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| Madhukar Sabnavis: The importance of aesthetics | | Functionality is a given; in the next marketing battle, packaging will make the difference |
| Madhukar Sabnavis / New Delhi Sep 04, 2009, 00:04 IST |
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Madhukar Sabnavis on the power of form to drive brand choice.
Björn Borg, with his long blond hair, headband and skin tight Fila T-shirt and never saying a word, was the archetypal lover boy. Vitas Gerulaitis was a regular at Studio 54, hung around with Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Cheryl Tiegs and other starlets, collected mansions and Rolls Royce, and always blew kisses to the crowd, making him the perfect playboy. Guillermo Vilas had brown hair streaming to his shoulders, his brown eyes reflecting his prêt soul, published a book of self-authored poems and even used his musical talent to record an album. His perennial forlorn look made him a matinee idol of the silver screen — distant and enigmatic. Jimmy Connors said, quite arrogantly, that at the US Open, “There’ll be 127 losers and me”! He was always flanked by two very large, intimidating bodyguards and he wore tassel on his socks like Muhammad Ali. The way he walked and talked continuously re-inforced his image of being the best street fighter — and he enjoyed it. We are talking about tennis stars of the 1970s, when the game opened up and players donned the roles of teenage idols by creating a distinct identity for themselves beyond being winners on court. Bill Scanlon, a contemporary of these, in his book Bad News for McEnroe, speaks of how players of that era packaged themselves, played their parts to project an image for themselves. It repositioned the game from being a competitive sport to entertainment and made the players not just actors on stage, but characters that aficionados could identify with.
In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini says that the two strong weapons of influence are liking (the friendly thief) and authority (directed deference). People say yes to someone they know and like, and physical attractiveness is an important factor in determining liking. Similarly, clothes and trappings are important components of authority. Clearly, appearance is as important as content in helping connect with people. And much as the truism “appearances are deceptive” (and “don’t judge a book by its cover”) is propounded, people do simplify life by going by appearances. If all things are equal, psychologically people do get swayed by appearance. The implications of this on marketing and advertising are interesting.
We are today moving into an era where functionality is becoming more and more a given; and the next marketing battle will be one where packaging and aesthetics will make the difference. From an advertising standpoint, form is going to become as important, if not more, as function. Propositions and ideas will be important but the way they are delivered too will make a big difference to how consumers perceive brands and make their choices. Marketing and advertising have many examples that reflect the power of aesthetics.
Maruti re-defined the car market in the 1980s with both its new cost paradigm and its sleek hatchback looks (revolutionary for India at that time) when it entered the Indian market. Motorola in 2006-07 gained a 15 per cent market share and got Nokia to re-jig its product portfolio by just getting consumers to focus on the aesthetics of its handsets with its Flip and SLVR range. Axe, as a challenger brand, introduced attraction in a category that was driven by the functionality of anti-perspiration. However, its pack design and graphics were distinctive and in sync with its ‘mating’ platform that provided visual re-affirmation of the brand promise and added shelf appeal with its all-black look. If one were to compare product packaging from the eighties to what is today available on shelves in supermarkets, there is a sea change in materials, design, structure and form, making most of them not only technically more efficient but also visually and aesthetically more pleasing to the senses.
Bollywood and soaps in India have over the years moved Indian viewers by tapping into real emotions but packaging them in gloss. It’s always about beautiful-looking people wearing beautiful clothes living in beautiful houses experiencing real emotions and real problems! The fantasy of the packaging makes it enjoyable; the reality of the story makes it connectable!
The same is true with advertising. Gloss sells; gloss adds to aspirational values and increases desirability. Robert Cialdini speaks of a research that shows that an attractive model posing with an automobile will make the car appear more desirable. The raters rated the car (in the ad with the model) as being faster, more appealing, more expensive-looking and better designed than the same car shown in ad without the model.
When memories are made of images, gloss makes for pleasant impressions and, through that, positive perceptions. While craftsmanship helps in engagement, the finish given to the final advertising product — from the casting to the clothes to the sets — could just help add zing to brand perceptions. Simply put, it’s a human truth that we like to see good-looking people and good-looking things. And like to remember good things! This could be the next frontier for advertising to consider.
Given its heritage, Nescafe is a brand that has remained young and premium, even in the face of competition from newer categories. What has kept the brand contemporary is the gloss with which it has always presented itself in its best executions. Similarly, the secret behind the success of the Hutch/Vodafone brand is not just the consistency and simplicity of its ideas, but the cleanliness and beauty of all its executions. From TV to outdoor to promotional material, the brand makes a pleasant impression on the eye and leaves very pleasant feelings in the heart and mind. The same is true of much of the work one sees of brands like Dove and Titan.
To conclude, content and function appeal to the mind; aesthetics and form appeal to the heart. As categories commoditise and brands at the product level begin to deliver similarly as at the functional level, emotions begin to play a bigger role in brand choice. Aesthetics — design, look, feel — begins to play a bigger role and advertising with gloss can add that extra zing to lend aspiration and desirability to a brand. The Fila shirt, the brown hair and eyes, the tassel on socks are just not little frills but little elements that give character and build consumer connect.
Something worth thinking about.
The author is Country Head, Planning, Ogilvy and Mather, India. Views expressed are personal. Contact at madhukar.sabnavis@ogilvy.com
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