Dr. Mani Kamerkar Memorial Seminar

On

“Cultural Renaissance in 19 th & 20 th Century India” Date: 11 October 2008Venue: MPSS Hall

Title: Ad-impact: Changes in 20 th Century India (1975-2000) Author Details: Ms. Suchita Patel – Project Manager

Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation C/o The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd. Energy House, 81, D. N. Road, Mumbai – 400 001.

Email: suchita2001us@yahoo.com, suchita2001us@gmail.com Contact: 09322767487

Index

1. Synopsis ………………………………………………………………………….3

2. Introduction………………………………………………………………….……4

3. Changes in Advertisement………………………………………………………..7

4. Psychological orientation & Consumer behavior: Case study…………..……...10

5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….12

6. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..14

Acknowledgement

In the process of preparing this paper, I would like to take an opportunity to thank few people who have helped me gathering the advertisement. I would first like to thank my ex-student Mr. Aadarsh Sharma and his colleagues from Ogilvy & Matters Agency who helped me in searching the commercials of Cadbury. Moreover, would also like to thank the marketing manager of Mc Donald Mr. Nandakumar Rao and HR head Mr. Gaurav Yadav, who shared the details of the Mc Donald’s establishment and challenges stories in India and imparting the CD of Ad films.

Synopsis

Ad-impact: Changes in 20th Century India (1975 – 2000)

Advertising is an art of sharing information and attracting people. The history of

advertising takes us back in time to the ancient days. The institutionalization and

professionalization began in the year 1800. This paper mainly concentrates on two key

words “sharing information” and “attracting people.” The era in which, study conducted is

known as problematic seventies for Indian advertising world. It not only marks the

development of the advertising medium in India but also the language and promotion style

changes to draw the attention of the audience.

Advertisement does play a major role on the society. It just not only introduces the

product but also it creates awareness amongst the masses and generates the market for the

product to estimate the impact on the consumers. Ads remained no more print Ads, but as

television commercial. In this paper with the illustration of two or one Ad, explains how

Ads promotion draws attention of the laymen and makes it as his or her brand product. On

the other hand, it also gives an opportunity to the production houses to understand the

need of the consumer, which helps him to make variation to introduce new product to the

consumer. Hence, it helps in bridging the bond of relation between consumer and brand.

Introduction

Advertising is a complex phenomenon- intimately tied to society, culture, history,

and the economy – that defies any single or simple definition. Some aspects of it are

universal, whereas others are culturally specific. It provides with information, often

cajoles, and always attempts to persuade. It also encodes cultural values and social ideals.

It can work in dual force with a positive and negative impact in society and the economy.

We only know it when we see it. Though we see everyday but it is something that we take

it for granted, seldom think about what it is or how did it come into existence. However,

what is this thing called advertising?

Defining advertising broadly is as old as humanity: indeed, much older; for what

are the flaunting colors of the flowers but so many invitations to the bees to come and

“buy our product.” Everything is already there: the striking forms, the brilliant hues, even

the “conditioning of the customer”…Advertising might be defined as any device, which

first arrests the attention of the passer-by and then induces him to accept a mutually

advantageous exchange.1 The oxford reference dictionary quotes, the word advertisement

originally emerged from the old French word “advertir”2 which means a notice or

information. Advertising as defined by Harris & Seldon (1962) as a public notice

`designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of marketable goods

and services'3. Understanding more precisely advertisement is all about thought process

that generates new ideas and creativity to create a place and platform for the new product

in the market. According to Chunawalla (1985), the form of advertising for the

1 De Vries, Leonard, Victorian Advertisements. London: William Cloves and Sons Ltd, 1968. p. 6. 2 Soanes Catherine., 2004 – The Compact Oxford Reference Dictionary, New York, Oxford University Press – Pg No. 11.

3 Harris, R. and Seldon, A., 1962 – Advertising and the public, London, Longmans – Pg No 40.

transmission of information dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, when criers and signs

were used to carry information for advertising goods and services. This practice was

continued even during the middle ages4.

