Does 360 degree advertising campaign work?

We are hearing all the time that the traditional media is soon going to disappear and that brands that do not adhere to new innovative ways of marketing and advertising will be forgotten in the consumer’s mind.  Innovative usage of media is the need of the hour and clients should stop spending their money on traditional advertising mediums like print and TV. However, when a marketer is churning out a 360 degree campaign, should he spend on these traditional mediums or should he only use the new innovative mediums of advertising that are available to us today? This seems to be a million dollar question!

Let us first clarify what is 360 degree marketing? This strategy is a detailed process where every piece of information concerning a particular brand is communicated to the target audience through all possible channels.

Advertising gurus believe that a consumer has shut his brains to advertising in places he knows he is going to be bombarded with various ads. Hence, today a marketer should try and reach his consumer when he least expects it and in places most unlikely. This will help the brand to be registered in consumer’s mind.

Many CEOs of reputed agencies also feel that 360 degree marketing is just a buzzword, quintessentially it is nothing but using all the possible advertising mediums to hit the consumer from all sides.

Now, to answer the million dollar question, does 360 degree advertising campaign work? Well, according to me, 360 degree advertising campaign or an integrated marketing campaign is what works really well in a country like India because of the diversity of population in the country. Whatever people may say, I feel traditional ad mediums are here to stay for long because we have been born and brought up watching television ads and reading papers! Old habits indeed die hard. Though I also agree that the brand should be innovative in terms of its message and content and can also try new mediums of advertising but it can surely not ignore the traditional ‘roti,kapda,makaan’ (food, clothing shelter) of advertising!

POP in advertising

I rememeber the first time we came across this acronym POP …the first thing that came to most of our minds was Plaster of Paris…until ofcourse we became students of advertising and got enlightened about Point of Purchase and its importance in the big ad mad world!

Point of Purchase (P.O.P) material is an extremely important and effective weapon for all the categories of companies whether in FMCG or in consumer durables or at the industrial or service products end as well as in the arena of pharmaceutical or OTC products.

Whether you market chocolates or soaps or cold drinks or you market refrigerators or home loans or financial services or bags or clothes or for that matter any branded item, P.O.P materials should be used well only then will it be effective. With so much competition today for any kind of product POP proves to be extremely useful because you are hitting the consumer (not literally) right there when she is actually at the point where she is going to make her purchase decision.

I would recommend for an effective ‘POP’ study the following steps should be followed.

There should be a set of clearly defined POP objectives.

The target audience must be clearly defined.

Define a time period for the utility of the POP.

The type of POP used

The POP should be monitored at 4 levels:-

a) Company level/ Brand Manager level: A choice has to be done about the type of POP, the size of POP. For example, a mistake could be done about the size of danglers, if long danglers are chosen, they usually tend to hit the customer’s head in a shop. While making a decision, ego should not come in the way and the brand Manager should personally go to the market to check the POPs.

b) At the Distributor level: In most cases if 100 posters were given to the Distributor, 30 were converted into writing pads.

c) At the Sales force level: The sales force should personally put up the POPs themselves.

d) At the Retailer level: The salesmen should help the retailer to clean up the semi-permanent and permanent POPs and put it up at the appropriate place.

Advertising Agencies

Media planners: Media Planners help ad agencies choose the best outlet or medium to reach the customer they want. They plan; schedule, book and purchase space in the print media (newspapers, magazines) or outdoors (billboards, kiosks and bus panels) and time (TV & radio, internet). The media planning exercise may also involve conducting some targeted brand or need-specific research to assess recall and viewership/readership of a campaign.

Creative department: The creative department’s task is to harness the right words, the most appropriate and arresting visuals — anything and everything that will grab the attention and prompt a sale. The creative team in an agency can be further divided into two sections: Copy and Creative.

Copy Department: After the client service executive briefs the creative team, the copywriter gets down to the task of putting across the message in words — headline, followed by the body copy in the case of a press ad, a dialogue or jingle for a radio spot, or a detailed story board in the case of a TV commercial.

A good copywriter must be able to think laterally and originally each time, to co-relate masses of data and research findings so as to present the conclusions in language that is lucid and convincing.

The Art Department: Takes care of the overall “look and feel” of the campaign starting with a “scribble” or rough sketch which accommodates the various components i.e. headline, visual, picture, text, logo, etc. in a balanced format within the given space. Selecting the size and type of the font (lettering), the photographic treatment and the overall treatment of the TV commercial is the purview of the visualizers and art directors. While a high level of originality and creative talent form the mainstay, a BFA or degree in applied art or graphic design with knowledge of computer graphics/multimedia is mandatory.

Media Research agencies: Market research agencies try to measure the effectiveness of any media. It is research that provides the media planner and creative department, a scientific and measurable basis to sharp-focus their strategy. These professionals are from a variety of disciplines, but share a common comfort level with mathematical or statistical modeling, sampling techniques and psychographics. Media research uses various tools and methodologies to arrive at the reach and consumption of a media vehicle by different target groups over a period of time. These numbers are used as trading tools by the stakeholders of media industry. They also help the media companies to judge the effectiveness of their content in garnering the attention of the Target Group.

