The Hindu Business Line : Shock and awe

A lifesize puppet on a hoarding is enough of a showstopper even when it’s stationary. But this one moved its limbs, and for two weeks, with people continuously pulling the strings. Early this year, Square Circle deployed this puppet as part o f its campaign for Chennai-based MIOT Hospitals’ arthritis treatment. The puppet symbolised the unrestricted movement of limbs that MIOT claimed one can experience after undergoing treatment for arthritis there.

On August 1, afternoon tabloid Mid-Day was circulated as a broadsheet, surprising many who thought the paper had undergone a form change. This was discovered to be the handiwork of Madison Communications which was advertising the name change of client UTI Bank to Axis Bank. The key message ‘Everything is the same except the name’ was obvious as Mid-Day’s content that day was not different despite its broadsheet avatar.

A Ford Endeavour literally charging at you would probably make your heart skip a beat even as your brain concocts images of blood and gore. Looking closely, your fears are dispelled as the car is merely charging from a hoarding.

Amidst ever-increasing media clutter, ads like these have successfully managed to grab eyeballs. What makes them memorable? Is it their medium of execution or the idea?

Long ago media analyst Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase ‘Medium is the message’. People tend to notice innovation more in form (medium) than in content, says Jayraj Rau, Vice-President, JWT Chennai. Designing the ‘Kaettingala’ (Tamil for ‘have you heard?’) campaign for the Suryan FM launch, the agency chose to go beyond the conventional TV, outdoor and print routine.

The teaser campaign had youngsters holding banners stating the station’s frequency (93.5 FM) in an “exciting” manner, says Rau. The launch campaign used neon boats, lit balloons, walking ‘inflatables’, on-ground games and tie-ups with restaurants and fruit vendors. The result – 3,000 programme request letters in two days and 17,000 calls a minute on the eve of the launch.

Flooding the media may not always work. It is then that linking the medium with the core idea becomes essential. That is why Madison chose Mid-Day and not any other newspaper to convey the UTI Bank makeover. “We did not want to launch a broadsheet paper in tabloid form, because it (the size reduction) would convey miniaturisation,” explains Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison Communications. UTI Bank was not shrinking its services but aimed to expand its reach through the name change.

Square Circle used the audio-video medium to depict the potential of a windmill for client Vestas. On paper a windmill appears as one pole with three poles stuck on top. One does not realise it can produce the same kind of power as a hydropower plant. “Our television ad hence focused on the size of the windmill,” says Asha Deb, Creative Planner, Square Circle. The ad showed a young boy chancing upon a metal object (actually a windmill blade) in the middle of the ocean after he has fallen off a boat. Hanging on to it, he reaches the shore. There he sees a windmill and realises what the piece of metal he held on to was. He is amazed at how big and powerful windmill blades are, unlike what they appear on paper. “This changed the way people viewed windmills,” Deb says.

It is difficult to associate bling with corporate image. However, Brand Portrait did this in its campaign for IT communications company Verizon. It used a print ad featuring a heap of snazzy finger rings in different shapes, sizes, textures and colours — starting from the bottom of the ad and rising to the top — to convey the range of career options people had at the company. When it was published in The Hindu’s Opportunities section about two years ago, where most ads appeared in sober colours, it stood out, says Venu Gopal Nair, Creative Director and Co-founder, Brand Portrait.

Another instance of the medium becoming the message was Ogilvy & Mather’s (O&M) campaign for ‘Independence Rock’, a concert promoted by The Hindustan Times. This Abby-winning ad conveyed ‘head banging’, a typical rock show gesture, by sticking paper images of a person’s face on audio speakers in popular discotheques and nightclubs in Mumbai. When music played, the paper heads shook giving an illusion of ‘head banging’, thus telling people that Independence Rock was not dead.

“This was a low-cost, low-tech affair but assured that the show was full,” says Manoj Shetty, Creative Director, O&M. This prompts another question – is going low-tech a solution for breaking the clutter among today’s high-on-technology ads?

Yes, feels JWT’s Rau. The back-to-basics kind of ads would help break clutter. Take the case of actor Irfan Khan talking in plain simple language in the Hutch prepaid ad or the soft-spoken female model advocating Stayfree sanitary napkins. “This is credible, believable advertising at its best,” he says.

A New Delhi based-agency called A stuck to ‘advertising-devoid-of-hype’ in its ‘Trip’ campaign for Royal Enfield last year. To convey the brand’s core value of individualism over economics, the agency chose to feature actual Enfield users, their bikes and stories in the ads. The starkly urban campaign stood out at a time when other brands were going to rural India.

For the ‘Incredible India’ campaign at ITB Berlin 2007, the international travel trade show, the agency chose to display its hoarding on a building on one of Berlin’s busiest junctions. “The message was socially relevant — breathe, relax, do yoga — instead of rushing around the city,” says Mohit Dhar Jayal, Director - Brand Strategy, A.

This is where the ad’s core message/idea comes into focus. “The idea is always paramount and a good idea normally chooses its own execution,” says O&M’s Shetty. Madison’s campaign on World Health Day is an example of this. The idea was to convey the importance of health to as many people as possible. The agency made radio jockeys of all radio channels in Mumbai engage in a live, simultaneous chat with each other discussing health-related issues such as food and exercise. This chat was broadcast live across all radio channels and listenership soared, says Balsara.

Square Circle wanted to extend its arthritis campaign to a niche audience without diluting the core idea – free movement of limbs post treatment. It sent direct mailers, each with a puppet inside (a miniature of its hoarding), to ensure a sense of continuity with the hoarding. “This did not cost us much but we realised that such small efforts are valued more by the public than a typical ad,” Deb says.

For another MIOT campaign, the agency popularised laparoscopic surgery using the words ‘keyhole surgery’ and later ‘pinhole surgery’ in its advertisements to aid easier understanding. Brands must offer art, entertainment, fashion, information, social commentary or more to today’s increasingly cynical audience, says Jayal. An example is the global ‘Incredible India’ campaign that brings out a strong point of view portraying India as assertive and outgoing, yet comfortable in its own skin. Little wonder then that the ‘India@60’ campaign in New York which adopted multilayered advertising — buses, taxis, bus shelters, key outdoor sites, hand-delivered daily programme cards and e-mailers — saw people queuing up for more.

Historically clutter has been broken by a powerful message, says Ramanujam Sridhar, Chief Executive Officer, Brand Comm. “Today there is clutter in ad execution. Unless a good idea backs execution, clutter cannot be broken,” he says. For this agencies need an insight into the customer’s mind and incorporate it in the core message of the ad. “Today’s audience is savvy and well educated. The key question to ask while looking to innovate is - Can you surprise them? ” says Sridhar.