The history and development of advertising as we know it today dates from

yesterday. The history of advertising in all its forms harks back through the ages and into

the haze that the beginning of humanity. Earlier selling, however, was oral or face-to-face.

Tracing advertising back to the civilization state of man is, of course, that oral

salesmanship was the progenitor of advertising. The industrial revolution witnessed the

technical changes in a form of print media. In India, first advertisement was flashed in 18th

century. New form of art such as cartoon figures and paintings started replacing more of

the text part in 19th century. These art played major role in influencing the masses and

created awareness in the society for the products. Harper’s Weekly is the best-known

magazine, which has flashed maximum of such advertisements. For instance, Civil War

Products, such as, Metallic Artificial Legs Made of Corrugated Brass5. The other such

example is of the yeast powder, such as, Taylor & Young Pioneer Yeast Powder6. This

art manage to reach the masses but was not able to rule the face-to-face salesmanship to

reach the mass audience. Since language also plays important role in creating an Ads. In

India usage of local language had not began to draw the major attention of the market.

4 Chunawalla, Sethia. 1985. Foundations of Advertising Theory and Advertising. Bombay : Himalaya Publishing House.

5 Harper’s Weekly, September 5, 1863, Pg 575.6 Harper’s Weekly, November 4, 1865, Pg 702.

7

8

Changes in Advertisement

In late twenties, two English companies JWT (1926) and O & M (1928) laid the

foundation of professional business of advertising. . However, B. Dattaram & Co’s

National Advertising is known to be the India’s own oldest advertising agency in India

followed by many others9. In the mid thirties and early forties has witnessed several

national and international Advertising agencies flourishing. For instance, Lever

7 http://advertising.harpweek.com/Examples/CivilWarProducts/AdsCivilWar1.htm

8http://advertising.harpweek.com/Examples/Techniques/CartoonsAndSymbols/ AdsCartoonsAndSymbols1.htm

9 www.advertisingjobs.india.com/advertising-agencies.htm

advertising in 1939, launches Dalda – the first major example of a brand and a marketing

campaign purely for Indian market, which later on became Lever International Advertising

Service (LINTAS). A film made by Duncan shows a bride’s father substituting pure ghee

for dalda on economic grounds, without compromising on taste. Cartoon strips of children

brought up on Dalda showed their heroic deeds in print media like chandamama and

Parag. Celebrity endorsement Ads was first signed by Lux with Leela Chitnis, in 1941.

Whereas, in 1943, Advertising & Sales Promotion Co (ASP), created first Ad for Amul

butter with the ever so popular tag line ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’. In the fifties agencies

which specialized on Ads of imported goods were affected.

It was in the sixties and early seventies that the concept of brand building appeared

on the scene. For instance, Ad of Amul chocolate – made for each other campaigns are

remarkable. Therefore, seventies is popularly, known as the period that brought

improvisation in a form of qualitative change in Indian advertising and media planning

became more systematic. It also made a remarkable entry with first television commercial.

In the eighties, it grew stronger. With the coming of color television, the demand in

the creative market gave a boost. It marked an entry with first television daily soap with

Hum Log on doordarshan and commercial Ad Vicco of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi sponsored it.

The early nineties is perceived to be tech savvy and its performance can be termed as

healthy.

Indian Market

Today advertising market has no doubt registered a rapid growth and has acquired

amount of professional characteristics. It is now open to the rural market as well. Ads are

no more restricted to the urban images. Advertisement is classified into non-commercial

and commercial. Non-commercial ads, do not involve in buying and selling but certain

ideas, morals are communicated to the common public from government agencies or some

associations or societies. It service provided may be for the charity, social welfare or

political propaganda. For instance, Ad campaign for plus polio, Aids, save the heritage site

by Incredible India etc. On the other hand, commercial ads are further classified into

consumer ads and prestige ads. For instance, consumer ads involves goods such as

washing powder, medicines etc. whereas, prestige ads focuses on services rendered in the

segment of insurance, banking etc.

