I, Consumer

For marketers, consumers hold similar status as the NS5 did for Will Smith in the movies I, Robot. Consumers are a huge number of living beings who have the purchasing power (or believe they do) to buy products dished out by companies 24/7. A major fact that these marketers ignore is that unlike the NS5, consumers have both an IQ and EQ. And just like in the movie there are some who believe, think and act, like Sunny.

Consumers fall into a major group known as the ‘target market’. All product offerings; from the product itself to the color of the package, the price, the font of the logo/brand name to the model(s) in the ads are done keeping us (the target market) in mind. Or so the books say. [Most marketers out there have just studied Kotler and his bible on marketing].

One important part of the product offering is the advertisement. As the target market for numerous products, we are bombarded with dozens of ads every single day. Not a moment goes by when we do not encounter something, somewhere, selling anything to us. Whether it’s the television, the radio, the newspaper, the magazines or the billboards (in every size known to man) - we are surrounded by ad bugs. In fact, ruled by them!

Why is the ad so important? The ad does a lot of things. Especially when a product is launched, an ad creates awareness. How else would the target market know that they are the target if ads are not splashed all over them? It is when they see all these glitzy, glamorous and at times, sing along ads, that they come to know of the existence of a product. [And thus begins the cat and mouse chase. Cat: company; Mouse: consumer]

Bookish definition aside, ads have adopted an important role. The influx of so many channels in the recent years has completely changed the role of media, especially broadcast media. Higher number of channels means more places to show the ads and reach the poor consumer. They can’t run away from the ads for no matter which channel they switch to, sooner or later, they will have to face the music, literally! (The cat & mouse chase!)

In a country where the vast majority belongs to the lower middle and middle class, these ads become a reflection of the society at large. Often the real target market of the ads is small, a mere niche, but since it is aired on all channels the audience increases. Thus ads set standards for things like success, beauty and other stuff. Now more than ever, people consider success to be a post paid connection and glamour to be locked into a bottle of shampoo.

Ads promote and shape certain values. Fair&Lovely has been forever promoting the concept that only fair skin women have the best in life. Whether it is marriage, job or just looking pretty-you need to be fair. A great value to promote in a country where the vast majority is dark skinned! And in the hope to become ‘the fairest of them all’ – girls have made Fair&Lovely a cash cow for Unilever.

Coming to a more recent example of promoting values brings me to the new milk brand to storm into the market. Olwell, a brand of Engro Foods, was launched with a lot of fanfare recently. One night you went to sleep after having a warm glass of Nesvita and the next morning the whole concept of drinking milk had made a 180 degree turn! Milk is not just healthy, it’s glamorous! And of course, what you saw in the ad was something you could relate to - a guy standing at his window, a pretty girl stepping out of her limo and some people working out in the gym.

Now what is wrong with that? Except that the guy is wearing boxer short only, nothing. The pretty girl is dressed in a very revealing red gown and the young men and women are working out a la’ Jane Fonda style. All activities that the average Pakistani can relate to! The icing on the cake is the fact that it is perfectly okay to check out girls’ bare lower back at the gym. Bravo!

What has happened to us? Is it a lack of creativity on the part of the so called brilliant marketers or just that they believe the target market to be a group of NS5 robots? What were they thinking when they approved this milk ad in their plush board room? But then, these people are not alone in making such ‘targeted’ ads. Enter the telecom giant Telenor, who have the latest Talk Shawk ad to their credit.

There are three ingredients in this ad which make a perfect recipe for disaster; a dance sequence copied from an old Bollywood flick, a kurkure look Sonya Jehan and (yawn!) Ali Zafar. Telenor thinks of their target market as NS5 robots that have to be taught everything in the form of nursery rhymes. Well, we consumers like Jazz. They might have connectivity issues but hey, at least they know who we are! Also, Iman is hotter than Sonya.

But all is not lost. There are those marketers who do realize that their target market consists of living, thinking, feeling human beings. The MCB Visa ad actually makes you feel good about being a consumer. The ‘menace that credit card is’ debate aside, the ad reaches its target market perfectly. The song is brilliant (Waqar Ali does his magic yet again!) and the execution, so true to what our society is nowadays. [Note to Olwell: you can sell a product without displaying so much flesh].

Or take Ufone Postpay. The ads tell a story of what the product can do for executives. Ufone might be poor as far as image and connectivity is concerned but you have to give them credit for reaching out to their target market right on target! Talking about post paid connections brings to my mind the new Indigo idiocy being played on television these days. Yet another story of a brand that at times, thinks of consumers as mere NS5 robots.