To the Ad's credit, the concept is amusing, and the tune catchy. You are forced to take notice, no doubt. It manages to hold attention for the entire 90 seconds it plays, but can it influence someone enough to 'Get Idea'?
If one cared to scratch the surface, the underlying premise is that there is nothing better for a couple to do together, other than watch TV or produce kids, in that order. The message that emerges is not too positive either, "Get a 3G connection and you will have no time for the family". This, to the urban family that is already often stretched thin for quality time together. Unless really fed up, would anyone in their senses wish their spouse to drift away? And if you are really fed up, why get a 3G; there are more permanent solutions available compared to the continuous upgrades you will need to a 4G, 5G and what not, over time!
The catchy tune, the funny lyrics and the background score all stand out, but it isn't exactly a jingle you would ever want registered to memory, lest you, or still worse, your kid is caught recalling it at an inopportune moment.
Is 3G only for couples? Well, this is another area that !dea need to sort out. They seem to have totally lost on the fact that students and youth could actually be one of the heaviest users of 3G, something which Airtel seems to have hit the nail bang on its head with.
In a nut-shell, an entertaining Ad, high on novelty, that makes it consistent with its brand image. However, a flawed message, though amusing, targeted at an inconsequential segment, greatly reduces the impact.
What is your opinion of the Ad? Do leave a line in the comments section.
Here's the ad in case you want to have another dekho at it:
Coming Soon in the same category: Airtel: An Ad for all seasons, !dea Ads over the years, Other Service Providers - Docomo, Vodafone et al
And Many More Categories to Follow. Do come back.
9 comments:
Nice. Now I can stop watching TV and read this blog instead for updates on adverts. :)
cool.. I would love to follow this blog! Thrilled to say the least..:)
Nice analysis on this particular ad.
I loved the ending because they have answered an obvious question wittily..:) But is this better than Airtel Ad? Hmm.. I am not sure.. The positive thing about this one is they were trying to sell/market Idea’s 3G.. But Airtel were selling just their brand name, and the ad talked nothing about Airtel's product portfolio.. So the first question is “are we right in comparing the two?” What was the intention behind these ads?
That’s why I felt the Vodaphone’s ad with the dog, few years back, was excellent as it had both the elements - marketing Vodaphones brand and its products/services..
Coming back to the ad in question, I still preferred the Airtel ad because I felt it was more positive than this one..:) Gave some good 'feeling' at the end of it..:)
Also, you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the target audience.. Airtel did indeed target the future and current market!
But I still wonder how they measure the impact of these ads.. Though you said you didn’t want to dwell into that subject, I feel as a consumer I have always placed some level of trust to a brand (atleast for initially trying out the product) rather than individual products.. Marketing helps a big way in that aspect..
Either way would love to come back to this blog! Keep posting..
@Divya, welcome to get updated. Here you don't just get the update on ads, you get the reviews too. :)
@Dilip, Did I say anywhere that I liked Idea's ad better? Airtel's ad has beaten Idea's black and blue, in my opinion. On advertising Product vs Features vs Brand, don't you feel Airtel is speaking of building a people network through its complete portfolio, while Idea restricted itself to answering how individuals can use 3G? All this is anyway going to be part of my next blog (look for the 'Coming Soon' at the end); so I will hold my comments till then. :-)
The ending on the 3G ad sounds more than just an obvious question. Don't you feel Bachchan-4G has already found a job even before he/she is born? :-D
Thanks for joining the blog. Look forward to more views from you.
@Dilip, "I feel as a consumer I have always placed some level of trust to a brand (atleast for initially trying out the product) rather than individual products"
See, you may have liked the Voda ad and that they were focusing on product features, but still you would go with the brand. Who do you say is more successful then, Voda or Airtel? ;-)
The ad seems to be an inspiration from our elementary civics books where we were tought why rural India had higher population and how the advent of television and electricity changed the dynamics to an extent ;). We used to laugh then and I laughed again after watching this commercial. So it was fun, but yes without a sound marketing strategy. The theme is more negative showing people drifting away from the very essence of relationships. Does 3G symbolises a generation of nerds lost in the virtual world ;-)
@Abhi, I am tempted to say 'No Idea' for your question, but I am afraid you will ask me to 'Get Idea'. :-)
Agree with your views.
I rarely feel that Idea's ads make sense. They try to convey a niche message every time which kinda pisses of rest of the crowd. The only ad I felt that Idea was kinda better at was the one which they try to save trees by going green on paper and using Idea for everything from international air tickets to newspaper in rural areas. Also this ad doesn't seem like it'll last long unlike Airtel's which is designed to last the conversation and social media for an extended period of time.
But yea, I will now have access to Indian ads through this blog which I always miss. I think average Indian ads are way better than average American ads. Outliers are a different story though.
-DD
@DD, Idea Ads once upon a time used to show some really innovative uses of mobile services. The tree one you mentioned is one, there was one on language barrier, which too I liked, especially coming from an Abhishek who couldn't speak, and the one on rural education. Sadly over the years their image grew from innovative to snobbish (personified by Abhishek again), with 'No Idea - Get Idea' and the earlier 3G Ads.
Glad to have you on my blog. Keep coming back for more.
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