The good old days of DD ads continued...

First of all I would like to thank all the readers of my previous post and their comments that motivated me to write this one. The earlier blog initiated the issues of masculinity and femininity in advertising. Most of the ad campaigns try to communicate through gender identity. They use stereotyped iconography of masculinity and femininity. It is indeed a tried and tested formula whether successful or not is yet to be found out but going by the rate in which it is used, it certainly appears to be successful not only in ads but also in other means of popular culture. (The dictionary defines masculinity as “something that has qualities traditionally ascribed to men as virile, powerful, strength and boldness” and femininity as “something that has qualities ascribed to women as sensitivity, gentleness, and beauty”)

Let me continue with the same example of Rotomac pens, the earlier ad used a female celebrity Raveena Tondon, a school going kid. Raveena surrounded by her fans giving autograph, her pen is not working and this kid gives his pen to her. The pen is projected as stylish and smooth. The ad projects the product in a more feminine manner with their tagline likhte likhte love ho jaye. The ad used emotional appeal and focused more on product attributes. On the contrary, their recent ad did not use a single female figure; the expressions of all the male characters used in the ad were very robust, hitting and loud. Nowhere in the ad are they talking about their product attributes. The ad simply says one should use the product because it is a tool that gives you power of writing. They have changed their earlier slogan likho script apna apna (write your own script) to likho India ki nayi pehchaan (write India’s new identity) [Watch on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njPHq5hhTac).

Rotomac’s TV presence was almost nil in the past few years. Meanwhile other market players entered the market. Linc and Cello managed to capture a decent share in the already cluttered pen market and were quite rigorous in their marketing approach. Linc has been successful in projecting themselves as a corporate into philanthropy. Their slogan says it all ‘encouraging literacy’. And of course few other intelligent (?) marketing moves by using SRK, getting associated with IPL etc. Since, the advent of ads (especially TVC’s) in India our marketers were smart enough to realize the fact that to win over the consumers in the market, they need to cash on consumer’s obsessions which are films and cricket. And thus, one can see spill over of film stars and cricketers used as brand endorsers.

Reynolds, the then market leader who pioneered the writing revolution in Indian pen market uses the slogan ‘the pen the world prefers’. Thus, the later market players preferred to position themselves differently. Montex used the slogan ‘India’s pride’. Linc’s ad (Watch on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAvzLD0IPg) used the tagline gaur se dekho hamare chehre likhi hai aaj inpe India ki nayi kahani (India’s new identity is written now by using these pens) and used SRK as their brand ambassador (Watch on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iadZCJrZAI&feature=related). Cello pen’s slogan embarks India connection with pen, it says ‘the pen India trusts’ and used M.S. Dhoni as their brand ambassador (Watch on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbEHaf0naZY).

Going by the India connection of pens, when revamping its image Rotomac had to keep a close look at all its competitors move and hence the slogan likho India ki nayi pehchaan.

References:
Feminine. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 27, 2010, from www.dictionary.reference.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feminine
Masculine. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 27, 2010, from www.dictionary.reference.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/masculine
Zwick, J. E. (2004, March). Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images. Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 7, No. 1 , pp. 21–52.