Brand New Smackdown

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: It’s the Pepsi Challenge all over again. This time with deodorants and direct-to-home television and health drinks rather than between two near-indistinguishable colas.

Sample this. A scrawny guy in a swish bar. An axe in each hand, it looks as if he is waiting for his kill. As if by divine intervention, he spots two gorgeous women, and guess what, they start gliding their way towards him. Without wasting a minute, Scrawny Guy manoeuvres the two axes around his body much in the same way the loser-type boy in the ad for brand Axe splashes the deodorant all over himself just so he can spellbind women. Of course, the ladies approach him purposefully, only to walk past to a well-favoured gentleman standing right behind him. Ouch.

“Yunhin haath maat ghumao,” says the voiceover. The message: “Get Set Wet Zatak. Get very, very sexy”. Axe? What in heaven’s name is that?

One more example. Two middle-class-looking men—the ones you saw in the Bajaj XCD 125 motorcycle ad discussing the performance and prices of their respective machines—on their rooftops inspecting their dish antennas with great relish. Thin Man is happy to note that Not-So-Thin has also taken a direct-to-home connection.

Thin Man: Kyon naya dish?

Not-So-Thin: Haan…

Thin Man: Mera bhi 65 channels.

Not-So-Thin: Are yeh to mera jyada hai: 130 channels.

Thin Man: Zee, Star Plus, Colors hain?

Not-So-Thin: Isse bhi zyada NDTV Imagine, Sony aur Bindaas Bhi. Kitne mein liya?

Thin Man: Sirf 2,490.

Not-So-Thin: Yeh tera jyada hai. 499 only.

Not-So-Thin is happy. He’s has got much more for much less! Reason:

He has Sun Direct DTH service and not, as you’d have guessed by now, Tata Sky.

In other words, “Ghar ghar main Sun. Tan, tana tan”.

Looks like advertising is getting down and dirty in the trenches.

As clients tighten their purse strings—faced as they are with an overall economic slowdown—it’s a no holds barred battle for market share out there. Brands are baring their fangs more than ever before taking competition head on in their mass media communication. “As categories mature, companies have become more fierce in protecting their turfs,” says Samit Sinha, managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting. “When the market is growing, there is always room for everyone to grow. But when growth plateaus, one tends to grow at the cost of another.”