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Do advertisers use kids fairly?
New Delhi
Sanket, you are putting me on the mat with this question. I will not pass a value judgement on this, but let me reply.
Advertising today uses kids to portray a desirable marketing attitude. The attempt of advertising is to get all kids to behave in the same manner. The idea is simple. Advertising has the ability to alter consumer behaviour. Kids are very impressionable beings. If you are able to make an impression on them, you will get pester power moving. I do believe this is a terrible thing to do. In the hunt for lucre, the childhood of an entire nation could be robbed. Kids form a part of the Innocent audience of any country. It is important to protect their innocence and let their childhood remain the way it is meant to be: innocent. Just as long as advertisers don’t tamper with this simple tenet, all is well.
For one brand, is a single brand endorser good, or many?
Mumbai
A: Rahil, in the old days, one brand endorser would do. That was the era when a brand endorser endorsed just one brand. The brand endorser was essentially loyal to just one brand. A case in point is Ustaad Zakir Hussain and a brand I used to manage called Taj Mahal Tea.
And then the times changed. Today, brand endorsers endorse a brand in literally every category. The most prosperous of these endorsers endorse as many as 16 different brands. There is what I call brand endorser promiscuity today. In such an era, brands need multiple endorsers as well. A great way to counter brand endorser promiscuity.
Today, the fact also remains that if brands wish to insulate themselves from brand endorsers and their misdeeds, good to have more than one endorser on your rolls.
Are marketers going berserk? Recently, an International Beer Day was celebrated in Ludhiana. Why a beer day?
Ludhiana
Shamsher, when the big days get cluttered by marketer and brand participation, brands look for the smaller days. Literally every day of the year presents potential here. Brands do need to choose days to promote their fit to the brand proposition statement at hand. A brand of beer can pick the International Beer Day, as a good fit for instance. And then there are maverick days. June 22 is No Panties Day. I hope no one picks that. And then there is the Cheese Day and Cognac Day and lots, lots more. One moves from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Harish Bijoor is a brand strategy expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Mail your queries to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in
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