HIT THE SUPER 6 TO EFFECTIVE MEDIA PLANNING

The business of advertising is all about (a)What to say (b) How to say and (c) Most ignored,yet very important WHERE to say.While the 'what to say' (strategic planning) attracts brainstorming and 'how to say' (creative execution) is considered glamorous,the 'where to say' does not receive sufficient attention.Usually no one ever thinks it is important to involve the media person at the strategic planning stage or the creative planning stage while working on a campaign.Often there is just a cursory representation of media in these meetings,in the form of a silent spectator who,if and when decides to speak up will do so n terms of banal statistics and numbers and jargon that often puts the 'creative' heads to sleep.

The Media-Creative marriage

Advertising is communication.Effective communication is a lot about presentation of the message.One of the media planner's most important jobs is to choose best vehicle for the exposure of this message.Entire budgets may end up going down the drain if the valuable crores of rupees are not allocated appropriately to reach out the message to the potential consumer.What one needs to make brilliant campaign is to establish close communication between the media planner and the copy group right from the early stages of plans development.This will help in one,the copy group understanding the exposure opportunities and limitations early on in the planning stage and two,in the media planner understanding the intended creative approach to guide in selection of media.

Today's media scene

The dynamic nature of today's media could be because of the umpteen number of entertainment and infotainment options that are today available to the consumers.Gone are the days of one Doordarshan,a few leading publications,and even fewer options of entertainment and outings.The arrival of he various satellite channels and publications and their ever-increasing numbers makes a planner's job quite tricky and skillful.Paradoxically,today's media fact is that though T.V viewing has shot up(in terms of no. of hours),reading habits have not going down.The high audience fragmentation;the  'freebie' survival tactics offered by many channels and publications who are giving'free' sports and space to win more advertising revenue from clients etc. all add to the complexities of media planning.

No wonder,given this scenario,agencies often fall into the trap of getting caught in the 'presented facts' rather than delving deep within to look at and evaluate the core.For most agencies,making deals and bargains is the order of the day and measure of their 'media' success,without adequate attention to reach and frequency.The cost -benefit ratio has gone for a toss,often ending up in the agencies spreading themselves thin.It's easier or today's media person to be a part of a herd mentality('I must be on T.V. because everyone else is on T.V.') than to turn the clock in their favor with great plans and ideas.

Large Indian advertisers have gone one step ahead.They have started negotiating with most channels and publications themselves with the result huge amounts are being spent but these are hardly getting media visibility.The entire focus is on media buying driven by better deals,rather than fine tune planning.

The Science of Media Planning

So,what is scientific media planning? How can a campaign utilize media planning to get more effective,rather than just media negotiation? A simple 6-Step process could help in making the intended campaign reach more incisively,or to put it more sportingly,you will hit a six with this super six step process

Step 1: The situation analysis

As is the accepted 'given' in most agencies,a media person works on a 'brief' that he is given by the client servicing person,or if lucky,straight from the client,by being a part of the client meeting.A smart planner would exercise his grey cells further and clearly understand the marketing problem,delve into the company and its competitors,understand the dynamics of size and share of market,study the sales history, distribution practices(yes,it helps to know how the brand you are working on reaches its end user),method of selling,before finally coming into the identification of the media.Too much,is never really too much,when it comes to gathering brand information,as the more we know,the more innovative we can get,in generating cut-throat media plan.

Step 2:Getting to the market strategy

Advertising is the means to achieve marketing objectives.Some ad professionals forget this and look at advertising as a creative field for fulfillment of creative urges.Very few of us realize the responsibilty that rests on our shoulders in this profession.Good media planners however,do realise the value of millions of rupees entrusted to them by their clients and judiciously spend each rupee to get the maximum mileage off it.Your media plan,as a good planner,must stick to this essence and revolve around activities that solve one or more marketing problem.To do this you must put the marketing objective in focus before you arrive at any media decisions.Based on these objectives you need to arrive at a 'Spending strategy' which you would apply after the identification of best market segment.

Step 3:Setting Media Objectives

Now that you have your spend strategy in line with the marketing objectives,the next big step is to translate these marketing objectives and spend strategies into goals that media can accomplish.To do this it is important to state the media objective in as clear a term as possible.For example if we are trying to sell a premium perfume that costs around Rs.3,500/- for a 100 ml bottle,the media objective could probably be

"To reach 80% women in the age group of 25-44,in SEC A+ and A,living in major metro towns(specify the towns),ensuring that they are exposed to the message at least 4 times a week( average frequency)". Compare this to a vague objective like "To reach all women in SEC A & A+", where in you could lose your focus as it does not offer you any direction to strategize.

