Ask any marketing manager his biggest challenge in a service industry. The answer nine times of ten would be delivering Customer satisfaction. For a telecom brand, it’s a matter of life and death. With churn (customer switching) highest in this segment, it becomes very important for a brand to be seen not only delivering on the promise but also come up innovative ways of ‘helping’ the customers at large. Vodafone is currently all over the channels with its ‘HAPPY TO HELP’ series of commercials. (And yes, finally my fear has been laid to rest. The pug has not been zoozooed. Yet). A total of four TVC are doing the circles. Sugar coated advertising. Nothing else.
So does advertising esp. when it comes to talking of customer service delivers on the promise when it comes to on ground execution of solving customer’s problems. Not sure. The Jury is still out on this.
On the other hand, Aircel which is a new entrant (till now a south specific brand) in Mumbai struck a chord with the Mumbaikars. Anybody familiar with the Mumbai rains will know how the city gets clogged and the harrowing time which the commuters have to go through. Milan subway is one such place which is notorious for get inundated with every shower.
Aircel got an inflatable rubber dingy on a hoarding near Milan subway in the first week of July with a message saying cut the rope in case of an emergency.
And on 15th July, it rained heavily and the dingy came down. Trained Aircel staff braved the rains and helped commuters throughout the day.
This effort of Aircel might or might not have increased sales.
But, what stands out for me from this case are three important lessons for advertisers.
1. There are enough avenues where a brand can contribute to the society meaningfully, which at the same time aids in tremendous brand recall. These avenues as in the case of Milan subway might not look appealing from a branding perspective but adds tremendous value if one looks at them with an open mind.
2. There is no point in doing frivolous stuff appealing to a niche audience on ground. A lot of brands are guilty of this and the culprits are the agency in most case that is after metals. Hutch and Ogilvy are a case in point with the rangashankara festival in Bangalore.
3. Meaningful CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) should be a must on every brand manager list.
I think you've picked up a good case. However,I see this more as an example of PR/CSR activity than advertising per se. Such initiatives not only aid brand recall but also brand perception. While frivolous stuff can be avoided, I'm not sure about avoiding niche audiences. Many times, it helps to localize parts of your marketing plan.
ReplyDeleteDear Inside Track,
ReplyDeleteYou are right when you said its a CSR activty. As I have mentioned, meaningful CSR should be on the plate of every brand manager.