The Commonwealth extravaganza followed by the festivities of the Navratras, Diwali, Id and Kali Puja saw an exuberant mood with spirits (literally and figuratively) running high. Add to this the band baja and tamasha of the Big Fat Dilli wedding and one is stupefied by the scale of things. In fact, it becomes near impossible to be able to demarcate where one ends and the other begins.
The scene is no different when one takes a look at the variety of brands on display. The images that unfold are so repetitively familiar. Every young man has an array of shaving and bath gels, razors and deodorants with which he adorns himself. And he chews Royal paan masalas as he struts along on his mean machine. His female counterpart has the world swooning at her feet as she swings her perfectly coiffured hair, from her immaculately made up ‘fair and lovely’ skin. Festooned with jewellery from a Maharaja’s collection, she is a showstopper all right.
All this leaves one gasping for breath, a little weary of the exotic panorama and whimsically wishing for the simple sight of Words-worth’s ‘Golden Daffodils’ and the endearing sound of Tennyson’s ‘chattering, babbling brook’ or indeed even Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Sound of Silence’.
One brand that recognised this wistful yen and responded accordingly was Sprite. It stood out amongst the glitz and glamour with its refreshing mantra of no artifice and a straightforward communiqué of Sprite bujai pyaas, baki saab bakwas. The commonplace, matter of fact message of the down-to-earth Spriter was so believable, so endearing and so ‘You and Me,’ that it was able to elbow out the dare devil Dew dudes and the yuppie Youngistanis to create instant mind space.
In fact since then, every once in a while a brand emerges in a novel and unsullied form and is able to chastise the existing market leader. When all brands were promising you the skin tone and show-stopping beauty of the leading Bollywood actresses, and others came fortified with various chemicals and herbal concoctions to give you a blemish-free skin, a brand gently came through to remind you of your individual reality and offered you a pure and simple product that matched your skin type and has since then soared high and never looked back. The brand? Yes, Dove.
Amongst the colourful and zany world of leading chips brands that tingle your taste buds asking you to be Dillogical or to enter the topsy-turvy world of Mad Angles, a brand breezes in and tells you to wake up, be smart and look at the healthier, sensible smart chips. The macho, young, extreme bikers and the stylish studs are exposed as mindless and foolhardy damp squibs by the Bar One muncher who advocates Upri Tashan kyon yaar…Bar One kafi hai!
When one satellite provider wants you to expand your basket of options and viewing by asking you not be santusht and to indulge and thoda aur wish karo, the other one asks you to have the entire array of your local channels free for life and become the master of unlimited channels. Tata Sky shocks by giving you a weird hairstyle and dressing you in the horrendous attire of the salesman’s choice and then admonishes you saying that like your hairstyle and clothes Package wahi lo jo aap ko pasand ho.
A Samsung guru stands out amongst the chic and glitz of the next generation phones with Kharcha nahi samajdhari and Samsung ka bharosa. When every motorbike is talking about taking to the wild wind there is this staid and sensible steed Jo sirf mujh se baaten karti hai. Life is not about crazy endangering stunts Kyunki jaan hai, shaan hai aur itminaan hai, says the Mahindra Stallio rider as he advises you to ride safely.
So you do not need to be a popular TV host to spout the Seedhi baat. The rules of the game are very simple with the J word very much in evidence.
vThe brand has to be Just you, with no artifice, no grandeur and tell you Aasan bhasha mein it’s not love but simply Dove…
vThe protagonist advocating the simple message has to be Janta Janardhan, with the non descript persona of an aam aadmi when he says Seedhi baat no bakwas…clear hai…..
vSometimes the brand might decide to use a celebrity to advocate the simplicity of the message. However here the icon must just be a common man when he advocates Paacnh rupaiya ka recharge like Imran Khan or smilingly tells you Mere stunts aap aasani se kar sakte hain like Aamir Khan.
vNo starry backdrops and no baadshahs and divas, no melodies and no theoretical innuendos, the marketeer like Boyzone croons: It’s only words and words are all... (he has) to take your (consumer) heart away…
The writer is professor, Marketing, International Management Institute,
New Delhi