Corona impact on Media & Advertising

Corona impact on Media & Advertising

The sudden spike in news channel viewing has brought in new viewers. Advertisers are queuing up to get the required GRPs (Gross Rating Point ) in the shortest possible duration. The interesting thing to watch out for is the decline in the GECs (General Entertainment Channel) advertising revenue. This is not because of the increased news viewing, also emerging from the fact that the actual shoots of a lot of soaps have come to a grinding halt a week back. The channels at best can pull on with their existing stock till may be mid – April.

The GECs will have 2 options in front of them:

1.    To run old Soaps / game shows as a re-run

2.    Switch to their stock of movies

·       STAR Vijay already has a second channel VIJAY SUPER that runs old programmes and movies.

·       SUN has KTV to run movies all 24 hrs.

·       Zee has launched Vellithirai for movies

While I was watching KTV yesterday, I could notice a considerable decrease in advertising but at the same time the spots have increased in the newschannels, with numerous ad breaks.

What are the categories that are advertising?

(I really don’t have a reason for their advertising.)

Paints : Jenson & Nicholson, Berger, Nippon

Tiles : Anuj Tiles

Polycab : Wires

Hospitals : SRM

Insurance : LIC

Flipkart : after they have announced that they will not deliver

Online education : Byju’s

Luxury Cars : Mahindra, Jaguar, MG

Lifebuoy : Handwashing (social messaging)

*More from TN Market and its channels

From the above list one brand “Lifebuoy” would be my pick, as you feel good that the brand is emphathising with you in the current season.

Why on earth will I think about a “Jaguar” when my basic existence is being questioned.

What Brands can do now?

·       Brands like J&J can advertise hygiene tips for babies

·       P&G can revive their “Share the Load” campaign

·       Whisper (from P&G) can talk about personal hygiene at times like these for women

·       Milk brands can talk about immunity

·       Lizol, Harpic, Sabeena, Dettol can preach a little bit more on the cleanliness part

·       Colgate, ORAL B can highlight on the need for brushing twice a day

·       Banks, Financial Institutions should come out and stress on the fact that their hard earned money will be safe and they should also try and provide some benefits  to its customers like : Provision buying through credit cards on EMI, Loan interests to be down etc.,

·       Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar should discourage people from watching more ( this will mark a new beginning in their brand building path. More like Cigarrette smoking is injurious to health, Investments in Mutual funds is a subject matter of risk)

·       Amazon Kindle should encourage people to read

·       High potential for Green Tea / Health products

·       Yoga is a big opportunity for brands

I am sure Brand Managers must be having a tough time in recovering revenues, but this is the time for investment as there is a big boom awaiting. There are sectors that will see a slow growth such as Banks, Tourism, Airlines, Luxury, 4 wheelers, High End Real estate, Hotels, Jewellery, Events. But the rise will certainly be on FMCG, Online education, Online delivery, Health, Consumer Durables – Home making, in the coming years.

Banks and Advertising

There was a time when banks hardly advertised except for the change in interest rates and balance sheets. The emergence of private players and co-operatives  opened up this sector into a lot of communication. The memorable ones are:

1.  Surprisingly SBI : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZNVErGV2x4

2.  ICICI Bank : Amitabh was roped in as the brand ambassador way back in 2001. ICICI has been doing some consistent communication, though may not be highly creative.

“Hum Hain Naa” and “Khayal Aapka” were certainly memorable ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV_Lt-WOhy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42V8YBUjNto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6j7Xz4-DKs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr1iAheGppY

3.  Axis Bank:  When UTI became AXIS, the communication that rolled out was really engaging. Especially the twins campaign. Later they moved on to a Brand Ambassador : Deepika Padukone for the campaign

 “ Badhti ka naam Zindagi”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7vOj5tX3mg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7_11kOyb0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdLmZ4P40f8

4.  Kotak Bank (earlier Bank of Madura)

The campaign thought of “subbu sab jaanta hai” and sharing the banks pluses through a celebrity, named Subbu. In addition, we cant forget their “Kona Kona Kotak”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzSG8lMHRQU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QnhBKF-1LY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_qnX0Z5l9w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZXp_7kvYvs

5.  Canara Bank : Brought in a new identity and the launch of that was some memorable one, touching on the old values and modern technology. Pretty cliché but executed well.

