My Thoughts !

Gone are the days of 'Washing powder Nirma, washing powder Nirma' kind of ads. Present day ads are of high quality. Many-a-times the TV ads during breaks are much better than the programs. Here is my thoughts on these ads.

Ads are usually targetted towards a subset of people. The subset is defined by te product and its features. Some ads are targetted towads a particular gender (gillette/whisper); some are targetted for a particular age group(complan/pension schemes); some ads are targetted for a particular income groups(Hyndai Sonata/SOTC International Travels); some ads are very generic & targets a wide range of people(Colgate/Britannia 50-50)

I think Ads can be classified by other means as well - talkative and conceptual. Vasanth & Co ad is the best example for a talkative ad. The Ad gives every piece of info, from 'India's biggest chain of stores for home appliances' to 'no service charge for credit cards'. The list does include all the type of products and brands. These Ads are boring. I tend to switch the channel when I see these.

The other type of Ads are the Class 'A' ones. In 20-30 seconds they tell you a story/describe you an event and sell the product. Though these Ads are good and interesting to watch, there is a negative impact on the product. You will remember the ad, but will forget the product that it tries to sell. Ok. A small test with 2 questions.

(1) There is an ad in which Hrithik Roshan dances with a cute gal, who says 'I can't dance'. The dance, music, picturization everything is fine. But what is the product? "Some" biscuit is not the right answer :-)

(2) Boxing event. One guys "gets" well. Break. Now the coach tells something in his ears. Next round starts. Our guy "gives back" and wins. Then the ads says about a wealth management scheme which gives you the right advice. Name that product.

Not all the conceptual Ads are like that. Think of all the ads of Fevicol or the recent ads of "Express yourself" Airtel ads. They are conceptual, but they make you remember the product as well.

Which one is better? I believe that there are two phases of a product. First is reaching out and the next is brand image building. The first phase is to make sure that the name is familiar. In this phase, I think 'Washing power Nirma' or 'India's biggest blah blah' should be fine. Once the brand is well known, then they can switch to the conceptual ads. Just as Surf excel did! Compare the earlier ads of Surf Excel with their present day ads!