MAM
StrawberryFrog readies to spearhead cultural advertising in India
MUMBAI: India is a nation of movements. There’s anti-corruption movement, farmers’ movements, and a host of other social movements. There’s now also a cultural movement in advertising.
Spearheading the cultural movement in advertising in India is New York-based advertising agency StrawberryFrog. The agency’s founder and chairman Scott Goodson says cultural movement advertising starts with an idea that is relevant to the target audience rather than the product.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Goodson said StrawberryFrog is following its clients into India. Seeking to participate in a rapidly growing market, he said India makes a sensible destination for the agency as its core is about movements.
The agency has already worked with an Indian brand and audience when it conceptualised the ‘Rise’ movement for homegrown farm equipment-to-software group Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). The movement advertising for M&M was based on the idea that people want to rise, succeed and create a better future for them. The ‘Rise’ advertising movement was crafted from the responses it received in a research it carried out among the users of M&M products and services.
The advertising focussed on an individual’s desire to rise to his potential and conveyed that Mahindra as a company also believes in striving for a brighter future. “Working on the Mahindra Rise movement was one of the highlights of my career. Anand Mahindra is a mind blowing person to work with and the compassion he feels for social causes and the way he works towards them is admirable,” points out Goodson.
The 15-year-old works US agency works on the concept of cultural movements in advertising or — as Goodson puts it – movement advertising. Explaining the idea, Goodson says, “The whole idea is that instead of starting with the product and trying to push it out in the market like traditional advertising, we go in search of an idea that is relevant to a wide group of individuals and then tie the idea to the product, making it (the product) relevant to the consumer.”
Movement advertising, he explains further, is something about an idea that people care about and is on the rise in a particular culture, thus allowing you to tie it back to the brand. Movement advertising also combines new innovative digital and social media with social advertising. It all starts with an idea that is relevant to the target audience rather than the product.
“Indian audiences are different. They love advertising that is emotional and touches the heart but it has to be in an Indian way,” explains Goodson.
“Its about what you want the consumer to do rather than think or feel. It is about creating a movement that is relevant to the consumer in the context of the brand. We carry out research on what people in the target segment care about, what are their values and concerns and philosophies?” adds Goodson.
The recent global campaign by global airline Emirates is the handiwork of StrawberryFrog. The brief was to come up with a campaign that links nearly 300 nations with one common thought or idea. Goodson and his team delved into the research thrown up by their team about air travellers and were faced with an insight that said, “People felt that the world is too big and that is why there are a lot of misconceptions. People felt if we made the world a more connected place it would be better.”
Working from here, Goodson came up with the ‘Hello Tomorrow’ movement (as he calls it and not campaign) which showed that every traveller is connected with the other making the world a cohesive interlinked unit. The term ‘Hello Tomorrow‘ is coined by Goodson himself. The movement aimed at conveying the message that ‘Tomorrow Brings Us Closer to New People, New Experiences, New Styles, New Friends.’
Brands
Hardik Jhaveri named senior director marketing at Colgate-Palmolive Asean hub
Former Hill’s Pet Nutrition general manager returns to the company to steer marketing for South Asean from Kuala Lumpur
KUALA LUMPUR: Hardik Jhaveri has been appointed senior director marketing for the South Asean hub at Colgate-Palmolive, marking a return to the consumer goods major after a three year stint with Hill’s Pet Nutrition. He will be based in Kuala Lumpur and will lead marketing strategy for the region.
Jhaveri joins the role after serving as general manager at Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Taipei, where he led a cross functional team and oversaw the business with full profit and loss responsibility. The role placed him at the helm of operations in Taiwan, managing growth in what he described as a start-up style environment within a global multinational.
Before that, Jhaveri spent over a decade with Colgate-Palmolive across several marketing and innovation roles in Asia. As associate director innovation for Apac excluding China, based in Hong Kong, he led new product development and launches across multiple markets.
His portfolio ranged from developing specialised oral care products such as a diabetes focused toothpaste for the Indian market to launching premium oral care experiences under the Colgate Total brand in Australia. Alongside innovation, he also worked on launch planning, brand strategy and communications for the company’s oral care portfolio.
Earlier in his Colgate-Palmolive journey, Jhaveri held roles including marketing manager innovation, senior brand manager and brand manager. His work spanned urban and rural markets in Mumbai and customer development responsibilities in the Greater Kolkata Area.
Prior to his long association with Colgate-Palmolive, Jhaveri worked as brand officer home care at Unilever, where he helped drive marketing initiatives for the Rin detergent brand, including nationwide relaunch and on ground activation campaigns.
He began his career in advertising with Bates David Enterprise, working on brands such as IDBI Bank, The Leela Hotels and The Times of India.
Jhaveri holds a post graduate programme in management from the Indian School of Business and has also completed a level 4 diploma in wine from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Announcing the move, Jhaveri said he is excited to begin his new chapter at Colgate-Palmolive’s South Asean hub and thanked colleagues and mentors who supported his journey at Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
