Look at me! : When brands tease eyes

Multiple teaser campaigns have hit outdoors simultaneously and how! Here’s a look at some of them

Teasers have been part of brand campaigns for a long time. And recently, many brands have vied for attention with their respective teaser campaigns.

What’s interesting is that most of these teasers have been done using the outdoor medium to engage and intrigue consumers. Idea Cellular, DNA, Aegon Religare and Union Bank of India are few of the brands which have recently launched such teasers.

Union Bank of India’s brand transformation employed an outdoor teaser campaign. The teaser consisted of a three-step process, where the first ad displayed the old logo with a bird peeling off the top right corner of a hoarding just slightly. The second one was the same, but the top layer was peeled off a little more, revealing a portion of the new logo; while the third step showed the complete new logo.

The ‘KILB’ campaign for Aegon Religare Insurance too used effective outdoor teasers, on bus shelters, bus panels and mobile hoardings. Creatives suiting the specific format were done. For instance, on bus panels, the teaser said, “Is bus mein safar karne wale zyaadatar yaatri KILB ke shikar hain.”

But why do brands prefer outdoor as a medium, when it comes to teaser campaigns? Most experts agree that the opportunity to see teasers in outdoor is higher, as compared to other media, such as print and TV.

Nabendu Bhattacharyya, president Ogilvy Action – India, points out to afaqs!, “A teaser campaign works better in outdoor, as the number of registrations (or visibility) is higher due to multiple touch points across outdoor formats; hence, it creates impact in consumers’ minds.”

“Outdoor uses consumers’ dead time or free time, like while they are on the move, when their mind is free, and hence the relevance. A couple of registrations on the way to office or to shopping create curiosity, if the content is attention grabbing,” he adds.

Raghu Bhat, VP & ECD, Contract Advertising, who has worked on both the Aegon Religare and DNA Bangalore campaigns, is also of the opinion that outdoor works better when it comes to teaser campaigns. He remembers one such campaign, which he thinks is still memorable: “The entire city of Mumbai was plastered with the ‘V’ symbol. Now, at that time, a movie called Vijaypath was to hit the theaters, which starred Ajay Devgan and Tabu. Many thought it was promotions for that; but turned out it was for the launch of Channel in India!”

For its Mumbai launch in August, Idea Cellular came up with a cool outdoor teaser campaign, which showed people from different backgrounds and cities like a Bengali woman, a Canadian man, a Delhiite, and so on, all with corresponding lines on the creatives, like ‘Yeh Bengal ki hai, Mumbai ki nahin’, or ‘Yeh Canada ka hai, Mumbai ka nahin’. The reveal and launch campaign showed the same people with their Idea Cellular connections, smiling and saying, ‘Mera number Mumbai ka, toh main Mumbai ki’, and so on.

Similarly, DNA also went in for a teaser when it launched in Bangalore recently. This was done in phases too, using only hoardings, where 60-70 per cent hoardings were taken up in prime locations in the south city.

Both these campaigns – the Idea Cellular Mumbai launch and the DNA Bangalore launch – were city-specific. Industry observers say that in such cases, outdoor scores over television or print, as it can be used in a controlled manner; moreover, the creatives can be tweaked for a specific city.

Television, or at times, even print, can have national presence.

Another important aspect that advertising professionals point out is that a teaser on outdoor is much more cost efficient, while TV and print are definitely more expensive.

However, industry experts also put in a word of caution. While tease could mean to ‘arouse curiosity’ it could also mean to ‘annoy persistently’. As Praveen Vadhera, country head, OOH, 141 Wall Street (Bates’ OOH division) says, “The history of teasers proves that most outdoor teaser campaigns have been effective. They’ve all worked, be it the Balbir Pasha teaser or the Digen Verma one for Frooti. The main aim is to generate intrigue. But you have to see how relevant the teaser is in the context of the brand. It can’t just be a gimmick.”

Bhat of Contract also thinks that intriguing someone or catching the attention is the easy part, but the reveal campaign should live up to its teaser. He says, “It should not let people down, because after all, they have invested time and energy looking, analyzing these teasers and trying to guess what it is. They should get return on investment on their time; otherwise, they feel cheated. This ROI would be in terms of some information that would be useful to them.”

Adding to that, he says, “To quote an analogy, I think teasers are like ‘treasure hunts’. The treasure should be worth the entire search; and in the case of teasers, they should be worth all the guessing. Once people find the treasure, they should feel victorious and not be repentant.”

Bhat is of the opinion that while teasers can be done using print, TV, outdoor, or radio; but the most impactful, safest and reliable medium to create buzz and intrigue through teasers are outdoors.

However, Vadhera is quick to point out that though outdoor can be used to build intrigue, the functionality is limited. OOH teasers cannot be used to build brand perception. If a line or two has to be displayed it works well, but TV works better to build perception as compared to other media.

Bhattacharyya of OgilvyOne also cautions that the time limit for a teaser should not be too long, not more than three or four days; otherwise, it runs the risk of being hijacked. He cites the example of DNA’s teaser campaign for its Mumbai launch in 2005 being hijacked by Maharashtra Times. In this campaign, DNA’s hoardings in Mumbai showed faces of people with their mouths pasted over by grey tape and the tagline, ‘Speak up: It’s in your DNA’. Soon after, a series of advertisements appeared in all the Times group publications. These showed people peeling grey tapes off their mouths, with the tagline, ‘Speak up, it’s in your DNA - Maharashtra Times’. What followed was a long legal battle.

For now, a wandering eye, while walking, driving, or commuting is bound to catch new teaser campaigns galore.