 "Vodafone brings the past forward")
On a warm, sunny day in Delhi recently, canines and their owners were seen parading together at a local mall. Bystanders and shoppers were pleasantly surprised. No one seemed to know what was going on except for one - Vodafone. The country's second-largest telecom operator by subscribers chose to take its affable 'pug' mascot on to the streets - getting owners from across the city to participate in a 'pug parade'.
The pug, one of the most popular brand mascots in recent times was recently brought back by Vodafone to promote its newly launched 4G services. Its return however has seen mixed reactions with many comparing it unfavourably with the in-your-face advertising by rival 4G operator Airtel. Many have also commented on the brand's inability to leverage the mascot's huge popularity, effectively enough.
While the jury is out on the impact the pug is having on the brand, few dispute the huge goodwill it enjoys. At the recently held parade, "the response was good," said Kiran Antony, group creative director, Ogilvy and Mather, who oversees creative work on the Vodafone account at the agency. "We wanted to do an on-ground activation as part of the overall campaign promoting 4G services. We started with one city. We may take it to other locations in the future," he says.
Vodafone is not the only advertiser dipping into the past to get consumers to rally around its latest offering. Of late, there have been quite a few tapping into visual and sonic properties that were the hallmark of their advertising earlier. Take Nerolac. Despite Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan coming on board as endorser, it opted for its popular jingle - Jab Ghar Ki Raunak Badhani Ho, Deewaron Kho Jab Sajana Ho - from earlier commercials to go with the current campaign.
The fit, say company sources, has been perfect, with the recall factor for the current Shahrukh-Nerolac campaign being high. This is the fourth time, incidentally, that Kansai Nerolac, the promoter of the Nerolac brand of decorative paints, has re-introduced the jingle after first playing it as part of a campaign 26 years ago. It was then brought back in 1998 with the famous 'painters' commercial that showed two kids watching painters at work as they sung the jingle. A third iteration surfaced some six years ago to promote a new range of paints.
A more recent example is Maggi. Having faced a stormy few months, the brand chose to ride on nostalgia as a comeback pitch. It incorporated elements from its iconic 'Maggi-Maggi' campaign of the 1980s and 1990s into the current campaign featuring veteran actress Deepti Naval (as the mother). Her grown-up kids are seen rushing home from their hostels, insisting that they are hungry. Naval, who is surprised to see her children back home suddenly, obliges them by saying "Two minutes" - the line famously used by the mother in the older campaign; the jingle is also from the same campaign.
Suresh Narayanan, chairman and MD, Nestle India, in a conversation with Business Standard earlier had said that it was important to bridge the trust deficit that existed in the minds of consumers and stakeholders post the ban. Experts see the current campaign as an attempt to re-inforce the notion that the Maggi of today is no different from the Maggi of yesterday - safe for consumption and fulfilling that crucial need of snacking among consumers.
However, ad experts say the use of nostalgia can be fraught with challenges. Take the case of the famous Liril girl ad, for instance. It was re-introduced last year by consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever, but the strategy didn't quite work. The company, according to experts, was hoping to revive the magic of Liril by reviving the visuals that had enthralled people over 40 years ago when Mumbai-based model and air-hostess Karen Lunel had first frolicked under a waterfall in a green swimsuit. The 2015 version took the same elements - girl, bikini and waterfall - but after a few runs on television, the commercial quietly went off-air. Clearly the ad failed to work up the passions that it had once managed to do.
"Resurrecting a past mascot can have its own set of challenges. The milieu then is different from what exists now. You have to remember that the Liril girl genuinely came across as a breath of freshness when she was first introduced in the 1970s. In the intervening time, the concept of freshness itself in the minds of consumers has changed, implying that what worked then may not now despite the best of intentions," says KV Sridhar, chief creative officer, SapientNitro.
So while a tried and tested visual or sonic property may seem safe, say experts, it is important to gauge whether consumers are indeed ready for its re-introduction back into their lives. In the case of Vodafone, while the pug brings back the warm associations that subscribers have with the brand, the ads and the pug may have to work harder before they get the same adulation as before.
