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Brands in disguise

Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/01/2013 - 18:26

With the Supreme Court upholding a complete ban on adv ertising of tobacco and tobacco-based products in

July , the spotlight is now on alcohol brands. How does the alcobev industry go about creating brand recall

without getting into trouble with the law? Saloni Dutta finds out

‘Khoob Jamega Rang Jab Mil Baithenge Teen Yaar, Aap, Main, Aur...’ The last words from that popular ad

for Bagpiper Club Soda, are a disguised pointer to Bagpiper Whisky , a product that cannot be directly

adv ertised, according to the laws of the land. This is just one example of surrogate adv ertising by an

alcobev brand. As the laws get stricter, makers of alcoholic bev erages are being more creativ e, not only

linking their brands to water, soda, music CDs, ev ents, etc., but taking these associations to the digital

platform to ensure brand recall and engagement.

In July this y ear, the Supreme Court tightened the noose on adv ertising of tobacco and tobacco-based

products, by enforcing a complete ban on media and activ ations, the only exception being display ads in

stores that are not larger than 60 cm x 45 cm.

The spotlight — or rather the magnify ing glass — is now on India’s alcobev industry , which, except for a few

liberties, has a similar adv ertising restriction. The Cable Telev ision Network (Regulation) Act, 1 995

prev ents alcohol brands from adv ertising their indiv idual products directly . So inv esting in surrogate

adv ertising strategies or brand extensions is the answer — essentially using products with their brand

name on non-alcoholic products. These products, of course, must genuinely exist and hav e

tangible purchase or use to the audience.

Marketing experts and analy sts hav e observ ed that one way alcohol brands can increase their v olume of

sales is by taking market share away from their competitors, and also by expanding the ov erall size of the

market, which is expected to touch Rs 1 7 ,550 crore by 201 4. To achiev e either or both, these brands need

to inv est their capital in strong marketing strategies necessary for expanding the market and broadening

their margins.

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Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors

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Selecting the vehicle

Selecting the right surrogate v ehicle for the alcohol brand

depends on the brand positioning, core brand elements,

target audience and relev ance. For example, Kingfisher,

borrowing from its positioning of ‘Good Times’, ties up with

properties that are essentially seen as light, mass

celebrations, or simply liv ing the good life. Enter successful

association with the IPL and with the lifesty le channel

NDTV Good Times. And, perhaps, a lifetime of brand recall.

The ty pe of adv ertising media/campaign chosen also

depends on the income of the target audience and the

segment of the liquor brand. For example, surrogate

products of a superior premium segment product can be

promoted through TV adv ertising, whereas local brands or

deluxe lower segments tend to hav e local adv ertising like

shop branding.

Also the nature of the spirit decides the choice of indirect

adv ertising. For example, a rum, beer or wine brand

targeting millennials will opt for music CDs and special

ev ent sponsorships. Sula Wines, for instance, has a

marketing mix of PR, adv ertising and social media along

with a lot of BTL activ ities, and making good use of their

assets. “We focus on building the brand through our

v iney ards and through our property Sulafest,” say s Sunila

Duggal, Associate Vice President, Sula Viney ards.

Howev er, considering the short attention span of the

audience and the highly competitiv e industry , experts

believ e that offbeat mechanisms to create brand extensions

are best for brands bound by restricted adv ertising.

“Today , marketers and agencies are adapting to platforms

that were unheard of in the past,” say s Anup Tapadia of

Touchmagix Media. “Bacardi installed a motion and

gesture-based dancing game at 36 pubs for 1 08 day s across

India, thereby interacting with the consumer at the point

of purchase. We created an interactiv e bar for Ciroq, where

as soon as a glass was placed, a bottle of Ciroq emerged from the bubbles. For Winston, we created a large 1 5

feet interactiv e bar which carried the eagle logo as part of all interactions.”

Digital media: A great tool to exploit… for now

Online platforms not only prov ide brands an engagement platform, but also allow them to create brand

loy alty . Experts believ e that digital liquor branding can be as potent as phy sical liquor branding, as it

allows direct interaction with the audience. It helps understand their v iews, ideas, as also giv es insights to

how customers use the product and thereby indicate v arious other touchpoints that can be used for

communication. It almost makes indirect adv ertising direct and allows 360-degree engagement with

sampling, ev ents, recipes with a two-ended pipeline from brand-to-customer and customer-to brand.

