The on-going Rin versus Tide public spat has taken ‘comparative’ advertising to a newer, more dangerous level.

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

Some label it ethical & cool, while many use adjectives like outrageous & unethical to explain this shift. what’s with this new trend of combative and in-your-face name-calling? a check-out.

In the beginning came innocence. The grass was green, the sky was blue and God above sat smiling at his blissfully contented creations… man, beast, nature, products. But over time, frown-lines replaced the divine smile, and the pleasant sounds gave way to cacophony! Life below was getting complicated at a fast pace, and peace was fast becoming a word of the past, as more and more mortals were earning the ‘consumer’ tag! Worse, for sellers, the tool of ‘slander’ remained the only one to project their offerings in a better light that their counterparts’; and thus comparative advertising was born.

The basic thrust of this genre was to highlight product differentiations in an exciting, entertaining and imaginative manner, designed to impact the prospect’s mindset (no matter how marginally) towards a shift in perspective, triggering-off a purchase intent. Today, champions of this mode of advertising believe that differentiation is indeed the foundation of good marketing and compelling differentiation, the hallmark of a great brand. But when eccentricity seeps in, it becomes a double-edged sword. Why? Because, it tends to undermine both, the confidence and appeal of the brand in question – so handle with care!

Critics however lambast this form of communication, branding it a pathetic example of poorly done advertising, symptomatic of “lazy creativity and lazy creative thinking. If it is blindly pursued, it only goes to prove that the company wanted to make its way round the process of seeking unique consumer insights, the foundation of a great brand idea and a solid consumer proposition. Finally’ in these silly, childish, exhibitionistic skirmishes played out in full public glare, one tends to forget who started the spat, who ended it and what the fight was all about! Besides, in these sensation-seeking times, public memory is woefully short and before long, it only becomes the next big “tamasha”!

Ad-watchers believe that this genre really took shape and impacted popular imagination with the well-recalled Coke v/s Pepsi face-off in US, during the 1970s. The audacious and hugely innovative Pepsi, achieved a startling breakthrough in the world of comparative advertising, when it had the guts to re-position the much-loved, iconic and established family beverage Coke as “My Father’s drink” and Pepsi as “The choice of youth…a new generation! Years later, Pepsi India threw a credible punch back at Coke, welcoming Coke to India in a masterstroke of a creative line: “Coke & Coca-cola are trademarks of the Coca-Cola Company. Pepsi is the choice of a new generation!” Point taken.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Early 2009 was a watershed of sorts for India’s ad-land. Over the last few months, six honchos of leading agencies

– JWT, Leo Burnett, DDB Mudra and Grey – had quit their cushy jobs and dived into their respective entrepreneurial journeys to stake their claims to fame. many scoffed, some sniggered and a few even laughed-out-loud. But no one’s laughing now. the renegades, with their nimbler set-ups have snatched away some big clients from their muscled counterparts and are dreaming of more... new paradigms are being set in India’s ad-world. Catch them first with 4ps B&M’s Surbhi Chawla & Neha Saraiya...

Having meandered through life, trying to sell everything – from Carrier ACs to his soul – Calcutta-born and bred Malayalee Brijesh Jacob decided to settle for a career in advertising. The pay wasn’t good, but he took the decision more to escape Calcutta’s merciless heat, which any ‘selling’ job invariably involved. Jacob was lucky. A few years later – during which he ran through many agencies, a Mass Comm. diploma and a shift to Mumbai – Jacob landed the top creative job at Grey Worldwide. For most, it would have been a time to rejoice, let their hair down and lose themselves in the bliss of a cushy life! Not for Jacob. He gave up his snug job in August last year with the intent to start his own restaurant chain. But life had other plans. It January 2009, Brijesh met Deepak Nair and Vinod Moolacherry and now partners with them in not one but two ad agencies of their own – 22 Feet (digital agency) and White Canvas (full-service agency). While the foundations for White Canvas were laid three years ago, 22 Feet is the new infant in his arms. “We felt that there was no ‘creative’ online agency in India, at least one that went beyond virals,” shares Jacob.

Jagdish Acharya is another advertising stalwart who recently embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, leaving a 15-year stint as creative head at Mudra DDB. Although he launched his agency in January this year, the groundwork started sometime ago. K. D. Singh, Chairman, Alchemist Group, had invited him for a ‘friendly’ second opinion on the creative strategy for his brand, Republic of Chicken. “At the meeting I was intensely speaking my mind and suddenly he said ‘why don’t you start your own agency. Take my account for starter and I need the New Year campaign coming from you,” says Acharya. That was end-November. The next thing Acharya knew was launching that agency and bagging Republic of Chicken as his first account. His small outfit has no office. The team is encouraged to work from home whenever they are at their creative peak. A virtual office, he feels, cuts out the formality and hence the name Cut The Crap for his agency.

