Brand Recall

Found this article in AgencyFaqs! which talks about the colonial hangover. The author has also considered distinctly ‘phirang’ brands, which has come out with an extremely desi concept for its advertising. A good example at that would be Chevrolet (for its corporate campaign). While there are cases like these, I don’t think a generalisation like this article talks about is really true.

How else would you sell lets say, a brand like Coutons, which has very international designs to the poor-rich urban Indian? While every Indian aspires to be Global, when it comes to lifestyle offerings, the brand portraying a global look is certainly welcome. Having said that I should commend Indian Terrain (by Celebrity fashions) for their international look with distinctly Indian advertising. Maybe, they have just got their idea right!

Agreed that the print & outdoor media is filled with white skins selling products to extremely desi community. But that is targetting a minor segment of the population. Typically the Page 3 (and aspirant Page 3) community.  But for public at large, I think that these ‘phirang’ press advertisements are just entertainment value. A visual relief as the advertising community would put it, from seeing the same woman modelling for Cycle Brand Agarbathis, Hamam Soap & maybe Dinesh Suitings! They just look at these ads and move on in life!

Just an aside. Having been in the advertising industry for a while, I understand that these phirang models (quite a few Russians & Europeans) are ready to do a jig or two initally for free and then for sometimes as cheap as 2000 bucks to fund their rest of the backpacking exercise. You just need to check the right places!!!

Maybe this is not a colonial hangover! Maybe it is. But hey, what the hell! just enjoy good advertising rather than good advertisements. Right? Ultimately the product & the brand should make a lasting impression. And so long as it is a honest attempt to bring out the qualities of the brand, then there is probably nothing wrong in doing so!