Impact

Sigmund Freud was a monumental genius who gave us a sense of self and of the constant battle between id and ego that goes on within us . He gave us a vivid understanding of how the unspoken dreams, urges and desires are the wellspring of action. However it was his nephew, Edward Bernays, who packaged it and put it on to the market, quite aptly, in America.  Bernays who was raised in America and worked as a propagandist for America at the end of WW I was convinced that there was a large commercial opportunity in moving men to market. He invented a brand new name for his profession: public relations but it was consumer insights rolled into marketing as we know it today. Born 1891 in Vienna, Bernays lived to be 103 shaping American society and culture forever.  His clients included Presidents Coolidge, Wilson, Hoover and Eisenhower, as well as Inventor Thomas Edison, Dancer Waslaw Nijinsky and the great tenor Enrico Caruso.  Bernays advised global corporations and many foreign governments. But his great genius was to take Freud’s ideas concerning the restive subconscious to the American public and to American business. Bernays brought Freud’s work to America, published it and publicized it in mainstream media.  It was as recently as the 1940s that the commercial world awoke to the knowledge that the mass of consumers was controlled by irrational desires; it saw that by applying the principles of psychoanalysis, these desires might be controlled and directed to consumption on a vast scale, thus leading to power and profit. This , by itself, meant the end of needs as the intended target and gave rise to the concept of desires galore. By linking your brand with their deeper hopes and fears, you could persuade consumers to buy. The subconscious wish-lists, meant shopping for the life we hunger for. To desire but never deserve.  [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] We buy a vast bouquet of brands as fear busters – deodorants and mouthwash to bust the fear of malodour. We buy anti-wrinkle cream to evade the fear of ageing, handwash and rubs to take care of unseen germs. The big holiday is to negate the fear of being an inadequate dad. The shiny new car is an anodyne to mid-life crisis. Over 85% of consumer buying behaviour is driven by the non-conscious but the human subconscious is very difficult  to  mine to unearth the real drivers of buying decisions.  Bernays himself extended the frontiers of Psychology into consumerism, communication, politics and culture. He was a remarkable character. It was his work that made it culturally cool for women to smoke and for eggs to accompany bacon. He was behind coining of the expression banana republic because he once toppled the elected Guatemalan government with publicity stunts, playing on Cold War fears, and acting on behalf of a US company importing bananas. Freudianism, had a deep effect on corporations and powerful institutions, and new all-pervasive ideas of market research and focus groups – psychoanalysis of products and ideas – were begun. These forces have shaped the way we live and think and vote today. The elusion of happiness through wish-fulfilment is a serious wound. If you run a society on a treadmill of desire, then, of course, it will begin to collapse.  The interests of the free market and the pursuit of personal freedom have been made indistinguishable.  We recognize that consumers have power on an unprecedented scale. As a collective, they can punish any brand. They can rubbish its fashions and celebrities, its icons, signs and spectacles. There are umpteen examples of how old brands have fallen (Nokia, Kodak, Blackberry, Diners, Newsweek,HM Ambassador) and since consumers accept no vacuum, other brands have come and occupied the space vacated. Through the coming together of many factors such as multi media advertising, mass production, affluence, equalization etc. it was made possible for consumer culture to be organized around the principle of deference to brands and by implication, marketers. People, as consumers, who internalized this consumer culture implicitly accepted, even granted  that the best brands had the authority to organize their lives, to define them. The moral liability of tapping into this desire for self-interest and provoking it rests with marketers. The apparition of the Self will eventually allow private interests to take over the functions of government, since it is much better, more effective, at simply satisfying people’s desires than any politician ever was.  It was Ed Bernays who started the deep dive into cosumer psyche, but we must make sure that morality and intellectual honesty is not compromised in self seeking commercialism.  

