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till date. It may be a tacky production, but it gives
the story enough time to progress, and there is no
rush to tell the story quickly. Even the ‘Pledge to
Vote’ campaign by Google does not work hard to
have Google’s branding all over it. It leisurely tells a
story, ensuring that the consumer does not skip it.
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Brands need to ask
thereby creating recall for the
themselves what the
ad but losing the purpose of the
brand recall. With the advent of
call to action is, once the internet, many brands have
a consumer has seen come to recognise the power
their story.
of stories that last beyond a
30-second window. Sadly, many
get it wrong; the entire storyline
is askew, without an efficient
connect, and the product's story
not woven into the story. This can lead to a short
spurt of recall, but may not last for long. On the
other hand, films that have given a fair share of
attention to the product as well as the storyline
are still remembered. Dhara’s jalebi campaign—
designed to pull at the audience’s heartstrings
while beautifully capturing the product as part of
the story’s sequence—is one that is remembered
Maintaining the balance
The second factor towards creating an effective
brand story would be to ensure there is adequate
data to support the story. Is your brand still taking
baby steps? Is the product even ready? Are you
catering to businesses or directly to consumers?
Timing also plays an important role as, at the end
of the day, the product will need to stand strong. It
is only when you are confident that you can begin
the process of telling a story. From my experience,
many-a-times when the client overcommits in
terms of product offerings, it becomes a huge
issue. When their consumers, enamoured by the
campaign, go to get the product/service and realise
that it is of poor quality as compared to what the
campaign promised, they become so antagonised
that they will never ever believe in that company’s
advertising, even if the story is earnestly told the
next time around. Paper Boat is one company that
spreads their brand philosophy as a seed to their
advertising stories, and they have struck balance
by creating products that stand by the stories in
terms of quality. There were many good startups
who could not sustain their production pipelines
even though they created waves through their
advertising stories.
Engaging the audience
Advertising should be seen as a tool and not as
a medium for creating a stream of customers.
Many brands tend to go overboard and end up
overspending, which is not required. What is
missing is the brand’s ability to create any point
of engagement for the consumer. Brands need to
ask themselves what the call to action is, once a
consumer has seen their story. The Fortune Ghar
ka Khana campaign led to many people calling up
their grandmothers and remembering the years
58 INDIAN MANAGEMENT NOVEMBER 2015