Step 4: Determining the media strategy

Having set he objectives now comes the time to translate media goals into general guidelines that will control the planners selection and use of media.Analyse all possible data available and arrive at the best possible media class that can deliver your message to the maximum of the audience set as the target in our objective.Should this media class be Television,Dailies,Radio,Internet,Outdoor,Magazines or do we need to innovate? If any particular medium in unable to reach out to all 80%,then we llok at alternative media classes that will fill in the gap.Simply put,this means you need to choose broad media classes and determine the primary medium of message delivery to achieve the marketing objectives.Work out various strategies that can achieve our objectives,with the central point being simple audience delivery! Having done this,zoom in and select on the best strategy alternative that will lead you to your next step.

Step 5:Selection of media vehicles.

Having carefully picked and chosen the broad media classes,now you need to freeze on the exact vehicles that will deliver to the media objectives.It is best to know what you expect each of the medium and the chose vehicles to deliver.Here you will address issues like,who is each of these addressing from the targeted audience,what is he intended goal behind using this particular vehicle etc.

After arriving at a probable shortlist,compare and select the best media within the broad classes-If magazines which one? If Television -which channel? If newspaper - which one? If radio- which channels? Analyze these options and allocate approximate spends to each of these.

Step 6: Media use decisions

Having chosen the channels/newspapers/radio channels/websites etc.,now answer crucial questions like- what is the level of reach and frequency you think is needed to reach out to the target audience? Are there any specific days/months more important to help in achieving marketing objectives? What is the optimum number of insertions/spots required per week/month to fulfill the average frequency set in the media objective? Will having any preferred positions/placements within media help deliver message better? The more specific out questions and answers are the more bang-on our plan will be!

Going through these Super Sixes greatly reduced any weaknesses in planning.The more you use these steps to plan, the more astute and precise you rill get at the job of planning.With time you will realize that getting the best deal in media is not always about the best price at which you have bought media.Rather it is about how best you have got your target audience bought into your media selection so they buy enough of the brand you have been made a custodian of.So happy planning and may the New Year be a well planned year for you.

GLOSSARY OF URDU POETRY

NAZM: IN A BROADER  SENSE THE TERM IS USED TO DESCRIBE ALL KIND OF POETRY, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM PROSE.HOWEVER, IN ITS LITERARY SENSE A NAZM IS A WELL ORGANISED, LOGICALLY EVOLVING POEM ( UNLIKE THE GHAZAL ), WHERE EACH INDIVIDUAL VERSE SUB_SERVES THE NEED OF THE CENTRAL THOUGHT OR THEME. THOUGH THE NAZM IS TRADITIONALLY WRITTEN IN RHYMED VERSE, THERE ARE MANY EXAMPLES OF NAZM IN UNRHYMED VERSE OR EVEN IN FREE VERSE.

MASNAVI: GENERALLY A LONG NARRATIVE POEM, MUCH LONGER THAN THE GHAZAL...EMBODYING RELIGIOUS, ROMANTIC OR DIDACTIC STORIES. IT IS WRITTEN IN RHYMING COUPLETS WITH EACH COUPLET HAVING A DIFFERENT RHYME AND RADEEF.

MARSIA: A POEM WRITTEN TO MOURN THE DEATH OF A GREAT MAN OR A DEARLY LOVED PERSON. IN ITS STRICTER SENSE, TRADITIONALLY ACCEPTED IN URDU, SPECIFICALLY IN HONOUR OF THE MARTYRDOM OF A GREAT MAN OR A DEARLY LOVED PERSON.

QASEEDA: A  POEM WRITTEN IN PRAISE OF A KING OR A NOBLEMAN OR A BENEFACTOR. AS IN A GHAZAL THE OPENING COUPLET OF A QASEEDA IS A RHYMING COUPLET, AND ITS RHYME IS REPEATED IN THE SECOND LINE OF EACH SUCCEEDING VERSE. THE OPENING PART OF QASEEDA, WHERE POET MAY TALK IN GENERAL ABOUT LOVE OR BEAUTY, MAN OR NATURE, LIFE OR DEATH, IS CALLED TASHBEEB OR TAMHEED.

