Mining life for brand opportunities

Not very long ago, when joint families were still the norm, elders would insist we have a spoonful of curd with sugar before we step out of the house. The auspicious ritual of combining sugar with a little bit of sour was meant to prepare you for experiences, both sweet and bitter, through the day. Or when your grandmother’s home made sweets and confectionary was the centre piece of every family celebration. As families become nuclear and grandchildren’s easy access to grandmother’s goodies become rare, the winds of cultural change bring opportunities for brands to seize! Cadbury, chose to compete with life, instead of playing within the confines its category and was positioned in place of traditional sweets, with the tagline of “kuch meetha ho jaye”. For nuclear families, it meant that while Dadima’s pedas would be missed; the celebration would no longer be incomplete.

Brands have shown time and again, real ambition means growing out of the narrow definition of “categories” and pitting against real life. So a Sprite competes with water and talks about ‘Pyaas Bhujaye’, Glucon D takes on Nimbu Paani and Kellogg’s endeavors to bring nutrition and health to the breakfast table, otherwise used to a traditional, heavy spread of parathas and dosas. Tata Nano speaks to two-wheeler owners, public transport users, even pedestrians and simultaneously cycle brands have the opportunity to address concerns for pollution and traffic, by kicking off a cycling revolution. B Cycle, a bike sharing program, created by the agency Crispin Porter, Trek Cycles and Humana, in the United States, worked on the same principle.

The advantage for brands is amply evident if we marry our strength in numbers to several opportunities that real life presents. Imagine if every single Indian of the 1.2 billion population were to grab a cola, even once every year, Cola consumption would significantly gain. And it is this potential that our current budget recognizes. By looking beyond the urban middle class, the government is doing its share by making life better for more people, allowing us the opportunity to churn out creativity that impacts human behaviour.

(The author is National Creative Director, Leo Burnett)