Bacardi, for instance, launched an experiential digital CSR initiativ e called ‘Walk the Line’ early this y ear,

to promote responsible drinking, which got a tremendous response. So ‘shares’ and endorsements to

relev ant TG translate as dedicated direct adv ertising, giv ing more bang for the buck. Listening and asking

here creates opportunities for product dev elopment and extension with free and unbiased market research.

Although there hav e been controv ersies regarding the promotion of alcohol brands through social media,

no specific regulations hav e been set as of now. Thus liquor brands can exploit platforms like Facebook,

Twitter and Foursquare to promote their brands. Miller and Fosters, for example, hav e their respectiv e

Facebook and Twitter accounts in place, and often get inv olv ed in weekly contests and promotional

activ ities.

Events: Still the best go-to strategy?

From cricket and golfing championships to award shows and music festiv als, alcobev brands seem to be

gunning more for high-profile ev ents. Apart from high v iewership and v isibility on ground and on v arious

media, these ev ents prov ide perfect sy nergies for promotion online. Kingfisher Premium has associated

itself with fiv e teams of the IPL as the ‘Good Times Partner’, resulting in huge brand awareness among its

target audience. Similarly , Johnny Walker Awards for Excellence has been a great promotional campaign

for the whisky giant ov er the y ears, where people from v arious sectors are awarded for their achiev ements

in their career and life. In this case, it’s brand and social awareness, a double whammy . And goodwill’s in

the bag.

Marketers in the industry strongly believ e that such sponsorship deals are better to establish brand

recognition in a competitiv e industry , than say , bringing out packaged water that’s already a competitiv e

category on its own.

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But with surrogate properties, success depends on the marketing effort and the resultant community that

emerges from it, perhaps the brand’s true ambassadors. “It could die quickly , lag on or trav erse in natural

progression from surrogate to spin or brand extension,” say s Anita Nay y ar, CEO, Hav as Media Group,

India & South Asia. “Certain brands like Smirnoff and Bacardi create communities of loy al followers and

the brand life cy cle for their properties definitely increases.”

Focus on design and packaging Say Absolut, and images of the bottle’s sleek shape, and its highly creativ e,

straight-forward print ads instantly come to mind. Such is the power of good design and memorable

packaging – ev ery one knows that the font on Absolut’s bottle is blue, and that it has a shiny silv er cap. For

some reason, experts believ e brand recall through pure packaging hasn’t seen a breakthrough in India –

with the exception of Old Monk, a cult brand that has had a consistent design, and has v irtually created the

rum category in India, without much inv estment. “The biggest challenge the brand design team faces

while designing indirect adv ertising properties or products is lack of direct access to the core product,” say s

Shekhar Badv e, Founder Director (Marketing and Strategy ), Lokusdesign. “In other words, the consumer

cannot experience or taste (in case of bev erages) the actual product either.” Therefore, v isual drama in

packaging, and lev eraging it make sense.

Although no brand has attempted to focus on design y et, things could change with market leader Diageo’s

presence strengthening in India. For instance Bailey ’s, a Diageo brand, recently launched its new bottle

internationally , with “lifted shoulders for a more elegant profile”.

Laws likely to be stricter

According to experts, while alcohol brands take the ev ent, on-ground activ ation and/or digital route to

market their brand, laws around them are bound to change soon, especially with rising cases of accidents

caused by drunk driv ing and serious health risks linked to alcohol abuse. “The challenge is one of deception

going right or deception going wrong,” say s brand consultant Harish Bijoor, matter of factly . “The

challenge also lies in the fact that stronger laws against surrogate adv ertising are around the corner. All

surrogate adv ertising has an expiry date attached to its neck as of now.”

SPIRITED INTERACTIONS

Here's a look at how some alcohol brands hav e successfully managed to generate brand recall with the help

of v arious platforms

Heineken

The vehicle: Heineken India’s global partnership with the UEFA Champions League

The campaign and activations:

• The brand kicked off the ‘Heineken Social Reporter’ contest v ia its Facebook app, where a winner would fly

to London to report on the UEFA Champions League Final for the Heineken Social Media channels in India.

