As
Indian economy grows smartly and foreign majors knock at our doors eager to get
a foothold, we consumers will become the focus of the marketing fraternity.
Stiff competition means every customer has to be reached out to both at home and
outside. This leads to a veritable advertising blitzkrieg! Even as we speak, ad
gurus are pulling out all stops, thinking out of the box as they goes in for
the kill so to speak. Practically, it means all spaces - be they natural or
manmade are used to reach out to us, the consumers! Thus we find pavements
advertising telecom carriers, bus shelters displaying new housing schemes and
public transport vehicles looking like a well decorated cake as images scream
out qualities of some product.
One
has to admire the versatility of the creative minds, as using conventional ad
space in print/ radio/hoardings is passé. Thus newspapers or magazines now have
promotional sachets stuck on to them for free trials. I don’t know if the move
has made a difference to product sales but some newspaper delivery boys
certainly made a quick buck selling off these samples! Companies increasingly
splurge on dedicated four-page supplements or glossy magazine pullouts to
showcase their product!
This
entire onslaught obviously makes business sense or else companies would not be
spending so much money in troubling us! Apparently we now have some choice over
this unsolicited intrusion of privacy (the latest Trai guidelines) all done in
the name of advertising. Our ad gurus however have more up their sleeves!
Like
a species threatened with extinction, advertising is constantly metamorphosing
to compete and grow! Just as I was congratulating myself on choosing the
staircase over the elevator to go to the fifth floor, I was greeted by
advertisements put up on the vertical face of steps. Can a person not even get
breathless in peace is what I would like to ask? At a multiplex I found chair
backs of seats sporting ads. How many people were likely read and register the
product described there as they juggle with popcorn and coffee in the dark and
negotiate rows of outstretched feet beats me!
And
if that was not enough, I saw a hospital logo emblazoned on the shoulder sling
of an unsuspecting patient. I hope he was given a discount in medical charges
for carrying around the ‘discreet’ ad for the entire duration of his
immobilisation! I have read of celebrities endorsing designer apparel,
jewellery and even being paid to wear/use a particular brand in a bid to get us
to opt for the same label. I too have succumbed and actually let some star
decide which hair oil I use! Same goes for ads featuring endearing children.
Hey no one complaints of child labour here do they?
Print,
outdoor, film, telecom, Internet – there seemed apparently no new frontier for
marketing to conquer. That’s when I came across this article that said brands
would also be sold on skin! I’m not sure how many celebrities or models will
agree to get themselves tattooed to sell products - I am told it is a painful
process indeed. Unless of course the temporary variety is chosen, which would
naturally mean equally fickle market loyalties on our part!
All
in all, we consumers are fair game to innovative advertising blitzes, mad ad
fads- ones that are designed to leave us lighter on the wallets!
First published in a now extinct website 4indianwoman.com on 24 Nov 2007
Thanks to new rules, unwanted marketing calls and text messages as mentioned above have reduced considerably now!
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