JWT’s AnxietyIndex is designed as a place to discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the global recession. With daily content updates, AnxietyIndex.com includes contributions from around JWT’s network, offering a truly global perspective.
The lives of millions have been affected by Pakistani floods and it’s feared the worst has yet to surface. With the government proving inefficient and ineffective (a truism in many developing countries), brands are stepping into the gap. Along with aid organizations, they are seen as more organized and helpful than national institutions.
Orient Electronics and Samsung for example, have joined together to deliver ration packs to flood victims. And brands are helping Pakistanis to give. Telecommunications brand Warid has partnered with a TV news channel to go door-to-door to gather food, clothing and other contributions. International footwear brand Bata, which has had a presence in Pakistan for more than 50 years, has placed collection boxes in its roughly 500 retail shops and is asking consumers to join the company in donating to a CSR fund it’s set up. The floods have also given rise to “people brands,” with singers, musicians, actors and sports stars stepping up their own relief efforts—a curious development in a country that lacks celebrity brands.
Brands here have a chance to gain consumer respect and trust like never before by contributing to relief efforts. Since most brands have themselves been affected—with many offices closed due to the floods—they have unique opportunities to bond with Pakistani consumers as they tally their own losses.
Delhi will host its biggest sporting event yet, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in October, but nothing seems to be going right. With news channels ferociously digging up every real or potential issue related to the Games—from exposes about corruption within the Indian Olympic Association to the city’s unpreparedness for the mega event—Delhi citizens are braving a series of anxiety attacks. Enter the tycoon Subrata Roy Sahara of Sahara Samay, a national news network, who wrote what he called an “Emotional Appeal,” carried on the front page of a leading daily.
Sahara, who’s synonymous with the Sahara brand, charges that while the media “has done its duty,” his fellow news networks and media owners have also “overdone it,” causing “absolute negativity” among Indians and leading to bad PR for India. He asks the media to withhold further negative coverage until after the Games, “for the pride of our beloved country.” It could be argued that his patriotic-sounding appeal is an effort to cover up his network’s inability to come up with an expose to match that of his competitors. But either way, through this well-managed PR exercise, Sahara succeeded in building his own reputation as well as that of his news channel. Sahara Samay comes off looking mature and nationalistic by choosing to allay public anxiety at a time when other brands have been fueling it.
Marriage can be a great source of anxiety for young Indians, whose marital fate is often out of their own hands, arranged through the parents’ network, a priest or ads in local newspapers. The anxiety is that much more intense for educated, independent-minded women who don’t want to compromise on their beliefs and lifestyle but may be rushed to commit to someone they hardly know. (Our sister site has written about one Indian brand’s response to the modern woman’s wariness of arranged marriage.)
Earlier this year Times of India, a leading national daily, introduced the Times Equality Matrimonials to its Sunday supplement of matrimonial classifieds. “This space rejects the conventional thinking of a woman playing second fiddle to her husband and regards marriage as a true partnership placing both people are on an equal footing,” The Times declares. It even ran an Equality Marriage Manifesto. Separate ads target women (“Does hello to marriage mean goodbye to life as you know it?”) and men (“Do you want someone you can dictate to, or someone you can ask for advice?”).
The Times approach is likely to generate goodwill among its target consumer whether or not they place an ad (indeed, even if they’re already married). This is a great example of how a very old product or service can tap into current truths or anxieties to come across as very contemporary and strengthen bonds with younger generations.
Here in Pakistan, domestic home appliances brands have shown a significant communication shift during this recession. While pre-recession communication was centered on inspiring lifestyles, now it’s all about a reason to believe, and brands are highlighting features and facts. A good example is Dawlance, which targets the upper middle class.
A pre-recession commercial, from April 2008, poetically promises viewers that the brand is “As reliable as mother’s love, as reliable as shade in the sweltering heat of the sun, as reliable as true love, as reliable as a true promise.” A more recent TV spot drops the poetry for hard facts: A spokeswoman “at Dawlance i-novate Center” tells us that “in refrigerators I need quick cooling, and a large five-piped compressor gives me instant cooling. Dawlance understands my needs and is reliable for me.” Other spots highlight different features.
The problem here is that since the product is not significantly different from those offered by rivals, the brand is differentiated largely by the emotional promise propagated. By abandoning the emotional approach, Dawlance becomes more generic—the provider of just another product, one that could just as easily come from another manufacturer.
As a clean and efficient city with an ultra-modern sewage system, Singapore is not a place you would associate with flooding. But one freaky Wednesday morning in June, an intense and prolonged rain caused knee-high flooding in several parts of the island, including the tourist haven Orchard Road. Shops were flooded, buses were stuck on the road, and cars were floating in apartment buildings’ basement parking areas.
In a display of quick thinking amid anxiety, NTUC Income—a once stodgy state-owned insurance company—ran print ads the very next day. One headline assured readers that “We won’t leave you high and dry. Even when you’re waist-deep in water,” while copy in another ad promised that “you won’t have to worry about footing the bill, when you set foot on dry ground again.”
The resulting buzz has been phenomenal. But more than being clever advertising, this is a great example of how a speedy response is the best one in the real-time world we live in (especially for an insurance brand)—and that pre-empting anxiety is just as effective a strategy as responding to it.
