Its pays to keep your eyes open

My last two posts compared similar ads in the same category and same story line in different category respectively.

The one that takes the cake and the bakery along with it is the commercial by Sun Direct TV. In perhaps the first of its kind (outside of the cola wars), here is an irrefutable example of the power of borrowing a story line from ‘entertaining’ ads.

I am yet to come across a brand launching a high involvement product cramped with top players, riding on the success of a plot used by a brand in a completely alien category.
Bajaj Motorcycle had a big bang launch for their new 125 cc bike. The challenge here was to spate the bike from the plethora of 100cc bikes which were ruling the market. So, the plot had two guys discussing the various features of the bike. The punch was in the execution and the two actors.


Sun Direct DTH service was launched nationally in December 2008. The market already had two strong players in Tata Sky and Dish TV. Both were pan India brand and had established certain equity attached to them. On the other hand, Sun was a South Indian brand with national aspirations. Added to this were the intense competition with number of channels offered and the entry price being the deciding factors. Sun TV offered both the advantages.

But instead of doing the run of the mill stuff or hiring a celebrity (SUN network with deep pockets could have easily afforded it), they went with the wacky suggestion of the agency (McCann Erickson). And the result was a highly effective, most recalled ad of that period.
(but i must add that the heavy media spends by bajaj on XCD helped sun here!)

To me the success of the Sun Direct campaign shows three things:
1. Advertisers needs to keep their eyes open outside their category
2. You can piggy ride and actually get away with a borrowed but brilliantly improvised script
3. Guts shown by the advertiser to actually go ahead with the story line (it could have misfired badly)

Point number one deserves a special mention because a lot of client servicng and account planners keep a tab only on their category and their brands. they diligently prepare research reports on competition, keep guard books with competiton ads, etc., In short they are too focussed on their category.

Focus makes you narrow minded. Keep your eyes open. Stay defocussed.