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Representatives of TOP 5 ad spend sectors on their favourite campaigns

USING EMErging mediums
Hire consciousness

Johnny Oommen
Head of operations, Al Jenaibi International Automobiles

Good advertising, says Oommen, is all about the right message reaching the right customer. “For me, one of the best examples of effective advertising was something that BMW did on their website in 2001. They commissioned Hollywood directors to create short films, each about seven-eight minutes in length, with all the ingredients of a feature film. These were meant purely for the Internet. You could not see them anywhere else.”

The series of films, called The Hire, all had BMW cars in them and starred actor Clive Owen as a driver on hire. “While the films would end up showcasing the properties of BMWs, more important for the viewer was this kind of entertainment, which was never avai-lable on the Net earlier. The core was the plot and how it got the viewer involved.” The eight short films received more than 100mn views and won a slew of awards, including the Cyber Lion Grand Prix prize at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival.

Oommen feels that advertising, in terms of print and television, has started losing its efficacy lately because of increasing clutter levels and media choices. “And this is true internationally. There are more newspapers and magazines and televisions channels than ever before. Print is cluttered, television is cluttered, so what are the other mediums for you to chose from? What BMW did was very innovative, though at that time a lot of people must have wondered why they were spending outrageous amounts of money on online films.” BMW certainly did not scrimp on the films. They hired Hollywood directors including John Frankenheimer, John Woo, Ang Lee and Guy Ritchie. Stars in the short films included Madonna, Forest Whitaker, Gary Oldman, James Brown and Mickey Rourke.

The films generated interest and pretty much single-handedly created the online film genre. Says Oommen, “This was one of the best examples of using what was then an emerging medium to generate a buzz.”

“BMW being a premium brand, which also caters to a younger audience, wanted to tap the Internet user. Their unconventional approach engaged and entertained a key audience. The Hire series ended their Internet run in 2005, but the buzz that they created still lives on.”

finding the big idea
Going glocal

Karim Boukarroum
Head of marketing, Alliance Housing Bank

Finding and using ‘A Big Idea’ lies at the core of good advertising, says Boukarroum. “Ads with such an idea resonate in the minds of those who see it for a long time.” Such ideas are so strong that they can be spun off and stretched within a format, while remaining fresh throughout. He says that HSBC’s ‘Your point of view’ series, which explore how the same thing appears different depending on individual and market perspectives, are in this category. The campaign that takes off from the tagline – The world’s local bank – demonstrates, according to Boukarroum, a clear and strong message. “It is perfectly in line with the company’s strategy, which is a big international bank wanting to connect with its local customers everywhere. They are saying that we bring you our global experience and we learn from your local traditions.” The ads marry the traditional and the modern, making them more effective. “They are very sharp and funny, showing real situations, and how people view them differently.” He mentions one that shows a Westerner being introduced to a Japanese, where they fumble as the former extends a hand while the latter bows. Later, the Japanese man extends his hand and the other man bows. Understanding diverse customers, the ad conveys, is the bank’s business. “I also like an outdoor campaign of HSBC, which I have seen at airports. It says, ‘See you back home’. That’s really a very confident message.”

However, Boukarroum is less enthusiastic about some of the executions he has seen in the region. “I find some of the ads irrelevant. Perhaps they have not been adapted well, but I feel they undermine people’s intelligence. There is this one ad with vegetables for exa-mple that I do not understand at all.”

Another favourite of Boukarroum from banking related advertising is Citibank’s lege-ndary tagline: ‘The Citi never sleeps’. “It is a great line,” he says, though he is not a huge fan of the bank itself.

“Perspectives change with points of view, as this ad, like others in the series, demonstrates through simple but effective images. People see their bank as an integral part of their life and they expect it to understand them as individuals, even as they belong to a particular group, region or country. When a bank with a strong international presence acknowledges the importance of understanding and catering to local requirements, it creates a strong bond with customers.”

marketing the intangible
Selling on emotions

Ross Cormack
CEO, Nawras Telecom

One of the biggest challenges faced by the telecom service industry is marketing a product that is intangible. “It is close to advertising for airlines but even there you have a red or green ticket to play upon,” says Ross Cormack, CEO, Nawras. But that has not prevented the industry from coming up with some memorable ads ever since Orange SA pioneered the concept of branding among mobile network operators in 1994. Agencies and companies have resorted to playing on a range of emotions like humour, passion or affection to push their services.

