Udv Gets High On Indian Advertising

Think global, act local. That seems to be the mantra behind United Distillers and Vintners' (UDV) new advertising strategies for its products. The liquor company's new campaigns for its flagship brand Gilbey's Green Label whiskey and Smirnoff Vodka aim at catapulting these brands to the numero uno slot in their respective segments.

UDV's marketing controller Mohita Arora says that the gameplan is to make in-roads into the psyche of the Indian customer and establish an `emotional bond' with him. How? By thoroughly Indianising its advertising communication to connect with the consumer. Smirnoff's new ad, made in India by HTA, Mumbai uses Indian models and aims to get rid of the `firang' tag.

 

For its new campaigns to have the desired impact, UDV carried out intensive quantitative and qualitative research amongst its customers. The research, Arora feels, gives them the correct insight into their target segment. "In fact the punch line for Gilbey's Green Label _ Kuchh paana hai, kuchh kar dikhana hai _ was not something smart we thought of. The punch line was given to us by one of our customers."

Gilbey's Green Label television commercial, launched six months back and created by SSCB Lintas, saw a certain `breaking of moulds'.

"The brown whiskey segment in India has ads which are typically life-style oriented and focus on hedonism. But we found that the customer we were addressing belonged to SEC B and whose life revolved around work and a desire to succeed," says Arora. Keeping this in mind the Gilbey's ad focused on the rise of a small time singer. The 45-second ad was aired through mass channels like Sony and Zee Cinema.

Since Green Label has a market in Maharashtra, West Bengal and the North, vernacular channels such as Alpha Marathi, Alpha Bangla and Lashkara were also roped in to advertise. Based on a poll conducted by the Centre for Change Management, the ad won an award for being the second best advertisement on air, and according to UDV, has resulted in a 40 per cent growth in business.

The more recent Smirnoff campaign, entitled `Pure Perfection' also follows UDV's new advertising model. With its new media plan Smirnoff hopes to break free from the tag of being an `international' brand of premium white spirit. More surprisingly, it plans to target the premium spirits segment, including the brown segment, and therefore, also take on brands such as Royal Challenge whiskey.

"Pure Perfection", the brand proposition for Smirnoff, highlights the purity and potency of the product. The theme of the ad is that a Smirnoff drinker can make `social conquests', effortlessly. The commercial uses the iconic "transformation through the Smirnoff bottle" and addresses men between the age groups 21 to 35 belonging to the SEC A. The 40-second ad is the longest in its product segment and is planning to occupy three to four spots per day at Star, Sony, AXN and music channels.

UDV's media plans are not restricted to TV campaigns alone. It plans to support this by broadbasing its ground properties like Smirnoff International Fashion Awards and Smirnoff World DJ Mixing Championships. For its Smirnoff media campaign UDV also plans to enter into `strategic alliances' with websites.

However, for its super premium brands such as Johnnie Walker, UDV is not looking at Indianising the TV and print campaign. It has launched a campaign for Johnnie Walker consisting of a series of three ads conceived by Leo Burnett, London. Available now in India only through duty free, UDV hopes to launch Johnnie Walker in India in April 2001.

Targeted at the creme de la creme of Indian society, the brand proposition for Johnnie Walker is `personal progression'. UDV has also started Johnnie Walker Clubs which already have a membership of 1,500 in Mumbai and 700 in Delhi. The entry to Johnnie Walker Clubs is strictly on invitation basis. These clubs organise Johnnie Walker events which comprise ghazal nights or jazz shows.

"We have similar plans to launch Justerini & Brooks (J&B) and relaunch Christian Brothers Rum," says Arora. UDV plans to launch J&B (available in India through duty free), in April 2001. The launch of J&B, aimed at the 21 to 35 year old premium scotch drinker, will include promos and events. Christian Brothers Rum, on the other hand, is a popular dark rum in south India. UDV plans to relaunch the rum with new ad campaigns.