PEPSI TVC- one word ‘DISAPPOINTED’

Pepsi over the years has come up with some memorable campaigns. TVCs with Sachin, Shah Rukh Khan, Shane Warne and a host of other Bollywood celebrities. I wouldn’t mind putting my neck out and saying that Pepsi has come up trumps more times than its arch rival Coca Cola. Barring the ‘paanch matlab Coca Cola’ campaign with Aamir, Pepsi has been the creative leader.

I am a tad disappointed though with the latest creatives. The Youngistan campaign with Ranbir & SRK wasn’t too creative. And so was the game series with Ranbir & Sanjay Dutt too wasn’t. Frankly none of the Ranbir campaigns have been memorable even with his charming personality and mass appeal. The cricket world cup 2011 saw the ‘change the game’ series with cricketers. Except may be Dhoni’s helicopter shot, none of the ads were good. As a matter of fact, the ad with Dilshan was preposterous.

Now the extension of ‘change the game’ series sees the first ad post the massive world cup win. And what do you get. A childish ad with a below average creative rendition. Absolutely disappointing. One would have thought of an ad with cricketers immediately post the world cup win to leverage the high recall value. I am sure the Pepsi guys would have tried but the cricketers would not have been available due to the IPL 4.0. Pepsi has always been favoring the humorous side compared to Coca Cola who have been emotional. Having said that, this ad completely has no head or tail. As said earlier, this ad just has one description- DISAPPOINTING!!!

IPL- truck load of brands

“Break The Clutter”. One of the first things a client asks when an agency presents a concept for a TVC is whether the ad will stand out on its own by breaking the clutter of other brands on TV. Whether it has a recall factor by ways of a celebrity or a jingle or just a completely new way of dissipating information (ala zoozoos). Frequently we hear the agency saying that this ad breaks the clutter but it rarely does because when the agency presents the commercial to the client in the clients’ boardroom with all the speaker sound at its peak, complete silence and everyone in rapt attention focused on the screen. With so much attention, any averagely good ad would seem good. The real litmus test starts when the viewer has the remote in his hand with options available to change channels during program breaks.

IPL 3.0 currently being aired on TV has all the mass product/ service companies hopping on to the bandwagon showcasing their wares. The official sponsors of the event are DLF, Vodafone, Hero Honda, Fly Kingfisher, Citi, Karbonn Mobiles and Maxx Mobiles. Thus we have a sponsor name for each event in the match e.g. DLF Maximum, Citi Moment of success, Karbonn Kamaal catch, Maxx Mobile strategic timeout just like we have Hyderabadi Biryani and Kashmiri Pulav. The commentators use these phrases as if they are getting paid to mouth them as frequently as they can. Whenever the MRF blimp is shown, the commentators say a very uniform line which seems that they are given a script to read out. It goes like this “MRF blimp. At the forefront of technology. The first to get the blimp in India”. Thus there are 8 official sponsors.

SET MAX which broadcasts the tournament and has paid a mammoth amount for the telecast rights also has its own set advertisers. The cola Majors, Pepsi and Coca Cola, Consumer durable majors such as LG, Samsung, Videocon, Godrej, Sony, Whirlpool, telecom service providers Vodafone, Idea, DoCoMo, Aircel, Airtel and the latest entrant Videocon, Mobile handset manufacturers Videocon, Karbonn mobile, Maxx mobile and Micromax. Apart from these, some others such as Hyundai i10, Kent water purifiers, Vaseline, Metlife insurance and Havells. Whats more, now there are ads between balls compared to between overs earlier. There is no place in the stadium without ads plastered. The boundary roped, boundary boards, stadium walls, the playing field, the stumps, umpire’s attire, third umpire display board, the sight screen. The total tally thus is 21 plus 8 i.e. 29 With such a huge number how does one expect to break the clutter?

SBI- the Banker to Every Indian:

The world of finance and economics is very complex and boring for the layman. India is a developing economy moving from agrarian to the service sector directly giving manufacturing sector a miss in its transformation. The extent of a developed country can be gauged from the level of complexity and maturity of the financial market. Banking forms a critical part of the financial market comprising of equities, debt, commodities and a bit of insurance.

SBI is the oldest bank in India with a rich heritage of more than two centuries. It is India’s largest public sector bank in terms of balance sheet, customers, number of branches and ATMs and number of employees as well. Yet it doesn’t have the brand recall of say an ICICI or HDFC or any other foreign bank. SBI was a sleeping giant even post liberalization. Foreign banks and even Indian private banks went miles ahead in the race of brand equity and brand recall and service. SBI stood for a government bank, lethargic in its service. SBI was not the preferred choice for customers. Its scale, backed by the government made it sustainable. But since last couple of years it has woken up to the array of opportunities and turned itself into a versatile origination attuned to the needs of the changing customer.

The Indian consumer’s purchasing power and disposable income has grown exponentially in the last 5 years. The nimble and lean foreign and Indian banks have grabbed the customer with both hands. SBI lacked in this, rather all Indian Public sector banks lacked in this. Thus there was a line of PSBs outside ad agencies for changing everything from logo to the positioning and the promotional campaign. We had union bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda among others changing their logo and using celebrity endorsements for their promotions.

SBI of late has started with a print and outdoor campaign which is drastically different. Neither are they talking about financial products, interest rates or returns nor are they going for the emotional appeal of trust, ease in service or reach of maximum ATM. The campaign is based on the value which makes all great brands i.e. the longevity. IBM, Coca Cola are century old brands. SBI is also trying to say that if we are centuries old, we are that damn good for the people. The methodology to convey this message is quite peculiar.

Motilal Nehru, one of the early Indian independence activists, Sardar Patel, architect of the integrity of India, Jagdishchandra Bose, an eminent Indian scientist, Dadabhai Navroji, founder of Indian National Congress for independence of India, Rabindranath Tagore, literature Nobel Laureate, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Independent India’s first President, M Visvesvaraya, Engineer and Statesman were customers of SBI. This methodology is unlike testimonial ads yet it has that flavour. No other bank can boast of such an elite clientele. Thus they are trying to say that this is the clear differentiation which no other bank can claim to have.

A good and a refreshing piece of creativity and strategy. Kudos to you, SBI and their agency.