6.  Global Trust Bank did a lot of communication and later was taken over by Oriental Bank of Commerce

7.  We witnessed some communication from ANZ Grindlay’s, Bank of America, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank (Used Sania Mirza for the launch), IDBI Bank

8.  Citibank’s “Citi never Sleeps” was a classic line

9.   In regional level we had some interesting work done by TNSC Bank, Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Karur Vysya Bank

The larger question to be answered is where is the trust

A Big Branding Opportunity Lost : Athi Varadhar

When brands are looking for the smallest of the excuse to advertise and promote, referring to World Ocean Day, Beer Day, Brother’s day, Milk day etc., an unexpected event came across and the entire marketing  community missed to capitalise on it.
Athi Varadhar, of Kanchipuram got a terrible miss by brands.
Let’s recollect those days when Vodafone use to have specific drives focussing on Sabarimala , Durga Puja, Janmashtami etc., There were specific packs being created for “Sabarimala” during those 2 months. Tiruvanamalai Giri Valam even now has a big draw with advertisers, for branding on the “Giri Valam” stretch.
No Hindu festival is missed by any brand these days. Sri Krishna, Grand Sweets, Ghee Brands, Oil brands, Agarbathis, Gulabjamoon mixes, Jewellers, Clothing, Real estate, etc., really get hyper active during festival season. The Aadi month that is running now is known for its Offers across categories especially in Tamilnadu.
We cannot forget  Hindustan Lever’s Maha Khumbh Promo on Hand Wash using the Rotis as a branding medium. Brands have not missed Khumbh mela, Mahamagam, Pushkarams, but surprisingly the once in a 40 year tradition of Athi Varadhar coming out of the tank was missed.
• Tamilnadu Tourism failed to anticipate and did not promote this event. They should have taken this as a big opportunity and should have gone ahead with a national campaign on this “once in a 40 year event”.
• Ola, Uber, Fastrack, Oyo, Airbnb, makemytrip etc., operators should have grabbed this occasion and must have come up with interesting packages.

• Airlines should have gone to town with special prices during this 45 day period.
• Restaurants should have geared up to serve packed meals and special meals during darshan. (Swiggy / Uber eats should have opened special services in Kanchipuram)
• Special Ringtones / wall papers should have been launched by Mobile operators
• Newspapers / Magazines should have brought special supplement on the day of the idol being brought out
• Large Brands that are keen at projecting a socially responsible message could have volunteered to manage crowd, create info apps, serve drinking water, set up mobile clinics etc., ( Goldwinner, ITC, Cycle etc., who are in the spiritual space certainly missed the ball)

If brands had anticipated, we would have had far more regulation on crowds, awareness, safety, comfort etc., The Govt. too might have stepped up its efforts in managing crowds and providing facilities. We would have seen a lot more partnerships in managing this 45 day event more peacefully. According to current estimates over 35 lakh people have already visited and with the change in posture of Athi Varadar the crowds may swell further.

Rise and Fall of Saravana Bhavan

Rise and Fall of Saravana Bhavan

In the 90s, a new concept called “High Class Vegetarian” Hotel emerged and the author of that was HSB (Hotel Saravana Bhavan). It was mass dining, but the quality of food was outstanding. The raw material used and the service standards were unbelievable that the middle class population with full of aspirations to grow found this very attractive. The hotel discouraged “Tips” to their employees and the waiters never waited for you to pay them, their sole objective was to serve good food and clear the way for more customers. I still remember one of my friend commenting that the tissue paper near the wash area, never runs out. The pricing was very smart as it wasn’t cheap but the hotel managed an image that did not put them in the expensive bracket, it was “affordable pricing”. They dominated with some of their signature dishes : Adai Aviyal, 7 taste oothapam,

Mini idli, Mini coffee.

 The hotel expanded rapidly with branches surfacing in almost all parts of Chennai. There always news of a new branch opening in the US, Dubai, London kept surfacing in the Hotel’s bill boards. The dining gave a very positive experience to customers as the management rolled out unbelievable packages to their staff which included foreign trips, retirement benefits, education & housing support etc., I am sure a large framed picture of Benefits to our employees decorated the walls of every Saravana Bhavan. Guru  “Kripananda Warrier” photographs along with Lord Murugan pictures decorated every branch and you will see a bowl of “Vibuthi” (ashes) and “Kumkum” in the cash counter. HSB had a consistent image with uniform colors, fonts etc., All the branches will have a minimum of 20 sign boards inside the dining area, with an white uniform for all their staff.

