Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ambush Ambush Ambush - Why Why Why !


What’s wrong with these people? What is all this insecurity about? Don’t they trust themselves and have faith in their product? Did they not have an option to showcase themselves in a better way? Is creativity in bed with hungry corporate honchos? Is it all justified? Too many questions!

Well, these questions come swarming into my mind when I see, what I would call a mudslinging fest being played on our TV channels intermittently. Are they funny? – Yes they might be, but it does leave a bad taste when brands try to run each other down in such a blatant manner. You might get a increase in your sales, yes the graph is exponential, but is it something you have earned or is it just Ambush Ambush Ambush !! O Lord is this the way of life.

Where is the Love …Where is the Love …Hold your breaths…Wait for it…This is Brand Wars!!!

The examples have been too many to count. “Have I made it large” – I bet no one would ask that question to his/her self now ……”Pepsi, Nothing Official about it” got etched in the history though. We have seen some serious confrontations like Complan vs. Horlicks, Rin vs. Tide, Sprite vs. Mountain Dew etc. The latest one to join the ranks is The Hindu vs. The TOI with The Hindu saying that “Stay ahead of The Times”, rather too pugnaciously. So, did they mean to say that everyone who reads the TOI (Beeped in the Ad) does not know the name of the Vice President of India??

Not that I have my loyalties with either of them, but this again brings me back to the same question. Why do you have to fight it like this? When I think more, I relate this to the how things work in the corporate world and human nature in general. Now, here we see people putting each other down to bring themselves up. It seems to be the mantra of a few to speak about the flaws of others all the time. The unforgiving corporate world runs on perceptions. So you ruin someone else to rise above.

Someone had told me once that if people are talking about a person, then that person has left an impact on their lives. Thus, the people/companies who have to talk about others to gain, who ambush others to rise, must realize that they are in some way or the other lending credibility to the other person/brand.
There have been innumerable brilliant advertising campaigns which have left their indelible mark on our psyches, touched our hearts, tickled our funny bones, inspired us and all this without deriding the competition. Few of them would include: Fevicol’s campaign , “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” by Airtel, “Hamara Bajaj, Hamara Bajaj !!” by Bajaj Autos, The 2 minute Maggi Noodles campaign, “Doobara Mat Poochna” by Chloromint and so on…..In this light, the companies should keep faith in their products, have an honest creative Ad strategy and success should be in their hands.

All this reminds me of the famous Metallica lines:
So close no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters

Going into the realm of ethics and morality would again border on subjectivity, but till there is Ambush Ambush Ambush…there would be Why Why Why !!!

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