Similar to sustainability, healthy living has also become an area of interest for the consumers. A few health focused campaigns have been done by companies in which the message has been that their product causes lesser hazard to health than other products in the market.
Messages in Health Focused campaigns
Campaigns like product is dust-free or does not release any VOC (Volatile Organic compounds) or does not emit any harmful chemicals during their lifetime have caught lot of tractions among the building material manufacturers. Asian Paints ran a campaign around their paints being dust-free, which caused a lot of interest among the buyers.
With several types of diseases/ pandemics arising due to microorganisms, building materials have also done their advertisement that their products do not allow mold development or does not allow bacteria/ virus growth. One of the three benefits advertised for Supercolour was that it is Anti-fungal and it helped in attracting the end users.
Then there are other properties which build on the product being favourable to healthy life. Easy to clean, good light reflectance, and abrasion resistance are a few of the features which promote comfortable living and are used by the commodity companies in their health focused campaigns.
Health is an ever-evolving field. All health focused campaigns need to be backed with proper market research and scientific study so that the campaign does not backfire later and cause damage to the brand image.
“Go Green” is the new buzzword and Marketing Communications cannot ignore the environment focused campaigns. Companies need to build a perception about themselves that they have a socio-environmental agenda. This increases the acceptance of their products in the market. Not only the product’s features or its manufacturing but also the other activities the company indulges in should have a positive bearing on the ecosystem.
Communication in Environment focused campaigns
There are several themes around which communications are developed for environment focused campaigns. Some are around environment conservation theme. A few companies advertise that their product does not cause any damage to the nature due their bio-degradable nature. They do innovations in the packaging to make it bio-degradable as discarding of the packaging material is a big challenge for the users. A few also advertise that they have reduced their dependence on natural resources and are using more of industrial wastes so that natural resources are conserved for future generations.
JSW Cement has built its marketing campaign around being an eco-friendly cement company. They are trying to take the pole position in promoting Portland Slag Cement (PSC), which is considered to cause lesser CO2 impact to the environment than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). PSC manufacturing uses slag, an otherwise useless by-product from steel industry and gives better long-term strength than OPC.
Conservation of energy is another popular marketing message in the environment focused campaigns. Companies claim that usage of their brands will lead to lesser electricity usage at home. A few companies promote the fact that they are harnessing solar or wind energy or using recycled water for their manufacturing processes. Few companies have switched to technologies which allow for conservation of energy. For a few companies, it is not possible to conserve energy due to the nature of their business. So, they engage in activities which are towards providing renewable energy or clean environment to a community and use it for their PR activities.
Today’s consumer is more environment conscious and is willing to pay an extra buck if the product contributes to the cause of sustainability. Environment focused campaigns also help in bringing the influencers like architects and interior designers to the company’s fold. The role of architects becomes here more important as “Green Building” or “Net Zero” are good selling points for them when they are pitching to their clients and they are looking for products which helps the buildings designed by them achieve this. The support from the government bodies in promoting a particular product category is also more forthcoming if the product does not harm nature or conserves natural resources.
Internal challenges
Apart from advertisement, companies also try to imbibe being environment focused in their work culture, and not just do lip service to the environment. They undertake cleanliness drives and often encourage their customers to participate in them. Care is taken to ensure resources within the company are not wasted.
Environment focused campaigns need to be very carefully planned as any wrong claim can be challenged in a court of law and cause unnecessary damage to the company’s reputation. All claims should have proper data back-up.
TV, radio, theatres and other electronic media are widely used these days for commodity brands promotion. Each has its merits and demerits and companies need to be very prudent while deciding on electronic media advertising strategy.
Electronic media advertising
Television
Television is an expensive proposition for electronic media advertising but has reach to almost every household. However, the space has become very cluttered due to too many brands running their advertisements on TV. On TV, there are two types of advertisements. First type is 15-30 seconds advertisement which is played between programs. In second type, during the program itself, an L-band or top/ bottom band advertisement is displayed. A third type also exists. There are dedicated TV channels, running advertisement for a product continuously for 15 minutes or even longer.
