It's time to do ctrl+alt+del for technology adverts

99.99 per cent of the civilized world do not understand the technology advertisements

Abraham M. Alapatt

I’m not a 'techie'. So, sue me. I admit, talks about C++ doesn’t turn me on. I’m just an average 33-year-old MBA, with 9 odd years of work experience, who uses MS Office competently, and seems to be surviving at this point.

But what I definitely am is a consumer. Of goods, services and end-user technology.

And surprisingly, there seem to be very few brands in the 'technology' space that realise that talking 'technology' doesn’t necessarily impress or connect with the world outside their boardrooms.

Technology is a great leveler. Changing rapidly. Unfriendly. Mystifying. Sometimes, mildly terrorising. It keeps challenging people’s ability to change and adapt.

With growing convergence, everyone is in the technology business - Internet companies, Telcos, software providers, hardware providers, mobile communication providers and media companies.

People in the technology businesses are projecting themselves as experts, as people of the future, as inventors. As people who introduce something new every day. And a shipload of clichés such as Touching tomorrow, Solving problems, Changing the future and other mass-produced, eminently forgettable phrases, which mostly remain just a baseline.

Has there been any research to analyse if any of these hi-tech ads with even higher sounding promises have any 'connect' with the target audience?

The stock response is, “The people who should 'connect', will.”

I’m sorry. I don’t buy that answer.

If that’s true, and I’m not one of those privileged consumers who 'connect' with such adverts, I wonder about the rationale of advertising in a medium like the magazine I read, or the TV programme, I watch? These media are – and I'm willing to bet on this – reaching out to a whole lot of people like me, who aren’t 'connecting'!!

My take: It's time for a reality check.

We are usually trying to communicate something desirable about the company, its technological advantage(s) and why proospective customers should buy its products/services, buy its shares, or award a contract.

And, this is quite simply a serious, definitive business-communication task.

Wrapping up pompous sounding phrases with an arbit collage of a fibre-optic cable and an optical mouse taking off a table with a totally unconnected, equally irrelevant baseline that promises to change my life along with my family (and future generations), while I still haven’t figured out what business the advertiser is in, just isn’t what the doctor prescribed!

There are some notable exceptions – like IBM and Hutch that have handled this task very differently.

IBM’s classic 'Solutions for a small planet' and its campaigns even today 'On Demand business – by IBM' are classic examples of communicating the bigger, more connectible effect of technology than actually trying to knock me back with a truckload of jargon. The overall effect: Nice ad. Big company. Big solutions that work.

These are instances where I connected and 'got' the picture.

Hutch took the less traveled route of not showing mobile phones or talking about 'enhanced response' technology, or whatever, but instead, created an entire cult of simplistic, friendly, open and easy to understand communication that made sure people liked it and therefore, wanted to get it.

My understanding: Whether individual or corporate, people want solutions. They want simple, easy solutions. And, the consumers want them fast.

So, in a rapidly evolving field that baffles consumers, we should be seen as - simple, friendly and innovative. Beginning with our communication.

Let us recognize that technology advertising really doesn’t have to have a picture of someone using a computer, or yet another innovative use of an optical mouse, or a disintegrating fibre-optic cable.

It definitely should not be full of jargon that I along with some 99.99 per cent of the civilized world do not understand, or is so clichéd that nobody will even want to know!

Fact 1: Most CEOs of technology companies aren’t techies.

Fact 2: All employees or people connected directly & indirectly with IT, ITES, BPO companies in India together constitute less than 1 per cent of India's population.

Fact 3: I can (after 9-plus years in the advertising business) recall the advertising of only 4-5 brands in the 'technology' space.

Fact 4: Educated humans who understand the terms 'technology' or 'IT', do not need to see a computer or mouse to 'connect'.

Fact 5: Educated humans look at technology ads with a real world perspective – clutter, noise etc. So the same rules apply to such adverts – you need to be short, snappy, different, interesting and work at an emotional level for recall.

Fact 6: I’ve run out of facts.

Do you 'get' the picture?

(The author is the Client Services Director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising & Practice Group Partner – Ogilvy Business Network, Chennai.)

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