Observation is the key to good advertising is what we were told repeatedly during the one year of my Advertising and marketing course at XIC. And I clung onto this statement as the golden words because this was the one statement which without fail remained the one common gyan given to us by all advertising gurus if I may call them so.
Though now I wonder is it really observation? In my now almost 8 months of working life in the real advertising world, I have barely experienced the usage of this key statement. Briefs come and briefs go and I wonder is there even any minimal amount of observation involved in the process, leave alone observation being the IT word. Starting from the point where a servicing person writes the brief right up to the creative who finally executes the final idea. It has always been an idea but I think never with real observation of the Brand, or the consumer of that brand or that particular product for that matter. Its always about all the technical things that a product or service offers, more like what Manish ( Planning Head - David ) said in one of his posts – “we help you achieve this, we help make life better” but has someone really ever thought whether the consumer wants to achieve it through that product or wants life to be made better with that particular product”
I think we tend to force most products down peoples throat rather than politely observing key aspects of people’s lives where we can really fit in. We just concentrate on fitting in but we don’t concentrate on how to fit into people’s lives in the right or the best way. If they use the product our purpose is solved but what we forget is that we have got to be used more than once to ensure the clients business sustains. And the way towards achieving that is being part of people’s lives in such a way that they cannot discard us.
I do not say that we do not do it at all. There is a lot of advertising around that does it in a very people centric and more human than technically driven. I think SBI life campaign with the two old sisters going to meet their brother, Bank of India ad with the Kid with a piggy bank are a few examples. The latest being the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone ad. I love Sony. Every observation made in it is something I relate to completely. The thought of getting lost in another world when you are listening to music is something I experience all the time. The thought of wanting to just listen to music (I love missing the last bus home) and forget about the routine life is something I always feel. But then these ads are few and far between.
Radio One decided to go Hindi in June this year, original fans of Go 92.5 like me were extremely disappointed but when given practical reasons it made sense because a practical and correct observation was made, that the listener base of English music are a handful and therefore in order to access maximum listener ship they needed to switch over to Hindi. At the same time they also decided to position themselves as playing only hits and no. 1 hits which in spite of all the arguments we had with them, they decided to stick onto. I still feel and I have heard from their own mouth that the programming of Radio One still is not considered to be at par with a Radio City or Radio Mirchi. I feel it is so as consumers don’t just want to listen to no 1 hits which might be a hit now but forgotten later, they want to listen to good music .Most of the music made these days are a hit because they are catchy but overplayed and bombarded in a consumers ear through mediums like Radio and Television. When a consumer has no choice he gets used to it and listens to it but beyond a point will want to switch. That’s where a Radio City known more too be playing mood music sustains in the long term as they catch the pulse of the audience with music that’s for lifetime and not just sometime.
I may be wrong in the observations made above and please do feel free to add your point of view but I do believe that the Golden Statement holds true in every way and I think it will definitely help our business more if we leave the numbers and concentrate and observe the real world more often. We will not need to crack our brains on unnecessary strategies if we only crack the code of observation.
Though now I wonder is it really observation? In my now almost 8 months of working life in the real advertising world, I have barely experienced the usage of this key statement. Briefs come and briefs go and I wonder is there even any minimal amount of observation involved in the process, leave alone observation being the IT word. Starting from the point where a servicing person writes the brief right up to the creative who finally executes the final idea. It has always been an idea but I think never with real observation of the Brand, or the consumer of that brand or that particular product for that matter. Its always about all the technical things that a product or service offers, more like what Manish ( Planning Head - David ) said in one of his posts – “we help you achieve this, we help make life better” but has someone really ever thought whether the consumer wants to achieve it through that product or wants life to be made better with that particular product”
I think we tend to force most products down peoples throat rather than politely observing key aspects of people’s lives where we can really fit in. We just concentrate on fitting in but we don’t concentrate on how to fit into people’s lives in the right or the best way. If they use the product our purpose is solved but what we forget is that we have got to be used more than once to ensure the clients business sustains. And the way towards achieving that is being part of people’s lives in such a way that they cannot discard us.
I do not say that we do not do it at all. There is a lot of advertising around that does it in a very people centric and more human than technically driven. I think SBI life campaign with the two old sisters going to meet their brother, Bank of India ad with the Kid with a piggy bank are a few examples. The latest being the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone ad. I love Sony. Every observation made in it is something I relate to completely. The thought of getting lost in another world when you are listening to music is something I experience all the time. The thought of wanting to just listen to music (I love missing the last bus home) and forget about the routine life is something I always feel. But then these ads are few and far between.
Radio One decided to go Hindi in June this year, original fans of Go 92.5 like me were extremely disappointed but when given practical reasons it made sense because a practical and correct observation was made, that the listener base of English music are a handful and therefore in order to access maximum listener ship they needed to switch over to Hindi. At the same time they also decided to position themselves as playing only hits and no. 1 hits which in spite of all the arguments we had with them, they decided to stick onto. I still feel and I have heard from their own mouth that the programming of Radio One still is not considered to be at par with a Radio City or Radio Mirchi. I feel it is so as consumers don’t just want to listen to no 1 hits which might be a hit now but forgotten later, they want to listen to good music .Most of the music made these days are a hit because they are catchy but overplayed and bombarded in a consumers ear through mediums like Radio and Television. When a consumer has no choice he gets used to it and listens to it but beyond a point will want to switch. That’s where a Radio City known more too be playing mood music sustains in the long term as they catch the pulse of the audience with music that’s for lifetime and not just sometime.
I may be wrong in the observations made above and please do feel free to add your point of view but I do believe that the Golden Statement holds true in every way and I think it will definitely help our business more if we leave the numbers and concentrate and observe the real world more often. We will not need to crack our brains on unnecessary strategies if we only crack the code of observation.
2 comments:
hey nice post...observations still are the key...we have the power change our small world...one observation at a time!
We are responsible for the lousy advertising we create...no body else to blame!
so fight, resist, improvise, create, with passion till you succeed today or tomorrow...
it appears simple...but that's the only way to convert observations into great communication/ conversations!
keep writing...you write in simple words and i like it!
cheers
very very true!!
i can relate to everything you've said in your post .In XIC we were made to believe that the Gods & Gurus of advertising we these people who had their finger on the pulse of the people.
Its weird because i always had this crazy image of many an ad hotshot, this bulging frog eyed guy slyly slinking in and out of trains and buses, sitting at road side chai wallas and vada pav wallas listening in on the what the masses were saying!.
Nyways that’s all fiction, the least i expected from this industry and its inhabitants was some amount of compassion and truth!! Maybe tahts too much to ask for or maybe its just the cynic in me that has lost faith in this pseudo industry...
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