FRIENDSHIP
AS AD PLATFORM… SIMPLISTIC OR SHARP?!
4Ps B&M MONOJIT LAHIRI ATTEMPTS A DIPSTICK, AND GUESS
WTAH SHOWS UP?
Friendship
as a special, precious and unique bonding between people has been
hymned and celebrated in popular culture – movies, songs, stories –
from ages. However, as a canny marketing mover n’shaker … well,
let me think about it! Sure there have been loads of ads touching
this theme, but it is the recent bunch – Airtel, Vodaphone, Cadbury
– that has got people talking. Overnight this amazing communion and
bonding (with special
focus on Youngistan)
has zoomed centre-stage, winning friends and influencing people in a
manner that would make Dale Carnegie beam till his face exploded!
With Airtel’s iconic Hare
ek friend,
and now Jo mera hai
leading the pack, with Vodafone and Cadbury ads following, this
category of Relationship Marketing seeks to clearly (explore?
exploit? leverage? front? use? capitalise? cash-in-on?)
celebrate this human emotion to achieve a commercial purpose, right?
Is it right? More importantly, is it working?
Veteran
Ad person Ayesha Sehgal (earlier
with Delhi-based Clarion)
is first off the block and wastes no time in small talk. “At the
risk of being a killjoy let me come straight to the point. Sure the
Airtel ads are hugely popular – as are the others – but my belief
is that it is because of the feel-good factor and brilliant
execution, rather than any great, ground-breaking concept. They are
all too simplistic, basic, naïve, lame, and even lazy! For me they
typically amplify the seductive dangers of new-age film-making –
superb casting, great direction, fab camera work, amazing lyrics and
music … but is it saying anything special that would persuade me to
be converted from charmed-audience to determined consumer? I don’t
think so,” she tells 4Ps B&M.
Ace
Ad filmmaker Ram Madhvani – who has incidentally supervised the
terrific camera work in both the new Airtel ads – brings his
evolved and mature take to the table. “While it’s a free country
and opinions will happen when ads hit the public domain, some
critical points really need to tbe considered,” says Madhvani. The
veteran believes that the Airtel advertisement’s connect and focus
– as per brief mandated – demanded a connect with its
constituency. What better than popular culture, tapping youngistan
and their lingo? Political Commentator Sudheendra Kulkarni aptly
elaborates this point by saluting the youthful idealism of the
mind-blowing lyrics … I-Me-Myself
boring hai / Us and we interesting hai / Internet hai to friendship
hai / Friendship hai to sharing hai/ Main aur tu se hum bane / Humse
bane humsab / Sabse jude to zindagi / Hey Zindagi, wassup!
Ultimately,
Madhvani believes, that some fundamental questions need to be asked …
“Are you humming along? Does it make you smile and feel good every
time you see these ads? Do you remember this words? Does it, in any
way, inspire bonding? The objective was not to demonstrate our
communication skills through heavy-handed esoteric experimentation
and creative leaps but showcase the connectivity aspect, with warmth
and memorability,” Madhvani tells 4Ps
B&M.
Lloyd
Mathias agrees, Founder-Director of GreenBean Ventures (and
Former President & CMO, Tata Teleservices),
he takes the case forward. “As a category-fit, the Airtel ads are
bang-on because the telecom business is about connectivity. The
brownie point, however, come from their superbly creative
interpretation and rendition of friendship vis-à-vis youngistan! To
Gen Y, friends do define their life and world, and playing out this
feeling / experience in mad-cap, care-free ways is the name of this
game. Friendship, as anchor, works brilliantly here,” he tells 4Ps
B&M. However,
Mathias warns that friendship as a team / platform must be carefully
leveraged, otherwise it could well appear both corny and contrived.
ECD
Bates (Mumbai)
and film scriptwriter (Vicky
Donor), Juhi
Chaturvedi is up next. For her these work brilliantly solely on the
brand-fit quotient. “Airtel, Cadbury, Vodafone and some others have
smartly hit the emotional route via the friendship theme because, in
terms of profile, it works best. It’s a great strategy. In all
these cases, the magic of youth and bonding form the soul of their
communication smartly tied with the product proposition ensuring a
very successful and rewarding audience / consumer take-out,” says
Juhi.Anjali Nayar agrees. The Chief Executive of M&C Saatchi
(Delhi)
just loves “the basic simplicity that drives these ads powered by
warmth, spontaneity and honesty. In these complex and tension-filled
times, the full-throated, open demonstration of friendship is a
hugely re-assuring factor and does evoke memories of our youth and
what bonding is all about.” The energy, charm and excitement that
infuse these ads, along with the amazing, inspirational and focused
lyrics, make it stand out, for Mrs. Nayar.
Veteran
Ad-watcher Saurabh Vyas winds up the debate, raining on the parade
and playing serious Devil’s Advocate. “We live in a time when
style gobbles up substance, form rules over content and appearance is
perceived as reality. In this dumbed-down environment where the
Bollywood
influence is all-pervasive and is constantly referred to – wrongly
– as Indian Cinema and even otherwise sane people like Sudheendra
Kulkarni (shockingly?)
Compare Jo mera hai
to the iconic Mile sur
mera tumhara … what
can I say? These and definitely finely crafted and engaging ads on
the theme of friendship, but do they impact the product they are
meant to promote … Or truly celebrate friendship, youngistan-style?
They are far too superficial and populist like the Bollywood
movies, cleverly designed to manipulate and patio
the emotional, feel-good quotient of Gen Y – which they
successfully seemed to have done. For me it’s certainly a hugely
over-rated, over-hyped song and dance extravaganza signifying nothing
… but in a space where the Rs. 100 crore club calls the shots and
popularity has hi-jacked quality, minority voices hardly stand a
chance …!!” says the acerbic critic. What’s your take, dear
reader?
