As promised in my earlier post, I bring you yet another short analysis (my viewpoints) on the Suzlon campaign(www.pals.in). So far so good or rather seems good but how long will this community live for? How does one sustain such a community?
Background: I saw some colorful, 70's fashion-like teaser advt in the newspapers and was quite amused by what it was all about? I thought it is some fashion house advt or some big retail chain announcing their new collection or some other networking site on the lines of FB/Orkut but when the actual advertisement appeared I was amazed that it was about pure air and the whole campaign belongs to Suzlon (www.suzlon.com) Fyi...the campaign was I had not heard much about Suzlon and thanks to such innovative campaigns ignorant people like us come to know about their existence.
Innovative Campaign: What Suzlon did many have tried by building a community on Social Networking Sites but what differentiates Suzlon is building a community through a website dedicated solely for a common subject. And yes the subject is the most in-thing these days considering everybody from the Media, Corporate Houses, Politicians, Social Workers, NGO's, Educational Institutions, Common people, Film Personalities and so on are taking interest in it or at-least showing that they are interested. Well as I always say striking at the Right Time always works. I call it innovation because the website is just not a basic data collection form but it is well planned content with some useful tools. It has lot of information to offer and yes there are famous personalities who have been roped in as members of the advisory board. The thought is in-depth.
The website is very colorful and also highlights various factual data about pollution and environment and has various interesting topics that would want us to know more about it. The highlight is of course the PUC reminder and Green Vendor (you can locate all vendors dealing with eco friendly products) http://www.pals.in/green-vendor/search.php - how cool is that. I like the short name PALS and very strategically and intelligently the full name has been thought of - impressive.
My views: Such a strategy of building a community for a common purpose needs continuous interaction/communication points with its members. As of now its too early to conclude about the success of this campaign. Some of the hindrances I foresee -
The data would be outdated in next one or two months, the data needs to be updated regularly or members would be bored to read it often.
To keep the community active the members need to discuss on various topics through twitter or on pals..(I still have to figure out it), there needs to be continuous probing with users to maintain the stickiness.
They say whenever a member registers to become a PAL they plant a tree but it would be nice if they could give more details about how and where it is being planted. How would we come to know if they have actually planted a tree.
I haven't completely scrutinized the site nor I intend to do as my objective is to talk about new campaigns and bring out my viewpoints. But would like to share some quick setbacks I experienced while I as on the website:
I had somehow bumped into useful tools page but somehow my window got closed. But when I was again on Pals I couldn't find the tools; it is nice to make things colorful and jazzy but it is for the people (who might not be web experts) and hence the user interface should be easy and quickly available.
There is no evident/visible search button to search your queries/info.
Conclusion: In the overall objective of building a community we should always keep in mind the small and minute details - eventually the platform on which the community is being built is important. The platform will decide the future of the community. What I mean is the whole community is being connected through a website, the topic is anyways interesting and will catch lot of eyeballs but the back-end needs to be very strong. Also a continuous interaction with the members (through events, updates, news) etc will help the community to grow.
As I said my objective is not to discuss the success of any campaign, I am just interested in the approach and the thought process behind a concept.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Cashing on unpaid publicity - Vaseline
Most of you who read TOI (The Times of India newspaper) must have noticed the huge advt of Vaseline - with too many words and a big cross, of course it did catch my attention - how could I miss it [for those who don't know - checking various ads helps me in my job function].
Background:
Coming back to the advt, I was curious to know about this Mr Vaughan and why his name has been used in this advt. Excuse my ignorance - majority of my male friends won't like it if I say I am least interested in cricket and sports in general and that explains my ignorance about Mr Vaughan and hence was naturally clueless what this ad wants to convey. I thought it must be a new marketing strategy similar to the lines of the famous 'Digen Verma - Frooti' Campaign. My curiosity led me to research on the background and voila - Mr Micheal Vaughan was in news for accusing Mr Laxman (Indian Batsman) of using Vaseline on his Cricket bat (though I still have to research how does it help in hitting the ball).
My Short analysis: I think the creative team did cash on the unpaid publicity created by the cricketers and used it strategically. The concept of using Cricket as a subject works well in a country obsessed with the game and where the players are treated and worshiped as gods...obviously the ad must have caught attention of Cricket lovers which is a huge % of the total India's population. I don't know if Mr Micheal Vaughan is aware about this campaign or has he yet reacted to it but Sir - you too have got equal share of publicity, Cricket lovers must have added the badge on Facebook to let you know the right usage of Vaseline and people like me who don't follow sports now know you well, thanks to the ad in TOI.
Right Strategy: As I always say it is always about grabbing the opportunity at the right time like Vaseline's creative team did. I still don't have the facts to know if this campaign has helped Vaseline in extra revenue by selling more Vaseline but it has got enough publicity. As per my memory I have not seen any Vaseline print advt except for TV ads but going the print and online way with this campaign is a good strategy to attract the youth & young audience. Facebook works well with the young audience and a subject like 'Cricket' obviously is a way to the mind and soul of Indians.
Conclusion: Going the safe way might help you with few followers and few views but creating a stir and making noise about a common subject definitely makes one turn around and look at you! If you want lakhs of people to notice you then talk about what they like to hear and discuss it for years to come. Going the similar but eco friendly way is the Suzlon campaign - coming up next.
Background:
Coming back to the advt, I was curious to know about this Mr Vaughan and why his name has been used in this advt. Excuse my ignorance - majority of my male friends won't like it if I say I am least interested in cricket and sports in general and that explains my ignorance about Mr Vaughan and hence was naturally clueless what this ad wants to convey. I thought it must be a new marketing strategy similar to the lines of the famous 'Digen Verma - Frooti' Campaign. My curiosity led me to research on the background and voila - Mr Micheal Vaughan was in news for accusing Mr Laxman (Indian Batsman) of using Vaseline on his Cricket bat (though I still have to research how does it help in hitting the ball).
My Short analysis: I think the creative team did cash on the unpaid publicity created by the cricketers and used it strategically. The concept of using Cricket as a subject works well in a country obsessed with the game and where the players are treated and worshiped as gods...obviously the ad must have caught attention of Cricket lovers which is a huge % of the total India's population. I don't know if Mr Micheal Vaughan is aware about this campaign or has he yet reacted to it but Sir - you too have got equal share of publicity, Cricket lovers must have added the badge on Facebook to let you know the right usage of Vaseline and people like me who don't follow sports now know you well, thanks to the ad in TOI.
Right Strategy: As I always say it is always about grabbing the opportunity at the right time like Vaseline's creative team did. I still don't have the facts to know if this campaign has helped Vaseline in extra revenue by selling more Vaseline but it has got enough publicity. As per my memory I have not seen any Vaseline print advt except for TV ads but going the print and online way with this campaign is a good strategy to attract the youth & young audience. Facebook works well with the young audience and a subject like 'Cricket' obviously is a way to the mind and soul of Indians.
Conclusion: Going the safe way might help you with few followers and few views but creating a stir and making noise about a common subject definitely makes one turn around and look at you! If you want lakhs of people to notice you then talk about what they like to hear and discuss it for years to come. Going the similar but eco friendly way is the Suzlon campaign - coming up next.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)