Human Bonds Make Ads Clinche Good Marketing

Relationships are fodder for advertisements. A slew of ads based on human bonds are fast catching viewers’ imagination. While marketing the product, they are also promoting family values, says SALONI BHATIA

Sample the recent advertisement where a couple tries to steal some moments of romance as the husband’s mother moves around the house, or the one where family members are cribbing about having to eat lauki. Take the case of another one where the husband confesses his love to his wife by giving her a chocolate. These are some ads which have underlined some sweet moments which typify our lives. The recent Cadbury Dairy Milk ad campaign has made an effort to underline the value of family in a person’s life.

Advertising professionals say that Cadbury ads have always been able to concoct some consumerism. Be it the recent ones where they are promoting the chocolate as a replacement for desserts or the “Pehli tareek hai” campaign, the brand has always known the pulse of the Indian people. Not only Cadbury’s, but other brands like Tanishq, Google Chrome and Airtel are harping on family and relationships to promote their brand.

What is it that’s attracting the attention of ad makers towards familial ties? “In a country like India, the concept of a family always works. What works in other nations might not work for the Indian viewers. For instance, the Australian Tourism Board recently made an advertisement showing the beauty of the nation and how it had been built. In the end it questioned tourists: ‘Where the hell are you going? This is the place to be.’ Compare this with the Incredible India ads which show how a tourist from Tokyo is helped by some Indians when she misses her bus or the ones where Aamir Khan is telling people to respect tourists and adhere to the traditional policy of ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’. Thus, in India, everything has to be toned down. In my view, depicting families gives the brand a wider reach,” says Chinmoy Bhowmick, art director with a leading advertising agency.

Adman Prahlad Kakkar is of the view that families have always been the focal point of advertising campaigns down the years. “Advertising is family-centric. In fact, 60 per cent of all ads are based on families. Family values are top of the mind when an ad is conceptualised. When a person spends money, he always buys something for his wife and children. In India, a father has the responsibility of keeping his family in mind. Thus, family has always reigned supreme,” he opines.

At a time when family values have hit a low ebb, these ads drive home the importance of togetherness. The recent Oreo campaign elucidates this. The “sandwich biscuit” announced its arrival with the ‘Twist, Lick, Dunk’ communication where a child asks his father to open the packet of biscuits for him. In the end, he snatches the biscuit from his father and licks the cream.

The agency behind the campaign, Interface Communication, did extensive research which pointed to the fact that mothers love the scenario where their children bond with fathers. The second edition of this campaign has introduced the concept of ‘Togetherness Time’ which was discovered from India’s first ‘Togetherness survey’.
It talked about how Indians looked at families spending time together.

The survey was an initiative by AC Nielsen and was conducted across six cities (Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata). The survey revealed how modern-day parents rue the fact that they are not able to spend sufficient time with their children, given their hectic work schedules, and want to spend more time with their children.

“Through this, we encouraged parents to devote more time to their children. Advertising agencies bank on the aspect of guilt of parents. Since life is moving at such a fast pace, everybody is facing a time crunch,” says Namrata Patnaik, a copywriter with Interface Communications.

But doesn’t this amount to commercialisation of emotions. No, say advertising professionals. “We work according to a brief given by the client. Whenever we write a creative brief, we highlight the emotional or a functional benefit.

“And if the creative output is taking a leap on the emotional benefit, there’s nothing wrong in it. We, as individuals, are emotional and if the advertising strategy is harping on this basic characteristic, there is no harm,” says an account director with a leading advertising agency. Kakkar agrees: “Advertising is all about emotions and depicting perfection. You are not selling your wife or child to someone. In my view, it is not commercialisation.”

But what does the future holds for such ads? “Fashion revolves around in circles. Similarly, advertising has its own phase. There was a time when TV commercials had a jingle. Then, there was a time when children always featured in ad campaigns. Companies always want to play safe and focusing on families and relationships provides them with that option,” signs off Bhowmick.