It can, when targeted right, put your brand on a bed of roses
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Sadly, this happy
event which has youth celebrating ecstatically seems to be mired in controversy
in India at least. One of the realities of today’s world seems to be the
polarization of views and the fact that people are taking extreme views on
subjects and holding on to them for dear life. A small section of India which
is quite vocal has maintained that Valentine’s Day is against Indian culture
though many of us are gloriously vague as to what actually constitutes Indian
culture. But then that is another story. Let’s talk about the immediate present
and what happened at Delhi a few days ago. The commuters of Delhi Metro were
accosted by posters targeted at young people asking them not to celebrate
Valentine’s Day. There were different posters, one showing young children
worshipping their parents and another of teenagers holding each other’s ears in
front of policemen. The messaging was simple, direct and crude even
saying that the festival on February 14th is against Indian culture
and children should use it to venerate their parents by celebrating ‘Matri
Pitri Pujan Diwas’ on the same day. Let’s talk about this campaign in
specific and cause marketing in general using the occasion of this campaign.
Source credibility is
key
Cause marketing is a good means of getting your brand
visible as what you are essentially doing is taking a higher platform rather
than a mere brand marketing message. But currently the person behind this
campaign is rape-accused Asaram Bapu who has been in the news for all the wrong
reasons. So the reaction might well be “first get your house in order before
telling me what needs to be done”. So perhaps the same campaign from someone
else who is probably not tainted might not have elicited the same violent
response in social media which today is an extremely potent weapon to attack
people whose credentials are suspect or anyone whom you don’t like. In marketing and in life, clearly timing is
everything and while the beleaguered leader might have thought it was an
appropriate moment to build some equity with the public at large the social
media has not let that happen and I don’t blame social media this time around.
Creativity is the
name of the game
The reality is that most people are apathetic and don’t give
a damn about social causes. So if you want to change their attitude or
behaviour the communication must be striking, noticeable and cause people to
stop, think and act. Does this Valentine’s Day communication have that quality?
Sadly it does not. A basic principle of advertising is “you can’t bore someone
into buying your product or idea” and if this communication is targeted at
youth which it ostensibly is, then sadly I find it wanting. Of course I am sure
older people might silently agree with the campaign theme as they might
privately believe that they are not getting the respect or attention they
deserve! But having said that we must remember that success or otherwise of
campaigns like these rests squarely on the creative and that is my grouse with
the Valentine’s Day campaign.
Creativity can shock
you into action
When I think of advertising for social causes, my mind goes
back to several years ago. It was done by Saatchi and Saatchi and the ad
literally made waves catapulting the agency to international fame and
recognition as a creative powerhouse. Let me define the situation by asking you
the question. Who gets pregnant, the man or the woman? Of course it is the
woman and the problem is that often it is unplanned because the man is dumb and
refuses or forgets to use protection. The communication showing a pregnant man
was outstanding in its noticeability and nudged an apathetic male population to
sit up and take notice and hopefully use protection.
Sum and
substance
Cause marketing that is strategically sound and
exceptionally different can work but it has to be promoted by someone who has
an image and has no axe to grind, not like the attempt in Delhi. Changing
attitudes and behaviour is not easy as people basically tend to be apathetic to
causes. You need to nudge them and on occasion shock them. But communication
that is not subtle or smart may not work. The timing of this communication too
is very critical. What is the mood of the target audience is something that
communicators need to worry about. People too can quickly realise whether it is
part of an organisation’s area of interest or are they merely trying to
capitalise on some current issue. This is the biggest problem with the current
campaign. Asaram Bapu seems to be merely trying to use the occasion for his own
personal good using the garb of the collective good of society and that as
someone might say is just not cricket.
So don’t reject cause marketing because of this, just use it
more sensibly.
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