Are you exploring consumers' mind?

Recently I happened to read an interesting and informative interview at exchange4media.com.The person interviewed was none other than Venkatesh Kini, VP Marketing Coca Cola India. He was being asked about maintaining a loyal customer base for brand Coca Cola, given the fact that there are so many similarly flavored products the market. I found his reply to be quote-worthy. It goes like this:

“ In order to have a loyal customer base we have to make our brands relevant to our consumers in their life. Where, when, how, with whom they drink – all these aspects matter.­ We communicate our brands in the right way and make our products available at an arms reach. We aim at creating desire in the consumers' mind”.

Was he revealing the branding secrets of world's top beverages company? May be. But that's what most brands try to do.

To communicate about the product in the right way and to be on consumers mind whenever they need it. This is a tough task to achieve. Really tough when we realize the fact that a consumer's mind – a human mind – is dynamic and complex in nature. Exploring, segmenting and understanding human behavior is critical to any advertising and publicity strategy. In other words, understanding and acting upon the data on consumer behavior is key element of a good branding strategy.

This is where consumer psychology steps in. Who are the consumers? What are they buying? When do they buy? Where do they buy? Why did they bought the things they buy? And how exactly do they buy? These are the basic questions that this branch of psychology deals with. The market research firms practically apply this to collect various consumer specific data.

Now the question is who uses this data. Practically all those who are trying to selling something – it could be a product, a service or an idea – need this. Selling does not necessarily mean an involvement of money. It could also be just making people aware of something, making it acceptable and more readily appreciable than anything else. And that is the job of a marketing personnel.

Next comes the question how they use it. Typically, marketing involves the use of various tools like brand identity, advertisements and promotional materials, channeling them through various media and exposing it to the most appropriate public. In all these stages the market research data is extensively used. But the most important stage is when the intended message is drafted.

Precisely, the people who create the brand identity, advertisements and promotional materials require this data to be fed into their brains before embarking upon any creative mission. And these are your good old visualizers, copywriters, artists and designers. While in a big ad agency you can see people carrying out these roles separately, but in small agencies and among freelancers these roles are often played by a single person.

So finally,whenever you hire a creative service whether it be an agency or a freelancer, make sure that proper research is done and discussed before the mock ups of the design is shown to you.

(You can read the full interview of Venkatesh Kini at 'Brandspeak', exchange4media.com )

AIDA: Advertising simplified

“…Action".

There are no lights and no camera yet there is plenty of action. Not on the film sets but in our very own lives. And there are people who are very eager to make you do things. This is not a plot of a movie but the story of our own lives. Right from waking in the morning to finally getting to bed all our actions are dominated by something which we are not very conscious. And guess who dominates you? The Advertisers.

They decide which tooth paste I should use, which noodles I eat, which browser is safer, what should be the best shampoo for my hair etc. How many times do you really think before buying an item? You would be surprised to know that most of our purchases are done on impulse.

Take this. Your friend has a multimedia phone. You liked some features. It might be out of your budget but you desired it. Now if you are really desirous of the multimedia phone your friend has, the chances are that you might buy one shortly. And when you have the required resources you grab it with both your hands. What happened here is the result of a dormant need of yours. Your need to be ‘in-style’ and modern.

Need. That’s what the advertisers crave to exploit. And how do they do it? Simple! They design advertisements which interest you. But do you look at each and every ad that flashes in front of you. Not really! It requires a lot of brainstorming and creativity to come up a design which could be used as an attention getting device in an advertisement. Headlines which make you think visuals which are eye-popping and the company logo to help you identify and differentiate them from the crowd. And finally placing them in places where you are most likely to be paying attention. That’s how they creep into your mind with their products and services.

This is the essence of the advertising world; captured best in the acronym – AIDA. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

And believe me there are a whole lot of people involved in making you do things!

Kurkure Vs. Kurkure

Kurkure vs. Kurkure

It’s drizzling outside. The perfect mood to sit in a rocking chair, sipping a cup of hot tea…and munching ‘garma-garam’ ‘pakore’??? Naa that seems outdated.It’s time to munch a pack of spicy Kurkure!!

Yes! Time has changed a lot. People these days prefer packaged food than home made stuff. And why not when it’s very much affordable! Of course! 'Afford ability'is one thing which is keeping the packaged food industry buzz these days. Gone are the days of monopolistic ‘Uncle-Chips’. Now a plethora of other snack foods are available over the shelf. Coming in different flavors, shape and sizes they almost lure all of us at least for once!

Well you might be wondering why I’m discussing all these boring stuff. Right!

So here is the twist in the story. I’m interested not just in the ever so delicious taste of 'kurkure' but also in the essentially attractive design of its package! Have you ever wondered what makes 'kurkure' so popular in spite of the presence of so many other odd, yet similarly cloned stuffs? Well the credit goes to its attractive package and not to mention the unforgettable ad-campaign featuring Juhi Chawla.

From the catchword "ho jao kha ke mast!" to " kya family hai!"it's been a well executed ad-campaign. It makes the target audience connect to the product instantly. Its bright sunny orange colored pack showing a bunch of kurkure bursting through the pack is one of the most creative and innovative design ofthe recent times.

In the light of a newly launched clone of Kurkure, called 'Bingo',this discussion bears significance. This new brand has been lunched as a contender for our dearest Kurkure. I don't know the sales stats of 'Bingo'. But I must say one thing that it fails to garner a liking for the product. Even though 'Bingo' has an attractive package design, with bright yellow background and a little 'cartoonish' depiction of the stuff in different combinations, it somehow doesn't appeal to me!

Well it's not that I dislike the taste of it; rather I disliked the 'Bingo' Ad itself. Who does the Ad aim at? What does it convey? In the Ad-world lingo this Ad uses a trick appeal. The Ad keeps the viewer guessing what the product is till the last second. And when finally the revelation is made about the product it's too late. The Ad misses the point and so the appeal too.

Trick Advertising of this kind has always been considered risky. The first sign of a good Advertisement is that it attracts the attention of the audience. On that point 'Bingo' does satisfactorily, unlike the famous Kurkure Ad which grabs the attention of the audience on the very first go. The second thing is to keep the audience interested. There too it does fairly. Add to this the overtly funny unrelated themes it tries to bind with the product. A total miss!!

With newer snacks products being launched every now and then.... let's see what else could contend with 'apna' very own Kurkure.

Till then it's Kurkure vs. Kurkure!!

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