When you get into your jobs, it is important to worry about brands and its perceptions
“Perception is reality” is a statement that one often hears.
What that means is that perceptions can be so well entrenched and deep rooted
that people tend to take them to be gospel truth even if they just have a grain
of truth in them. Let’s talk about a couple of real life perceptions before we
move into the world of marketing and how perceptions can affect brands. “People
from the North are more aggressive than people in the South”. Now this is a
popular perception whether it is true or not. We form opinions of people based
on these perceptions and even make decisions on the strength of these perceptions.
Let’s move on to the world of marketing. “Chinese goods are of poor quality.”
This is a fairly common perception in India for instance and this is also
something that can hurt the brands in question. Whilst some countries like
Japan or Germany flaunt themselves as “countries of origin” of some brands, the
Chinese may not. Let’s look at the advertising of a famous brand like Haier
which is originally from China.
While it is an interesting product concept and truly Indian
execution, you will notice that nowhere is the brand talking about the country
of its origin. It probably has its reasons but my suspicion is that it does not
wish to talk about its country of origin but instead looks at itself as a truly
global brand that adapts itself wonderfully to India and its customs. German
engineering on the other hand is something that has been the basis of many of
the top cars of the world and as a race they are justifiably proud of their
engineering ability. Brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi come
to mind. But not all perceptions about Germans need be positive as I discovered
in my own personal experience. However, I am not here to talk about an isolated
experience and make that into a profound theory but to talk about Lufthansa.
German airline
surprises Indian flyers
Lufthansa is a popular German airline, the largest in Europe
that I have travelled several times by in the past years though I do not do so
now. The reason? I find the food and service not to mention the prices much better
in airlines like Emirates and Etihad. My own experience was that it was a cold
if clinically efficient airline even if I found the food indifferent and the
entertainment programs minimal but it took me to Frankfurt and the US later on
time. Now with the emergence of several competing brands, Lufthansa has this
new commercial and press ad.
Though you have watched the commercial, let me comment on it.
But before that let’s take a look at the press ad as it makes a point too. Not
surprisingly it says punctuality and precision are expected and delivered
whilst everything else like the customer service are unexpected as they exceed
expectations. Let’s move on the commercial now. Grandchildren have unquestioned
faith on their doting grandparents and often see the world through the eyes of
their grandfathers as this commercial depicts. The grandpa tells the grandson
that they are going to New York to meet the boy’s dad and the child is
obviously excited. The grandfather tells the child that they are going by
Lufthansa, a German airline. He speaks of Germans in a slightly deprecatory
tone which is slightly different from the tone of voice that Germans usually use.
He says the Germans are different thereby implying that they are difficult to understand.
They don’t know Bollywood he says derisively and their food is not worth
speaking about. The great day of travel comes and as the two enter the plane,
an Indian stewardess welcomes them warmly and the boy has a slightly surprised
look about him which turns to an even greater one when the stewardess brings a
full course Indian meal prompting the child to say “grandpa we are in the wrong
plane“and the grandfather says that everything is fine as it actually is. So
clearly research has thrown up certain negatives and perceptions about the
brand and Germans as a race and this communication attempts to address it. Will
one commercial address all this? Certainly not but the brand’s ability to
accept that it may have a problem and that India and its customers matter to it
is the point to be noted which is certainly in its favour. Customers will
continue to watch the brand and see if these are mere advertising claims or if
the brand means what it says.
So when you get into your jobs worry about your brands,
consumers and perceptions. See that they don’t hurt you.
No comments:
Post a Comment