"Loading..."

The art of being inconspicuously absent

by

Did you notice the empty chair?

Are you wondering what's that got to do with marketing?

Well, a lot.

In fact, it's a cornucopia of learnings.......that if you are tuned into what's there to pick and learn!

And this is how it goes.

Premiering in an Empty Theatre Near You

Ever wondered why brands splurge aimlessly and mindlessly during festival times? Ever picked a newspaper during festival times to play a little 'Find the News' game while you turn and turn some more of those 'innovative sleeves' and 'jackets' full of ads and jazzy product pictures? Or ever seen a TV show with presenters running out of breath calling out this pan masala as the main sponsor and that diaper brand as their hygiene partner?

It doesn't take long before each communication piece turns into a blind spot for the audiences. Remotes take a beating, radio plays more transitionary static between channel changes than its content and newspapers collect dust on a much higher thread count gloss paper.

Chances are certain that you have scratched your head on why brands do this?

I had the privilege of speaking to both sides of the tables on reasons why and here is the excerpt of what I learnt:

Brand Side
  1. Brands must be seen during the festival time.
  2. Fashion brands do almost 40% of their annual business during this time. This is time to be seen.
  3. Customers are in an aggressive buying mental space, out there to look for deals.
Consumer side
  1. It's ok to see couple of ads but when one scrolls/browses through a website, a newspaper or TV and see only ads, the mind switches off.
  2. Those ads rarely engage them. No one said they rushed to stores after seeing any of those ads.
  3. It's a routine that consumers have learnt to ignore.
  4. Over exposure, that too with discount campaigns at times makes the brand lose its aspirational feel.

Running ads in such times (as understood from consumers' reactions) is akin to a film premier in an empty theatre. Agree, the screen is the biggest there is but there is hardly any viewership. It vindicates the age old adage: when media gets cheap, attention gets expensive.

How much clutter will it take to break through all this clutter?
Remember, brands piling on media for their communication serve to only undercut each other and the affinity of the media itself. It's the worst cannibalism possible. And each is guilty
So How Does One Play 'Being Inconspicuously Absent'?
  1. Start the campaign way earlier. Be the first mover. If for Diwali, start around June. Beat the competition with your timing.
  2. Build communication channels on the premise of permission marketing. Offer them a platform, get them to sign up for deals, circumvent the media me-too-esque clutter, engage them there and broadcast your deals there.
  3. Pass on the benefits of not spending on media inventory to the consumers. Gratify them for investing their attention.
  4. Be upfront with the consumers. Tell them, if they want to grab the best deals for festivals, they must sign up way in advance. Tell them you know they don't like ads or would miss your communication in swamp of communication during festivals.
  5. Figure out a low competition media. In SEO parlance, figure out the long tail media. The ones with low viewership and then go for quantity.
  6. Figure a more direct and interactive way of engaging consumers. Whatsapp, Telegram, FB bots etc.

On a strategy level, brands can also:

Leverage symbiotic marketing. Find brands that can partner with you. Recall Flipkart's ad. Buy it on Flipkart, sell it on OLX. Was an ideal example of symbiosis
Leverage symbiotic marketing. Find brands that can partner with you. Recall Flipkart's ad. Buy it on Flipkart, sell it on OLX. Was an ideal example of symbiosis
Card Mila kya?
Leverage curiosity instead of traditional 'in-your-face' communication. Recall the latest Kotak Bank communication. I was intrigued while looking at the hoarding for few seconds. And that 'few seconds' is the parameter every communication piece is vying for

In the end, must highlight that occasion marketing when started was disruptive. Only few brands took a liking for it. And then everyone joined. That was the end of its impact.

Today as we stand, it's a blindspot. To beat that few brands have been bold enough to create fake holidays and celebrate it. The most hilarious I found was this:

THE NATIONAL UNDERWEAR DAY
THE NATIONAL UNDERWEAR DAY
It has its merits and demerits. That's for some other article may be.

(Do share your thoughts on how you think brands can beat the festival blindspots. Let's learn together.)