Beware! This mistake can ruin your brand’s fortunes

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Increasing number of brands are donning the hat of agency but lessons from the fallout of Layer’r deo ad explains why it’s a wrong idea!

If you are a brand manager or you are a startpreneur, campaign by Gujarat-based Adjavis Venture for their men’s body spray brand Layer'r Shot holds valuable lessons for your brand building exercise. In one of the commercials of now banned campaign, four young guys are shown walking into a mall where a woman is shopping. One of the guys makes a suggestive and sexual comment at the woman, “We are four, and there’s only one. So, who will take the first shot?” Then we see that it’s a pun (apparently in bad taste) and that the guys are talking about the lone Layer'r Shot deo on the shelf. The second ad in the series follows a similar storyline with different characters. The ads were conceptualized by the brand’s in-house team.

 Immediately after its release, the ads created a furore on social media. Netizens and celebrities took to Twitter to express their dissent over the ads outraging modesty of women and showing casual attitude towards sexual violence against women.

Following the uproar, I&B Ministry directed YouTube and Twitter to pull down the ads. Also, both I&B Ministry & Advertising Standards Council of India suspended its further publishing.

 In response, the brand issued a half-hearted apology statement.

 

This is not the first time that a brand has stirred the hornet’s nest and this will not be the last. But what’ startling is the frequency with which some new brands are bypassing the advertising agencies in the name of cost-cutting either by making do with in-house team or freelancers. And this has resulted in abuse of creative liberty at the expense of science of advertising.

So what should brand owners and brand managers learn from the incident?

There are many perks of hiring an advertising agency

There’s more science to advertising than creativity. Advertising professionals conduct their research, deep dive into brand; understand its brand values, positioning, personality, target market and audience. This structured and systematic approach to brand awareness and brand building is full proof and addresses every weak link along the way while harnessing upon the strengths of brand.

If such thorough process was applied during the conceptualization of Layer’r Shot’s ads then such a disastrous outcome could have been avoided.

Sell the product, not the creativity

While the Layer’r Shot’s ads can pass off as creative, what it is passing off as creativity lacks genuine marketable thought. It falters on many levels, including committing the cardinal sin of offending its own target audience. It’s like a product being put out into the market without performing necessary quality checks. It’s a recipe of disaster.

This is why an advertising agency matters. Advertising professionals subject a creative thought through various quality checks to ascertain if it has any real marketable value.

Understand thin line between outstanding and outrageous

From deo to toothpaste and soft drinks to smart phones, the notion of using the product to gain a romantic favour is age old. However you must know where the boundary lies. If you cross the boundary, you risk damage to the reputation of your brand. Also you must consider that every advertisement is the product of its time. What was cool in 70s or 90s may be perceived as crap now. So this transformation of society as a whole must be interwoven in the narrative of your brand.

In-house team and freelancers don’t have what agency has

The advertising professionals work in a team, they have the experience, and most importantly, they are cutout for the task. With freelancers or in-house team, you might fall in the trap of plagiarism, whereas with agency, you get the assurance of original work. In simple words, in-house teams and freelancers are like general physician whereas agency is the specialist doctor. Now you decide who is better equipped to look out for your brand’s health!

 While not all brands that opt out of the agency route are doing bad, one can’t put more emphasis on the need for an advertising agency to get consistent, better and reliable outcomes.