Top 10 Ads of 2008

*Havells cable  – Agency – LOWE

*Limca-  Agency – O&M

* Cadbury-  Agency – O&M

* Tata Sky – Agency -O&M

* Max New York Life – Agency – EuroRSCG

* Pepsi Youngistan Series – Agency – JWalterThompson

* Idea – Agency – Lowe

* Airtel DTH – Agency – Rediffusion

* IDBI – Agency –  O&M

* Vodafone Happy to help- Agency -O&M

TEASE Strategy

In the times when modern marketers spoon-feed customers, giving them exactly what they want, Stephen Brown who formulated TEASE says customers would rather be “teased, tantalized, and tormented by deliciously insatiable desire,” and that “marketers should stop chasing customers and get customers to chase them instead.” When customer orientation is ubiquitous, customer deprivation is a source of potential competitive advantage.”

* Exclusivity

* Secrecy

* Amplification

* Entertainment

* Tricks

(Bottom to top)

Tricks: Customers love something that involves them into the product. Rather than just stating the message, playing tricks and games with them and amusing them can yield a much better response to the brand.

Entertainment: No longer can marketers expect consumers to read advertising messages and then generate interest by themselves. There are so many advertising messages that consumers are exposed to that you really cannot expect them to read that brilliant copy which you created spending thirty six hours on it. Consumers are looking for entertainment and that too free entertainment.

Amplification: Advertising clutter has become a major problem globally and thus the need for innovative advertising mediums and layouts. But implementing that itself is not enough; one needs to announce to the entire community about the strategy that you are using. Untill you create that mass announcement, you will not be noticed. For example: Patchi is a product that caters to a very niche market. However, informing and advertising those few TAs through innovative mediums is not enough. Even the non TAs need to know what Patchi is all about and that they should yearn to reach the TA Patchi caters to.

Secrecy: This goes completely against what marketing gurus have so far said. Sometimes, restricting the information from consumers and creating hype about some secrecy can in turn gain a lot of attention for the brand. Who does not love to know a secret vis-à-vis who wants to read ready mundane product information?.

Exclusivity: The key term of this strategy is exclusivity. Customers crave for exclusivity. Be it designer sarees or designer chocolates, exclusivity is respected and cherished world over. Exclusivity allows consumers to luxuriate in the belief that they are the lucky ones, the select few, the discerning elite.

Analyzing Iodex TV campaign

The film opens on a man walking on a lonely road. Seeing a five hundred rupee… …note he stops in his tracks. Tempted to pick it up he ponders over something. After much deliberation he moves on in disappointment without picking up… …the note. The ad ends with the super and product shot: “Peeth dard? Iodex.”

Iodex is a trusted brand in India since 1919. It competes in the topical balm segment giving relief from back pains, waist pains, joint pains and sprains.

Agency: JW Thompson.

This is a problem and solution ad. It shows a man in the middle of a street and he is looking down at a Rs. 500 note. He is lucky that he has spotted it. He looks at it, tries to make up his mind to bend down take it but after a while with a sad dejected helpless look on his face walks away. Before you begin to think why he moved away Iodex comes on screen. Backache is quite common these days and one really has to convince oneself hard to do certain things when one are suffering from it. This ad shows one of those things very candidly.

The ad has definitely been effective in creating the desired impact on the mind of consumers. The ad is catchy as it has a creative idea to it. It has a surprise element which is why it is so popular amongst viewers of all ages. People cannot guess what the product is until and unless they see the pack shot of the ad. This makes the ad effective as well as entertaining. It creates the “ohhh!!” experience towards the end. This helps the product to get registered in the minds of consumers. It surely helps in brand aid and recall. The presentation of the ad was quite one sided. It only makes you aware of the reasons you should purchase the product for.

The film reminds most creative ad film makers that a simple idea is much more precious and successful than ads with so much of frills. The utility of the product is best explained in the ad and that’s what has made it consumer’s recent favorite.

The ad is in complete harmony and the transition from one scene to another has been done smoothly. The scenery or the backdrop in the film complements the pack shot of the product. The green trees shown in the background harmonize with the color of the pack of Iodex. The ad surely follows the age old adage that actions speak louder than words. The ad film does not involve any kind of dialogues or oral communication and yet it has been so effective in conveying its message to the target audience. The ad is generic and has a universal appeal in terms that consumers across all ages love the communication.

To know about the effectiveness of the ad in detail, I carried out a small one to one interview based research amongst people of all age groups. I asked questions to know details like brand recall, ad recall, product purchasing effect in the ad, content recall etc. The observation of the research is as follows: Almost 90% of the people recalled the ad and narrated the underlined story. This means that they not just recalled the ad but understood the product message as well. People across all ages loved the ad and its simplicity of communication. However, once that they had seen the ad, they were not very interested in seeing it again as the message was already clear at the very beginning. In brief, the ad was effective but not very appealing that people would love to see it time and again.