Many dominant brand and eponymous businesses have disappeared over the years.  Remember Compaq? Kodak?  Nokia?  Each a market dominant brand, global in scope, led by sharp business experts. What happened? Each day a monolithic brand encounters a disaster – be it an oil spill, politically incorrect posture, exploitative labour practices, poor communication, service failure or failing engines! Brand equity and appeal is a precious competitive asset. The power of a brand lies in its intangibility as well as its assumption of various tangible forms as products or brick and mortar. The role of technology, innovations and brands has risen in relevance as businesses moved farther and wider. Globalisation and the unfettered movement of massive capital, goods and services across borders has made it important to manage brands, technology and talent on a worldwide basis. As the convulsions of old world capitalism shake up the world order, the value of knowledge and branding has risen sharply relative to natural resources and physical equipment. This has reshaped corporate fortunes and national economies. [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought the venerable Wall Street Journal, in 2007, for a total consideration of $5.6 billion. Google purchased Double Click the same time for $3.1 billion.  DoubleClick was then 11 years into its existence. Then , soon to follow, Microsoft bought the even more fledgling aQuantive (started in 1997) for $6.3 billion.  Now digest this – The hallowed establishment of WSJ with all its paraphernalia and clout sold for half the price of a couple of online ad serving firms. When Kodak filed for bankruptcy, Instagram – a company with 12 employees and zero revenue – was purchased by Facebook for $ 1 billion.  At the time , for that valuation, Facebook could have chosen to buy the New York Times.  In each case the duality is seen – Either the brand took a tumble and never recovered or the underlying business model or product began to fail and the brand tanked with it. Active brand management teaches one business sensibility even more perhaps than it teaches one about consumers and creative communications. I was schooled in marketing On The Job at Hindustan Lever , where the business was run at a brand-portfolio –category level  by brand marketers.  The stencil to lay on top of any business decision making jumble is that of the brand framework . What is the brand’s business and what is the business –brand interaction ? This question clarifies the next steps to take.  What unique reason for the brand to be in existence ? What does it make happen that would be missed in the world were it to fail or disappear ? What territory emotionally and/or in the value chain does it own ? e.g. Rolls Royce –  Regal Luxury.  Who is the brand for ? e.g. Schweppes is for catering to refinement, Body Shop – for those who care about the environment and fair trade A brand for what stage of life? Like Red Bull is hardly a post retirement beverage just as Dove would not be an entry brand for young consumers. The examples and facets can be extended endlessly. The important thing to recognize is that positioning is , at first, a crucial business planning concept. It establishes the business imperatives and clarifies the brand territory. Since brands have voice and personality they engage with consumers and grow their market. They build a raison d’être  for themselves in comparison to others. Be clear : Brand language and the business need are not on some parallel non intersecting planes as many award winning creative honchos will want us to believe. They are indeed in one continuum.  A brand serves a business. Its commitment is its external face and a voice of its soul. A brand builds an identity for itself. It gains coherence and character over time. Brand management, like sound business management, plans for the long term.  It is not about gimmicks , fickle or opportunistic moves. Often agency changeovers combined with plainly career minded brand stewardship have neglected this crucial aspect. In focusing too much on advertising messages, brand management builds personality but not culture.  What is the Mercedes Benz Tri Star representative of ?  Luxury , Status, German engineering ? It is all this and more. Likewise Coca Cola stands for America whilst Perrier offers a sip of France.  A brand can also sit in the same functional and performance quadrant and yet acquire very different cultural significance. A Visa credit card of mass issuance is utilitarian whereas an American Express corporate card is a perquisite, assurance and privilege of rank. German and Automotive  as criteria would qualify Volkswagon, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche – all obviously very different brands. IBM cues rock solid assurance whereas Apple has California alternative culture and creativity attached to it. Function, Form, Self-Image and Personality are independent and escalating elements of what constitutes a brand.  To list the basic stencil as a sign off. The brand gives the following (and more!) business benefits Recognition and Ubiquity – I know this brand, it is larger than life. I have made a good choice Pragmatism and Value – You can’t go wrong with brand X. Assurance and Security –  The brand will deliver. It will make your purpose come true. Continuity and Familiarity – the brand helps me meet my needs and wants in a facile manner. Pleasure and Satisfaction – It gives me sensorial and emotional gratification Ascribed Status and Belongingness – People who own brand X are a breed apart. One or more of these benefits and brand attributes may go into a downward spiral. If no genuine innovation, course correction, value re-equation or brand renovation is then forthcoming to rescue it the business and brand both erode. Mind your business to take care of your brand and Mind your brand to grow your business.  

