These are days of gender sensitivity. And this attribute alone can be not just a great differentiator, but also a tool to build brand salience based on all the right values. There’s this ad for Lloyd’s washing machines which struck a chord in this area. Created by RK Swamy BBDO, it shows a couple at a white goods store. When the salesperson asks the husband if he would like to look at a washing machine he points in the direction of his wife and says, “Show it to her, this is her department.” The young lady asks the salesperson if he has a unisex washing machine. The husband remarks that all washing machines wash both ladies’ and men’s clothes, and walks right into the trap set for him. The young lady then remarks that their machine must be a ladies-only machine because he never seems to operate it. And that’s the cue for the salesperson to talk about the easy operating features of the Lloyd washing machine. Very embarrassed, the young man looks on while the salesperson says it’s so easy ‘even Sir can use it”. Ending on a positive note, the ad shows the young man explain the operating features himself. I don’t know whether this will get the men to do the washing, but the communication will resonate with women, who are the primary target audience. And if it tugs a wee bit at the male conscience, it would have gone beyond its brief. I like it. Write in and tell us if you have seen any gender-sensitive advertisements.
No more wallet-watching
Everyone carries a wallet. In a hip pocket, a side pocket, in a handbag. I carry two. One for money and the other for sundry cards (airlines, hotels, credit cards, clubs, photo IDs). But there’s a new wallet on the block. And it comes inside your phone. Payment wallets are advertising themselves in a big way these days and going by the kind of investor attention they have received, the future seems to be headed in their direction. I watched the advertising for MobiKwik with great interest. First, I like the name. It gave me a quick synopsis of what the product had on offer. Then I liked the films. At least two of them. The nude model whose grandmother keeps asking him to recharge sim cards, TV charges, and so on, on his phone was kind of cute. It told me that paying these charges was a cinch. You could do it while posing nude for an art class. Even if you had to stand very still. I also liked the one where a person in a movie ticket queue notices his wallet is being stolen by a pickpocket and runs after him, stopping to pay for the tickets, some water, a burger and so on, from his phone. Finally he catches up with the thief only to tell him there was nothing in the wallet, and that the days of pickpockets were over. For wallets, at least. So I understood I don’t need to carry my wallet with the cash in it. My phone would do that job. Nice. I’m beginning to think I could use one of these digital wallets. That’s the power of good advertising. Now if someone could find a digital way to carry all those cards … Oh, I notice the cute little use of a bald man’s expressive face as a kind of continuing motif towards the end of each of these TVCs. Interesting! Reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock appearing silently and enigmatically in all his films.
Ever thought of a chocolate as “bubbly?” No, neither have I. But that’s what catches your attention, right? So you have Cadbury’s Silk Bubbly. It’s supposed to be all that the original Silk has been to you plus the bubbly feel that is so new to us. And the commercial sticks to the old well-loved song for Silk with this young lady and young man blowing balloons. The narrative is eminently forgettable. What is memorable are the expressions of the stars, the song which we have grown to like and mark my words, the young lady. She will go places. You heard of that here first.
Addendum is a weekly column that takes a sometimes hard, sometimes casual, sometimes irreverent yet never malicious look at some of the new or recent advertisements and comments on them.