Axis Bank - What a lost opportunity !!

I started my life with advertising and from then I have been witnessing the fight for marketing budget that marketing teams always used to crib about. Marketing team wants to do so much for the brand through mass media but where is the budget ?

Today I am witnessing an ironic spectacle when marketing budgets have been showered on to the marketing team for a mega relaunch of a brand due to legal stipulations. And the marketing team wasting the opportunity - the once in a lifetime opportunity for a mega brand building exercise.

I am talking about the multi-crore mass media splash being done by Axis Bank - the erstwhile UTI Bank.

The message of the campaign - UTI Bank = AXIS Bank.

I wonder why Axis Bank cannot be better than UTI Bank?

It seems to me that UTI Bank is very disturbed by this development that they are forced to change their name from UTI Bank to AXIS Bank. As if it is a big loss for them. It is a lightning that struck them and they are fighting to say that they are not hurt.

I would have taken the situation to advantage. It would have been an opportunity to claim that we are changing for the better.

I would have understood if ICICI Bank or SBI had made such a claim that they have not changed. They have quite a sizeable share of market to worry about consumer dissonance. But UTI Bank has only to gain by changing for the better !!!!

What a loss of opportunity?

Did your see the ad for Amul Underwear?

First they started with a woman washing an underwear and fantasizing about a man wearing the same... then that was not enough. They added a jingle to it with a twang !!!

The new version says kitna bada twang hain... kitna bada twang....

I have no comments. It was banned soon after. Actually, let me just hope that it was a risk that was understood and then taken. From the looks of it, the screen play, cinematography and overall direction was good. So I have a fair chance that my hope is not unfair.

Else, just bad swear words for the creative team, for the advertising team and the marketing team of Amul.

Branding Yamaha in India

Sometimes, when I go back to my agency days I just cant get over the ways that we used to give names to upcoming brands. It used to be a combination of the

• craziness/creativity of the copywriter (sometimes the art guy gets a call if he is a combination with the copy guy),
• the creative brief (often shoddily written by the client/servicing guy with no eye-sight, hand-sight or hind-sight),
• the planning guy's two-bits (literally) if he existed in the system (if he did, he was often too busy with a presentation that he had to finish two weeks back)
• and the occassional evesdropping like comments by the big bosses.

These were the ingredients to a name given to a new product offer that is intended to exist for the next generation.

Branding as a subject is so huge that I am not experienced enough to write a philosophy; however it is my passion for a brand called YAMAHA that leads me to many questions. I would like to hint at one of them. Because that's what is eating me right now...

Do we really think 20 years of history and 20 years of future before arriving at a brand name?

Yamaha created a storm with its RX100 and RD350 superbikes. It was everything going good for Yamaha. Great Bikes, Good foresight from the house of Escorts and perhaps good branding!

RX100 and RD350 are still names that youngsters take with pride. Then suddenly things turned turtle. Out of all mess, some agency named one of the new models of Yamaha - CRUX.

What is the logic behind not sticking to the numerical format of branding? When Crux failed, Crux-R failed, some one should have had the sense of getting back to the the strong numerical format of branding that has worked for Yamaha in India.

Then a miracle happened. Someone rebranded the Libero (a good bike but failed in the market) as the G5. I thought now this brand will roll in India. And Yamaha was pumping big monies into media advertising.

But today, I saw Yamaha has launched a new 106 cc model named Alba. I can only get red with anger. What's wrong with Yamaha?

Worst is the launch TV advertisement. No sign of John Abraham. Cant believe the inconsistency. If John was promoted as the brand ambassador of Gladiator and not Yamaha as a whole, it would have been perhaps okay to not take him for one product... but now it is a complete hara kiri.

They were however consistent in copying the most ordinary bike advertising using a sexy female getting attracted to the biker.

How can a mere 106 cc bike be promoted as something that girls fall for. If they had launched a 250 cc version then this kind of advertising would have made some little sense. But now... the advertising agency deserves to be sacked.

Lets look at some of the comments in other blogs:

• ...i wouldnt buy it even if i got that female model in a package deal!!
  
