Cadbury Perk - Gorillafication

So when you thought the ‘rista scenes’ were limited to the TVCs of tea brands, the chocolate world steps in too. Generally one gets to see good ads when it comes to Cadbury but this new Perk ad is just plain irritating. It gets worse when one compares it to the advert of Dairy Milk, which is good enough. This comparison leads one to the realization that the quality of the TVCs & other advertisement mediums are directly proportional to the price of the product. From a business point of you this makes pure sense.

However, the thing that does not make sense & should not make sense is the lack of innovative ideas to promote one’s products that are allocated comparatively lower budgets. Though I don’t know what & how the budget allocations are done at Cadbury, the outright thoughtless TVC for perk brought me to this budget discrimination aspect as an observer.

This also gives a hint on the fact that the advertising agency & the company behind the product(s) are not working on the same page, something that is one of the main reasons for our industry’s mediocre output. It is one thing when the work is being done for a ‘saith sahib’ who in most of the cases not going to be interested in ideas but will be happy with the copied material that is fixated in his mind, but if similar results are seen with Cadbury & its likes then the situation gets really frustrating. 

Subtle is not our Style

Subtle is clearly not our style, especially when it comes to advertising and marketing. On one side one does feel good that marketers are looking at other available options as well and not just sticking to the comfort zone of traditional marketing. However, the low quality of the work and ideas squeeze all the positive feeling from you.  

Television shows and movies are a very good medium for promoting one’s product. People follow celebrities and in their following they do get influenced by what they get to see in the TV programs and movies.

Having said that, the Pakistani advertisers need to be reminded that this fan following does not mean that people are stupid and can’t identify a deliberate attempt of marketing. The most recent example of this is Nokia’s latest dual sim phone. ‘Bulbulay’ a comedy drama was used for the promotion and the actors were made to state lines which described the features of the phone in such a blank manner, that in a better world they would not even qualify to work in a commercial. Then the same show was used for a similar kind of promotion for one of the Q-mobile sets.

This is not the only example of bad marketing of this sort. I don’t remember the name of the show but we got to see the actors eating Amore ice cream and before it was served there was this similar monotone delivery of misfit dialogues.

I did suggest that marketers watch The Big Bang Theory, to get some inspiration as to how these shows can be used for the promotion of a product. The cool and subtle manner in which Dell laptops and other gadgets get promoted, without making the show lose its credibility as labeling it as a commercial front.

Pepsi needs to move on!

We all have had our share of ‘kis ne kaha tha pepsi pe panch rupee kam kar do’. This campaign was launched during last year’s Ramzan. For me personally the TVC wasn’t that great an idea. However, the sms frenzy that followed I believe worked out for the campaign. As the Urdu saying goes ‘Badnam hongay per nam tu hoga’.

This phrase sums up what all that sms frenzy did for the last year’s Ramzan campaign. Like all things Pakistani, we stretched the use of this electronic media to the point that it became unbearable. While discussing the campaign in one of my marketing lectures as an undergrad student, my professor suggested that there might be a genius behind the campaign, who intended that the TVC initiates all the sms and other social media hype.

That could surly be the case. However, after seeing the Ramzan TVC for this year I don’t think there is anyone slightly genius behind the campaign. ‘Kis ne kaha tha pepsi 65 ki kar do?’ My guess is that the person or team behind this campaign though that it will generate the same kind of response, but why didn’t anyone point out that this was going to be a remote possibility. Anyone with the slightest common sense could have seen through this.

People get bored quite easily and this stand especially true for ad campaigns. There was no aspect of the last year’s campaign which made the customers nostalgic and surly this year’s campaign just showed that the people behind it had run out of ideas.

Surf Excel - Tools for School (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Kids are a big consumer segment and marketers are known for targeting them from a very early age. There is even a counter movement against this as this is considered as crossing the ethical lines. The documentary ‘Consuming Kids’ presents the case on this topic in great detail. However, in my opinion it is the way someone uses a medium that determines the ethical aspect of it.

With time the consumer is gaining more awareness and is demanding sustainable solutions for their needs. The rise in the corporate social responsibility units of most of the companies shows how the system can be used for a positive purpose.

One such example is the recent campaign of the Surf Excel, Tools for School. It is promoting the rebuilding of the schools in the flood areas. The TVCs are well executed and most of all, the concept is a really good one. There is a point of view that will state that no company is out there on a philanthropic mission. True that, after all the base line behind every business is to make sure that the ROIs are progressing as intended. But should that be the point of focus as long as the deserving get their due share and contribution towards a sustainable system is being made?

HBL; TVC blunders!

The banking sector as a whole really needs to work on their marketing side as it is only rarely that we see something really catchy from their side. However, HBL TVCs don't follow the commoner's road taken by the industry but move a step further by making useless & irritating ads.

Take this 'Anda-Ghutala' TVC. A man who never had money to even pay for anda ghutala & for almost every other thing in his life gets opts for a credit card, paying for which is still out of his reach! 

I mean seriously, this is the message you want to convey to your prospective customers? Given the nature of the whole credit card business isn't this ad a bit dubious as well?

As if idiocracy wasn't proven enough this new Mr Bean campaign is worse. Most of us have some sort association with the character of Mr Bean but HBL has failed to use them in the right manner. I have yet to come across an individual who can relate to the HBL Mr. Bean who portrays an image of an outright idiot. So unless the message they want to convey is 'HBL banking for idiots' the people behind this ad campaign need to be taken to task.