In the mid 90s the hotel brought in a new concept of “Fast Food Counters” that enabled customers to experience quick self service. Brand HSB was so powerful that anyone visiting Chennai will never miss a visit to the hotel . The taste of Chennai was Saravana Bhavan’s Dosa with Coffee. Even now, there are a set of strong spokesmen for their Coffee. HSB’s Radhakrishnan Road branch started off this unique service of “Coffee for Morning Walkers” at around 6am. One could see enthusiastic walkers crowding the hotel in the wee hours.

HSB ventured into fine dining through “pay by weight” concept. While the thought was new but the patronage wasn’t great for this idea, however this enabled them to push their pricing further. Branches like Mylapore, T Nagar, Pondy Bazaar, Anna Nagar, Peters Road too added the fine dining sections into their portfolio.

While their growth story was comfortably cruising a few uncomfortable negative stories started surfacing – “Annachi”, the owner of HSB got in a murder case that revolved around a woman. This fuelled many more such cases / rumours against the man who was scripting a global food chain. But then, never once during those days was Saravana Bhavan quality questioned.

Competition in the form of Murugan Idli, Sangeetha, Annapoorna started their ventures into the capital. But they were struggling to gain mind space as every dish of theirs was compared with Saravana Bhavan. (Murugan idli managed a unique taste for sambar over time). But customers for sure started getting their choices.

HSB moved with brisk pace in signing up with malls, setting up an outlet in Chennai Central, strategically locating an outlet closer to Airport etc., thereby giving customers enough opportunities to experience.

Around the beginning of the new millennium lots of food brands started surfacing in the Vegetarian Food market : Madurai Meenakshi Bhavan, Ratna Café, Murugan Idli, Sangeetha, Adyar Anandha Bhavan, Mathsya, Ramas, Grand Sweets, Sri Krishna Sweets, and many other smaller players. The market got heated up and more players started filling the gaps.

Swiggy and Uber eats changed the food business dramatically. Most of the leading brands got into the platform, but Saravana Bhavan didn’t, for reasons only known to them.

Service Standards of HSB begun to slide as customers realised that they could demand more. Unfortunately, the brand that was aggressively marketing itself through new formats, branches, snack varieties etc., stopped its thinking process. The employee welfare schemes started to fade and we could witness attrition among staff, the familiar faces were missing at the hotel. By now, the staff have started accepting “tips” and the management did remove their “No tips Please” boards.The confident supervisors were no more confident. HSB that was away from Media, went on to advertise across medium rather desperately. With bill boards starting to announce Cost effective Food Combos – the desperation was visible. The staff who were a mute spectator to the orders we do, started suggesting us to consume exotic and expensive food items.

Today, we walk into any HSB outlet there is a feel of emptiness even during peak consumption hours. Customers are hesitating to walk in to Saravana Bhavan as the truth is out and it has even crossed the Chennai shores. The quality of food and service has become highly subjective, so much so that while ordering a cup of coffee it is advisable to specify the waiter “Please bring it hot”.

Learnings:

As regards to a service brand’s deterioration, when and what went wrong is difficult to peg .

A service brand needs to be always on an evolution mode

Service brands should quickly learn and adapt from competition, however small they are.

Adapt new technologies faster

The employee motivation/welfare schemes should keep improving as they are the face

Reputation management should be a constant affair

Communication with loyal customers need to be a part of the calendar

Television Advertising during IPL 2019

This is a window that is high on cost but delivers the desired audience to the advertiser. The aura around IPL has only grown year on year and the viewership and the cost of advertisements are proportionately increasing. The brand, if uses the window judiciously can gain considerable share of voice for sure. Surprisingly the quality of communication is on  a decline and we still have to search for those magical 30 sec TVCs.

We saw more Celebrities : Aamir Khan, Shahrukh, Amitabh, Salman, Akshay, Dhoni, Madhavan, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Deepika, Ayushmann Khurana, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Paresh Rawal, Ajay Devgn, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Hemamalini etc., Who says Celebrities in advertising don’t work? But it looks like unless we spend time in crafting the communication, chances are that we might go unnoticed.

There is a long list of commercials that ran during this IPL which I have tried listing and at the end I have chosen my favourites.

1.                        FOGG Deodorant : “Aur kya Chahiye”

Rolled out multiple TVCs.

2.                        Lloyds Air conditioners : Featured Deepika and Ranveer Singh. The communication was around the high end mobile operated controls of the AC

3.                        Byju’s Learning APP: SRK with Kids, had a set of commercials, everything looked pretty much the same except for the last shot.