• I am now entirely convinced that Yamaha India is being run by people who are seriously brain-damaged, and who are incapable of running a motorcycle manufacturing operation in India. Expect the company to go bust in the next 6 - 12 months.In the meanwhile, here's the most interesting Alba in the world: Jessica Alba. You can find her here: http://www.skins.be/celebrity/jessica-alba/
  
• Alba, eh? HA HA and HA! Yamaha has gone totally bonkers I suppose if they still insist on launching such utter crap. And this, after all the auto mags have been saying that Yamaha's next bike in India is going to be a 250! If you ask me, Yamaha is now by far the worst bike company in India, with by far the worst motorcycles in their lineup. Fuck you, Yamaha!

What do I say? For sure, Yamaha Motors should do three things which is theory and one thing which is emotional:

1. Sack the marketing department - they cant do a single thing right. Even the name of the website was spelt wrong in the collaterals of Alba launch.
2. Sack the advertising agency - they are not even worth the FAF!
3. Hire a good qualitative research agency and do a India-wide research campaign to understand what Yamaha needs to do to survive in India.

Please hire people who are passionate about Yamaha - the brand. Hire people who have driven the RX100 or the RD350 at least once.

This is an absolute must.

Demi-Gods - Being God is addictive

Years back when I had asked my Dad - How much money do these politicians want, to stop corruption and start working for the country? - he said that there is no end. It is an addiction and they stop believing that they are corrupt. They take it as their way of life.

From the day I read in the papers about Tendulkar's knee-jerk reaction against Greg Chappel, I was puzzled and curious about what is happening to the great Sachin Tendulkar. He was so mature as a 17 year old and now he is a 34 year old kid!. My Dad's wisdom ultimately came to my rescue, gave me some relief and some food for thought.

Sachin Tendulkar is addicted to being considered a Demi-God. It is partly our fault that we Indians love Idol worship in every form. We made him the Demi-God and now he is suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Otherwise he would have realised it by himself that he is not contributing to the game; that he is not contributing to the country's aspiration from cricket; that he might be considered a burden in the coming future. He would have understood the meaning of a graceful exit.

Otherwise he would not have the short-sightedness of ignoring what some of the best cricketing minds are expressing about him. He would not have acted a complete deaf to his long time friend and one time guide - Sanjay Manjrekar? Sanjay Manjrekar has very clearly expressed that Tendulkar is no longer the same Tendulkar. He has known the real Tendulkar from close quarters and being a sensitive cricketer he is observing a change, which he expressed.

Greg Chappel is known to be frank and straight-forward in his approach and thinking. It does not seem to me that he is an enemy of Sachin Tendulkar. He had also expressed his opinion about Sachin Tendulkar, that he should not open, that he does not have the right attitude. Even Ian Chappel has been very vocal about Sachin being a poor shadow of himself for the past two years.

Sachin Tendulkar instead of listening to these views, blew the top. He got emotional and reacted as if someone has desecrated the God.

It is really a sad predicament that Sachin Tendulkar is refusing to believe that he is losing his flare for the game. Like the politician who refuses to believe that he is corrupt; Sachin refuses to realise that he is not the best cricketer anymore.

Adding fuel to fire are those friends of his, who blindly keeps him blinded from reality. In fact, they are his real enemy. Vinod Kambli, in one of his statement says, "Tendulkar should play the next world cup also" I am sure he is acting a good friend.

Its high time that Sachin understands reality and either try to improve his cricket like our 'DADA' Saurav Ganguly or call it quits.

Sachin has been compared to Michael Schumacher. He needs to act like Michael Schumacher. He could resist the temptation of fame, money and endorsements. It was indeed a God-like deed to retire at the prime of his career.

Coming to Cricket, Lara also has managed an (almost) graceful exit.

We should all collectively think and advise Sachin that he can stay God-like if he wants to. But not by holding on to his cricket. But by behaving maturely, by keeping his feet on the ground and by moving with times. Everybody understands that age catches up with everyone and we all surrender to time.