“The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug “ Sir Martin Sorrell changed the game. His presence on the stage was as lead actor in the era that was the beginning of the end for conventional advertising and the end of the beginning for all things digital.  He was a very successful businessman and grew WPP to gargantuan, previously unimagined proportions. He is rightly credited for several things and much has been written about it over the past few days.  I salute his achievement.  However, one now focuses on something simple and yet stark. The utter lack of a ready succession. This, for a man 33 years at the helm of affairs. One whose King sized annual compensation exceeded $100 million in a few of the recent years  and drew howls from stakeholders with a third of shareholders refused to back it as recently as last year. One said to have a net worth of over $700 million.  What was the Board and the executive management under Sir Martin doing to provide for a smooth, viable and effective succession for this highest paid CEO of a FTSE 100 company  ?  Nothing ? If today a person is announced as successor CEO and takes 3 months to arrive and another 6 to settle down. Well, that’s a full year by the time he delivers his first quarter.  [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] Leaders contemplate upon succession as death. Sir Martin seemed to believe in his immortality just as much as the possible incompetence of any ready successor from within. It is often the case with founder CEOs. No one is good enough to take care of what they have created. The benchmark with which historians distinguish Empires from Kingdoms lies in the assessment of an Emperor as being above a mere King in human qualities. Someone who doesn’t merely rule a flourishing Kingdom but lays the foundation of an Empire. One who builds systems which will outlast him. Perhaps not as dramatic as continuous acquisitions and riding in triumph through Roman Arches but possessing a temperament that demands depth, wisdom and understanding.  Sir Martin seemed to gloat about his results, opening of new markets, and the wealth creation for shareholders. All well done and acknowledged. But when you have more than 200,000 employees, you are duty bound to gaze into the future not merely at future sources of business but also future successor(s) to handle the charge. There he failed in his need to perpetuate his reign. In a corporation of this magnitude, the Board has surely been perceived as a failure in its fiduciary responsibility. By all means buy companies but grow your own leaders. If the business is now unable to identify one person from within to take over the leadership what can one judge this to be ,if not neglect?  A parting word about the successor whoever the person may eventually be.  Succeeding an autocrat is a walk in park, half of which may be a minefield. On the one hand, you have inherited a system run by one man. And you can only look good by comparison or look the same and finish any stirrings of opposition.  Yet on the other hand, you are bound to be considered flat and uninspiring unless you show results and control both, instantly. It’s a bit like walking in behind a juggler and being asked to take over the 8 balls in the air. A successor walking in to lead when the senior leadership is dejected and may want him to fail is a tough act. Anyone who succeeds Sir Martin will grapple with the question of whether to be like Sir Martin or to be unlike him.  Either ways, I hope more transparency and collegiate working will be brought into effect. It will help the world of advertising and media.  The more the truth is known, the more the consensus may back the eventual successor. The best start is to have a widespread sense of the need for change. Coming back to Sir Martin, his departure will certainly make WPP a different place in due course. Management inertia inevitably makes change frictional. He was Boss #1 to #10 for 33 years. He has said he will be available to help with the transition. He did not realize, that now his not being there is the desperately needed transition. One who claims an Empire must build Imperial institutions.  They must be longer than his departing shadow  If only Sir Martin would’ve read and adhered to the declaration of King Henry “Are these things …necessities? Then let us meet them like necessities…” Shakespeare King Henry IV, Part2