Prior to these firms Indian Ads were in a form of classified. Indian advertising has

had many changing faces. ‘Creativity’ became the fulcrum of advertising agency’s march

towards leadership. Ads in pre independence were mostly about people goods, clothes,

traveling, eating-places, and some health tonics for the British in India. Ads such as

electrical appliance, motor cars, elevators, some elegant musical instruments etc in houses

were luxuries in those times, and their target audiences were the Britishers in India. It was

only after independence there evolved a newborn middle class who received attention of

advertiser. Perhaps, we see shift in Ads from luxury products to consumer durable

products. For India, it was an era of transformation, since women started working in the

offices. This phase saw the changes in socio-economic system of India. To meet the needs

of middle class population and raise the standard of living advertisement played a vital

role in the development process by creating a demand for consumer goods.

Products like refrigerators, kitchenware, frozen foods, or ready mixes for eatables,

soft drinks, preservative and canned juices etc have created their own demand. However,

to persuade consumer to buy the brand was a challenge, due to competitors in the market.

Hence, creators used the cultural, emotional, social, and economical aspect to sell the

product. For instance, Cadbury Ad – sometimes, Cadbury’s can say better than words. In

this Ad 3 product of Cadbury are flashed with three different moments. Father comes from

the office and son hugs the father and removes Dairy Milk from his pocket. Introducing

second product of Double Decker with orange wrapper where father and mother come

home and children are playing a train toy and father puts Double Decker on the train.

Third product Five-Star is placed aside his pillow for morning surprise to a boy who is fast

a sleep according to the parents who returns late at home. After they switch off the lights,

he gets up and happily eats the Five-Star. Hence, in one Ad three products were promoted

using the feeling of joy, gesture of love, and emotions of caring.

The sole purpose of advertising is to sell something-a product, a service, or merely

an idea through effective communication10. Analyzing the Cadbury Ad, company not only

endorses the product to the consumers but also attracts them to use it in certain occasions

too. It also gives choices and variation of the size and quality. This type of promotion

creates the brand loyalty to the product.

The important aspect where advertisement takes care is time and space that it

occupies in promoting the concept. Understanding the nature of business market, then

what does it sells. Market survives on the law of demand and supply. Similarly, market

research helps to bring new changes in the market by introducing new product or cutting

the cost and revising the same product. Therefore, it is a market that balances time and

space value.

Psychological orientation & Consumer behavior: Case study

Advertising is everywhere. Although there are occasional complaints about the

excessiveness of advertising, societies general, response is passivity. In most instances,

consumers understand advertising to be just that, seldom confusing it for anything else.

10 Sherlekar, S.A. 1995. Marketing Management. Bombay : Himalaya Publishing House.

Consumers today are so savoir-faire about advertising that it is almost as if the word

“Advertisement” automatically pops up on every single advertising message. Advertising

is tolerated, even if it is not appreciated. Consumers understand that its primary purpose is

to promote goods and services for sale and consumption. The secondary messages—about

family, race, social class, gender, values, and so on—tend to be passed over with only

occasional commentary. Few people think of advertisements as a powerful teacher of role

models, aspirations, relationships, citizenship, and happiness, although many such

additional messages are conveyed in ads.

What then do consumers think advertising means? Many claim to be uninfluenced

by it, although it is doubtful that this is true. Some talk about liking or hating ads or

finding them silly or funny. Others can summarize a commercial but fail to remember

which brand was being advertised. In this case, the ads function generically rather than

promoting specific brands. For the most part, consumers do not take ads very seriously.

Since the earliest TV commercials, consumers have often tried to avoid them by going out

of the room or turning their attention to another activity. Newer technologies, such as TV,

make avoiding commercials even easier. Ask a consumer what a particular ad means, and

you often get a response like, “It means you should buy that product.” Seldom do

consumers overtly mention all the other communications, messages, and meanings an ad

may have.

