zeitgeist of India at the time of Ek Chidiya film and today where we have to educate people about corruption is glaring.

Like people, can ads be good or bad? Sure!!

Simply put, good ads convert, target customer to an actual buyer whereas bad ads fail to do so.

Actual sales and economics apart, for me, those ads making huge over-the-top promises only to be shattered later, have to be the bad ads. The self proclaimed mavens could argue and say that ads are meant for making promises. Yes, promises are to be made but ads that ‘bite off more than it can chew’ do product more harm than good. I think fitting reply comes from the doyen of advertising industry David Ogilvy. As he said, “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine.” 

Also as aptly put by Isaac Asimov “I don't subscribe to the thesis, ‘Let the buyer beware,' but I prefer the disregarded one, ‘Let the seller be honest!'

“Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket” says George Orwell. 

“Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it” as pertinently said by Stephen Butler Leacock (quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982)

Haven’t you heard ‘no one can whistle a symphony, it takes and orchestra to play it’. Similarly, good advertisement is a perfect brew of art, visuals, good message, great idea, fantastic product features/service promise, entertainment, behavioral science, appealing models, great location, feel good factor, touching right emotional chord and so on. To pin point what advertisement really is as futile an exercise as taming Toro bravo to plough your field. 

I think of advertisements as a perfect potpourri or a mélange of entertainment, arts, economics, science, great message, zeitgeist, communiqué, 

that’s what advertisements really are to me......