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What is the most powerful function that advertisement performs today? What is advertising and communication in today’s world? Advertising bears the burden of building brands. What is brand building? How does advertising build a brand? By taking a simple product, what does advertising do to build it into a powerful brand and how does advertising do this? Let us first understand what is a brand. A brand is a consumer’s idea of a product. This is a quote from the doyen of advertising ??? David Ogilvy. Let us take a deeper look at the brand. Product |Brand | |Exists on the shelf |Exists in the mind | |Made of raw ingredients |Made of feelings & emotions | |Belongs to the manufacturer |Belongs to the consumer | |Eg. Bajaj Scooter |Eg. Hamara Bajaj | So, let us now understand how does advertising make a brand strong? The ‘fundamental equities’ of product, price, packaging and performance are only revealing one side of the picture.
Today the consumer takes these elements of a product for granted and looks beyond performance of a stronger, value-addition to the brand. Take a closer look at the consumer. Every human being is a combination of head and heart. Bill Bernbach once said “facts are not enough”. Added values of soft equities are now being focused on to get the core of the relationship between the consumer and the brand. It is a relationship marketing today. It is the softer side that seems to carry the value in terms of personality, image and relationships. And it is a stronger “soft” side that makes a brand stronger.
Can you think of some examples of strong brands’ “soft” approach stirs up feelings and emotions? How about Garden Sarees? [pic] In the past brands were built on superior & unique performance. This was known as USP (Unique Selling Proposition??(also??Unique Selling Point)) Then came along the era of exclusive benefits positioning. Today, the relationships have to be built on more subtle grounds by conveying relevant values and emotional pay offs. And it is advertising that does this. Eg. Teepol ??? is a liquid detergent positioned for cleaning crystal and expensive crockery pic] In the new world, advertising works as a catalyst. It creates feelings between the consumer and the brand. Eg. Maximum moisturizer Pond’s dream flower talc [pic] Advertising is not merely a message about the brand; it is a part of the brand itself. Look at Charms, Lakme winter care lotion, jumping. [pic] The advertising becomes the main depiction of the brand’s personality. Of course this works only if it becomes relevant from consumer’s view point. Try and recall some examples of relevant advertising. Wills depicts togetherness. CHL had no relevance. [pic][pic]
That is why motivational research is interlinked with advertising today. If a brand’s advertising is meaningful, consumers can depend on it. By doing this, brands provide a service way beyond the function they perform as like products. Advertising creates the personality and characters with which consumers have interactive relationships. Think of ‘La Opala’ crockery. [pic] Brands with strong equity are storehouses of meanings that consumers use to define their actual ad aspirational selves… I aspire to be a graceful hostess. By laying out La Opala crockery, I define this image.
Eg. Santoor soap ….. Young mother. [pic] The advertising, more than anything else is central to what the brands stand for. Unilever has laid out principles for great advertising. It focuses on the pursuit of the ‘Big Idea’ supported by advertising properties to build brand equity. Positioning simply stated as ‘an idea’ a brand represents in the minds of consumers. Eg. Sunflower cooking oil ‘the healthy oil for healthy people’ Let us look at the essential elements that go into brand building: – First of all a brand has a name that distinguishes from other products in the category. It then has a set of physical and psychological attributes that combine to create a personality of the brand. This personality develops over time & comes to provide a value to consumers that are greater than the value that the physical product represents to its consuming public. Eg. Liril, gel toothpaste, Red & White cigarettes [pic] Advertising is a key element in the brand building process. It is the means through which a brand is first introduced to the consumer. It is also, as mentioned earlier, the means through which a relationship between the brand and the consumer is built.
So advertising and communications are about building relationships. Advertising is an invitation & promise. There’s something of the instructive and of the rational. It sets up a bond which holds the user and the brand together…. It happened to me when I use Tribhuvandas Jewellery. But this friendship will not survive unless there are common values, interests and goals. That is why motivational research is done. Every brand advertising should communicate a key brand idea. The consumer should be able to sum it up in a word. Suppose you ask a consumer to play a word game. I say Reliable and you say ‘Volkswagen’, Safety and you say ‘Volvo’ or …? Kodak and you say ‘Color’, Gillette and you say ‘Shaving’,Thumps up and you say ‘Refreshing’ and so on Think of some more Indian examples. The word summarizes the equity of the brand, created by advertising. When you can’t think of a word for a brand you are looking at a brand about to be in trouble. The advertising should be the brand not advertising that is about the brand. Too much of advertising we see is a commentary on the brand. It talks about the brand. Now look at Garden Vareli advertising or Gwalior suiting. It represents in a seamless, irresistible way the essence of the brand. pic] So what is a brand? It certainly isn’t a product through we often interchange the two words. Does the word ‘cigarette’ posses the same power as ‘Wills Filter’? It has the ability to generate revenues year after year; it has the ability to command a higher price; it could provide a strong platform to launch new products; it gives you leverage with distributors and retailers. Take the example of Onida. [pic] This in short is the sum total of the relevance of advertising. It shows the bottom line, which is the sole purpose of existence of a business and its products! [pic]