The many adventures of Sherlock Holmes have different characters, different plots and different problems. What makes many of the stories particularly interesting is that they reveal different facets of the detective. It’s his courage that stirs one when he confronts a belligerent opponent; at another time it’s his insight – the ability to go deeper and deeper into an issue asking “why” – that helps him get to the bottom of the problem. At another time, you are amazed by his dexterity to overcome an agile and cunning contender; and yet again, it is sometimes the way he makes unusual connections between seemingly unconnected things that leads him to solve the mystery. And occasionally, he does come up with the smart cookie who outwits him — showing his vulnerable human side. So, as you read a book of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories, they rarely get boring. Sherlock Holmes is always a hero — he’s intelligent with a dry sense of humour and a reassuring personality that makes one feel he can solve anything that comes his way. Yet, every story has a charm of its own.
A brand is a story told through its advertising. The challenge for strong brands, which advertise year after year, is how to remain engaging advertisement after advertisement. The brand positioning – and proposition – tends to remain the same. So, often, the story change is limited to the characters and settings and, at best, the drama point. Does that make the advertisement engaging enough in this day and age when freshness is the need of the hour?
The telecom industry – mobile phones or mobile service providers – has cracked the problem building from the inherent innovations in product features. Every ad taps into a new feature to reveal a new facet of the brand. Vodafone has used multiple icons – like the pug, the Zoozoos, kids and celebrities – to tell different stories based on different product features.So it’s “network” one day; “happy to help” another day; “magic box” the third day; “privileges” another day and “blackberry service” yet another day. Idea, true to its name, has explored a number of social issues, season after season, to keep its advertising stories engaging. They opened with “caste conflict”, moved to “education”, then explored health through “walk and talk”, environment friendliness with “save paper” and national integration with “talk any language”. In each case, the brand cleverly wove its product feature smartly into the story, thus remaining relevant yet fresh. In both cases, the viewer (equivalent to the reader of Sherlock Holmes) is left waiting eagerly to see what the brand will say next.
It’s much easier in the technology space where innovations are part of a brand’s everyday story. Today’s technology products are constantly made outdated by new features tomorrow. The new features provide a good entry point to tell a new story. How does one do this in the traditional product space like fast-moving consumer goods in which innovations are few and far between? The burden falls on the idea of the brand story. The challenge is to find an idea that is large and constantly push oneself to explore a new expression rather than create a cookie-cutter freshness with new faces and new settings but plotlines remaining largely the same. It’s about understanding the brand, its personality and values, and exploring its new facets. It’s about keeping in touch with the consumer, her rituals and language, and telling stories in the context of her evolving life.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk has done it quite successfully in the last five years. Staying within the territory of “Kuch meetha ho jaaye”, it has explored many strong cultural rituals around sweets in India. It opened with a celebration of success with its “Pappu pass ho gaya” campaign. Then it opened up a “pay day” occasion with “Aaj pehali tareek hai”. It then took on Diwali with “who will you make happy this season” by urging people to spread joy and happiness. Last year, it stepped into “sweet beginnings” with shubh arambh tapping into the Indian ritual of starting something new auspiciously with something sweet. In each case, the storytelling format also changed and, thus, aided the viewer to see a new facet, yet being consistent with the brand’s core. Interestingly, the basic product remains the same — the bar of chocolate! Pepsi has done it fairly consistently during its existence in India – from “Yehi hai right choice baby” to “Youngistan ka Wow”– exploring new lingo and mores of the youth to stay relevant to the young audiences. Tata Tea has, on its platform of “Jaago re”, addressed voting and corruption in the last few years, thus stirring the conscience on different issues. Fevicol, over the last two decades, has told stories of unbreakable bonds using slice-of-life visuals from India. Bajaj Pulsar has used “free biking”, “Pulsar mania” and “runaway” biking to highlight performance in dramatic ways. All these brands have been good and consistent story-tellers, and it’s possible!
However, developing ideas, year after year, is never easy. Some stories obviously have the width and depth; others don’t. The importance of consistency is to ensure the brand doesn’t get schizophrenic or confusing. Yet, the criticality of infusing freshness and newness is to avoid becoming boring or wallpaper. There is always a temptation to change track and, with it, character. It seems easier. However, in the long run, great brands have stayed the course.
Brands can draw inspiration from Nike. Over the years, it has remained true to the spirit of “Just do it”. Whether it is shadow running, or stars playing impromptu football at an airport or with street kids, or a boy challenging a dog with meat on his football, expression after expression opens new facets of the competitive spirit that Nike embodies. Not surprisingly, Nike remains a great case of idea preservation and development. In the brand world, it is as enigmatic as Sherlock Holmes is in the literary world.
Something worth thinking about.
The author is country head, discovery and planning, Ogilvy and Mather India
The views expressed are personal