Thus, the usual strategy for interpreting ads employed by consumers is to “let them

speak on their own.” This means largely taking ads at face value. This is what the

producers of ads hope the audience will do, and it is their hope that the intended message

is straightforward and interesting enough for this to happen. The experts stand on the

sidelines offering interesting but largely non-influential commentaries. Both society as a

whole and the individuals who make it up tolerate or ignore ads, often letting their overt

meanings filter through screens of inattention.

Many ads attempt to create bonds of shared emotion between advertisers and

consumers. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the Maruti Alto car campaign

claiming, “Let’s go.” Various ads give reasons like “kuch meetha ho jai” and “Surat bhi

hai Khubsurat bhi hai” and “I’m loving it.” These ads attempt to show consumers that new

model launched tempts to go for a drive due to its automation techniques. Whereas, other

tags celebrates the occasion that was long awaited, beauty with the usage of the new Lux

soap, and one gets so engrossed in the taste of the burger that does everything that you

request. In doing this, the ads attempt to forge an emotional and aesthetic bond between

corporation and consumer.

Advertisement is the powerful tool, which persuades the act or believes of the

people. It affects most of us in different spheres of lives. It not only influences the

behavior of the people but also reflects the society’s value, culture, and structure. In order

to understand how it leaves its impression in the minds of people and helps in changing

the mindset of an individual. For instance, the product like Cadbury - In the early 90's,

chocolates were seen as 'meant for kids', usually a reward or a bribe for children. In the

Mid 90's the category was re-defined by the very popular `Real Taste of Life' campaign,

shifting the focus from `just for kids' to the `kid in all of us'. It appealed to the child in

every adult. In addition, Cadbury Dairy Milk became the perfect expression of

'spontaneity' and 'shared good feelings'. The 'Real Taste of Life' campaign had many

memorable executions, which people still fondly remember. However, the one with the

"girl dancing on the cricket field" has remained etched in everyone's memory, as the most

spontaneous & un-inhibited expression of happiness.

In the late 90's, to further expand the category, the focus shifted towards widening

chocolate consumption amongst the masses, through the 'Khanewalon Ko Khane Ka

Bahana Chahiye' campaign. This campaign built social acceptance for chocolate

consumption amongst adults, by showcasing collective and shared moments. The social

background used for the promotion was marriage, which is considered one of the biggest

celebrations and enough reason to eat sweets.

More recently, the 'Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye' campaign associated Cadbury Dairy Milk with

celebratory occasions and the phrase "Pappu Pass Ho Gaya" became part of street

language. Consumers have adopted it, and today it is used extensively to express joy in a

moment of achievement / success. In order to attract the Super star Amitabh Bachana is

cast to promote the product.

Other product is also of the same company which is been advertised since long time ago in

the market. Chocolate lovers for a quarter of a century have indulged their taste buds with

a Cadbury 5 Star. A leading knight in the portfolio of Cadbury, and the second largest

after Cadbury Dairy Milk. Cadbury 5 Star moves from strength to strength every year by

increasing its user base. Launched in 1969 as a bar of chocolate that was hard outside with

soft caramel nougat inside, Cadbury 5 Star has re-invented itself over the years to keep

satisfying the consumers taste for a high quality & different chocolate eating experience.

One of the key properties that Cadbury 5 Star was associated with was its classic Gold

color. Moreover, through the passage of time, both, the brand and the consumer stuck as a

valuable association to this one property. Cadbury 5 Star was always unique because of its

format and any communication highlighting this uniqueness, went down well with the

audiences. From 'deliciously rich, you'd hate to share it' in the 70's, to the 'lingering taste

of togetherness' & 'Soft and Chewy 5 Star' in the late 80's, the communication always paid

homage to the product format.

More recently, to give consumers another reason to come into the Cadbury 5 Star Gold,

Cadbury 5 Star Crunchy was launched. The same delicious Cadbury 5 Star was now

available with a dash of rice crispier.