RUBAI: A SELF SUFFICIENT QUATRAIN AND DEALING, GENERALLY, WITH A SINGLE IDEA, WHICH IT IS CUSTOMARY TO INTRODUCEWITH THE AID OF SIMILIES IN THE FIRST THREE LINES AND CONCLUDE WITH CONCENTRATED EFFECT, IN THE FOURTH LINE. ROMANTIC, PHILOSOPHIC THEMES ARE FAVOURITE SUBJECTS OF THE RUBAI.  

When advertising came full circle...

I was pretty amused when I overheard someone asking " if your media agency was to start offering strategic services, would you buy it from them? "

I thought probably this how life comes full circle…

I was reminded of the history of origin of the advertising agency, which I was taught by the legendary advertising professional K.Kurian. I was told that printing machines were by-products of the industrial revolution… the same industrial revolution that had converted rural societies into urban markets. Manufacturers were producing more than what they could sell in their traditional markets and the word of mouth wasn’t enough anymore. Journals too were looking for paid marketing messages (call it advertising ) to sustain their existence and to earn some profits. They hired people to sell space in their journals to manufacturers. Sellers realised that it was quite a tough task selling blank space… To make an effective sale, they started suggesting messages that manufacturers could say in the space they were selling. Some of the smart ones developed this art in a more professional manner and started setting up organisations which came to be nomenclature as advertising agencies. The fact has remained unchanged that advertising agencies are the agents of media and while they never charged a fee for selling creatively done space to their clients, they made their living out of the commission they got from the printers of the then journals, or the media houses as we refer to them now.

Over a period of time, agencies started hiring people with specialised skill sets and this eventually became the chief reason for clients to start hiring them.These specialised talents included:

The Account Planners- A rare breed, now extinct: this was the set of people who were well versed with research techniques and clearly understood that all advertising and mass media activities were to either solve a marketing problem or to seize a marketing opportunity for their client. After detailed analysis, this set of people used to arrive at a strategy which used to form the basis for both creative as well as media strategy… Sadly this specialised science and set of people died a slow and painful death, becoming extinct as I’m writing this piece today..

The Client Servicing  Team: This was the set that was the face of the agency to the client....they interact with clients on a day to day basis and in  our time, used to be the account planners’ eyes and ears.

The Creative set of Copywriters and Art directors: These were the talented breed who knew how to translate banal client message of "what to say" into  effective communications in terms of "how to say" the message so it can motivate to convert consumers in favour of client’s product and achieve marketing and sales objectives.

Media planners: Another extinct set, who were experts in achieving the last step of the advertising communications job of "where to say" the message so it could reach the maximum of the core target group. They analysed syndicated and other research data to ensure reach of right people in the right environment at the right price, in a manner that they could keep the client’s cash register ticking.

Then there was the media operations department, which today is confused for media planning...people employed here used to make sure that the media plan was implemented as planned.

Print and production experts: Their responsibility was to make sure that every printed communication- catalogues, folders, leaflets, calendars, brochures etc were reproduced exactly planned by their art directors. They themselves were printing experts who knew their job as well, if not better than the printers.

Film production executives: They used to be film professionals themselves knowledgeable to the extent that a lot of smaller films were directed and delivered by them… They however did this following the basic rules of advertising, and understood that their job too was to keep the cash register ticking.

Public Relations, used to earlier be the responsibility of the account planner and media planner who used to make yearly plans which the media operations team used to help action. Public Relations then did not mean a bunch of clippings alone ever. It was instead an integral part total marketing and advertising activities aimed at working in sync with the overall communications plan and deliver result accordingly.

But that was then, when there was talent and the thrill was to see a brand climb up to number one spot with sheer power of great big ideas…

The decay in the Indian advertising industry started at the same time as the Harshad Mehta's stock exchange scam. A lot of agencies mushroomed with so called  ‘financial advertising expertise’ and soon after the bubble burst they morphed into public relations agencies of today.

The real death blow to Indian advertising came with arrival of Mr. Martin Sorrel in late 80s and early 90s. This gentleman, an accountant by profession knew how to make most of Indian greed and bought almost all Indian agencies, iconic by the campaigns they made. With him came a time when the Indian Newspapers Society's (INS) rule of not sharing commission with anyone was broken and INS and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) arrived at a formula wherein a creative agency was to get 12.5% and buying agency 2.5% of the media commission. It is these buying agencies which today go by the name Media Agency… now you know why when the question is asked " if your media agency was to start offering strategic consulting services, would you buy it from them? ', why I am sadly amused, and confused, not knowing whether to laugh or cry for a profession that is so close to my heart and which we all built with contribution of our personal time...

