Representatives of Top Five ad spend sectors on their favourite campaigns

Polite messages
Peter Rubeck
Sector: Telecom
Rubeck says he would rather not to pick a favourite ad from outside Oman as admen use entirely different means to capture people’s attention. “While many of them are interesting, they use language that is not appropriate here. I wouldn’t call them progressive either. I like simple ads that convey the message in a polite way.” According to him, one of his all-time favourite is the series Nawras came out with three years ago when it was entering the market. “It was a series of three teaser advertisements. It had a blue cast and the only colour was that of multicoloured ribbons. Each had an Omani man standing at a place that symbolises timeless Oman.” While one of the ads showed him in old Muttrah, another showed him on the mountains and yet another him by the sea. The constant in all the ads was the man and the streamers. “The streamers could have been radio signals, or it could mean something that is connecting the country together. That is what I call a good advertisement – polite, yet arousing enough curiosity.”
The ads generated a lot of interest as no one knew what they were about. The idea was to create an image that clearly states here’s somebody who is going to change the scene. “In fact I remember there was someone who objected to the copy. He said, ‘you can’t say that you’re going to change the landscape.’ He took that literally.”

Though Omanis have a good sense of humour, most marketers here are reluctant to play on that factor

Emotional quotient
Nani Javeri
CEO, Bank Sohar
Sector: Banking
Ads should not only be eye-catching, but also be honest and transparent

If Nani Javeri, CEO of Bank Sohar, is asked to name one advertising campaign that he likes in the banking sector, he promptly names the Ahli Bank ads that were launched in January following its transformation from Alliance Housing Bank. Even among these, the bank's light-bulb ad with the company's logo in it, which simply says 'Innovation' is the one that he likes the most. "This is one ad that has stood out in my mind thanks to its simplicity. The focus of the ads is very clear; the colours used are nice and the messages come across clearly. The other ads in the series on home loans and loan transfers were pretty nice."
On the overall quality of ads featuring the banking and financial sector, Javeri finds the creatives somewhat weak. "One has to struggle to find nice ones. Occasionally you come across something nice and even these don't stand out so much that you can recollect them offhand."
According to Javeri, advertising in the financial sector should be eye-catching and appeal emotionally. Javeri says Bank Sohar used the same strategy when it became the first new bank in 12 years to commence operations in the sultanate in 2007. "We wanted to create an excitement in the market and also wanted to be seen as providing value to our customers. We did not want to be seen as just another bank, but someone who understood customer needs. As a result you'll see all our ads are customer-centric. Since there is an emotional quotient attached to banking, our ads are meant to tug at the consumer's heart strings and not so much his mind."

Ode to Ogilvy
Cyrus Vevaina
Managing director OTE Group
Sector: Automotive
One ad that remains etched in Cyrus Vevaina's memory is the classic 1958 Rolls-Royce ad, arguably the most famous automobile advertisement of all time, with these famous words by the doyen of the advertising world, Sir David Ogilvy: 'At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.' "This ad shows only the car. It says everything about the car and its positioning without going into technical jargon with just a simple image and a creative headline."

According to advertising folklore, Rolls-Royce was on a particularly tight budget, and Ogilvy was asked to create an ad that people would read and never forget. It may be fair to mention that some sources allege that the headline was the same as an earlier ad of Pierce Arrow motors.
A Subaru ad, which shows a Legacy on a long, winding road from the bottom to the top of the front page of a newspaper, with only 'Sheer Control' as the body copy, is another favourite of Vevaina. "Again it tells you about the quality and unique features of a Subaru without launching into technical details." Incidentally, a similar Subaru ad which has red traffic cones (bollards) across the front page of the newspaper, created by Asha Advertising, won the Gold Award for best use of print at the Campaign Middle East Media Planning Awards in 2006. g

Life in the fast lane
V Gowribalan
Vice President Asset Management
Fincorp
Sector: FInancial Services

Gowribalan perfectly relates with ING's TV commercial featuring Formula One driver Fernando Alonso. The Dutch banking group's primary aim with this ad has been to win over consumers in diverse markets where it operates in, but Gowribalan has been bowled over for an altogether different reason. He gets excited when he starts talking about the ad. "I see it in the context of financial markets. They are dyna-mic and fast-moving and being associated with the financial markets I can relate it with the thrill of formula one racing where split second decisions make all the difference." However, when it comes to advertising in Oman, Gowribalan is a bit disappointed. "For me, BankMuscat is the only bank that I can think of. Although I can't think of any notable ad of theirs, it's the only bank that has a full suite of services that meets all my needs. In fact, they have been bombarding me with brochures and pamphlets from the time I landed in Oman." Gowribalan feels that consumers in Oman are far more discerning and it is time advertisers bring in a bit more sophistication. Vision Securities, he says, has been using the mobile-phone platform effectively. "They send me market-related information throughout the day, which allows me to stay abreast of the financial developments and helps me make informed decisions. There is so much more that can be explored." g

Celebrating Success
D R Bijlani
General manager, Jumbo Electronics
According to Bijlani, there has been nothing like the two-month long ‘Celebrate with Sony’ campaign Jumbo launched on December 8, 2007, that offered 60 Sony customers the chance to win 40-inch Bravias, through a lucky draw. “We wanted every customer to have the chance to win. It was our way of saying a big thank you to them.”
The response to the campaign was overwhelming. Bijlani describes this as the most successful Sony campaign that he has been involved with. “This was indeed the crowning moment in my career.”

So what was the thought behind the campaign? “We were relaunching Sony in the market, and this was the push we needed to make an indelible impact in the minds of our customers. Jumbo believes in doing things big, and this campaign was in keeping with our way of doing things on a grand scale.”
The promotion coincided with the festive season when people are looking out for such offers and the impact was far greater than an off-season promotion. Some of the big players in the retail segment like Lulu, Carrefour and E-max also joined the bandwagon. Sony sales suddenly touched stratospheric levels. “A potent combination of above-the-line and below-the-line communication worked its magic on the customer. This campaign clicked because it appealed to the customer on a very personal level.”