Advertisements and product sales

There are a number of very interesting advertisements currently doing rounds in our television channels. Whereas previously advertisement films used to be small, few second clips, increasingly they are becoming longer films. While small clips bring out the message directly in a precise and succint way, the longer films drive home the message through a narrative which can be story or an event. As an audience to them, I feel that with longer films the message often gets dissipated in the hype and impact surrounding the narrative. The narrative itself becomes the central theme, rather than the message it is supposed to deliver. The force and impact of the narrative often overwhelms the message and even the brand recall capacity!

Advertisement 101 says the touchstone for the success of any advertisement film is its brand recall value. But is it really that simple? In the ultimate analysis, the brand recall has to reflect in bigger sales numbers. The more pertinent question to be asked in evaluating ad films is how much of the brand recall generated by the film is translated into sales of the product? It is evident that there is some distance to be travelled before the former is translated into the latter.

There is another dimension here. Increasingly, carried away by the trend of the spectacular narrative with its focus on brand recall value, the ad films tend to lose sight of the product they are trying to sell. A grand and spectacular narrative may enhance the brand recall, but does little by itself to distinguish the product vis-a-vis other similar products. There are only a few advertisements that directly brings out the specific characteristics of the product that marks it out from its competitors. This ultimately is what makes customers pump for the product at the expense of its competitors. Rare are those ad films that directly communicates the characteristics of the product being promoted. In fact, it seems to be a fashion to scorn on ad films that directly communicates its message to the audience.

Watching a discussion the other day in NDTV on advertisement films, I could not but help wonder whether the narrative canvas was taking precedence over the main objective of the advertisement. It is understandable in a way given the multiple actors involved in making an ad film. The core strengths and objectives of the film maker and the creative/marketing director are obviously different. For the former the narrative is more important than the brand recall dimension, while for the latter it is the other way round! Serious recent marketing research has revealed the highly versatile and heterogeneous nature of consumer preferences and responses, and this poses complex marketing challenges. It becomes important therefore to reconcile these differing objectives.

Let me give you an example. The Hutch advertisement of an Eskimo search on its mobile service leading to the physical appearance of a group of eskimos, is a wonderful narrative. But isn't the film too long (and maybe its narrative too independent) for the message and the brand name to stand out in the glowing canvas of the narrative? Further, does the specific narrative of the eskimo search and their appearance, enhance the brand recall for Hutch, and if so by how much does it translate into sales of Hutch? I am not convinced on any of these counts, though the basis for it is more conjecture than empirical analysis. As a lay audience, I get a feeling that at the end of the film, the beauty and the strength of the narrative overwhelms the specific message conveyed about the uniqueness of the Internet services offered by Hutch.

Are advertisement films becoming an exercise in ivory tower marketing? Are ad films increasingly becoming a vehicle for its makers to merely exhibit their creative skills? Is brand recall translating into increase in sales? Given the difficulty in segregating the utility of the film in increasing the bottom line, these questions are inevitable. We need more searching examination of different examples, by controlling certain parameters, before we can draw meaningful conclusions. My objective is only to outline a possibility, which I am certain exists, because I am also one of the target audience for these films!