The Secret of Winning Brands
Being the world’s second largest populated country, India has a huge market where many products are launched and advertised on a daily basis. In spite of many marketing campaigns being launched, there are just a few with which people actually connect.
It is not about promoting your product or service; it is about standing for values that go way beyond them.
It is not about winning awards; it is more about capturing the hearts of your target audience.
This is exactly what a few of the below-mentioned thought-provoking video campaigns did:
The video campaign #Make India Diabetes Free was launched in order to motivate people to stay ahead of diabetes by adopting a healthy lifestyle. The statement that it promotes – “Asli Himmat To Wahi Hain Jisme Mushkilein Hi Aap Se Haar Jaayein” clearly supports the thought behind this campaign.
A video campaign called “Ek Muthhi Sonu Ke Naam” was launched by Being Indian, the digital channel of Culture Machine, in association with Quaker Oats. This video, which is based on #QuakerFeedAChild Initiative, throws light on those millions of those children who go to bed with an empty stomach. In a very subtle way it convinces people to take a pledge to feed a child and make their festivals meaningful.
#LastWords, a campaign made for Indian Association of Palliative Care, was about creating awareness about Palliative Care through social media. Palliative Care refers to end of days care given to patients who are terminally ill. This care involves helping such patients spend time with their loved ones so that their last words need not be heard by nurses alone. This campaign that features eight nurses who reveal the last words spoken by their dying patients not just touches your emotions, but also leaves a lump in your throat.
MLNS (Make Love Not Scars) is an NGO that aims to offer opportunities that can help acid attack survivors to take control of their life. A series of three videos called the Ogilvy and Mather Campaign shows a real acid-attack-survivor sharing a few beauty tips and urging people to sign a petition addressed to the Prime Minister of India that will enforce a ban on the over-the-counter sale of acid in the country. By triggering global conversation and huge support for this cause, this campaign led 300,000 people to sign this petition.
Girls do Code is a three-part video series launched by nonprofit aimed at closing the gender gap in tech. The campaign throws light on the offensive stereotypes that often surround girls in tech. The satire and the deadpan humor used in the campaign do a good job of emphasizing on the need to change these stereotypes.
#Sharetheorange is a digital campaign made for Alzheimer’s Research UK in which actor Christopher Eccleston shares a few facts about dementia. Using an orange, he shows how dementia can affect the physical part of the brain, making it weight 140 grams lesser than the normal brain. He urges people to share the video, in order to fight the fatalism and misunderstanding that surrounds the disease.
This is not all… There are many more campaigns that have taken creativity to the next level, urging the viewers to stop, think and focus on the message…
Volvo highlights the fact that we end up spending more time in our cars than our homes…
NFS, the Dutch stutter foundation, requests people to be patient with people who stutter…
The American Disability Association appeals the government to build facilities for disabled people…
In just a split second, these ads plant their messages in our mind. After all, this iswhat advertisement is all about!
Here are a few tips you can use to make your ads more effective and thought-provoking:
Make Them Memorable
An effective ad is one that will be remembered by people for a long time to come. For this it is important to add an emotional element or a relevant aspect and keep the message minimal yet powerful. You can add a heartfelt story or add a dose of satire or humor to your ad. Whatever you do, make sure it touches the hearts of your viewers.
Make your Message meaningful, genuine and personal
It doesn’t matter who your target audience is or what is the size of market you cater to. Your Ad needs to resonate with your consumers by delivering a message that is true and personally meaningful. You can use an authoritative figure or ask people to share their personal experiences.
Add Value Through your Product or Service
Focus on making your consumers understand how your product or service can solve their problems and make their lives happier and more productive. Before you do this, you will have to determine the basic need of your consumers that your product or service fulfills.
Stand for Values that go Beyond your Product or Service
This will assure your consumers that your brand really cares. It is not about how good or useful your product or service is. It is about them… their problems…. your solutions to their problems…. values you believe in…. values that matter to them.
Link your ad to your Brand
Make sure you link your ad to your brand in an inextricable manner. This will ensure your efforts won’t go waste and be attributed to your competitors. Use visual and verbal cues. Focus on conveying your logo, your brand name or your product through your commercial. Don’t wait till the end or be secretive about your brand. Nevertheless, do this in a tasteful manner that doesn’t look too promotional.
It is through meaningful, inspirational and powerful messages that winning brands tend to touch their audiences. It is these messages that make their products or services great, trustworthy and credible in the minds of their audiences.
Through excellent ad campaigns, these brands come up with thought-provoking ways to deliver their messages, increasing the odds that they will be shared by their fans virally. Based on deep psychological insights, these campaigns increase the goodwill and loyalty of their consumers and encourage them to purchase more items under their brand umbrella.
Most advertisements are those that try to sell us products by helping us justify our decisions. However, the most successful ads are those that are creative enough to make us pause and think about the world at large.
