Sexy categories and brands; un-sexy advertising

Looking at Indian advertising today across categories, the bulk of the sexy work seems to be coming from the so-called un-sexy categories

For fear of offending clients, admitting to it in public may not come easily. But in private, most ad folk agree that there are ‘sexy' and ‘un-sexy' product categories and brands in advertising, especially from a creative standpoint. Meaning, some product categories - and brands in those categories - naturally lend themselves to sexy, noticeable advertising. While others call for what is euphemistically termed ‘hardworking advertising' - the kind that never gets talked about by anyone, but are invariably "working very well in the market", as proved by "our research".

One indicator of what ‘sexy category' means is the glee with which creative people welcome the prospect of working on a brand in that category. By that measure, cars, motorbikes, colas, fashion, apparel and liquor are some examples of sexy categories. In some ways, categories with immense badge value, where there is scope for creative exploration. In contrast, un-sexy categories are those that have traditionally talked product benefit ad nauseam (soaps, shampoos and detergents, for instance), or ones that are low on badge appeal (lubes, tyres, media, household products etc).

The strange thing is that, looking at Indian advertising today across categories, the bulk of the sexy work seems to be coming from the so-called un-sexy categories. While the advertising for sexy brands/categories is below par, creatively speaking. It's perhaps a generalization, and a harsh one at that. It's not even a trend, perhaps, and neither are specific examples reflective of entire categories. All the same, the examples are too striking to be missed.

Take the example of toothpastes, an uninspiring category where, in the past, product benefit has been flogged in the most unimaginative manner. Today, some of the best ideas are seen in toothpaste advertising. Close-up's advertising has, of course, always been nicely different. But now, there is the ‘dishkiaon-dishkiaon' series from Pepsodent, which is so much more creative than that ‘clinically-tested, so-and-so per cent better' campaign that ran a few years ago. And the latest Colgate Gel ‘Talk to me' campaign is quite out-of-the-box. And so unlike the boring stuff Colgate-Palmolive has a reputation of dishing out.

Ditto in the case of shampoos. Both Sunsilk and Clinic are doing things to inject some joie de vivre into a category long distinguished by predictable problem-solution advertising. Detergent advertising too has gone places, thanks to some good advertising by both Surf Excel and Ariel. Ariel broke the pattern with the ‘husband washing clothes', ‘mehendi' and ‘sister-in-law' ads, but has since returned to a product-centric approach. Sadly. While Surf Excel has been upping the creative ante since it commissioned the ‘Surf Excel hai na!' line. Media (Business Standard, Mid-Day, Times Of India and Femina), lubes (Castrol, BP), tyres (Apollo and Bridgestone) and, of course, adhesives and sealants (Fevicol, Fevikwik and M-Seal) are other un-sexy categories where the advertising has been refreshingly different.

Now let's take the ‘sexy' categories. Cars first: nothing very remarkable from any of the players in quite a while. A lot of shots of the car, either zipping all over the place at breakneck speed (to show control/maneuverability), or cruising down open roads with not a soul in sight (to connote luxury or lifestyle or whatever). No idea anywhere. True, the campaign for the Opel Swing tried to be different, and almost managed it. If only it had not attempted squeezing in two diverse messages at the same time - one, about the car's spaciousness, and two, about the owner's ‘Simply Bindaas' attitude. Of course, the latest Tendulkar-Vinod Kambli spot for the Fiat Palio is not bad, but it too presents a significant jump vis-à-vis ‘ad character' from the launch ad for the car. The ‘Bachchans' ad for the Versa seems to have a germ of an idea, but only time will tell…

The advertising for bikes - the ultimate badge category - has been a big letdown of late. The last really good bike ads were for the Suzuki Samurai (the ‘No problem' campaign), the Bajaj Caliber (‘Unshakable') and, to an extent, for the Bajaj Boxer (the ‘shoeshine' and ‘loo' ads). Otherwise, it's all been gleaming metal and burning rubber, or goody-two-shoes Indianness.

Colas/fizzy drinks have also been starved of good advertising, despite the Pepsi-Coke/Thums Up war. The Thums Up Challenge wasn't an original idea anyway. And Pepsi's reply to the Thums Up Challenge wasn't in the same league of the ‘Nothing official…' campaign. Even its UTC promo (‘Hai koi jawaab?') was a shade less inspiring after ‘Mera number aayega'. And the Bachchan campaign was more cutie-pie than suits Pepsi. Limca and Sprite were okay, without being brilliant, while the Coke, Maaza and Mirinda ads were forgettable. The whole of this season, the only really good ad in this category came from the sidelines - the Sheetal Malhar, ‘passion fruit' Slice ad. And strangely, the non-fizzy drinks (Frooti with Digen Verma, and Kinley and Bisleri) did more memorable advertising.

Fashion and apparel is another category that typically leaves a lot of room for creative expression. But much of what we see nowadays doesn't suggest as much. Most ‘youth' fashion brands have ended up with models striking a pose - and an attitude - and nothing else. The campaign for Killer Jeans was, perhaps, the last good work in this area. And even the Allen Sollys and Van Heusens of the world did not do much clutter-busting work, happy using models as clotheshorses. Park Avenue tried to latch onto the New Economy consumer with the ‘Start something new' campaign, but was done in by the New Economy meltdown.

Of course, there are no trends or patterns to this, as stated earlier. Yet, it would be interesting to see what could be the reasons for this tilt. "I honestly don't see any switch in patterns happening on creative work," says Rajiv Sabnis, senior vice-president, Contract Advertising. "It's probably got to do with the levels of motivation/pressure from clients to produce good creative work, and the quality of creative people working on the brands who are pushing themselves and their teams to make the creative output clutter-breaking in the category. For example, Colgate Fresh Energy Gel… After Vikram Kaushik took over the marketing reins at Colgate-Palmolive, and Prashant Godbole and Zarvan Patel joined Rediffusion DY&R from Enterprise Nexus, the work has suddenly started looking up. The client has either motivated, or given an ultimatum to the agency to up the creative standards. The agency has responded by producing the clutter-breaking ‘Talk to me' campaign. But the same can't be said of other toothpaste brands like Aquafresh, Anchor Gel and Promise Gel."

Nishi Suri, executive director, O&M, feels that ‘sexy' advertising is not related to any category, but to "how sexy you make it". She insists that for memorable advertising in any category, the essential prerequisites are a sexy idea, and a client who'll buy that idea. But she admits that "high-involvement" categories that allow agencies the opportunity to do good advertising, adding that "it's a pity that here we do not have highly involving advertising".

One of the reasons why the so-called un-sexy categories might be getting out better ideas is the nature of those categories. "You have to work so much harder to engage the consumer in low-involvement categories," says Suri. That, and the fact that almost everything that can be said about the product/brand has already been said. "When there are no new product insights, you leverage psychological insights to make your ad memorable."

The one thing that comes across strongly is that formats cannot substitute for ideas. Those categories where the advertising has broken out of formats are the ones where the creative output is better. And this is most apparent in the case of toothpastes and shampoos. Car and bike advertising, on the other hand, is bound too much by ‘product sell'.

And that, perhaps, is the larger and more serious issue. "Marketing, as a whole, seems to be relying more on selling and sales promotion, rather than marketing as we classically know it," says Sam Balsara, chairman, Madison Communications. "Marketing men have become more responsible for month-end sales as lots of salaries and bonuses depend on that. That's why the ads that we see are aimed more at making a sale, rather than creating a demand. Marketing has forgotten the responsibility of building brands, and that is the biggest marketing myopia that is happening. This does not augur well for advertising and marketing."

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