Unlike Brijesh and Jagdish, not everyone goes for a swim without testing waters first. And that’s was Sukumar Menon’s approach when he floated Black Swan. He first thought of his own independent agency in January 2008, but he simply let it drift. “I was uncomfortable about leaving my comfort zone. There comes a stage in most careers where people either buy into the system or develop a new belief system. Though I was sure that I didn’t want to choose the former, it was difficult to cut the umbilical chord,” he explains. Then one day, Sukumar got an offer from an old friend, and that’s when he made up his mind to go on his own.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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The Occult OF Seven

They are different in many ways, yet similar in many others. Some of them belong to affluent families with political connections, while some have been brought up in a typical pro-education middle class fashion. Some of them have fancy degrees in marketing or advertising while many of them were just born with profuse raw talent and learnt everything on the job. They have been fickle yet focused. They have been clueless about their paths yet cognizant about their journey. As much as they are adored, they are envied just as much. And yet, there is the strangest connection in this creative coven. They started their journey at different times, trod different paths, only to arrive at a similar destiny: the occult, as we call it. What binds these seven is that single-handedly, they have conquered the creative cosmos of television and have been, in many cases, the singlemost reasons that their respective firms have been fantastically successful. Some of them work with General Entertainment Channels, some have been bitten by the youth channel bug, others are working with production houses, while a couple of them have even started their own production outfits. And almost all of them have some journalistic background hidden in their lineage... Pallavi Srivastava of 4Ps B&M presents, India’s most radically – and effectively – creative people >>> The Occult of 7

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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I’m ‘G’enuinely (de)’M’otored!

The beginning of June was the end of GM’s painful attempts to stand as an independent company. The Obama administration has provided $30 billion as aid for the company. But is the comeback possible?
By Pawan Chabra

“I laid out what needed to be done to save two of America’s most storied automakers - General Motors and Chrysler. These companies were facing a crisis (that was) decades in the making,” explained American President Barack Obama, in an announcement that would have broken the hearts of millions of Americans, though they had long seen it coming. June 1, was the fated date when the world witnessed another American iconic brand getting ripped apart on the papers, when the 100 year old ailing General Motors (GM) filed for bankruptcy under the Chapter 11 treatment.

Although the Obama administration will be providing another $30 billion in aid (apart from the $20 billion given earlier) and have a controlling 60% stake in the company, the Obama administration has announced that it has no interest in running the company, which, in plain words, signifies that Obama’s auto task force will not interfere in the day to day operations. Moreover, the Canadian and Ontario governments have also given a helping hand as they are putting in $9.5 billion for a 12.5% stake. The Government is aiming at a leaner GM, which will include more job cuts, dealership closures, plants shutting down and shedding of brands. GM is planning to close 14 US factories and three warehouses to cut on its operating costs, affecting its 20,000 workers. The company is aiming to bring the total number of plants in US from the current 47 down to 33 by 2012.

In fact, the company may also shed brands like Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer. As the Government plans to split the company into two parts; out of which, one will be the new and ‘so-called’ healthy GM and the other the old GM will comprise the sick assets of the company. This will be done through a Section 363 sale, which would transfer the new GM assets to an entity owned by the US and Canadian governments, the United Auto Workers(uaw) union and the company’s unsecured creditors. Obama frankly explained the importance of the company to US citizens as he said, “In the midst of a deep recession and financial crisis, the collapse of these companies would have been devastating for countless Americans, and done enormous damage to our economy – beyond the auto industry.” But will this landmark streak of communism in the ‘die hard capitalist US’ be able to give the Americans their pride back?

Going by the example set in the recent past of Chrysler, there’s surely a ray of hope. Though many experts claimed just before Chrysler was planning to file for bankruptcy that it will lead to a collapse and sales will fall down very drastically; that didn’t happen. Rather, the company recorded higher sales figures for May than that of April. But as San Oppenheim’s auto analyst Christian Breitspecher elucidates, “GM is very large and different from Chrysler and restructuring the company will take a lot more effort and time as compared to Chrysler.”

Chrysler has already taken some bold steps in the form of closing production units, cutting on franchises and more importantly, announcing their plans in the electric segment. As Obama predicted that Chrysler needs a two-month reorganisation, the destination is more or less in sight now, as Italy’s Fiat will be taking over its healthy assets. There is no denying that GM has a much more complex structure. But a way out could be listening to the consumer and providing cars they need; in particular, smaller, fuel efficient cars. The leaner structure and the earlier mentioned $30 billion should help the company to clear its debts and be capable enough to match the likes of Toyota. A ‘new and healthy’ GM is expected to be launched in about 60 to 90 days as a separate and independent company. Obama made it pretty clear that the Government is funding GM with only one goal and that’s to, “get GM back on its feet, take a hands-off approach, and get out quickly.” Legendary GM CEO Alfred Sloan once said, “If you do it right 51% of the time you will end up a hero.” Well they do not have that leeway, since this could be GM’s last chance. In fact, they could consider getting out 51% faster in time, if at all!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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