– Sejal Jain (MBA, Batch of 2020-22)
Gone are the days when people used to purchase goods or avail services based on what is available in front of them, without judging or comparing it. We are living in 21st century where the expected utility of a product keeps on increasing and in order to achieve that level of satisfaction, consumers tend to evaluate each and every single feature and check if the product or the service is providing the utmost benefit.
In the era of digital revolution and globalisation which comes with cut throat competition, creating a brand and effectively advertising it to grab the attention of the consumers, is the key to survive in this competitive market. From “mom” and “pop” to “Online shops”, everything has been revolutionised. When one wants to deliver a message creatively and position their brand in the minds of the consumers, advertisements come handy. However, one wrong element or an indication in the advertisement might lead to huge losses for the company, hence, a marketer must be very careful while communicating a message.
Statistics showing the various levels of influence on consumers by the advertisements.
Now, lets talk about how advertisements influence the purchasing patterns of the consumers by citing examples of a few companies.
Earlier, in 1949, when Dabur launched Chyawanprash the advertisement created an image that the product is for the segment of people who were having weak immunity and high stress levels. As a result, consumers purchased this product only when they felt weak and thought it was not important for everyone to consume it. The younger generation felt that the brand was not relevant to them. The packaging was also not very appealing which did not attract many consumers. As a result of increasing globalisation and education, consumers also started questioning as to is their any scientific evidence that the product increases the immunity and provides all the various other benefits, or is it just fooling customers? Hence, after seeing a sharp decline in their sales the company planned to change their advertising strategy and the packaging. The following changes were implemented:
- The company changed the packaging of the product. The new packaging symbolised activity and alertness. There was a change in the font type and also, the company used the bold red colour on the new packaging to indicate growth, energy and rejuvenation. The shape of the bottle was also changed to give it a modern look.
- Earlier it was Amitabh Bachchan who was the brand ambassador for the company, but this had set an image in the minds of the people that the product was meant for old aged people. Later on, the company signed up with M.S Dhoni, who could influence the youth and Madhuri Dixit as well, because she herself is a mother, and all the mothers of our country can relate it to her. Moreover, mothers play a significant role in taking care of their family’s health, so demographically, based on the gender, the company targeted the woman segment via Madhuri Dixit. After this, the company saw a huge increase in the sales of the product.
- They also changed their tagline from ‘Zaroorat hai’ to ‘Fit body, Active mind’ to engage consumers of all age groups to buy the product.
- The company also decided to invest heavily in R&D and in order to gain the customer’s trust and improve their satisfaction, they have also started to mention “Clinically Tested” on the product packaging and also changed the tagline to “Science based Ayurveda”.
The shift to SCIENCE BASED AYURVEDA from FAITH BASED AYURVEDA, proved that Dabur was consistently improving it’s marketing strategies.
Many companies also engage in Public Relations (PR) campaigns, which is a major part of the Intergrated Marketing Communications (IMC) framework. One such company is Coca Cola.
Coca-Cola is known to carry out a series of campaigns to build relations with the consumers in order to retain them and boost the Sales. A few of their campaigns are:
- Share a Coke : The campaign was built upon Coca- Cola’s long-cultivated image of being a brand rooted in friendship and bringing people together.
- Friendly twist campaign: Coca-Cola’s ‘Friendly Twist’ campaign targeted college students by using their product to help freshers create friendships during the first week in college. Coca-Cola Colombia came up with a unique way to help students shake the first-year jitters and bond with their fellow freshmen.
- Hilltop: Different bands of people gathering together on a hilltop and enjoying Coke.
A few other campaigns related to this brand are: ‘Coke Factory’, ‘The Polar Bowl Campaign’, ‘ Hoidays are coming’, etc.
It is observed that marketers invest in various kinds of media platforms to influence the consumer behaviour. From owned media to paid media and then to earned media, every single step taken by the advertisers has only one key reason: to gain more customers and influence them to invest in our business. Advertisements play a very crucial role to influence consumer behaviour towards a particular product or a service and that is the reason why companies don’t hesitate to invest a lot of their capital into advertising.
References:
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/05/23/coca-cola-ads-8-its-most-memorable-campaigns
http://www.ibscdc.org/