Modern culture is inconceivable without brands. The more brands proliferate and expand, the more the economic and socio–cultural model seems premised on brands being the engines of growth. There is often a co-existence of three types of brand marketing and consumer interactions because different brands have evolved at different pace and markets have embraced change at varying levels. The three approaches are: 1. The prescriptive 2. The identity builder that allows consumers to ‘architect themselves‘ 3. Abstracted and infused via a living culture platform Prescriptive When mass consumer goods became a reality in the late 19th and early 20th century, brands ensured standardization. Each consumer got the same product and equal meaning hence decision reflex was easy. The logic ran like this – ‘Z’ is a brand of face wash for oily skin. Jack has oily skin and needs face wash. Jack chooses ‘Z’. This direct neural connect should not to be taken lightly. The bulk of dominant global FMCG brands were born in exactly this mode in the first five decades of the 20th century. Marketers thought of their craft as a methodical informational and recognition building science. [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] When Stan Resor arrived at J. Walter Thompson in the 1920s and began to apply scientific management to marketing he also simultaneously hired John B.Watson to establish how emotional stimulus could manage consumer actions. This project was co-opted in various ways by Rosser Reeves, Leo Burnett, and David Ogilvy. Whether they were USP advocates, or behaviouralists, the idea that consumer desires could be manufactured and then guided to closure via repetitive single point advertising flourished for a long time. In America, this began to fail by the 1960s. Brands as bricks to build oneself As the world of brands became cluttered and complex, the cultural primacy of dominant brands started to diminish. Owning cognitive territory was no longer enough. Mental recollection and physical distribution didn’t suffice anymore. Madison Avenue then collaborated with brand leaders to own the process by which the pursuit of personal architecture was done by choice of brands. No matter what you wanted to be, you had to make a branded choice. The logic ran like this – Jack is the type of person that he is because he chooses – amongst several other brands the brand ‘Z’ of face wash. Why ‘Z’? Well, because Z was a choice made by ambitious, extroverted, confident young men. Jack would meet with romantic success, pick up a job, race ahead of peers while at work or leisure and his skin would stay young till he left this world! The chorus from this world of brands blaringly evangelized only one thing directly and via circumlocution – that to be socially acceptable, valued and dominant you must possess a plethora of brands. Legendary campaigns and iconic brand identities got minted in this era. The Marlboro Man, The man in the Hathway Shirt, Old Spice, Commander Whitehead for example were about establishing a White Anglo Saxon persona of tough masculinity, self-assurance and charm. But the stance was always that the consumer was the boss. Each choice is made freely. There are emotional and rational reasons behind the choice. Always, the consumer is King with sovereignty over choice. This was a deception. The reality was the marketer being more like a string puppeteer doing his thing. The consumers were guided (some use the word manipulated) – You needed brands to define you. Brands were the means to complete your world view. The world is nothing but a mosaic of experiences with brands. ‘People like Us’ vs. ‘People like them’ could be defined by one’s choice of brands and one brand repertoire vs. that of another. You become You as brands got chosen, consumed and established as part of your identity. Once this governing commandment of socio-cultural life was swallowed and digested, the rest became easy. Omniscient and omnipresent brands ensured universally acknowledged meanings for themselves. Consumers saluted the authority of these brands to define them and organize their thoughts and feelings. From badge to social movement As multinational brands travelled across the world a few things happened. First the cultural norm got challenged. Western life was not the lens through which people saw their reality magnified. In fact, it became weird and distorted at times. This dissonance meant that reflection, rationalization, resistance and defiance grew on part of consumers. Branding could no longer cue tastes in authoritarian ways. Much essence was lost in translation. Again Madison Avenue pioneers saw this coming. Bill Bernbach, George Lois, Mary Wells began an alternate communication paradigm at DDB. This was extended and strengthened by Lee Clow, Dan Wieden (Los Angeles and Portland respectively – notice how the compass turns 180 degrees). They all worked to create authenticity. To indulge in brand – consumer interactions without commercialization. Not to be perceived as self-seeking but truly motivated. The higher levels of brand marketing became hereafter an attempt to create culture or to resolve intense cultural tensions. Cause and Purpose entered marketing language. Apple’s rebellious creativity and Dove’s campaign for real beauty are all fruits of the same tree. The idea of marketing inciting movements was derived from cultural source material. Life on the roads became the inspiration. This work goes on… It is amazing that marketers continue to dominate cultural and social norm. Their ability to mutate and survive makes them special. Expansion, new media, fragmentation, the contradictions of the new economy and rise of Asian alternatives in cultural dominance have weakened the marketers’ stranglehold. Therefore, the next 20 years will be about honestly contributing to culture and appealing to a universal human consciousness. Purpose precedes profit. Therein lies marketing nirvana.