The rapid rate of obsolesce in various telecom products makes it essential to get the ad right at the very first instance as there is little scope for a second coming. “Our industry reinv-ents itself every two years creating a whole new set of demands,” says Cormack.
A favourite ad of Cormack is a television commercial for Telecom Italia, which advertised the operator’s call forwarding feature. “The opening shot shows actor Massimo Lopez facing a firing squad in a desert. On being granted a last wish, he makes a call to his mot-her. After a lengthy conversation, the lady forwards the call to his uncle, who in turn forwards it to other relatives and friends. The ad is taken forward every day and the captors are getting familiar and friendly with the captive’s relatives. Soon Lopez is connecting calls for his captors, all forwarded from his original call.”

Another ad which Cormack recalls is a television spot for Singapore Telecom’s (SingTel) international calling card. “It shows a Singa-porean lady making a call from New York back home using SingTel’s international calling card. The booth is next to a bank which is being robbed during the course of her call. As the lady continues with her call, the robbers keep asking her to disconnect the line. Exasperated by the interruptions, the lady storms out of the booth and starts hitting the robbers, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. I think both these ads were quite clever.”

“A commercial should reflect the underlying values of a company. The imagery used should enhance the sense of these values. Virgin Mobile, for example, uses Richard Branson, the owner of the company, in its communications as his image evokes certain attributes like adventure, fun and zest for life. The Telecom Italia and SingTel ads use humour to connect with their audience and it works brilliantly.”

recall factor
Direct connections

Akber Mustafa Sultan
Managing director, Mustafa Sultan Enterprises

“I saw a TV commercial for Ericsson mobile phones when the company introduced the smallest mobile phone in India in 1996, and can still recall it vividly. The spot showed a woman with long hair, seated at a restaurant, asking, ‘Will you have dinner with me?’ A middle-aged man at the next table comes up to her and says, ‘Yes’ as he thinks the lady is asking him out on a date, when the woman says, ‘One black coffee, please,’ mistaking him to be the waiter. The woman was actually talking into her Ericsson cellphone, which, being very small, was not visible to the man sitting at the adjoining table.”

The presentation of the commercial catches one’s attention immediately. “I think humour can be a good vehicle to convey one’s message though it should relate to the culture in which one operates in. The best ads use humour in such a way that it has a universal appeal.” The argument also holds true for the visual imagery. There are times when an internatio-nal campaign needs to be changed according to the sensibilities of the local market. He cites the example of Oman where people like to see a local context in the advertisements.

Apart from humour, certain companies have used colour intelligently to build an association with a brand. Haier uses dark pink, McDonald’s yellow and Royal Dutch Shell red and yellow in its communication for brand recall. “I see a lot of ads in the local media wherein agencies try and put in so many elements that the main premise of the ad gets lost. To be effective, an ad should be simple and direct.”

“There was a recent article in a US publication, which compared Chinese and Japanese companies in terms of advertising and brand building. It says while the Japanese have been adept at the art of brand-building, Chinese companies, except perhaps for Haier, have not invested enough on the same. This accounts for the fact is that there are few internationally known Chinese brands.”

research holds the key
Branding services

Raghavan Murti
CEO, United Finance Company

“Two ads stand out in my memory – the first one is HSBC’s ‘Global bank local knowledge’ campaign. The other one is BankMuscat’s instant account opening campaign,” says Raghavan Murti, CEO, United Finance. The HSBC ad shows five or six people from diffe-rent nationalities greeting each other. A Japanese bows, an American puts out his hand for a handshake, an Indian folds his hands in traditional greeting etc. The campaign fits in with the bank’s central message of being an international organisation with strong local roots. “The campaign worked because of three reasons. One, it suited an international bank like HSBC. Two, it showed that a great deal of research had gone into the work, and three, the visuals were striking.”

An advertisement can be used for a variety of purposes and the communication should be made with the brand’s objectives in mind. “For example, if the purpose of an ad is customer acquisition at the least cost, then the communication should be loaded with product details. On the other hand, if the aim is to entice customers to check out the product, then the ad should give out only the most delightful part of the story. This will lead customers to either come to a showroom or go to a mall to find out more about a product.”

“Another brilliant example of communication for customer acquisition is BankMuscat’s instant account opening campaign.” The ad conveyed that when a customer opened an instant account with BankMuscat, he gets various facilities like a bank account, an ATM card with its pin number and cheque books immediately. It uses the visual of a tea bag to draw one’s attention to the offering. In totality, it conveyed the value of the service on offer very well. “With most people waking up to a need at the last moment, an instant account filled an urgent need of customers and the ad brought out its salient features very well.”

“Advertisements that are able to convert an audience into a customer are the ones that are the most successful.”