Even though ‘Get a Mac’ became synonymous with the iconic brand Apple (An American multi-national that makes consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers) , the campaign was quietly pulled off last year by the company.
The highly popular campaign, which was launched in 2006 and featured film actor Justin Long as a young ‘Mac’ along with an old man playing the role of ‘PC’ (‘Personal Computers’) – a dig at its closest rival Microsoft), has worked extremely well for the brand.
However, now the campaign was gradually getting a bit predictable as the same theme of ‘Mac vs PC’ was being played out in each and every television commercial. With Apple discarding the campaign, there is again an excitement amongst the viewers to know ‘what next?’.
This is a great example of a long running campaign being pulled off at a right time to give a whiff of fresh air to the brand, with a new positioning and a brand new campaign.
There are a number of campaigns which have been working well for their respective brands and have almost become synonymous with the brands. However, there is always a lurking danger of the popularity chart and eventually the sales charts of the brands being plateaued or gone down if the campaigns are stretched on for too long.
Even though punchlines like ‘Taste the thunder’ , ‘The Complete Man’ , ‘What an idea sirji’ and ‘Jaaago re’ quickly remind the consumers of the brands they are associated with (Thums Up, Raymond, Idea Cellular and Tata Tea); is the consumer actively looking out for the next commercial under the same old campaign?
Is it time for these brands to re-look at their long association with the campaigns? Should they embark on a completely new journey for their brands with some fresh twist?
Like advertising legend David Ogilvy once famously said, ?Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.? FE BrandWagon has done a ?testing? exercise for four such campaigns with the help of their brand marketers, their respective creative agencies and independent brand specialists to analyse if these campaigns should continue or if they should give way to new campaigns.
Idea Cellular
What an Idea, Sirji
The campaign
‘What an idea, Sirji’ was created about five years ago with Abhishek Bachchan, brand ambassador, playing the role of ‘Sirji’ throughout. The campaign tries to various tackle social issues plaguing the society with the use of mobile phone.
What has it done for the brand?
Anupama Ahluwalia, Sr VP, Idea Cellular proudly lauds the campaign for constantly providing Idea the buzz that it initially required in the telecom sector. ??What an Idea, Sirji? series has played a key role in the success of the brand. All the campaigns in the series have been major milestones in brand Idea?s successful journey.? As per the TRAI report for the quarter ending Sept ?10 (2 nd Quarter of FY11), Idea recorded a revenue market share of 12.8%, which makes it the third largest mobile operator in the country.
Is it time for a change?
Anand Halve, co-founder of Chlorophyll , the brand & communications consultancy firm, feels that in campaigns like these, the measurability of success is difficult. ?Though it warms the cockles of your heart, we can’t determine how it affects the actual purchase of the brand. It is similar to the Tata Tea- Jaage Raho campaign which deserves to be supported but will I change my tea brand because of it. Idea is an even worse example as the campaign is completely unrelated to the brand. The ideas it suggests are doable by any mobile service. Also, if I want to be associated with idea’s ideologies and show people that I am Idea’s customer, how do I do that? For a long running campaign, you need to use a different platform after sometime. I feel that Idea is reaching the limit of using mobile phone as a tool for human goodness.?
Explains R Balakrishnan, chairman, Lowe Lintas, ?When we started, we knew this campaign would keep running as long as Idea keeps coming up with a new idea.? Ahluwalia of Idea does not rule out the possibility of a new campaign in the future. She says, ?Nothing is permanent, especially in the dynamic environment of telecom. We will continue to innovate and build on the success of our campaigns as we move forward.? It is interesting to note that Idea has recently launched a new campaign for Mobile Number Portability which does not use the ‘What an idea, Sirji’ theme.
Time to Go?
Thums Up
Taste the Thunder
The campaign
‘ Taste the Thunder’ is synonymous with the brand Thums Up which was launched in 1977 . It encapsulated its positioning as ‘Taste the Thunder’ in early 1990s and has been running since then. The brand projects its image as a tough masculine brand and has managed to be the leader in its category for a long time. According to Anand Singh , director, marketing (Colas), Coca – Cola India, Thums Up has played ?Taste the Thunder? consistently for the last 20 years with only two prominent national brand ambassadors (Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar), strengthening its position as a male iconic brand.
What has it done for the brand?
Talking about the success of this campaign, Singh says, ?Thums Up has evolved with changing times but at the same time has retained its core – machoness. Hence, with its masculine appeal and its taste becoming biologically coded with the appeal, the brand enjoys a strong equity and goodwill and continues to be the ?most thunderous? in the cola category. It stands for masculinity that has constantly been redefined over the years, yet keeping the execution relevant to today?s times.?
