Saatchi Direct is Finalist at International ECHO Awards 2003

Saatchi & Saatchi Direct, the five-year-old direct response division of Saatchi & Saatchi India, has won a Finalist certification at the 2003 DMA International ECHO Awards, which are to be given away in New York in October this year. The winning entry from the specialist agency is the ‘crying baby' television commercial for HP DeskJet Printers. Malavika Harita, executive vice-president and head of Saatchi Direct, communicated the news of the win to agencyfaqs!, informing that the agency had received a formal intimation to this effect from the ECHO Awards committee last week.

"This is the first year that Saatchi Direct entered its work at the ECHO Awards, one of the biggest international awards in the Direct Marketing discipline, and we are thrilled that we have made it to the Finalist stage with our first attempt," she says. She adds that the HP entry has been ranked fourth in the overall tally (right after the gold, silver and bronze awards), and that the agency would be receiving a plaque symbolizing a Leadership Award. "What gives us pride is the fact that the entry went through three rounds of judging which covered not just the creative aspect of the communication but also the results it achieved in the market."

Speaking about the communication, Harita says that its objective was to position HP as the leader ‘image quality'. "HP is the leader in the DeskJet printer category in India, with a market share of over 70 per cent," she says. "While customers were confident about the reliability of HP DeskJet Printers, they did not perceive HP as the leader in terms of image quality, with Epson occupying that space in the consumer's mind. The objective was to change this perception by promoting the new line of HP inkjet printers (that used HP's new Photo RET2 color layering technology) that, in fact, provided the best quality printouts. HP wanted to attract the first-time buyer in the small, medium and home enterprise segments who were not tech-savvy but demanding in terms of print quality. The strategy was to reposition HP as an ‘image' leader rather than just as a market leader, using television, print and in-shop posters, with TV being the focus medium."

The creative strategy, according to Harita, was to "move out of the tech-and-specs space and build an emotional bond with the first-time, non-tech savvy buyer. We used the baby to neutralize the ‘techiness' associated with printer advertising, and provide the acid test for photo-realism. A crying baby that won't mistake its mother for anything is convinced by a printout (of its mother's photograph) from the new HP printer."

The result in the market place, of course, is what gives Harita the greatest joy. "Printer sales (of HP) during the campaign quarter grew not just by 46 per cent over the previous quarter, it steadily increased every month. We had customers calling in or coming to the retail outlet and asking for the "HP Baby Printer" - which meant that simple ideas really work," she concludes. "This win at the ECHO Awards is a lovely icing on the cake." © 2003 agencyfaqs!