Strategic Marketing

.That’s when advertising needs to take on a far greater responsibility. It has to work harder to make a difference and to stretch the budget. Because one great ad can do the job of 10 mediocre ones. Ed McCabe, the legendary writer of the ’70s and ’80s and the founder of the great agency Scali McCabe Sloves, once said, ‘An agency needs three things to produce great advertising: a management who wants it, creative teams who can produce it and a client who’ll buy it.’ And some of the clients who did are household names today, like Nike, Volkswagon, Benneton, Pepsi and Apple. They’re inspirational clients who break the rules, take risks and believe in the power of creative advertising. A single, simple message communicated dramatically. It’s advertising that stands out in the clutter. The famed “1984” commercial by Chiat/Day for Apple was aired just once during the 1984 Super Bowl. The next day, $6.5 million worth of Macs were sold in just four hours.
A recent example is of the car maker Skoda in Britain. Once a butt of jokes, Skoda fortunes were reversed as it became a serious player in the UK automotive market through a brave and witty campaign from Fallon, London. This is even more admirable considering Skoda’s budget: a mere 4.5 million pounds, which was half that of Toyota’s and 12.5 million pounds less than Renault’s. Faced with only a two-month burst and a low budget, Fallon realised that a change of direction for the product was necessary. In a bold move, the agency and the client confronted prejudice head-on, and used self-deprecating humour (unheard of in India) to get independent-minded consumers to re-evaluate the product. This short burst of humorous advertising created a furore and met with universal acclaim. Skoda won the Grand Prix ‘winner of winners’ award in the Chartered Institute of Marketing Effectiveness Awards. More importantly, Skoda reached 61 per cent of its year’s target in three months, and the manufacturer suddenly found he had a 1,500-strong waiting list for the first time in the company’s history. A great reward for being brave, producing fine advertising and for placing trust in the agency. Closer home, clients like Cadbury, Times of India and NIIT have been producing work that’s not only brilliant but is also working in the market-place.
It doesn’t make business sense anymore to hide behind excuses for bad advertising, (“Will Geeta in Gorakhpur understand it?”). Well, Geeta from Gorakhpur watches the same programs as Priya from Peddar Road. Or, to put in another way, the consumer today is smart, aware and most importantly, advertising-savvy. Irrespective of where he or she resides. The question to ask is, ‘Will Geeta from Gorakhpur notice the ad’? Because the truth is, people don’t buy newspapers to read ads, though we’d like them to. They buy them to read the news. And sadly for all of us, they don’t give a damn about advertising or ads. The consumer is not sitting around waiting for us to release an ad (“We can’t go out tonight honey, I want to stay home and watch the new commercial they’re going to air”). If it’s not entertaining, involving or attractive, the chances of him noticing and remembering the ad are slim and none, and slim just left town. It doesn’t matter how much money one spends on research, on the shoot, on production, on media buying. Because, like Bill Bernbach said, “If your ad isn’t noticed, everything else is academic.”
If there ever was a time when advertising had to work harder and play a bigger role, it is now. The sooner we understand this, the longer the brand will stay on the shelf. And in the consumer’s mind. .