With apologies to none at al
By Vikas Mehta
I am a sucker for feel-good, soppy, emotional videos. A story about a good deed or a sacrifice, or someone lending a helping hand to the deprived or needy, family reunions, going an extra mile to be considerate to other people; all this is guaranteed to make my eyes moist. Nothing wrong in it and I suspect most of us have same feelings and emotions for every act of kindness or goodness.
And this is what we encounter with the festival season upon us in terms of brand videos and messages. As the famous song from Bruce Springstein continues, all brands like to join the festival videos number. What I have described above fairly summarises what all Diwali brand videos try to portray. I guess this is also the time for ad filmmakers to rake in the money. (As also for some over-the-hill Bollywood personalities and some famous TV stars).
With the virus of viral culture, the only expenditure that the brands incur in making of the videos, media is not a concern as social media is supposed to do the job, free, it’s a free for all. So, we, the unsuspecting consumers, are subjected to a barrage of minimum 2-3-minute-long, mushy videos. This is also when I am thankful to whatsapp for their not more than 5 forwards at a time policy. Maybe, some people will get tired and I will not be a part of their forward list. That’s definitely one of my Diwali wish list.
But I am digressing. After watching two-three Diwali videos for this year, I opened my YouTube feed and searched for Diwali videos. Unsurprisingly, some good folks had compiled “Emotional festival ads” which had been released in last few years. After going through the compilation here are my thoughts
1. I remembered seeing almost all the videos before. Unfortunately barring one or two, I could not remember the brand associated with them.
2. I think the brand custodians know this. So, most of them have a brand logo in the top right hand or left hand corner throughout the full duration of the video.
3. Many of the videos have no connect to the brand narrative at all. Mankind Pharma, Oppo (or was it Vivo), Ghadi detergent, Vikram Tea were some of the mushy videos that tried an impressive sign off at the end which was more like a public service message than a brand message. Ghadi detergent ki ek gujarish is Diwali dimag ki mail nikalo (This Diwali remove all wrong impressions from your mind). Or nayi shuruat wali Diwali Vikram chai ke saath (This Diwali new beginings with Vikram tea). Or even Gharwali Diwali from Pepsi.
4. The Pepsi Diwali video is a classic example of doing a long video for the festival season and in the process forgetting the brand personality. Pepsi is about a rebel, someone who does not follow norms, thinks out of the box, goofy fun. Coke on the other hand is all about family, getting together, fun and frolic with friends. It is also famous in the west for its Christmas time videos, which as a festival rivals our Diwali. Pepsi, actually tried to emulate the same by becoming Coke. Little surprise that no follow up happened in the later years.
5. It’s all about views and likes. The Pepsi ad has had more than 17 lakh views in the last 6-7 years and I guess the brand custodians are happy about that. But does it help Pepsi as a brand?
The role of a brand as one friend of mine said, is to create an inexplicable preference, an irrational disposition and an unwavering bias towards it. To do this brands need to not just be about rational benefits but create a space in the users heart and mind with strong emotional connect, continuously. The rational and the emotional have to work seamlessly together. I think with Diwali only a very few brand videos pass this test. So, let me stick out my neck and try to talk about what may work for Diwali videos.
One, it’s not necessary for all brands to jump into the Diwali bandwagon. If the festival message suits your personality and more importantly play a role in the festival, then by all means use Diwali. Cadbury’s celebrations and Coke are two very good examples of the same. By all means, use Diwali for a promotion or to try and induce sales but it’s not necessary to do a feel-good Diwali video as a force fit.
Two, if your brand can attach with a good purpose and can make it relevant to your brand then the role of brand gets amplified. HP did it very well for a few years. They encouraged buying from small traders and wove their computers and printers very well with the story. The rational and emotional connect was perfect. For the last three years, Cadbury’s has been doing something similar but at a different level. More about that in the future. Asian Paints and JK Cement did it too. Asian Paints have taken it to another level in Bengal with its association with the Pujo pandals. The Aamir Khan AU Bank video failed to show the connect to badlav (change), which is what the bank is all about and the change in traditions. It is ironical that the brand which had earlier released ads about how they are changing consumer banking, could not relate the change in tradition to their story of badlav.
Three, Diwali has many rituals. Maybe try and get your brand associated to those rituals. Surf Excel has intermittently associated Rangoli and Daag acche hain. A wonderous connect of a strong emotion of the festival with its rational, removing stain, claim. Asian Paints endeared to the ritual of cleaning and painting our house. Laxmi Puja, Bhai Dooj are more such rituals that can be associated with.
Four, own the ritual. Take it up and celebrate it consistently year after year. Build a moat around that ritual for your brand. Cadbury’s celebration has aced the ritual of gifting sweets. And now they have taken it to another level by actually using technology to make Diwali sweeter for small traders and hawkers across the country. Kuch meetha ho jaye, kuch accha ho jaye (Have some sweets, do some good). Coke has aced the family get together ritual. That’s why these two brands are such relevant brands and can leverage Diwali well.
Dassera and Diwali time is India’s Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, Super Bowl; all rolled into one. It’s every brand’s final destination. For many brands, yearly sales targets are met or lost in this time-frame. For many new brands this is the time to establish themselves. International brands like Amazon or Vivo try and use this time to weave a more Indian narrative about themselves. But the mistake most brands make is by thinking that an association with the festival is good enough. Personality, relevance to its own purpose, owning a ritual, all play an important role too. Just because you can afford a production and media can be generated free does not mean that the brand adds to the Diwali clutter.
Which videos made the cut this year and which did not? Wait for a fortnight.