 The Height Of COOMMODIFICATION Of MEDIA

It was in the decade of 90s. I was Media Director of RADEUS and a member of Advertising Agencies Association O f India's Training And Professional Development Commitee.

I used to request every media house owner,who used to visit me to promote their media vehicles that please keep your media rate card sancrocsent. Reason, fiddling with media rate card had just begun.

My biggest worry was that there will be a day when traders will take over our profession and that would be the end of the profession in this country.

Reading today's Mid-Day confirmed my fear. There is a full page advertisement which reads " Calling all Media Savvy buyers, Agencies & Entrepreneurs

Want to get the maximum bang for your money...

Guarenteed

Lowest Rates 

For your MEDIA CAMPAIGN 

The advertisement also go on to give slabs for buying...Rs 25 lacs, 50 lacs, 1 crore, 3 crore, 5 crore

they promise that they will get rates lower than prevailing lowest rates in the market. My qquestion is how do you decide what is the lowest prevailing rate in the market?

Should you buy something for Rs 10.00, I may buy it with my skills for Rs 7.00

Or all media are going to publish their lowest rate cards?

Media Planning and Media Buying is a mix of Science and Art which must lead to commerce' i mean business for clients. Keeping their cash register ticking.

I do not know who are the people promoting this " GOLD MAX TRADE N BIZ PVT. LTD. " and how much do they know about media planning. According to me today's the saddest day for all media planners that their profession has finally been converted into TRADE, i hang my head in shame.

The only Media House which neve ever caved in business pressures and never compromised on their rate card is The Hindu and I salute TheHindu and wish other media houses too had similar spine.

Guarenteed 

Revisiting Forgotten Ground Rules in Advertising

We are in the business to communicate effectively with our customers. Our all-important function is to understand our customer, to get to know her well, to like her and be his friend. Our business is to help her, inform her, and challenge her. Our mission is to make her feel good about us and our product and convince her with all enthusiasm and absolute honesty that we have something for her that she needs and wants. Something ( whether a product or a service ) that we believe in and are enthusiastic about, and want her to be enthusiastic about. So our as advertising people is to get results ; to sell a good product/ service to a good customer.

@ Step on the FIRST step
The most important and perhaps the most difficult part of evolving good advertising is finding out the Marketing Problem and then coming up with a brilliant creative way of solving it. What most fail to understand is that there is a difference between brilliant advertising that solves a problem and advertising that is just brilliant and does nothing to solve the marketing problem. These days a lot of foolish advertising is being done in the name of creativity, by a lot of foolish, indisciplined people.
What's worse, the once discerning band of brand managers and marketing managers have given way to irresponsible heads who allow these ads to be run with merely sappy, smart-aleck headlines and far-fetched ideas that have nothing to do with the product. Most of such ads can be recognised by the fact that your best friend or husband or wife thinks they saw a brilliant ad this so and so who...But if you ask them if they would buy they product, they look a little confused. These are the ads that make the person who did them look like a genius, but in market place, they make the advertiser who is paying big money to run them look like a fool.

@ Step Two: Step on the gas for strategic creativity
We are 100% for creativity in advertising, but but not total creativity. Lack of direction, strategy, thinking the problem through first, is like creating an ad in limbo rather than as a specific answer to a specific marketing problem.
The kind of creativity that works best is the one that begins with creating a creative selling strategy that has come out of marketing data and research data and has been agreed upon by the client. It is the one that is focussed, that covers ground with advertising ideas that aim at hitting the target aimed at.

@ Step Three: Define the problem
Having defined the problem and putting all wild creative thoughts on leash with focussed data before you, it's time to determine the creative selling strategy that can solve the marketing problem. To do this, just let go of all holds and allow your mind to flow free. With complete freedom, no restrictions, with all facts at hand, with all time you need backed with all encouragement that can help.

@Step Four: The Big job translating strategy into advertising
Now is the time to take a specific problem of translating a specific strategy into dynamic advertising. It's time to get people who think X to move to Y, to get that Y into the head of a lady whose brain is already clogged with a million messages. This is best done in the simplest, boldest, farthest, most original, most compelling,most memorable way possible. This is what gives away into brilliant advertising that is creative and yet sells the product. The directed kind of creativity that is brand of genius that some creative people have. They are the ones who keep coming up with wonderfully ingenious ways of getting there, again and again and again.