4.                        Dr Fixit : Amitabh Bachan highlighted the need for waterproofing before construction. (Octopus, Frog and  Tortoise)

5.                        PayTM : Had multiple commercials highlighting the ease of using this app.

6.                        Poly Cab : Continued the last year’s Paresh Rawal Commercial and did a new product intro through another brand ambassador : Ayushmann Khurana

7.                        Tata Intra : Multiple Akshay Kumars launched the mini truck from Tata

8.                        Swiggy : Continued its No minimum order, faster delivery etc.,

9.                        Vivo : Aamir Khan presented the new high definition pop up camera feature

10.                OPPO : Did the same as VIVO

11.                Urban Clap : Wanted to cash in on the season’s necessity : AC servicing through the App. (Brand Ambassador : Ayushmann Khurana)

12.                Usha : Set of Fan commercials

13.                Cadbury’s : Did Silk, Fuse and Dairy Milk

14.                Kent RO : Mundane Hemamalini Testimonials

15.                Policy Bazaar : Akshay Kumar presenting the advantage of using this for choosing the best insurance

16.                Maruti Vitara Brezza: Multiple commercials focussed on Attitude

17.                Havell’s : Presented its Circuit breaker through multiple situations depicting the importance of the product

18.                Big Bazaar : Focussed on “SALE” aspect of the brand through other brands

19.                Tasty Treat : The inhouse brand of Future Group presented their entire range

20.                Haier : Advertised its range of products through multiple TVCs

21.                Phone Pe App : Aamir and a Kid demonstrated all the features of the APP

22.                Britannia : Ran its 97 promo “ Britannia Khao World cup Jao” for the upcoming world cup

23.                Dream 11 : This cricket focussed App  had some very interestingly shot TVCs that shared some very realistic situations. These TVCs had a lot of empathy factor in them. (Dhoni the Brand Ambassador)

24.                Jio : Song and dance that used almost all the IPL teams

25.                Kingfisher Radler : A new non-alchoholic beverage

26.                CK Birla Group: Dhoni the brand ambassador was promoting Orient Fans

27.                VIVO : Had different commercials for their phones

28.                Asian Paints : Multiple commercials were running. They promoted Tractor Emulsion, bacteria free paints, and Luxury Emulsion brands . Brand Ambassador : Ranbir Kapoor

29.                Hero : Complete Range of Two wheelers, tried promoting as a Global Brand

30.                Sprite : Had some interesting TVCs that highlighted the product’s proposition “The coolant”

31.                Amul : Promoted its icecream

32.                Voltas Adjustable Inverter AC :

33.                Toyota Glanza : More Space

34.                Hector : Futuristic Cars

35.                Heineken 0 : Set of interesting TVCs established the product promise

36.                Samsung S10: Wireless charging feature of its products

37.                Linkdn: Powerpoint style TVCs brought out the benefit of networking

38.                TATA’s Harrier SUV: Set of 4 commercials, nothing great

39.                Vimal Pan masala : Ajay Devgan featuring in this long commercial

40.                Daily Hunt : Parrot ad

41.                Frooti  with Aliabhatt and Varun Dhawan

42.                Coke : Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal combination

43.                Magic Bricks

44.                Thumsup : Ranveer Singh

45.                Appy Fizz : SalmanKhan

46.                Colgate : “Start with a smile” TVCs

47.                Makemytrip : Aliabhatt and Ranveer Singh

48.                Netflix for Selection Day

My choice of advertisements that had some recall value and stood high on empathy quotient were, ( Not in order of choice )

§ Heineken 0

§ Coke

§ Sprite

§ Dream 11

§ Phone pe App

§ Magic Bricks (though a old ad, still has relevance)

§ Swiggy (Minimum order by the oldman, this time Motichoor Laddu)

§ Netflix, Selection day Promo films

What we learn from this window of advertising?

1.                        You cannot garner mileage with one standalone advertisement, as the time span for the IPL is roughly 60 days. You need to create atleast 4-5 TVCs that can be played at regular intervals. This also helps in engagement with the TVC. A Good example is Phone Pe App and Aamir Khan.

