The Changing Face of Ads

There were times, when we knew that this product advertisement would feature this kind of people, this would be the concept, this would be the theme, etc….. for example: a noodle ad would feature a child, he is hungry, and his mum serves him a bowl of delicious noodles; or may a detergent power ad would have a frustrated house wife, a yellow looking shirt that changes into white; or for that matter a child enjoying a bar of chocolate……

However, this era is a game changer; we really don’t see those same kinds of ads any more…From a modest start of a few lines spoken on the radio to the showy world of internet- the advertising world has come a long way, and so does the advertising concept…

What does a marketer really thinks before making these kinds of ad? This is the question that hunted me for days; so, for that matter i searched whole of websites and saw various advertisement, from the nineties to those of twenties……. There was one difference that really caught my eyes. How one generation has replaced the other in the world of advertisement. How the companies try to increase their target segment through interesting and innovative ads.  The companies are doing all to attract the attention of the consumer towards the brands as well towards the ads, ultimately increasing the recall value of the ad.

Let me highlight some of the examples, Chocolate is considered a product for children, however Cadbury with is innovate ads highlights elder people consuming it at various occasion and for a good beginning (subh arambh)… in the process made chocolate relevant to us in ways that we had never assumed of……..

(Cadbury Gems: "Raho Umar-less")

The recent ad of Cadbury Gems (ikla pikla ping ping)  featuring elders who start behaving like kids for Gems…. (I really liked that ad)…... Cadbury Gems' new campaign tries to bring out the little child in everyone as it tries magnifies its target consumer base from kids to those who are children at heart. The campaign showcases countless childish attributes of adults, the motives for their attraction to Gems & stresses on the idea of living an ageless life with a fine tagline, 'Raho Umarless' 

The Maggie ad where the Old mam askes his wife to prepare “pakode” so that he can enjoy the rain, so the wife asks her Bahu to prepare something healthy, and the Bahu in turns prepare Maggie for the whole family... we can see in this ad how the company try to portray maggies as whole family snacks and not just for kids…

What really does the marketers think before making these ads, Does the advertisement offer a “reason why” to buy the product? Or is it oriented more to emotional appeals? Does the ad feature the product or does it focus on the people using it? Well the ad must be correlated to the need and mentality of the consumer…. But these ads still works even if its going in opposite direction of people’s perception or mentality…  I would say the marketers are trying to change this perception, but are they really successful in doing so? I certainly cannot judge this, but for me these ads are really amazing, this is the changing face of advertising…..

(FlipKart Ad)

Well I talked a lot about Elder generation taking place of young ones in ads, what about the other way around…. The best example for this would be FlipKart’s recent advertisements, carrying forward the concept of kids as adults, these ads will focus on driving home some of the key advantages of shopping on FlipKart…. All its recent ads have couple of kids talking about problems with online shopping and how Flipkart is a solution, but with voices of grownups. I like the problem and solution strategy……

But the question is do people really get motivated to shop online??? Would the audience really take the kids conversation seriously???

Whatever the solution would be, I am very impressed with this new change in the advertisements, the marketers indeed pour in their talent and creativity in order to craft these brilliant ads.