Dec 15, 2004 01:40 AM
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(Updated Dec 15, 2004 01:44 AM)
Advertisement is about perception, about the ability to share a moment of bondage with the audience. Its not just about trying to sell the product, its also about establishing a rapport with the consumers through imagery, emotions, moments of togetherness, and personal touch.
The dilemma facing the ad gurus is how to sell the product in a limited slot of 30 odd seconds and yet not let the audience feel that the only idea of the ad is to push the product, this is the thin line, which separates a good ad from an average and sometimes bad ones.
The idea behind a good ad and a lovable product is to be able to carve a distinct role in the life of their consumers, it should delight the users year after year and it should have a consistent value proposition. Something which should make the user say WOW. It is with this background that we will look at the Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) ads.
The Brand Promise it promises to be the best and most delicious chocolate. It promises a moment of pure magic, a moment of joy, a moment of sharing and togetherness, a moment of love and caring, a moment of warmth and feelings. It stands for goodness, stands for the values of a family, for the bonding called life and for the celebration of life. It is supposed to bring out the fun element in all of us, a brand which is both wholesome and reliable.
The Challenge Chocolates were perceived as a western concept, more on the indulgent side. It was seen as a manifestation of parental affection for their children. What was required was to break the shackles in a place where opinions and mindsets are as myriad as the country itself.
So from this background came the earlier ad campaigns in which the parental loveangle was used to good effect to break early ground for the brand to make its presence felt in a rather non-responsive market so to say. O&M (Ogilvy & Mather) handle the CDM portfolio.
The real taste of Life during the 80?s Cadbury got stuck in a mindset trap, where it was perceived as something meant for the kids, something which was seen as an indulgent product and something which wasn?t meant for the adults. This led to Brand Stagnation and what was required was to break free of this mold and establish itself as something which could be enjoyed by people across age barriers.
Surveys revealed that chocolate and especially Cadbury was associated with joyous and carefree moments, and what was required was to blend these moments with those in the real life. The dawning of liberalization in the country also meant that the masses were yearning to break free from their shackles where the expression of one?s feelings was not considered taboo anymore.
It is in this background that the real taste of India ads were created for Cadbury. The ad shows a cricket match in action with a boundary required of the last ball to win the match and for the batsman to get his century. The batsman hits the last ball in the air as the crowd watches with bated breath, the fielder gets underneath the ball, a young lady in the galleries prays frantically for him to miss the ball. Much to the delight of the fans and the lady the balls sails over the boundary rope.
As soon as that happens she jumps out on the ground and starts jiving to the tune kuch khaas hai zindagi mein kya swaad hai zindagi ka. With this one ad Shimone(the jiving lady) danced her place in the hearts of millions of Indians, while the bank accounts of CDM started filling in riding on the incumbent sales. The ad launched CDM as a brand for both the kids and the adults, something that could be savored by people across age barriers.
khaane walo ko khaane ka bahana the RTOL ads were a major hit with the urban suave crowd but the middle and the rural masses still remained out of the radar and hence the subsequent Indianisation of the brand with the Cyrus Broacha starrer sequence of ads which tried to enter the Indian mindset with a simple yet subtle message.
The categorization of the consumer into the regular and non-regular meant two ideas, for the former the message was I will do anything for my CDM while for the latter the message was you don?t need a special reason to eat one. The former was targeted with ads, which showed a young man running to the stall while the train is about to leave, to grab his chocolate. While for the latter it?s the fun filled boisterous Cyrus egging them on to have one with his back to back to back ads with fun filled dancing moments of charm and verve. These ads helped in establishing CDM as a popular household name as people started associating with it, across the big town-small town divide, across age barriers, across income anomalies and across barriers of cultures.
Saath rahe har pal this campaign had 2 back-to-back ads enforcing the image of a brand read friend who was there to see you through the good and bad times. The idea behind these campaigns was to position CDM as someone you could rely on to be your friend when the chips are down. In the tennis ad, the son is shown egging on his father who is one point away from losing the match, eventually he does lose the match; he is dejected, as his son runs over to him to console him with the jingle in the background.
In the other ad a group of jubilant sailors are shown having a ball expect for one man who is thinking about his last meeting with his girlfriend where he had asked her to tie a ribbon on the tree to tell him she will wait for him. He thinks of the tree being barren and his heart sinks, until his mates show him the tree tied completely with dupattas so much so that in the last scene his sweetheart has to wear a denim jean (sic). The idea behind both the ads was to position CDM as a friend, as your soul mate one on whom you could rely, one would be with you in times of joy and sorrow.
Scott Falgo said ? a brand that captures your mind gains behavior. A brand that captures your heart gains commitment?. That?s exactly what CDM has done over the years. The ads have been simple, matter of fact yet so very lovable and enjoyable. It appeals to the emotions, to the humane side in each of us. It eggs the kid in all of us to take shape, it coaxes the fun loving person inside us to come out, it pushes us to be ourselves, to live life to the fullest and to cherish and enjoy. It is nothing but the ultimate in ad, it is the ?Celebration of Life?.
The results today India is the second largest market for CDM in the world, the success of CDM in India has become textbook matter for budding adverts to draw lessons from.
Cadbury has been able to establish itself as one of the most lovable and recognized brands in India despite of its distinct foreign feel. Ads are said to be the one of the most powerful mediums influencing the sales of a brand after the quality and in the case of CDM it has been proved true beyond doubt. These ads are a tribute to the joys of life; to the cherishing of precious moments of happiness and carefree gay abandon, moments we all carve for in our lives.
P.S. I have left khamakha series & Big B series of ads due to space crunch. Maybe I will take them up later in case we have interested readers.