Applicants went through a three-stage online and offline process that assessed their football knowledge and

passion, apart from other softer attributes and personality traits.

• The Candidate, a v ideo featuring an unorthodox job interv iew for a place with Heineken’s ev ent and

sponsorship department, was launched on YouTube to go v iral.

• ‘The Road To The Final’ ad was unv eiled on v arious digital media channels, which features a lucky

football fan, who receiv es a ticket to the UEFA Champions League Final. Facebook fans could also play the

social pinball game inspired by elements of the new ad.

• Heineken has introduced ‘The Road to the Final’ promotion across bars and beer shops in the country –

where consumers could win branded merchandise and a chance to win a ticket to the final.

The outcome: The brand receiv ed 400 applications for the Social Reporter contest and 4 million v iews

worldwide for the Candidate v ideo.

“Heineken has been associated with the UEFA Champions League for sev en y ears now. Giv en the growing

fan following that European football enjoy s in India, we decided to lev erage our global partnership in India

for the first time this y ear with a multipronged activ ation programme. We expect the campaign to make

the brand more salient and desirable among y oung Indian consumers.” Samar Singh Sheikhawat,

Senior Vice-President Marketing, United Breweries Limited

Hennessy

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The vehicle: Hennessy ’s quest for musicians to perform at the Blue Passions Festiv al in Cognac, France

The campaign and activations:

• In 201 2, Hennessy launched its first ev erinternational Talent Quest called ‘Be Heard. Be Found.’ The

contest used Facebook as a platform to find y oung talent to play at the festiv al.

• Musicians and bands had to submit a v ideo entry of their own music performance on Hennessy .com to get

a chance to perform at the festiv al. A judging panel, including the festiv al’s founder Michel Rolland, chose

the top 1 0 entries, which were then published on Hennessy .com where Hennessy fans v oted for the final

winners.

The outcome: Moët Hennessy India lev eraged their presence on Facebook and their relationship with the

indie music community , thanks to the Hennessy Artistry India platform, to driv e conv ersation about the

contest. Ov er 500 bands submitted entries. The winners, Nexcy x, from Barbados performed alongside A-list

artistes such as Sting, Hugh Laurie and Imany .

“For Hennessy ’s Talent Quest, Facebook and the brand website play ed an important role. Right from

sharing the ‘call for action’ to engaging fans with the concept, these platforms allowed Hennessy to speak to

a larger univ erse of music-lov ers and y oung consumers of luxury .” Gaurav Bhatia, Marketing Director,

Moët Hennessy India

Smirnoff’s Lime Vodka

The vehicle: Spray Tester for Smirnoff Lime Vodka

The campaign and activations:

• How do y ou let y our audience experience y our new alcoholic product

without tasting it? Smirnoff created a unique flav our spray tester

mounted on a 1 80 ml bottle, for their Lime Vodka, which allows y ou to

‘smell’ the product.

• This strategy included a BTL approach where an off-premise product

promoter, situated around v arious liquor and wine shops, spray ed the

flav our on a tester card and then asked the consumer to smell it.

The outcome: This flav our smell-testing activ ity resulted in a faster

brand attraction, which led to instant sales. The traditional buy ing and

sales cy cle was shortened, and through this strategy , the brand reported a

32% growth in sales and a 1 0-time increase in sales within the first month

of activ ation.

Kingfisher

The vehicle: Kingfisher’s association with the Indian Premier League

The campaign and activations:

• IPL accounts for the brand’s biggest marketing spends. Kingfisher adopted a 360-degree approach,

utilising TV, Print, merchandising, in-stadium adv ertising, consumer activ ations, etc.

• Kingfisher came out with numerous contests, where people won a chance to meet and interact with their

fav ourite cricketer. Fans also participated in activ ations in pubs across cities where they won prizes like

tickets to the IPL matches and merchandise.

• The brand introduced #KFBeerUP, a series of cricket themed ev ents in cities across India, where

Twitteratis were specifically selected and treated to an ev ening of cricket, music, unlimited beer and food,

sponsored by Kingfisher.

• The Speculator digital app allowed users to answer questions asked after ev ery three ov ers. They won/lost

points in real time based on their answers, and a leader board updated the scores. Users sent their

speculation through the app or ev en v ia Twitter, and the winners won badges and merchandise.