Pitching it straight

Alcohol companies are increasingly bypassing traditional television advertising to reach audiences

The story of liquor brands and advertising in India has always played out like a hide-and-seek adventure; given the tough laws around alcohol ads, companies had mastered the art of pushing the brand while keeping their core product under wraps. Customers and companies knew what the brand was all about and the regulators were happy that the rules were being followed. Over the past couple of years, however, Kingfisher, Seagram and a host of other liquor companies have found a way to make such rules redundant by reaching out directly to their core audiences via short films on digital content platforms such as The Viral Fever (TVF), Youtube and others.

The switch to digital content platforms has been gradual and is largely on account of two factors: One, the cat and mouse game on TV dilutes the brand message and second, that the target audience, youth from urban and semi-urban areas, have very little to engage with on mainstream TV. According to a recently released Ernst & Young report on media and entertainment, online video consumption in India is among the fastest growing and is increasingly becoming more diverse with more men and women accessing the mobile phone for entertainment.

Arunabh Kumar, founder of TVF says, “I don’t think these (liquor) brands are interested in the 30 seconder (advertisement) anyway. They want to be part of the narrative. The norms for digital advertising are fairly relaxed and this allows creators to weave the brands into the story. We also reach out to the exact same TG that the brands are looking at – 18 to 34 years.” Interestingly, although there is no study that makes a direct corelation, alcohol consumption in India has risen by 25 per cent between 2010 and 2015 in terms of volumes according to international research agency IWSR.

The present times are a far cry from the 1990’s where alcohol brands sponsored bravery awards and sold music cassettes and CD. Forced to adopt the surrogacy route, companies looked for innovative ways to step around the rules. Today Fosters sponsors a web series called ‘Humorously Yours’ and Kingfisher has several seasons of popular series, ‘Pitchers’ in its bag. Both shows are hosted on TVF. 

The popularity of the show even prompted Kingfisher to name its bar search app Pitchers. As Kumar puts it, “We reach almost five million people. These are five million relevant viewers for the brands. Also, with the age group they are targeting, liquor brands want to be cool and being on a platform like Pitchers, definitely helps.”

Addressing the audience earlier at Goafest 2016, United Beverages Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Shekhawat said, “One of the challenges we face is that kids do not want to be seen drinking the same brand of beer as their fathers. Having been around for so long, this is bound to happen (to us).” He believes that digital has helped them reach this audience through a completely different medium and thereby address the generation gap. “We realised another way to approach the younger audience is through apps. Facilitate their going out plans,” he adds explaining the launch of the Pitchers app.

Other examples of successful collaborations include Seagram’s Large Short Films and Signature Start Up. The associations range between hosting content on the website to presenting a show. Seagram’s has filmmakers like Sujoy Ghosh and Vikram Bhatt under its banner and the films are a branding vehicle for its Royal Stag brand.

A similar attempt has been made on TV too. “Brands like Dewars have tried content marketing through initiatives like The Dewarists. On digital, the avenues are wider and the cost is much less. Since the communication is targeted, the spillover is much less, there are little or no regulatory hassles and brands have a wider canvas to play with,” says a media planner. 

However, digital communication for liquor brands may not extend to all platforms. “Portals like Hotstar and Netflix become closed loop platforms. So brands may not be able to achieve the same level of engagement as we can or someone making content and putting on YouTube can,” says Kumar. 

The value appreciation for content marketing by liquor brands has moved up significantly over the past two year. Estimates peg the increase in rates for collaboration at almost five times from 2013 to now. "Of course the base was very small, but it is still a significant increase. Confidence in this mode of marketing is growing and the RoI is surprisingly tangible as data is a big help. As they say, the party has just started," says the media planner.

Digital content consumption, therefore, is not only helping traditional broadcasters explore a new platform, it has provided liquor companies with a new channel to reach out to their customers. Of course there are other issues that companies and these platforms will soon have to grapple with, whether alcohol consumption being seen as cool and pitching it directly to the youth also needs to be tempered with other messages of restraint and responsible behaviour. But that is another story.