An open letter to Procter & Gamble

p‘baMQak

p‘ao@Tr eND gaOMbala haoma p‘aoD@Tsa ilaimaToD

mauMba[-

31.05.2010

ip‘ya p‘baMQak, gaularoja,

ipClao idnaaoM samaacaar-p~aoM maoM yao samaacaar doKnao kao imalaa ik mad‘asa ]cca nyaayalaya nao Aapkao inado-Sa ide hOM ik Aap, Apnao ]%pad .Ta[-D naOcaulasa-. ko iva&apnaaoM maoM yao saaf,-saaf, SabdaoM maoM ilaKoM AaOr khoM ik .Ta[-D naOcaulasa-. maoM naIMbaU AaOr caMdna nahIM hOM.

]saI samaacaar maoM nyaayalaya ko AadoSa ko saMdBa- maoM yao BaI kha gayaa hO ik [sa sao phlao BaI Aapkao 1 maaca-2010 ko AadoSaanausaar Apnao iva&apnaaoM maoM yao saaf,-saaf, taOr pr khnaa qaa ik Aapko ]%pad .Ta[-D naOcaulasa-. maoM AsalaI naIMbaU AaOr caMdna ka kao[- AMSa nahIM hO, AaOr Aapkao Apnao iva&apnaoaM maoM sao vaao saaro saIna BaI kaTnao kao kha gayaa hO, jahaM maihlaaAaoM kao naIMbaU kaTto AaOr caMdna iGasato hue idKayaa gayaa hO.

ja,aihr hO ik ]cca nyaayalaya nao yao AadoSa, [saIilae ide haoMgao taik Baaolao-Baalao ]pBaao@taAaoM kao Ba‘imat haonao sao bacaayaa jaa sakoM.

hmaara Aapsao p‘Sna yao hO ik @yaa yao samaacaar saca hO ? yaid saca hO tao Aapkao ]pBaao@taAaoM kao Ba‘imat krnao ko ilae dMD @yaaoM nahI imalanaa caaihe?

ek jaaga$k ga‘ahk haonao ko naato, hmaara Aap sao yao savaala hO ik Agar Aapnao ek ]%pad ko baaro maoM Jauz baaola kr gaumarah ikyaa hO tao Aapko AaOr ]%padaoM pr AaOr Aapko Anya iva&apnaoaM, Anya ]%padaoM ko davaaoM pr AaMK baMd krko Baraosaa kOsao kr ilayaa jaayaoM ?

Agar Aap ek ]%pad ko baaro maoM JaUz baaola sakto hOM tao yao samaJanao maoM dor nahIM laganaI caaihe ik Aap Apnao Anya ]%padaoM ko baaro maoM BaI JaUz hI baaola rho haoMgao.

hma, Aapkao mahInaaoM tk JaUzo vaado pr Apnaa ]%pad .Ta[-D naOcaulasa-. Baaolao-Baalao g‘aahkaoM kao baocanao ko ApraQa ko ilae Adalat maoM lao jaanao pr ivacaar kr rho hO.

Aapnao Baaolao-Baalao g‘aahkaoM ko saaqa QaaoKa-QaDI kI hO AaOr hma Aap pr [inDyana pInala kaoD kI Qaar 420 ko tht Aap pr AapraiQak maamalaa calaanao kao lao kr gaMBaIrta sao ivacaar kr rho hO.

yao p~ ilaK kr hma Aap sao .karNa bataAao. jaananaa caahto hOM ik @yaaoM naa AapkI kMpnaI pr Qaara 420 ko tht mauk,dmaa dayar ikyaa jaae?

Agar Aap ka khnaa hO ik AapkI kMpnaI inadao-Ya hO tao [sa p~ ko imalanao ko saat idnaaoM maoM ivastar sao karNa samaJaa[yao. [sa p~ ka ], hma yao maana laoMgao ik Aapkao Apnaa ApraQa svaIkar hO AaOr hma kanaUnaI karvaa[- Sau$ kr doMgao.

BaaovadIya

jamaIla gaularoja,

TIDEWAALON KI SACCHAI MAAR GAYI…

I heard our 20 year old maid Meena asking my wife “aunty is baar haldi, chandan wala tide leke aayenge?” She continued “us se haath naram ho jaayenge, aisa tv mein ad aata hain na, us mein bol rahe the… aunty sach mein tide se kapde dhoyenge to haath naram rahenge kya?” My ears perked up… ‘haldi’ ‘chandan’? in a detergent? And such consumer believability in advertising… wow…Next what?

