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Star
Plus has always been known for marketing innovations. Recently,
it agreed to get involved in a contest - sponsored by Samsung India
- during its primetime shows, something that the channel hasn't
done before. The reason being that such initiatives from the channel
support advertisers' ploy of breaking the clutter through innovation
during the festive season.
And
Star Plus is not alone in going in for such marketing strategies.
Adidas is sponsoring the 'Know Ball contest' on ESPN Star Sports
(ESS), while Airtel has just got involved as the title sponsor for
Zee TV's Thursday Premier movie starting this month.
 "Star
is always open to new ideas. This (prime time contest) is something
which Star has never done before during the prime time band. This
is an exclusive Samsung property being run on Star," said an
advertising industry source.
According
to Starcom India executive director (north) Anita Nayyar, "The
objective during the World Cup (cricket) and festive season are
pretty different. Yes, the budgets are stringent but the festive
two-month period can't be ignored. This is actually the time when
consumers go out and buy
products."
Agrees
former LG India marketing head, Ganesh Mahalingam who confesses
to be "chilling out at the moment" before taking up a
new assignment, "The ad spend during the festive season leading
up to Diwali certainly goes up because almost 80 per cent of buying,
especially in the consumer durables sector, happens during this
time."
The
total advertising spend during festive seasons, according to industry
analysts, is estimated to be between 25-30 per cent of the approximately
Rs 85,000 million advertising industry.
According
to Mahalingam, in some cases like electronics goods companies (Samsung,
Videocon, LG and Electrolux, for example) the ad spend during this
time can go up as high as 50 per cent because of the "cascading
effect amongst various players in the segment".
According
to industry sources, going by the media planning trends in the last
three or four years during the festive season, mass channels, especially
general entertainment channels, gain more advertising. Almost to
the tune of 15-20 per cent.
"Majority
of the increase in spend (during festive season) goes to entertainment
channels such as Star Plus and others. In terms of specific channels,
Star obviously gains. So the likes of Zee and Sony have to work
out their programming strategy. For instance, Sony aired Saathiya
during prime time recently, so it received good response,"
says a media planner. Another
media professional estimates the spend to be in the region of Rs
18,000 to Rs 20,000 million.
The
analysts feel that even though the likes of Hindustan Lever, Samsung,
LG and others had marked substantial budgets during the previous
edition of the cricket World Cup, (unprecedented spending in comparison
to any other cricket event), the spending for the festive season
has hardly been
affected.
"The
objective during the World Cup (cricket) and festive season are
pretty different. For an event like the World Cup, which definitely
delivers in terms of return (brand recall and higher ratings), the
clients plan and mark their budgets in advance, but the festive
period can't be ignored," explains Starcom's Nayyar.
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| A
still from Darna Manna Hai that Zee will air next Thursday
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And
channels will agree. "The festive season is usually good for
channels. For example, in the third quarter (October-December) this
year, Zee TV's advertising mop up may end up 30 per cent higher
compared to earlier quarters," points out Zee TV president
Apurva Purohit.
SAB
TV's president-sales and marketing Kanta Advani is even more gung-ho
about the "relief" channel's prospects for the festive
season. Says Advani, "Business is booming. We have already
exceeded 50 per cent as compared to the previous quarters and there
are still six days to go before the end of Diwali. Clients are realising
that they are getting value for money from our channel."
Advani
puts the increased ad spends to the fact that many new clients have
come onto the channel, while exisiting ones have significantly upped
their spends.
Carat
India CEO Sulina Menon points out, "The
are certain categories, which spend close to 60 per cent of their
budgets during the festive season. Categories like consumer durables,
FMCG, textiles, auto companies or even the financial services, which
prepare in advance, are the major spenders."
Though
some categories like telecom festive season is "not that crucial"
as it's not a seasonal activity, Menon feels that the telecom players
have been investing for years and as they enter the consolidation
phase, with presence in various circles, the major players have
started to get into television
advertising.
"It
makes sense for them to go national now (during the festive season),"
Menon explained.
The
residual effect of such increased spending during this period can
be seen on non-mass entertainment channels too. As, Zee News head
Jawahar Goel points out, "In the first 17 days of October itself,
the news channel's advertising revenue stood at Rs 70 million and
this expected to go up."
A
different strategy
The media planning, too, differs during the festive season.
According to media specialists, with the spurt in advertising, depending
upon the category, there is an alteration in the media plan.
For
instance, a category like home appliances, targeted mainly at women,
will go in for more of mass channel, whereas for a category like
automobile, the planners prefer
niche channels.
Even
as the advertising campaigns, especially worked out for the festive
season, are doing the rounds with much fanfare, the standard of
creative output has hardly evoked an encouraging response.
Advertising
professionals feel that there seem to be lack of synergy between
the content and context required to differentiate the offering for
the festive season.
"If
we look at the consumption pattern, 'seasonality' still plays an
important role in various categories. And during the festive season,
there is a definite increase in buying. But if we look at the quality
of advertising, it hasn't managed to get under the skin as there
seems to be no integration of brand properties into the promotion,"
says McCann Erickson's
executive planning director Arvind Mohan.
Mohan
further adds, "There needs to be a marriage between context,
which can be either Diwali or cricket series and the content. Brands
must use distinct language in order to differentiate themselves."
The
rush to gain consumer attention and influence the buying decision,
as expected, is the main drive in the majority of promotional campaigns
during the festive season.
Considering
the number of brands and campaigns making the rounds, the onus is
also on advertising agency - a major component of the overall strategy
- to differentiate itself through a superior creative work.
According
to Rediffusion general manager Shruti Jain, "During the festive
season, the creative challenge is higher. It is a perfect environment
for advertising and people are open to messages. But what happens
is professionals (agencies) go overboard. The topicality is anyway
in the release of the campaign, so the message has to be relevant."
Expectedly,
during the festive season, the clients increasingly demand work
or creative output for immediate results. And agencies feel, most
of the time, this demand leads to a whole lot of promotional creative,
which at times suppresses the quality.
"No
doubt, the work has to be result-oriented. But the creative work,
especially in the print media is not creative at all. Its looks
ugly and there seems to be repetition of the same concepts again
and again. The majority of the advertisements show some pack with
ribbon or crackers splashed. There is no newness or freshness. I
don't think the work prevalent is effective or creative," a
critical O&M creative consultant Sudip Bandyopadhyay points
out.
O&M,
however, is trying to be different here. Bandyopadhyay says the
team is working on a campaign for Nestle milk, in which the splash
of milk has been associated with stars and crackers to bring out
the festive spirit. "But we have retained the properties of
the brand for the campaign," he adds.
(With
inputs from ANJAN MITRA)
Also
Read:
From
bikini auctions to Bollywood acts - channels ready with Diwali programming
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