Bioscope 1: Kalyan Jewellers

Kalyan Jewellers is India's one of the renowned names in the Jewellery segment. The reason of their popularity is because they have consistently talked about their brand in the media.

A south India based company, which has more than 30 stores in South India recently launched a store in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. They made the announcement with a launch of new TVC featuring none other than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

Lets see the effectiveness of this ad on IAPMID rule grid.

1) Impression: Having the legendary Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is always a treat to the eyes. The stage of a middle class house with the use of poetic language creates a soothing impression.

2) Audience: A marriage in Indian culture is always synonymous with the Gold. The consumer in this advertisement being parents and middle aged individuals will tend to relate with this TVC.

3) Promise: Here, the TVC took a route, which is very risky. It talks about the benefits of BIS marked Gold, in a way intends that Kalyan Jewellers sells only BIS marked Gold. This information led TVC creates  a segment-specific awareness rather than a particular brand (in this case Kalyan Jewellers) specific. So the effectiveness of this Ad in the favor of Kalyan Jewellers is difficult to be measured.
People in India still buys Gold from the known sources (or a trusted brand), so it is feared that people will ask about this particular standard Gold form their respective brands/ shops etc.

4) Message: If TVC is to be evaluated properly, then one would realise that this particular TVC is about the opening of a new showroom in Ahmedabad. The message is "Kalyan Jewellers: Now in Ahmedabad".
Does it necessary to do a nation wide campaign for a regional launch. To a certain extent, it makes very less sense.
The brand in the past has also launched regional specific TVC (again using Mr. Bachchan). Here is the ad!

5) Impact: This Ad specifically has taken first mover advantage by using Amitabh Bachchan, segment-specific advantages, national route. But will it have a long lasting impact, is a question mark.

6) Differentiation: Yes, definitely the other brands used a more joint family, emotional route, bond between  parents and their daughter or bond between two lovers. This TVC has used an another route, which is a very factual and not an emotional route. Most of the ads are remembered and loved because of their emotional route and not because of their factual route.

So the score of "Kalyan Jewellers" IAPMID rule is
Impression: 6/10
Audience: 10/10
Promise: 6/10
Message: 3/10
Impact: 4/ 10
Differentiation: 4/10

60-IAPMID score is 33

New face of Airtel

Airtel has added new face to its advertising campaign. Sharman Joshi –he is new brand ambassador of Airtel. He is portraying his college guy image in Airtel advertisement.

When Airtel signed Sharman, his immense popularity that he got after the roaring success of 3 Idiots was cited as the main reason and also the youthful and bubbly image that he has and which Airtel also wants to stretch to its young TG. He is doing series of ads for Airtel. The series so far has 5 ads. - Roaming, Night calling, Mobile internet, SMS and STD services

Advertising agencies and corporate world did a lot of research before zeroing in to the face. They needed someone who is popular amongst their target audience, that’s why company selected Sharman who can easily connect with their audience.

Is it a right move for a brand like Airtel or not?

Why Companies need Brand Ambassador?

Who are Brand ambassadors? What role they play in promoting product? Can we trust them ? These are some of the questions which need to be answered.

The role of the brand ambassador is to transcend all aspects of the brand. One of the most important factor that attracts consumer’s mind is psychological factors such as motivation, perception, learning, believes and attitude. And these are the factors that a brand ambassador influences. Brand having successful association with its Ambassador sometime translates into stronger brand awareness campaign than millions of rupees spent on other marketing efforts such as advertising and promotion.

Consider the case of Salma Hayek selling pampers during her pregnancy

What actually is the power that brand ambassador exerts over the consumers to urge them?

These people have such a strong impact of personalities that people sometime use brand ambassadors as a “tool” for their product, like we seen the case of Junaid Jamshed clarifying Lays issue when it was hit by the accusation of using haram contents in its manufacturing.

More often than not Brand endorsements, especially, come at the expense of an idea. Everyone remembers when Zoozoos and the Pugs walked away with the honors while Airtel was busy spending crores on Sharukh, Madhavan etc. An idea overpowered the blandness of celebrities. Brand ambassadors mean that you are forced to weave your brand around the celebrity than the other way around. This results in lack of believability and consumers fail to associate themselves with the brand. How believable is it when Deepika Padukone says that she uses orbit white? Whereas, Happy Dent had a brilliant idea that needed none to endorse. The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authencity and poor brand ambassadors destroy it.

If the consumer feels that the brand ambassador is the brand itself then there is nothing better than that and that will not be possible until and unless there is exclusivity in your selection. Brands should awaken to the power of zero cost internal marketing assets like their customers, internal as well as external, who can represent their brand. Starbucks is what it is today not because of any ads, in fact they hardly advertise, but due to the service experience that the employees or the Starbucks “partners” help provide. These kinds of brand ambassadors are especially relevant to brands that are service oriented. Even the high end apparel brand Abercrombie and Fitch uses only its sales representatives as its brand ambassadors. Consumers are willing to pay extra for a good service where the employees represent the brand wholeheartedly and hence enhance the brand equity and create a win-win relation. Many product brands are now shrugging of the albatross around their necks of the brand ambassadors and using its consumers or a seemingly normal person as its brand ambassadors. We have seen Dove doing it and Maggi and KurKure do the same with the faces of consumers on its packages.

It is advisable to opt for better ideas more than secondary associations. Incase, companies feel that they need a brand ambassador they should adopt a brand character. If they are still dissatisfied then they should opt for credible, exclusive as well as zero cost marketing assets like consumers and employees to be their brand ambassadors. It will create long term brand equity and better “hard-to-attack” points of differences.