I thought she might have got the ad wrong and would have let this pass, had I, during my vicious channel surfing not see the ‘tide’ commercial, that seemed to have tided her mind. As the New Tide Naturals detergent ad unfolded, I could see why our innocent Meena asked for the product. The jingle (which as an advertising form was summarised by an ad legend as- when you have nothing to say, sing it...) that was very originally set to the tune of a famous song from Roti, Kapda aur Makaan song, showed women fed up of having to scrub hard to get clothes clean and bright, and in the process lamenting the loss of softness of their hands. Herein comes the detergent that startles them, with a swish of whiteness across their grayish sarees. And then I see what grabbed our Meena’s eye balls… shots of chandan being ground, slices of lime which all become the pack at the end with a very attractive, tough on dirt but soft on hands for just Rs. 10/- proposition. Great.. good.. effective…

But wait, about 2 months down the line, what do I see? A fine print super at the bottom of the TVC.This super comes onto screen every time chandan and lime are shown. The disclaimer, which I could gather only after watching the ad over 5 times to catch it all, says ‘Does Not Contain Lemon and Chandan’! To our 4^th class, Marathi medium failed Meena (1) the super did not even register (2) even if it did, it ironically is in English in a Hindi commercial that seemed to be aimed at lower SEC consumer segment. All that she is absorbing is the visuals. The fine nuances in VO ‘chandan aur nimbu jaise gunon se bhara’ is lost on her. The impactful shot of chandan being ground on the stone and the lime and chandan on hands morphing into pack are too good for my maid to be left uninfluenced…and me searching for an answer as to who lost the ethical rule-book that once bound advertising?

It took me back to the nineties, when a friend laughingly recounted what her mom had said was reported in a local UP paper “Mother feeds child Camay because it has doodh-malai…” Although I have never been able to figure out if that story was ever true, but it does not take away from what would happen in an India that is not as wired and as aware as the cities we live in? Tide brings back that question, and even more forcefully, having witnessed the influence of the ad on a not so wired young girl’s mind. If she being in a ‘fast’ city like Mumbai (where even an average individual’s awareness is supposedly better than hinterland India) can get carried away, it is easy to see how a mom, if at all she did, can feed her child Camay soap, or buy Tide believing it has chandan and lime that will give her soft hands.

Can’t a housewife unknowingly pick up a pack of Tide in the vast landscape of small towns and rural India across the hinterland believing that Tide is natural (an abused, misleading and forgotten-the-ad-rules word in this case)? Worse, imagine such a woman who is suffering from an allergy or has contact dermatitis, and whose doctor has asked her to stay away from synthetic detergents and soaps until the condition improves, goes into a shop asks for ‘Chandanwala natural tide’ and a week later goes back with bleeding hands, as Tide naturals, is hardly natural.

In over 30 years of working in advertising and having built some of India’s best loved brands like Limca, Maaza, Bisleri, Amul, I had worked with colleagues and friends who used to treat advertising as their religion, and the advertising ethics and code plus the various acts enacted by the Govt of India used to be sacrosanct. It is appalling how to see how the young marketing and advertising Turks today are charging on, regardless of rules, ethics and above all responsibility that gets manifested in ads such as Tide’s. And what is sad is that most will not even know of these code and acts if asked impromptu and since they seem to live in a world where ignorance is bliss, they create communication that drives the ignorant towards their brand, albeit causing distress and nor bliss.

While I do not see the ad anymore on TV, Tide Naturals might have achieved what it had intended…. sell a lie about being ‘natural’ to the unwitting buyer. The big ethical point that remains is that they will continue to occupy prominent space in display across the country, with their pack BOLDLY proclaiming ‘NATURALS’. In a country where English is spoken by less than 5% of its population, it is not a rare sight to see consumers identifying brands by the colour of their packaging, a picture or a symbol. As such Tide can go on increasing its sales by continuing to con consumers who will keep identifying the ‘naturals’ pack as ‘chandan wala’ or in a desi ‘nachral wala’, all in happy ignorance!!! Wah..re wah… Tide Naturals, teri sacchai maar gayi, sachhai maar gayi…

About The Writer:

Jameel Gulrays

M: 9821144203

Communications consultant who started the first ever advertising training for ad professionals; crated a an unbeaten record of holding 52 back-to-back workshops for AAAI across Media, Creative and Account Planning

Won the President’s award for writing the first ever book on Advertising in Hindi to help those coming from the hinterland, who found it a challenge to follow the dominantly English books, authored by advertising legends