Femvertising- Bursting the Bubble

<originally published on Sep 6, 2017>

Let us ask ourselves a fundamental question.

Why do brands invest?

At ISB, we were fortunate to get access to best in class cases and readings prepared by few of the finest brains on the subject. Few plausible reasons of brands pumping media dollars could be:

• Get a higher share of voice (SOV)- a media manager’s delight.
• Get sharper and focus on the core TG- brands try to make their TG fall in love at the cost of alienating a few.
• More, more and more awareness- after all a Brand Manager’s KPI of achieving better brand health starts from here.
• Increase consumption by creating more occasions — Cadbury is our personal favorite in this space
• Premiumisation of one’s offering to achieve a higher share of wallet or to increase brand equity

In this age where hashtags dominate the marketing communications, we occasionally find topically relevant campaigns that are viral worthy. We often stumble upon campaigns where brands adrift away from the core objective of establishing a strong connect with its brand story.

Let us delve deeper and talk about the latest ‘flavor of the season’, which has seen millions of dollars worth of media investments in recent past- FEMVERTISING.

A few years ago, Indian ads on TV were not so conducive to the female section of our society. A female protagonist’s biggest problems in lives were either being too dark in complexion or not being an expert in culinary skills. Or the husband’s and kids’ clothes not being white enough compared to the neighbors’. Hence started full-fledged industries and a slew of advertisements on fairness creams, tasty cooking oil, and washing powder ads. In a few years, things changed but for the worse.

Women’s bodies were open grounds for everyone. Objectification was the winning strategy. Sell deodorants or condoms to men by objectifying women. Sell mango drinks by objectifying women. Want to sell anything to anyone? You get the gist. And in the middle of all this, Dove launched the clutter breaking Real Womencampaign, which we all felt good about.

During this time, women were being spoken about but not spoken to. The good, bad, ugly and hypocrites all believed that there had to be a better way of approaching women, and maybe that’s when someone had the brilliant idea of incorporating Femvertising into the mix. Marketers often love to weave social issues into the brand story, adopting a two-pronged strategy: to strike a chord with people and to humanize brands.

Some did it brilliantly- they recited real stories on how women struggle every day against all odds, and these brands got their health metrics right. However, some simply jumped on the bandwagon to stay relevant. Without a clear synergy between brands and the causes, the end product is simply a glossy tear-jerking video with moments of epiphany but no recallable brand connect.

Let us take a moment to praise Nike’s- Da Da Ding campaign. With an objective to refocus its TG to women, it successfully delivered a 3-minute video featuring real female athletes defying stereotypes, and inculcated the notion that every girl can play sports. Not only did we see women in a desexualized avatar playing sports, but we also witnessed an underground culture where women were in their elements owning the gullies of Mumbai. Relevant and powerful when it came to a strong brand connect.

Another brand that does this beautifully is Titan. Talk about a socially relevant issue which concerns women and this brand has a relevant story with a progressive sign off. Having done this since long, each rendition adds back to its core brand objective strengthening the proposition of women and their progress in our minds. Femvertising done well!

However, few brands indulge in femvertising to remain topical. Investment that is done to garner a few brownie points and to win a few advertisement awards. Look at Bata. With the aim of refocusing its target group to the modern Indian women, Bata’s latest campaign “Me. And Comfortable With It” imbibed a different DNA altogether from the first frame. Etched in our memories with brand associations such as comfort, economical and long-lasting, Bata was not just a footwear brand but a household product. The new TVC starts off on a women empowerment note with the first line being “aren’t you glad that you are women? That you get to wear makeup, wear heel, etc”. The twelve-year old school goers in us and the millennials that we are today could not relate this back to the good ol’ Bata we knew. We certainly didn’t see a contemporary story coming out of it.

Another brand that pumped media dollars just for topicality is ‘Skore Condoms’. The execution was shabby and hence the brand hasn’t been able to score positive points for progressive display of women. The concept was introduced just in the ad and not at the core of its marketing strategy. A suicidal mistake because there is no intent to sustain the message beyond the ad.

We couldn’t help but ask few questions: Should advertising investment be contextual or conceptual? Is it just about meeting the objectives in the short term?

Millions of dollars are spent in research and understanding of segmentation and targeting but few brands fail to stick to this in the need of getting an advert right. We believe that marketing should help establish a connect and should not be just about context. With the recent cabinet reshuffling and a strong focus of women in the Modi Government, one can safely assume brands to recapitalize the femvertising wave in the near future. We sincerely hope its relevant and powerful in brand connect.