Sainath Saraban, ECD, Leo Burnett India (Thums Up’s creative agency) says, ?We have been consistent with our positioning while also making it relevant to the consumer. Every year, the brand gives something new to the consumer. The execution is always different and refreshing. Last year, we did a film ‘Mil gaya’ which was without any action and whatever happens is left for audience to imagine. We could pull that off because the brand’s personality is strong. We bank on the indispensability of the brand.? Thums Up’s market share is about 16%, according to industry sources and the brand is ahead of others in the carbonated drinks segment.
Is it time for a change?
Pranesh Misra, chairman and MD, Brandscapes Worldwide thinks that the campaign could do something different now. He says, ?It is an outstanding campaign idea that needs constant refreshment. The brand has developed a unique macho/ adult personality over the years as a result of some great television commercials. However, now the time is right to give the idea some spin and make the advertising as refreshing as the product it is trying to sell.? Singh feels that the brand will evolve according to the changing perceptions of masculinity in the society. ? It targets youth- the most dynamic demographic segments who are most exposed to the changes in the outside world – so change is the only constant that we can promise,? he says.
Raymond
The Complete Man
The campaign
? The Complete Man? who was touted as the new age guy with a sensitive side to him was invented in 1990s and has been on air for almost a decade and half.
Shailen Sohoni, chief operating officer, RK Swamy BBDO (Mumbai) says, ??The Complete Man? as a proposition represents a male ideal that resonates with men across age groups. The reason our commercials continue to work their magic is because every new execution is always emotionally rich, has freshness, is contemporary, classy and relevant to the core brand promise of helping men look and feel good.?
What has it done for the brand?
According to Sohoni, ?The Complete Man? has helped Raymond build a unique position in the men?s fashion category, one that has rich meaning, creates aspiration and is easily remembered. It so deeply ingrained that when you say Raymond, ?The Complete Man? naturally follows.?
He further adds, ?Raymond is very conscious of the power of this proposition and has taken great care to stay on the path and nurture the core promise in every way possible. It is therefore no surprise that over the years Raymond has become an acknowledged leader in this category.?
Raymond commands over 60% market share in worsted suiting in India, according to the company’s official website.
Is it time for a change?
Says Aniruddha Deshmukh, president ? sales and marketing, textile division, Raymond Limited, ?All our brand research shows that ?The Complete Man? continues to be a relevant positioning platform and we intend to retain it and enhance the creative and emotional appeal of our commercials.? Adds Sohoni, ? We are constantly tracking brand health parameters. So far, every possible tracking measure seems to indicate that the positioning continues to be very relevant to the Raymond target group. If in the future we find this changing, we will address it appropriately.?
Ramanujam Sridhar, brand analyst and chief executive officer, Integrated Brand Comm is of the view that a brand is successful if it manages to build a certain property over the years and Raymond’s campaign has done that. ?It builds a model of the complete man. In terms of recall, the campaign still works,? he says.
Tata Tea
Jaago Re
The campaign
The Tata Tea Jaago Re campaign was launched in 2007 with the politician film along with five snippets to establish the Jaago Re! platform. In 2008, the campaign capitalised on the general elections and adopted voting as the communication theme. Sushant Dash, vice president, marketing, TATA Global Beverages says, ?We supported the campaign with an online platform ? jaagore.com ? to actually help simplify the process of acquiring a voter?s id card. Corruption was the central theme in 2009. Thus, the interpretation, the context, the setting has changed from year to year while the central message has remained constant.?
What has it done for the brand?
Dash says, ? From an internal perspective, it has helped us consolidate media spends since there is a single campaign across the three Tata Tea brands ? Premium, Gold and Agni. From a consumer standpoint it has helped us reach new consumer segments like youth. Today, there is huge recall for the campaign and the brand even among non-purchasers of tea ? the youth, urban males in higher SECs.?
According to Amer Jaleel, national creative director, Lowe Lintas, ?The campaign has worked because there is a very clear category association. The sentiment of righteousness that we talk about in the campaign is generally associated with a gathering over tea. The freshness of the approach also worked for us and the treatment of subject is not preachy.?
According to the Tata Tea’s Analyst Meet 2009-2010, Tata Tea has garnered 21.6% value market leadership in India.
Is it time for a change?
Dash says, ?The campaign is based on a universal insight that given a chance, people want to ?do good? and participate in change. This insight is applicable across age groups and socio-economic segments and hence ?Jaago Re!? talks to everyone. The communication tone and execution is cheeky and uses humour to get the message across. We have been careful to avoid a ?preachy? tone. Finally, while the core message remains the same ? of ?being the change that we want to see?, we have refreshed the communication periodically to ensure that fatigue does not set in.? He rules out the plans of changing the positioning in the near future.
Sridhar of Integrated Brand Comm says, ?The strength of this campaign lies in its ability to increase the consciousness amongst society’s young generation about what is happening around them.
It appeals to people’s responsibility and banks on the consumer insight that today’s youth wants to do something. I think the campaign works for the corporate image of Tata
Tea but I am not sure if it is working for its sub-brands.?