We live in a T20 world.  Everything is faster. To be slow is to be left behind.  The marketplace – capitalism’s true judge, jury and executioner – makes being faster a pre-requisite to survival.  Some of the biggest corporate names of the past who remained inertial are anemic shadows of their erstwhile selves. Dozens of global majors have been bought, sold, forced to merge or simply disappeared into oblivion.  But my purpose here is not to comment on momentum as a survival mantra for business enterprise. Big or small is only a factor to analyse. For this analysis, I am focused on the need to be much faster in getting creative ideas to full live campaign state. To get marketing programs from inspiration to a stage of action in market. Let us do a quick check on the stages of the process and look upon factors that prevent us from being quicker to market. First, as always, there comes an idea. An idea that can be put to walk on a large conference room table and survive the assassins around it. The world of creative assessment is more than Darwinian. In the natural world it’s the species that compete for survival of the fittest. In the world of creative ideas, the knives are out at the stage of merely imagining the possibilities.  [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] A big idea doesn’t need heralds to announce its birth. It feels as though there is static in the air when a big idea gets expressed. Alas, the seeds of delay are sown often at initiation stage itself thanks to near feudal hierarchies and their desire to see the campaign fully visualized where the idea should suffice.  Suppose an ash tray broke to 5 pieces. One piece alone when sniffed will confirm it was a part of an ashtray . You don’t need the entire reassembly to decipher that. So it is with ideas. One line, a short paragraph, a picture, illustration, sketch or mood video- we at once are seized of the entirety of a given idea.  The idea then grows in the subconscious mind. It auto selects when the next day or at the next meeting other ideas begin to get measured up against it.  The best of advertising , in terms of impact, amounts to social architecture, the next would be ‘art via media’. The baser, harder -working versions get on with it and just do some specific job. There is no empirical evidence on the causality between output quality to time taken and the eventual esteem earned by a given creative. Advertisements are merely expressions of an idea. There are myriad ways in which to script and bring alive an idea. A TV commercial delivers impact as an audio visual and its instrumentality serves to showcase the idea in a given way.  One could argue that the tired routine of getting to a TV commercial first, actually retards the flourishing of a great idea. Here are some accelerators that help organizations, teams, managers to become faster : Prioritization – If all things are equally important, actually none will get done well. Foresight – To be able to see further beyond the campaign. To imagine the scenario once the campaign in its full potential is launched and delivered. What next? Such foresight helps to rewind to the present and drive the priorities more acutely. An acute definition of risk and risk mitigation – Corporate bureaucracies have battalions of alarmist naysayers. Their existence and sense of importance is dependent on raising the potential risks and highlighting the worst outcomes. This must be countered with objectivity and corroborated with sound predictive analytics. Data looked at as a trend from the past to the present day may also help accurate predictions for the future and steer the program. Reassessment – “Why don’t we give it another look ?” , “Lets sleep over it”, “Have we spoken to everybody?” “ Maybe we should take another point of view” Dilatory tactics are easy to see. Two rounds and one has to demand decisions and closures. Committees jump on the decision table – Advisory may happen via committee. Decisions must be made by those accountable and liable.  Watching for and calling out subjectivities – Some client and agency loops can make Sicilian vendetta look like a comic strip. No one can ram into a discussion without giving a build. Mere Criticism should be barred.  Clearing away distractions – Killing lower priority projects. Doing more by doing less. Frantic is not fast. Frenzy is not agility. Being frantic actually only furthers lack of clarity, nervousness and even bitterness. It dissuades folks from having skin in the game. Being faster is about focused action. It’s about accelerating business processes. To see and capitalize on opportunities that appear and disappear in a jiffy. Faster is determination plus adrenaline.  A fundamental idea that creates a business is way superior compared to a smart idea that services business advancement. Surprisingly, such fundamental ideas rarely get generated in a business a second time. When ideas do come to the fore, there is rarely active sponsoring. No one seems to want to kick the ladder they are standing on.  This is because ,often, success is the biggest speed breaker. It makes external orientation frictional. It promotes a huge appetite for more of the same.  Often those in charge begin to believe that it is their current ways of working that lead to success thereby negating the role of market forces, competitive disarray, resource advantages and sheer luck. Seized by this belief, they naturally feel enthused to become lawgivers. “We know best” becomes enshrined. Every issue or opportunity is treated as an intellectual challenge to be understood with data led cerebral discussions on strategy that happen amongst a small set of decision makers. They forget the camaraderie and associative appeal that makes projects successful. They neglect the power of the anthemic appeal to the heart. Treating the larger set of employees as robotic implementers adversely impacts