Australia’s “No Leave, No Life” campaign aims to drive domestic tourism by emphasizing that it’s healthy to take advantage of vacation days (there’s been a trend toward stockpiling annual leave) and that traveling domestically helps to stimulate our economy. “A little bit of leave,” one poster says, “not only helps us out, it gives you the chance to recharge the batteries and reunite with friends and family.” Touring Australia is positioned as a means to “really win the work/life battle.” The work ran in outdoor and print, and the initial outdoor media seemed to follow people on their route to work.
Since the campaign leverages a confrontational tone and a negative insight centering on the overwhelming “work/life battle” we all face, the most likely response is arguably heightened anxiety. Many commuters may be left feeling that they in fact have “no life,” especially given that achieving a work-life balance requires an overall approach—it’s a lifestyle, not a matter of simply taking three or four days off out of 365.
What this campaign does execute well, however, is the digital strategy. A series of Webisodes where actor/TV presenter Ernie Dingo surprises nominated “hard workers” by taking them away for a break effectively communicates how Australian holidays are both inspiring and accessible.
Dulux Paints recently ran a full-page ad in a national daily here indicating a fall in outbound tourism from India thanks to its “Colours of the World” range—they bring the mood and feel of Rome, New York, London and Paris to your home, so you never need to leave. The pitch cleverly appeals to anxious consumers who are cocooning; while spending more time at home, where they feel safe and secure, they still want a taste of adventure within the comfort of their four walls. The ad also comes at a time when a small but growing number of wealthy young travelers are becoming more adventurous and interested in other cultures than older Indians (a trend recently covered byTime). Those who are curious about the wider world but still somewhat fearful of the unknown can get a safe taste of it with an adventurous paint color.
Dulux’s initiative has nicely tapped into these needs, in addition to proving that paint doesn’t have to be boring—a lesson that other products traditionally not associated with adventure/discovery can perhaps learn from.
We’ve seen various brands encouraging hope and optimism as a marketing strategy for the recession. In Pakistan, two multinational brands are using this approach in a country where the downturn is one of several factors increasing anxiety and unrest. Pepsi Cola Pakistan and Mobilink (the country’s largest telecom service provider, owned by Egypt-based Orascom) are aligning themselves with the national cricket team, which seems to be one of the only sources of cheer for Pakistanis these days. A series of Pepsi commercials feature upcoming stars and old heroes. For a nation that shows high levels of nationalism mostly when a cricket match is on, this seems like a smart approach, especially for foreign-owned companies that could benefit from showing their allegiance with a popular Pakistani cause.
The recent best in show at FAB International’s Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards, Tropicana’s “Arctic Sun” commercial shows how the brand addressed a key source of anxiety in the Arctic, tied to its positioning “Brighter mornings make brighter days.” One of the major external sources of happiness for humans is light, and while people in Arctic locations adapt to the circumstances, one of their major stresses is living in full darkness in mid-winter. So Tropicana brought light to Inuvik, in northern Canada, after 31 consecutive days of darkness. A Tropicana team lit up the town with a giant artificial sun, enabling its residents to experience a sunny day–an excellent idea that touches people’s hearts to create an emotional link with the brand.
Where youth, especially students, are concerned, it’s always recession. Strapped for cash and addicted to their pretty gadgets, especially the mobile (aka their lifeline), they end up carrying a couple of SIMs so they can switch between them and save money. Virgin Mobile is doing a good job tapping into this need to save, along with showcasing the very Indian youth characteristic of being “jugaadu,” a colloquial Hindi word for an innovative fix. Its new campaign introduces “Get paid for incoming calls,” part of its GSM standard offerings, and features actor Ranbir Kapoor, who devises innovative ways to get incoming calls so he can save money and spend more time calling his girlfriend.
Through its communication and its tagline, Think Hatke (“Think Different”), Virgin clearly establishes itself as understanding what this audience needs and wants without compromising on the brand’s image as the youthful, irreverent contender in the mobile category. As it aims to become the mobile operator of choice for youth, Virgin is focused solely on wooing this audience, creating products and services exclusively for them. And unlike many brands that project a youthful image but do very little for youth, Virgin puts its money where its mouth is. Considering that India has one of the world’s biggest youth populations, this could signal trouble for the other mass mobile giants, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
Delhi will host its biggest sporting event yet, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in October, but nothing seems to be going right. With news channels ferociously digging up every real or potential issue related to the Games—from exposes about corruption within the Indian Olympic Association to the city’s unpreparedness for the mega event—Delhi citizens are braving a series of anxiety attacks. Enter the tycoon Subrata Roy Sahara of Sahara Samay, a national news network, who wrote what he called an “Emotional Appeal,” carried on the front page of a leading daily.
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Dulux Paints recently ran a full-page ad in a national daily here indicating a fall in outbound tourism from India thanks to its “Colours of the World” range—they bring the mood and feel of Rome, New York, London and Paris to your home, so you never need to leave. The pitch cleverly appeals to anxious consumers who are cocooning; while spending more time at home, where they feel safe and secure, they still want a taste of adventure within the comfort of their four walls. The ad also comes at a time when a small but growing number of wealthy young travelers are becoming more adventurous and interested in other cultures than older Indians (a trend recently covered by 