Cadbury 5 Star & Cadbury 5 Star Crunchy now aims to continue the upward trend. This

different and delightfully tasty chocolate is well poised to rule the market as an extremely

successful brand. To seek the attention of the consumer it has also added the color blue

along with gold. Infact, company changed the strategy of promotion by not just

introducing the new product but also changing the outlook appearance from complete gold

to the combination of gold and blue.

Other product introduced by the company which shared both international and the national

market considering the taste of the local solace is Eclairs was first discovered by a local

confectionery firm in London, England in the 1960s. The firm then became part of

Cadbury in 1971 making Cadbury Eclairs the second largest brand in the company.

The experience of eating a Cadbury Dairy Milk Eclair is truly unique because of its

creamy caramel exterior and rich Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate at the center. In 2006,

Cadbury Dairy Milk Eclairs launched a crunchy Eclair with a hard caramel outside and

delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate inside called Cadbury Dairy Milk Eclairs Crunch.

In Indian market, Cadbury Dairy Milk Eclairs has been the most preferred brand in the

Eclairs category for years and has always been a favourite with consumers. Eclairs

advertising over the years have talked about the mesmerizing taste of Eclairs because of

the Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate it contains at its center. The 'Kar De Dil Pe Jadoo'

campaign illustrated this in a youthful college context. The Eclairs Crunch variant has also

had an encouraging response from both teens and pre-teens. Currently, the Eclair

consumer enjoys both the chewy and the crunchy variants.

One company with multiple products, with its international brand has not only

changed the way and style of promoting in generating the market but also attempted to

match the taste and culture of the place and the need of the society.

Conclusion

All advertising has to pass through the objective, “Build the business today, and

Brand value overtime.” Advertising is a powerful tool not to build a brand or leadership

but to maintain leadership. Advertising persuade consumer to involve with the product. It

varies from individual to individual, some may get highly involved, and some may be low.

For instance, when consumers identify with him or her and often takes time to decide upon

the brand to buy, then the involvement is high. Products such as TV, Refrigerator, Car,

Insurance etc. when it tends to see the utilitarian values of the category; routine/quick

decision-making, then the involvement is low. Products such as Detergent, Fuel, Food

products etc. The role of advertising is to create awareness, Disseminate information,

Build conviction, Drive visit to dealers for – Enquiry and Demonstration. Often

advertising’s job is to get the brand into the consumers CONSIDERATION SET. Entry

into consideration set will make the consumer seek and analyze more information about

the brand/model. Build conviction of current users to reduce post purchase dissonance.

Aid word-of-mouth and positive ‘buzz’ about the brand.

Bibliography

Soanes Catherine., 2004 – The Compact Oxford Reference Dictionary, New York, Oxford University Press – Pg No. 11.

Harris, R. and Seldon, A., 1962 – Advertising and the public, London, Longmans – Pg No 40.

Chunawalla, Sethia. 1985. Foundations of Advertising Theory and Advertising. Bombay : Himalaya Publishing House.

Greer Carl Richard., 1931 – Advertising and Its Mechanical Production, New York, Tudor Publishing Company – Pg No 18 & 19.

Harper’s Weekly, September 5, 1863, Pg 575.

Harper’s Weekly, November 4, 1865, Pg 702.

Hovland Roxanne & Wilcox Gary B., 1989 - Advertising in Society: Classic and Contemporary Readings on Advertising’s Role in Society, Illinois, USA, NTC Publishing Group – Page No 100.

Weber, Max., 1961 – General Economic History, tr. Frank Knight, New York, Collier Books – Page No 220.

Sherlekar, S.A. 1995. Marketing Management. Bombay : Himalaya Publishing House.

Mukerjee. Jiban., 1954 – Advertising in India, Calcutta, Sree Saraswaty Press Ltd.

Taplin. Walter, 1960 – Advertising : A new approach, London, Hutchinson of London – Ch 1.

http://advertising.harpweek.com/Examples/CivilWarProducts/AdsCivilWar1.htm

http://advertising.harpweek.com/Examples/Techniques/CartoonsAndSymbols/AdsCartoonsAndSymbols1.htm

www.advertisingjobs.india.com/advertising-agencies.htm