Marketing and brand building is that part of business management that most relies on robust generalization. It is maligned as a consequence and accused of being a non-science which ramps up costs but is neither effectively proving return nor accurately priming the investments. Broadly, generalization makes people feel marketing is based on hope and air. It is far from the truth. Here, I defend my tribe. The caveat , of course, is that I am also an advocate of deep analysis and , where possible, deeply biased towards deriving predictable deductive approaches with data.  That said, marketers must depend on stereotypes and generalizations. It is a sound practice. It relies on a natural heuristics. Consumers of a type, like birds of a feather, flock together. We must find them in their majority. This approach follows a simple sequence. Marketing must understand the consumer need, own the need, ensure goods and services are made, tell the stories and scale the business to a profit. Then they must get both new and repeat loyalist consumers.  Capitalism is the celebration of consumer sovereignty. Consumption as a choice and manifest will. Much is said about lone consumer segments. Till now, there are hardly any predictive analytical models explaining or pointing to anything more than a ‘Utility maximizing’ consumer typology. Exceptions don’t make or break brands. The common consumer type does. The majority moves the market. Therefore, so long as we have robust, empirically validated generalizations we can stop agonizing about the factual invalidity of the ‘odd one out’.  The boundary lines between economics, behavioural psychology and brand building are ill defined and shifting. Brand building has a recipe that does not lead to absolute or invariant laws. Models and measurements are not core to marketing but moods and motivations are. [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] That’s why marketing is about iteration and improvement . If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing twice. Marketing is the study of stereotypes. Its method is commonsensical. Research allows us to stencil the average type. Research can be explained in rhyming verse If in doubt, find out. If you don’t, you wont. There are many elements in a flux. This includes media, consumer attitudes, impact of technology, purchasing behaviour. This only increases our reliance on a time tested stereotype. Although the means for aggregation and evaluation are more continuous and more powerful now than ever before, the complexity has also increased exponentially.  A lot of the pseudo-probabilistic models being sold as nirvana are reliant on the old hogwash of  ‘just assume something, if no one knows any better’. Passed through the right journals and seminars, such models can delay the embarrassment of not knowing enough about the future, for those who are caught up as corporate honchos in managing today’s priorities.  To illustrate the futility of variables analysis I turn, briefly, to the subject of brand loyalty: Do consumers have genuine loyalty ?  Does the relative strength of a brand influence it ?  Can a brand develop enough consumer loyalty such that its minority of heavy loyalist purchasers give it a sizable share in the market ? We know that brand loyalty is a fact, not fiction. The most useful generalization is that loyalty is co-related to immutability of the product and category. When product entries and generational changes are frequent, loyalty gets eroded . One has the example of Nokia and Blackberry to ponder over.  When a brand loyalist is a repeat purchaser he has also naturally been an intender. This has a bearing on communication. If such brand loyalty is high, advertising should be spikey and high impact so that new users are won over, and these folks will continue purchases and amortize the advertising investment. If, on the other hand, there is a shallow brand loyalty, advertising stimulus is required at a steady state such that extra sales pay for extra advertising costs. In any heterogeneous market, shallow and deeply loyal as well as unconcerned consumers exist in varying numbers. Therefore, the relevance of brand loyalty to the formation of a profitable program of market segmentation is key.  The crux is that brand loyalist is a dependable, determined stereotype.  In a competitive, hyper communicated marketing environment every brand caters to or targets certain ‘segments’ and not the whole market. The knowledge for defining these segments and how they differ in wants and predispositions from other segments that provide the bulk of customers for competitor brands is key to growth and success. The socio-economic and consumption characteristics included in any analysis make only a diffident contribution to the progression that leads to the creation of brand loyalists. Traditional demographics do not provide any roadmap.  The ability to define a broad sketch stereotype and refine it as we go along is crucial. It shall determine promotional attention and investment to the right segments. It will allow for the right design inspirations. It will correct the timing and quantum of market activity. All this and more is achievable via robust stereotyping. I conclude that it is not about mathematics or poetry, unchallengeable science against transient emotions but about getting a definition of a set on which the mathematical models or poetry may apply. The generics are crucial, the specifics are, relatively, inconsequential.   

