Cartoon characters Tom and Jerry emerge as popular brand ambassadors. | |
| What's common between All Out, Ford, Red Label, Surf, Joyco, Bournvita, Britannia, Kissan and the country's largest private sector bank ICICI Bank? It's Tom and Jerry "" the legendary cartoon characters which have been licensed out by Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) to boost sales of these brands. |
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| ICICI Bank is the latest entity to leverage the two popular cartoon figures to launch its Young Stars Account for kids. In a one-year promotional licensing tie-up, the bank will use Tom and Jerry as "brand ambassadors" in all its communication as well as chalk out appearances of these characters at brand-related events. |
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| Besides, the creative team at CNE, the specialised licensing and merchandising division of Cartoon Network, has created a commercial for the product, slated to go on air soon. |
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| "Using Tom and Jerry as brand ambassadors is no different than using Sachin Tendulkar or Shahrukh Khan," says Jiggy George, director, CNE, India and South Asia, "they all lease out their equity to the brand." ICICI Bank will use these iconic characters to deliver their message in an entertaining format. |
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| Ever since its inception some five years ago, CNE has had a steady stream of brands keen to tie-up for product promotions of all kinds. So in the past, while it was Johnny Bravo and Power Puff Girls coaxing parents to hit the BPCL petrol pumps, it was Tom and Jerry goading them to buy Red Label tea or go for All Out mosquito repellents. |
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| "Evidently, the trends suggest that children form an important segment not just for the colas, chocolates and chips brands, but even for IT and white-goods brands because they are far more informed than before, and hence important in decision making," maintains George, who claims to have already done at least 45-50 promos for various brands. |
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| Concurs Chanda Kochhar, executive director, ICICI Bank: "Kids are certainly an important customer segment for us. With 20 per cent of the population in the 4-14 years age-group, it is a good time to focus on this segment." |
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| This is the first time that ICICI Bank has come up with a specialised product for kids. While the objective of the Stars Account is to initiate children into the world of banking by providing them with a debit card and a viewing facility on the Net, Kochhar is candid enough to admit that the bank is actually trying to reach out to a demographic group that might possibly come to be its direct customers (without parents involved). "You can say we're trying to 'catch them young'," she quips. |
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