A few days back, it seemed that the entire Indian advertising was getting increasingly more simple and brands were getting back to the time tested basics.
Colgate discarded everything else and started talking the language of white teeth once again, by showcasing the tabletop model of the teeth as well and concentrating on the subject of germs hidden in-between teeth, which only Colgate can remove.
Nirma tried to reinvent its USP (and it's age old jingle) with the aid of the TV commercial which shows the mud to be seemingly afraid of Nirma and thereby freezing in its tracks.
Just then, finally, not disappointing us and giving us a glimpse of the cut throat competition, Rin created an advertisement which re-discovers the joy of comparative advertising.
It seems that the competitor’s brand to many is a four-letter word. As far as Rin (which was bought out by Surf a couple of years back) is concerned, it literally is a four letter word: ‘Tide’. The Rin advertisement, which badmouthed and showed the brand name of Tide over and over, was very straight and certainly refreshing as it broke the stereotype after a long-long wait.
It was an extremely confident piece of advertising which used capability comparisons as the USP. One should realize that what works with the customers is ‘Confidence’ provided that the data being used in the advertisement is reliable and independent. Had Rin pixilated the brand name and done this, like many other products (including Clinic All Clear’s attempts against Head & Shoulders previously) did, it would have seemed under-confident. The other blow that Rin had struck was that it shook its competitors brand confidence and regained confidence for itself by naming ‘Tide’ outright. This stirred people, made them sit up, take notice and enjoy the brand-war.
Although, with the amount of creativity that our ad-makers have displayed in the recent years (with agencies like the O&M coming up with zoozoo’s for vodafone) is commendable, and people might argue by saying that the customers have matured now-a-days and they’ll probably yawn and hate this U-turn into old-age advertising of attacking the competitor. Many will also criticize this genre of advertising as being nasty and below the belt.
To them, I would say: Guys, wake up and feel the heat.
Remember, Rin already got its mileage in terms of brand awareness before pulling out. Now, the customer will take their favorite brand home for more reasons than merely sincerety and quality.
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गरीबी हटाओ की नहीं, अमीरी लाओ की जरूरत
5 years ago
1 comment:
An astute and brilliant observation of the anomaly of ad-war...you did not include coke and pepsi into it...it might have been more refreshing...the companies are weaving a world full of illusions to make everybody to feel like a special or they are trying to deport us into a Kafkaesque land in which they want to trap their customers. I'll blame the oblivion public who always show its inability to intrude into the reality of this childish and circuitous ad-war...i remember that in my childhood I would see the ad of a toothpaste who would claim foolish to those who use salt to clean their teeth, later they exultantly and proudly says- hamare toothpaste me namak hai...it histrionic or hysterical i don't know...heap of accolades to you to crop up such a question...
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