With the Supreme Court upholding a complete ban on advertising of tobacco and tobacco-based products in July, the spotlight is now on alcohol brands. How does the alcobev industry go about creating brand recall without getting into trouble with the law? Saloni Dutta finds out ‘Khoob Jamega Rang Jab Mil Baithenge Teen Yaar, Aap, Main, Aur…’ The last words from that popular ad for Bagpiper Club Soda, are a disguised pointer to Bagpiper Whisky, a product that cannot be directly advertised, according to the laws of the land. This is just one example of surrogate advertising by an alcobev brand. As the laws get stricter, makers of alcoholic beverages are being more creative, not only linking their brands to water, soda, music CDs, events, etc., but taking these associations to the digital platform to ensure brand recall and engagement. In July this year, the Supreme Court tightened the noose on advertising of tobacco and tobacco-based products, by enforcing a complete ban on media and activations, the only exception being display ads in stores that are not larger than 60 cm x 45 cm. The spotlight — or rather the magnifying glass — is now on India’s alcobev industry, which, except for a few liberties, has a similar advertising restriction. The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 prevents alcohol brands from advertising their individual products directly. So investing in surrogate advertising strategies or brand extensions is the answer — essentially using products with their brand name on non-alcoholic products. These products, of course, must genuinely exist and have tangible purchase or use to the audience. Marketing experts and analysts have observed that one way alcohol brands can increase their volume of sales is by taking market share away from their competitors, and also by expanding the overall size of the market, which is expected to touch Rs 17,550 crore by 2014. To achieve either or both, these brands need to invest their capital in strong marketing strategies necessary for expanding the market and broadening their margins. Selecting the vehicle Selecting the right surrogate vehicle for the alcohol brand depends on the brand positioning, core brand elements, target audience and relevance. For example, Kingfisher, borrowing from its positioning of ‘Good Times’, ties up with properties that are essentially seen as light, mass celebrations, or simply living the good life. Enter successful association with the IPL and with the lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times. And, perhaps, a lifetime of brand recall. The type of advertising media/campaign chosen also depends on the income of the target audience and the segment of the liquor brand. For example, surrogate products of a superior premium segment product can be promoted through TV advertising, whereas local brands or deluxe lower segments tend to have local advertising like shop branding. Also the nature of the spirit decides the choice of indirect advertising. For example, a rum, beer or wine brand targeting millennials will opt for music CDs and special event sponsorships. Sula Wines, for instance, has a marketing mix of PR, advertising and social media along with a lot of BTL activities, and making good use of their assets. “We focus on building the brand through our vineyards and through our property Sulafest,” says Sunila Duggal, Associate Vice President, Sula Vineyards. However, considering the short attention span of the audience and the highly competitive industry, experts believe that offbeat mechanisms to create brand extensions are best for brands bound by restricted advertising. “Today, marketers and agencies are adapting to platforms that were unheard of in the past,” says Anup Tapadia of Touchmagix Media. “Bacardi installed a motion and gesture-based dancing game at 36 pubs for 108 days across India, thereby interacting with the consumer at the point of purchase. We created an interactive bar for Ciroq, where as soon as a glass was placed, a bottle of Ciroq emerged from the bubbles. For Winston, we created a large 15 feet interactive bar which carried the eagle logo as part of all interactions.” Digital media: A great tool to exploit… for now Online platforms not only provide brands an engagement platform, but also allow them to create brand loyalty. Experts believe that digital liquor branding can be as potent as physical liquor branding, as it allows direct interaction with the audience. It helps understand their views, ideas, as also gives insights to how customers use the product and thereby indicate various other touchpoints that can be used for communication. It almost makes indirect advertising direct and allows 360-degree engagement with sampling, events, recipes with a two-ended pipeline from brand-to-customer and customer-to brand. Bacardi, for instance, launched an experiential digital CSR initiative called ‘Walk the Line’ early this year, to promote responsible drinking, which got a tremendous response. So ‘shares’ and endorsements to relevant TG translate as dedicated direct advertising, giving more bang for the buck. Listening and asking here creates opportunities for product development and extension with free and unbiased market research. Although there have been controversies regarding the promotion of alcohol brands through social media, no specific regulations have been set as of now. Thus liquor brands can exploit platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to promote their brands. Miller and Fosters, for example, have their respective Facebook and Twitter accounts in place, and often get involved in weekly contests and promotional activities. Events: Still the best go-to strategy? From cricket and golfing championships to award shows and music festivals, alcobev brands seem to be gunning more for high-profile events. Apart from high viewership and visibility on ground and on various media, these events provide perfect synergies for promotion online. Kingfisher Premium has associated itself with five teams of the IPL as the ‘Good Times Partner’, resulting in huge brand awareness among its target audience. Similarly, Johnny Walker Awards for Excellence has been a great promotional campaign for the whisky giant over the years, where people from various sectors are awarded for their achievements in their career and life. In this case, it’s brand and social awareness, a double whammy. And goodwill’s in the bag. Marketers in the