2.                        Use Celebrity not as an endorser but as a character and try to weave the story around. Eg : Coke – Ranbir and Paresh Rawal

3.                        Real life situations drawn from experience and with engaging production value will stand out. Eg: Dream 11 commercials

The Game of Politics

More and more people want to get into politics; all with one noble intention: to do good for the people. But they all end up losing the war. Look at the cases of Nandan Nilekeni in Karnataka, Jayprakash in Hyderabad, an IIT Topper in Chennai, and several other leaders across the country. The political game and the election-process are not only about the intention to do good, but also require the individuals to be shrewd in calculations and sound in strategy.

Let us consider an example: RK Nagar is going to poll with 258 polling booths for 2,24,000 people roughly translating to 1085 votes per booth. If you have the ability to personally touch these 1085 voters in that area, and similarly, all 258 booths in the given 45 days time, then, you make a difference. Mind you, this isn’t easy considering the fact there will be at least 100 booths that will have one-party domination and an equal number of booths where two parties will go neck to neck. The state of the independent ‘good candidate’ finally narrows down to at best 10 booths which means 10850 votes. Even there, ruling and opposition parties will have a vote share; plus, like-minded good candidates will garner some. Finally, you end up with 5-10K votes at the end of the day. If you are great candidate you will finish with an average of 10% votes that means 22400 votes. This, you may consider, as the best possibleoutcome for yourself. Imagine that you float a party, and there are 235 constituencies in Tamil Nadu; you need to be in a position to repeat what I just narrated while sweeping the state. A mammoth of a task, isn’t it? The politicians have cracked this secret code to be somewhere in the 30 – 40% vote market in every constituency, which means in the given 45 days, they just need to garner that extra 20% votes to be in the race. This is where their door-to-door campaigns, advertisements in newspaper / TV etc., play a dominant role. Apart from this, their ability to pick the local issue, local leaders, caste leaders, merchant clubs etc., helps them with another 10% of the votes. A newcomer and do –gooder starts with his basic step of introducing himself after filing nominations. By the time he finishes one round around the constituency, the election date comes up. There ends the campaigning. He is forgotten till the elections. Experts from political parties quote that Rs. 20 crore per constituency is what is needed to be spent (Conservative estimate) to participate and have a chance to win.

Does this all mean that we will be stuck with the same set of politicians? Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs, it is a big YES.

Our decision to cast a vote is also similar to how we decide on a particular toilet soap brand. The brand that is more visible; the brand that gives the tallest promise; the brand that belongs to a larger group; the brand that gives us gifts.

Rarely, that we select based on ingredients, process, or quality of raw materials.

Where & How should the change come from?

From the candidate himself. They should become volunteersway before they intend to contest. They need to take up welfare activities along with friends whom they intend to start this party with and get connected with people from all sections. Eg: The formation of AAP. Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi both rode the wave formed by Anna Hazare and capitalised on it to carve a career for themselves. Kejriwal started AAP; Kiran Bedi joined BJP and is now a Governor.

The candidate needs to understand the geography in which they operate, the number of people, the number of shops, PDS outlets, schools, colleges, primary health centers, sex-ratio, drinking water pipes, tanks, electricity polls, waste disposal mechanism, and everything else. As this knowledge will help during speeches, interviews, media interaction, and, well, interaction with the general populace.

The candidate should create an organisation with a structure that will reach out to every constituency and form constituency based groups. These groups should be allotted different departments like a mock ministry, and the individual groups will be a part of drafting the manifesto during the elections.

The candidate needs to be on top of everything that is going on in the constituency and should, without a hesitation, get in and give his point of view.

The manifesto should address all cross-sections of people including the dominating ones in that constituency.

One big burning issue needs to be a consistent discussion point for the candidate apart from all other things. Consider the following: Sterlite by Vaiko; Lokpal by Kejriwal; Swissbank by Modi; Mandir by BJP; Nano by Mamta; Tamil by Karunanithi; Farmers by YSR; and so on. This gives them an identity and a relatability that remains unique to theeir face-value. The more sharper the issue that you take the better chance you have to win. (Kamal went to Ennore and spoke about something that I can’t remember, but didn’t follow up; and now no one remembers.)

Bottenecks that you will have to face

The caste that you belong to should be a popular one; even here if you are from a forward/upward caste, issues will be raised!

The friends around you also need to have a clean chit, as media is waiting to sensationalise anything and everything.

The threats and embarrassments that you will face during your journey will leave you red-faced (you need to be a thug as well!)

Funding. You need to really mobilise a lot of money to stay ahead.

Good intentions are great beginnings, but if you don’t crack the code, the game of politics shall leave you defeated.