question hour. The trivial melts

The trivial melts

The ice-bucket challenge seems to have fizzled out. Why? Have you been a part of it?

Udhagamandalam

Rohit, what is not meant to be is not meant to be.

The ice bucket challenge was a big, big success in sheer awareness terms, for sure. It has cascaded from person to person, so much so that we even have a ‘rice bucket’ challenge. Wait for more, you will have a ‘Fish Bucket’ challenge from Mangalore and Kochi soon.

I have refused to be a part of it, because serious issues such as the one it represents cannot be trivialised. It began well. What is taking over now is the yen of the celebrity to be seen and heard as he or she is being doused. It is becoming fashionable now to tout that you did it. It has become a game now. Something it was not meant to be. My problem is not with the issue of water wastage as it is with the issue of trivialisation.

The word ‘free’ still seems to excite marketers. How come, and for how long more?

New Delhi

Mia, the ‘free’ word excites consumers even today, and therefore it excites marketers as well.

‘Free’ has been the best four-letter word the consumer has known over the last several active decades of Indian marketing. In the very old days, ‘free’ meant a value-add to an expensive brand. The brand buy meant a more expensive buy, as compared to commodity options. A free item meant it was something that mitigated the brand premium being paid. Free was a lure, a bait, a price reducer and even a device that helped you choose between two competing brands. When in the quandary of a decision as to which brand to choose in pari-passu brand circumstances, the free item helped tilt brand decisions.

This perception of the Sixties and Seventies changed over the years. When Surf offered a bucket with its buy and Det offered nothing, the choice was made for the consumer. In this era, ‘free’ represented value-for-money. It was a way of squeezing out value from the brand marketer. Items given free had the benefit of connoting a higher perceived value of the free item as opposed to the actual price paid for the free item by the marketer. This seemed a win-win for both marketer and consumer.

This view of ‘free’ has changed over the decades. This ‘bait and lure’, which had a positive connotation once upon a time, went on to take a negative connotation as well. Insecure products offered free items as bait and lure and secure products were far above it. Marketers went out and added value in different ways as well. Marketers started offering more of the product for the same price as a variation. When you bought 500 gm of Taj Mahal Tea, you got 550 gm instead! Marketers offered money as well, and this was called an “Off-label”. On every packet of 500 gm tea you bought, you got ₹5 off! And then marketers offered contests and scratch cards and cumulative purchase offers as well to consumers. The word ‘free’ morphed from being a product to being many different things even.

The word ‘free’ still holds some appeal in today’s market. Marketers are still using it time and again, but its efficacy has reduced dramatically over the years. It has become a form of instant gratification that does not deliver enough bang-for-the-buck anymore. It has become an eroder of brand image as well, and that is its biggest disadvantage.

The ice-bucket challenge

COMMENT NOW