The ad does not persuade the consumers the buy the product. However, it just makes a subtle reminder. The ad silently knocks the consumer’s mind to recall Iodex whenever they think of back pain. The ad only describes of a simple scene and the product is tactfully represented.

Most people identified with the character shown in the ad. The character is very much like a middle class Indian man struggling and working hard to support his family. The character represents the potential customers for Iodex.

The commendable part of the ad was with a minimal budget, the product’s message reached the consumer. This straightforward ad conveyed the maximum with its minimal resources. Hence the ad truly achieved success in terms of the cost to effectiveness ratio.

However one of the limitations in the ad is that it only shows the problem of backache and the solution to it. The product however is also used for other problems such as joint pains and sprains. It demonstrates only one aspect of the product’s utility.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the ad has indeed proved that ‘simplicity is the glory of expression’. This short ad film with a crisp idea has indeed been effective amongst the consumers in achieving the desired results.

New set up for an ad agency

 

Traditionally, an advertising agency would typically have various set departments under which people are suppose to operate.  Client servicing (who do the co-ordination between client and creative, and various agency department, suppliers, etc), Account planning (who work on the strategic planning for the brand), Creative dept – headed by the creative director who supervises- Copywriters and Art Directors, Media – they plan media spends and actually buy media space on behalf of agencies – this function is sometimes hived off to an independent media buying house), Public relations department, market research department.

However, these boundaries should not be as stringent as they are right now. Successful advertising campaigns are all about a talented individuals putting efforts across disciplines. For example, creativity has no limitation. Anyone can come up with a creative idea. At the same time, everyone in the team needs to understand all the strategic planning needed for the brand. Moreover, the client needs to interact with the team rather than an individual who may or may not be able to convey the idea to his best!

Hence, the new agency set up is that of a multi talented team that has individuals who are capable of handling things across segments. One may argue that this can create confusion because there is lack of clarity of role and this may lead to confusion in the team but creativity comes from chaos! The idea generation that will be created in the group will be much more than those with traditional agency set up.

I am not denying that the new agency set up should not have people who have their domain specifications – they should be specialized in their tasks however, the point of argument is that they should not be given just that one task. This will not only keep the employee excited because he or she is being exposed to all the facets of advertising and team work but also will increase the productivity of the agency multifold. Also, there is definitely a hierarchy in the system which means that the order that comes from the senior management is final and binding however this does not stop individuals from contributing to the team.

The new agency set up (different individuals from diverse backgrounds come together and take decision collectively. No one has a pre-defined role)

Mobile Advertising

Mobile phones became a new means of advertising in 1998. When the first paid downloadable content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile advertising followed. By 2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached $2.2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile ads. More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, Multimedia Messaging Service picture and video messages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns.

A particular feature driving mobile ads is the 2D Barcode, which replaces the need to do any typing of web addresses, and uses the camera feature of modern phones to gain immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile phone users already are active users of 2D barcodes. In India too, mobile advertising is growing multifold.

Many services like mginger.com are offering SMS advertising to millions of subscribed users who in turn get paid for every ad SMS message that they receive. Besides, banner ads and coupons are also popular in India.

Advertising: Online and mobile gaming

Globally, the online game market is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2010. Gaming especially mobile gaming is becoming an important industry in India. This is primarily fueled by the increasing use of mobile phones in the country. Even online gaming is a huge potential segment for advertising as a result of the increasing usage of PC and internet connections in India. India offers tremendous scope for game developers.

Game developers in India are presently catering to the demands of all the four global gaming segments in India i.e. PC gaming, console gaming, online gaming and mobile gaming. All these latest development offer great scope for advertising. In-game advertising, as it is popularly called, has been a growing trend in video games however it is still a nascent market.

Yahoo has bought a mobile advertising company Actionality that inserts ads into games and other applications for use on mobile phones. Online in-game advertising has opportunities within each segment. Overall, the majority of gamers aren’t necessarily against advertising, but the advertising approach needs to be different.

Advertising on Social Networking sites

A new form of internet advertising that is growing rapidly is social network advertising. It is online advertising with a focus on social networking sites. This is a relatively immature market, but it has shown a lot of promises as advertisers are able to take advantage of the demographic information the user has provided to the social networking site.

 

One of the best uses of this medium is that advertisers can get directly in touch with people, knowing their demographics and personality profiles. Because some of these sites have communities on various subjects which individuals join to share their interests, advertisers are exactly able to know what kind of target audience they are looking at.

 

Wikipedia has named this activity as “Friendertising” as it is a more precise advertising term in which people are able to direct advertisements toward others directly using social network service. Example: The recent pink Chaddi campaign became very popular through extensive use of the social networking site Facebook. This site also offers great opportunities for advertisers to advertise their products and services uniquely.