May 29th, 2011 § § permalink
Aah sometimes a good evening with a few intelligent brains over some quality wheat beer from Belgium makes for a lot of “common sense”.
While with @1aditithakur recently at the famous Beer Cafe in Delhi, the conversation started with the shopping experience in the mall and it moved onto the limitless gyaan on branding. Finally we started discussing brand and brand names.
Your Name: how does that change the taste of the ketchup?
So we got served these potato chips with a ketchup which read Heinz. Lets say I don’t care a dime whether I am eating a Heinz OR a Kellog’s for my breakfast till the time I am liking what I am consuming. I mean just by naming my restaurant (if I open one) Mc Paritosh OR Mc Whatever will I become a super duper hit? I have this craving for a good coffee badly, Starbucks, does it tops the first thought on my mind, to be honest NO. Starbucks as a name is a no-name when it comes to coffee. Does it sound like one to you?
LG, Samsung, Honda, Maruti how do they sound like a car? Do you hear engines revving up in your ears the moment you hear these names?
I am certain about something, these names don’t drive me to buy them!
Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mO7qCYLnaTc/TZmsjWR-4iI/AAAAAAAACAA/B6KGupGPA98/s1600/halls%2Bapril%2Bfools.png
I believe spending those crucial multi million dollars on creating that ohh so amazing Brand Name is all a bogus concept. Well, yes! those ohh so cool, award winning at Cannes branding majors might disagree with me. But then they have to, isn’t it? The bread and butter comes from there!
What’s my take on this?
- Its simple (not the way Ranbir Kapoor makes it dumb in his Docomo Ads). Its simple in the way that, people buy what gives them performance. So whether it is normal petrol OR some buster muster premium petrol, if my car gives me the best performance with normal, I am okay with calling normal as normal and buying it.
- Brand Logo’s: I learnt this lesson from my 3 year old nephew. He bought this helicopter with a remote control but what appealed to him was not the branding which came with it and not the colors, but he got excited when he saw how fast and high the helicopter actually flew.
In my view what in reality leaves a strong recall with your consumer is your product/ service. If you are in the services industry you ought to understand the experience which your customers derive from your service. The experience is what drives him to ‘choose to buy you again’. If you are a product business then, making a Kareena bath in a bathtub with lots of soap on will not sell your soap. that’s DUMB. Your product must in all manner fulfill the promises you are making with your customers.
And the beer ended: the result
While we ended with the binging, we both (had to) agree with each other (he he) that brands must invest in places where it counts for the customer and in creating an experience. Yes, you can always be a Godrej basking in the glory of the brand re-organization drive which says that their brand is valued at a few billion dollars (I need to check the number again). But lets keep it at bay for now.
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October 1st, 2009 § § permalink
Pepsico has shocked the entire advertising fraternity by deciding that they would put to use their almost 1.3 billion dollar advertising budget NOT for Advertising anymore!
The CEO, Indira Nooyi, in her statement to the press remarked “We know it’s good, and everyone’s pretty happy with the overall taste, so why spend all our time worrying about what other people think?”
“Frankly, it just feels sort of weird and desperate to put all this energy into telling people what to drink. If they don’t like it, then they don’t like it.”
The TOP Pepsico team has been on for this since sometime and have finally decided to shift the funds into PepsiCo’s savings accounts and utilize them for much constructive things, as people anyway dont drink or feel the advertisement. The funds would now be divided amongst various charitable organizations and for bonuses to the employees.
Interesting to note, Nooyi asked the pressmen to go back to their families, hug them and play…really play and spend good time with them, before life passes by.
I support this move and its an amazingly intelligent step by a company of the size of Pepsico.
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August 5th, 2009 § § permalink
There already is so much of Brand Clutter out there, that reaching out to the relevant market and getting the right eyeballs for the sufficient time is becoming increasingly difficult.
In the race to make easy money, advertising platforms are becoming more and more cash unfriendly and provide not much of an option to the advertiser to really showcase the BRAND DIFFERENTIATION and ENGAGE his target audience.
ParitoshSharma.com cuts through the clutter
paritoshsharma.com announces exclusive Brand Showcase opportunities for Brands to showcase their entirety and engage and start a meaningful dialogue with their audience.
- How?
- Limited Advertising Space – Only TWO (2) brands at any given time
- ParitoshSharma.com limits the advertising space to only two advertisers at any given time on the Home Page of the blog
- No Google Ads – Only targeted and specific advertising
- We dont do Google Ad’s just to earn a few bucks. We believe in creating value for the customer and help our advertisers engage their customers
Ohh, so what’s the big deal? Ad’s are given by everyone?
That’s right and that’s why ParitoshSharma.com provides you access to eyeballs as there is no Ad clutter. Only limited space with unlimited access and focused eyeballs.
Do you provide something else other than this?
Yes! We have 3 advertising packages, which can be further customized:
- HORN (package 1)
- Advertising Space (Banner Advertising) + 2 Blog posts about your brand/ PR/ Announcements a month + Brand pormotion on facebook and twitter by Paritosh Sharma
- OK (package 2)
- Advertising Space (Left Sidebar Advertising) + 2 Blog posts about your brand/ PR/ Announcements a month + Brand pormotion on facebook and twitter by Paritosh Sharma
- PLEASE (package 3)
- Advertising Space on (HORN – OK – PLEASE – The Digital Foreplay (The Freshest Dope from the Digital Advertising and Marketing Industry)) + 2 Blog posts about your brand/ PR/ Announcements a month + Brand promotion on facebook and twitter by Paritosh Sharma
Since this is exclusive access and focused advertising, the brands advertising, shall be entertained only post strong brand check on social media.
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April 9th, 2009 § § permalink
I live in New Delhi, India, in of the best suburbs with posh markets just a couple of minutes away and all at access, I was driving down one of the lanes yesterday, when something caught my eye.
I have been seeing design and how it affects the consumer perception
Well, I saw an entire stretch of road, almost a kilometer long, with amazing looking installations. (Will share the pictures soon). Now these are metallic poles of about 8 feet in height and have a tranparent glass installation at the top, with in built LED’s for lighting. Though there was nothing inside the glass installations, (no advertisements), the design captured the eye!
The message catches even if you are zipping past
Simple and elegant! Uncluttered and a well defined shape. Nothing very new that would make you think, but good enough that would make the advertisement inside the installation, catch the eye of anyone, zipping past the installation while driving as well.
Glass gives the whole look and feel a very elegant look and its simple, its something that we see everyday!
Brand Recall!
Well, these installations are there after every few steps, thus elegant lights in the dark, when youa re strolling past the market, catch your eye and you are tempted to see the message!
But there is a potential flaw which I feel the designers have overlooked
The installations have not been placed at the right spots in the market. Even during the night time, there is ample light and so many glaring lights and big billboards glaring at you (being one of the hottest markets in Delhi). Thus being unique, this installation could catch the eye for once, but I think will merge into the whole environment so quickly that it will lose its appeal!
The design seems intelligent but positioning is NOT! Its the same problem which many of the clients come upto me with, when they say, that we have a good brand, the recall is good as well, but there is something that is not working. Our message is not reaching out. I tell them the fault may not be in the message but how you position it.
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