 "Brand world, demonetisation, cashless")
Chatty brands are de rigueur in the age of engagement. With customers never turning the lights down on their digital lives, many companies believe that the best way to keep them close is to get involved. Thus it was but expected that none would (or could) let go of the chance to be a part of what has been one of the most disruptive moments of the year; the demonetisation drive. Ola, Bajaj, Renault India, SpiceJet, Pharmeasy, Big Bazaar, Amul, Mastercard and the entire e-wallet family (Paytm, freecharge, mobikwik and the banks) among others have jumped on to the demonetisation wagon. However, for most brands, this is just tactical opportunism and their campaigns are unlikely to yield lasting benefits, say experts.
One of the earliest to react to the news was Paytm; its ad hit newspapers the same day the news made the headlines. “Hats off to the Paytm guys, they took the first mover advantage as they should have. They were the obvious gainers and clearly moved fast. Card companies ought to have moved with the same speed, but they were all caught napping,” says M G (Ambi) Parameswaran, founder Brand-Building.com, author and branding and advertising veteran. Mastercard and Visa did exhort people to go cashless eventually, but Parameswaran says they should have been faster off the block.
Bajaj Auto has also released a television commercial for the Avenger bike with the tagline, ‘Ride don’t hide’ that talks about all kinds of wealth, but none that is black. Big Bazaar, Future group’s flagship brand, also quick off the mark with its campaign is promising cash back on cashless purchases.
Some brands took the opportunity to demonstrate their support for the government. The Jagran group had a special song written by adman and lyricist Prasoon Joshi and sung by Shaan around demonetisation. The song said, ek saccha kadam uthaaya hai, ek accha kadam uthaaya hai. (One true step, one good step has been taken) Popular singer Sonu Nigam too came up with a short film for a digital entertainment company called Kaagaz.
Sandeep Goyal, advertising veteran and vice chairman of Mogae group says that such advertising “is just tactical opportunism.” It does not reflect strategic thinking on the part of the company or the agency. “I don’t really understand what they expect to gain from such communication,” he says. He believes that brands must have a clear idea of why they want to be heard on demonetisation for their campaigns to make an impact.
Rajeev Raja, founder of brand consultancy brandmusiq and former creative head of a national ad agency says, “When brands talk about demonetisation, they must understand that there are two aspects. One is the banning of certain denominations of cash which has led to pain. And there is the digital India narrative.” He believes brands talking about digital payment are tapping into the aspirational aspect of the entire demonetisation campaign and this could work.
Many brands are doing that. Ola has ‘Cashless Chalega India’ which promotes Ola Money, Vodafone is pushing its own wallet m-pesa in a similar move and Snapdeal has announced a sale for those who use its wallet freecharge.
It is important, however, that brands steer their pitch carefully around the digital narrative too. As Paytm found out, customers do not take too kindly to sarcastic swipes at the inconvenience caused by the move. The company had to pull off an ad where a maid tells her employer to stop the drama (over cash) and use Paytm. Vijay Shekhar, founder of Paytm was trolled on Twitter until he responded by taking the ad down.
Experts agree that there are two reasons brands should get involved with the demonetisation argument. If the move impacts the core business, as it does for e-wallets, banks, credit cards and if the brand has a history of commenting on topical events such as Amul. Amul’s posters on demonetisation are in keeping with its tongue-in-cheek style that goes down well with people, says Goyal. However, if a brand is just trying to be clever to grab some eyeballs, it will not help and may even backfire, he says.
Thus ads that say 100 per cent financing for buying vehicles, homes, appliances is a way to beat the cash crunch (Muthoot Finance, Renault India, Fiat and Mahindra & Mahindra ads on radio) are way off target. So are jewellery companies whose ads are trying to package huge discounts around digital payments as a demonetisation benefit. These brands may find a spot in the sun but are unlikely to draw much warmth from their customers in the long term.
