The Hindu Business Line : What does the mother brand stand for?

Havells, handled by Lowe, has had an interesting approach to its advertising, to say the least. The brand has been extremely high-decibel, and has ensured that it was seen from IPL to even ICL, and more.

Shock laga kya?

Gokul Krishnamurthy

Traditional ‘rules’ for building the corporate brand have been challenged often, in the quest to create advertisements that break the clutter with telling effect. In some of those instances, the impact of the individual advertisements has worked towards building an identity for the corporate brand itself. Some of those cases are interesting enough to warrant a closer look.

Several times during the recently concluded IPL matches, a relatively new entrant to vibrant mass media advertising stood out, even amidst some brilliant commercials – including the endearing pug work on Vodafone. Most times a wicket fell, there was a television equivalent of a ‘pop up’ that asked you: ‘Shock Laga Kya?’ The brand needs no further introduction, does it?

Let’s cut to the first commercial one remembers from Havells: the one for its shock-proof switches. The little boy with a ‘nest’ on his head, the teacher who takes him home to complain to his parents, the family whose hair is in the same state as their son’s, and the teacher who is shocked to realise the ill effects of not using shock proof switches...

The right blend of lively music and humour that puts a smile on your face till the last frame, and a commercial that delivers the message entertainingly, and therefore, engagingly. If you thought that was Havells, the brand, you were wrong. That was just Havells shock-proof switches.

Then we saw the commercial for Havells bulbs that promised superior roshni – the little monk, the halo, and the super bright proposition. The portfolio must have been a challenge for the agency, for next came ‘Wires that don’t catch fire’. Another simple proposition, very well told. With a large part of consumption from the architect and builder communities, the approach wasn’t a bad bet either.

From the choice of models to the backdrop, and most importantly the music, this commercial was refreshingly alluring. The background score is haunting if you listen to it a few times over. And chances are that one did watch it enough, given the aggressive media exposure. The mom, the caring son, the fire, the rotis, and Havells wires that don’t catch fire ... there must have been a few alternative routes considered to communicate this, but this one did well in the end. Again, it was a creative speaking the language of the proposition – with no accent of the brand aura - which stood out.

Just in case ‘Shock laga kya’ didn’t shock viewers enough, in came bijli, the sprightly girl on the dance bar-like set. Bijli-sadak-paani isn’t an election-favourite among politicians for nothing. While air-conditioners that promise savings on electricity have done a fabulous job with their advertising, ‘energy saving’ was a relatively unheard of promise from a ceiling fan (at least in recent times). It is not the proposition that’s being noted here, but the way it has been communicated. When the dancer swirls and twirls and faints, Havells ‘bijli ko bachata hai’. Simple, yet effective. More importantly, attractive. None of these commercials will go on to win awards. We can say that with surety since Lowe doesn’t enter any. But they’ve done their bit in communicating the proposition of each Havells product. The client-agency relationship seems to be working well, as one does witness in the above par advertising with another Havells brand: Crabtree switches (and the benefits of precision engineering).

Back to the Havells commercials. There’s no signature tune for Havells. There’s no sign-off that gives you recall of the mother brand. What could be common between a dance bar and school? (Let’s not get into the learnings that a dance bar can offer.)

Balki, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Lowe, has a simple explanation for the commercials. The fundamental objective was to create high interest in a low interest category, he reasons.

“The idea was to make Havells top of mind. In the case of the fans ad, how do you surprise people with a fan? The TG for fans is everyone. You have to figure some way of making a guy remember your fan over others.” We didn’t want to argue with that. With sales reportedly surging across product lines, both client and agency do seem to have found an agreeable path to the advertising.

He added, “As far as building a corporate brand goes, I think it is already done to considerable extent. We’re taking it product by product. As long as we can do interesting things, and till such time that there is a unifying thread, I think it is better to do it this way. More than a conventional brand building approach, this has worked better.”

One is forced to agree. After all, a corporate addressing the consumer is as powerful as the brands in its portfolio. It’s a complex issue to study whether an ‘umbrella’ corporate brand identity needs to be established at all, for market dominance (and we don’t mean the stock markets). It’s far simpler to watch the advertising, be entertained, and witness the brand grow.

(The writer is Managing Editor, www.eventfaqs.com, and a media consultant.)

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