Cinema Theatres
Advantage of movie theatre advertisement is that there is a captive audience there who cannot ignore the communication. However, not everyone is a movie buff and do not go to watch movies to theatres very frequently. It is a cheaper medium and spot durations are generally longer than TV ads, though the cost of production is the same as TV ad.
Radio
Listening to radio is no more prevalant in the urban households and is on a decline in rural areas also. However, during travel, in shopping malls, in small mom-and-pop shops, in eating joints, and other public places, radios are still used.
Digital OOH
Digital Out-of-Home advertisement can be seen in malls, airports, railway stations, bus stands and now-a-days even in the lift lobbies of residential complexes. People read the advertisements while waiting for something. It can be a static image or a video. The content can be periodically changed remotely to keep freshness in the communication if the medium is on a network.
Advertisement for commodities plays a major role in forming perception of a brand, especially because the quality of a commodity is not easily measurable or visible. All cement brands are grey in colour, all glass look equally transparent and all steel rods look equally strong.
Proper choice of media to ensure maximum reach is very important. In their zeal to advertise, companies often reach out to those people who are not the potential buyers or influencers, leading to spillage.
Drafting the message in the advertisement for commodities is a very skillful task. The communication should strike the tacit needs of the customers. In my experience of cement, I observed that strength has become an over-used word in the industry. So, at the time of launch of Solid HD+ cement in Odisha, we tried to distinguish enduringness of structures from the initial strength of concrete. Also, market study told us that aesthetics had become an important consideration for home builders. So cement also has to contribute to the aesthetics of the house. This led to High Durability & High Designability as the positioning USP for the brand and all marketing communications harped on these two promises of the product.
Tag lines and USPs to be promoted need a lot of consideration before finalization.
Media of advertisement for commodities
There are several media of advertisement for commodities, which can be broadly classified under one of the three types.
Above the Line (ATL): Untargeted like TV advertisement, newspaper, radio, hoardings, etc.
Below the Line (BTL): Targeted to a specific audience or region like fliers in newspaper in a specific area, customer meetings, in-shop advertisement, email marketing, trade shows/ exhibitions, event sponsorship, targeted Search engine optimization (SEO), etc.
Through the Line (TTL): It is an integrated approach where both ATL and BTL advertisement strategies are combined. Digital marketing where objective is both brand building among a large audience as well as targeted marketing for a specific online customer is an example of TTL.
All media, including print, electronic (TV/ radio/ theatre), out-of-home, online, marketing literature, point-of-purchase, events etc. have varying roles to play in the advertisement for commodities. Selection has to done basis the their reach and type of consumers. If there is need of mass coverage, consciously select print or TV media. The thumb rule is to advertise at least in the top two newspaper publications if print is the selected medium. Similarly, advertise in TV channels with good TRP if electronic media advertisement is the requirement. Celebrity endorser, if any, has to be in-line with the ethos of the brand.
OOH and POP advertising need proper recce of the geographies to ensure maximum visibility. Advertisement for commodities should also ensure that the captive audience gets the message sound and clear from the advertisement.
Digital marketing and development of brochures & leaflets should be done by specialized agencies if the expertise is not there in the company because among all media, they provide the most detailed information about the product and should achieve the correct positioning of the brand. Promotional events like trade shows, on-ground activation, customer/ influencers meetings, cause marketing activities and public relation events are opportunities where the customer gets to interact with the company personnel. In all these events, a uniform messaging is a must. The brand equity should not get diluted.
Advertisement is often the second largest expenditure for sales promotion, after channel discounts. So, it requires close monitoring during execution. Companies often depend on the agencies for execution of marketing activities. They do not monitor the execution closely. Later, reality strikes and they is no clue as to why there is no uptick in sales, despite such heavy spend.
