Brands in disguise

With the Supreme Court upholding a complete ban on advertising of tobacco and tobacco-based products in July, the spotlight is now on alcohol brands. How does the alcobev industry go about creating brand recall without getting into trouble with the law? Saloni Dutta finds out

‘Khoob Jamega Rang Jab Mil Baithenge Teen Yaar, Aap, Main, Aur...’ The last words from that popular ad for Bagpiper Club Soda, are a disguised pointer to Bagpiper Whisky, a product that cannot be directly advertised, according to the laws of the land. This is just one example of surrogate advertising by an alcobev brand. As the laws get stricter, makers of alcoholic beverages are being more creative, not only linking their brands to water, soda, music CDs, events, etc., but taking these associations to the digital platform to ensure brand recall and engagement.

In July this year, the Supreme Court tightened the noose on advertising of tobacco and tobacco-based products, by enforcing a complete ban on media and activations, the only exception being display ads in stores that are not larger than 60 cm x 45 cm.

The spotlight — or rather the magnifying glass — is now on India’s alcobev industry, which, except for a few liberties, has a similar advertising restriction. The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 prevents alcohol brands from advertising their individual products directly. So investing in surrogate advertising strategies or brand extensions is the answer — essentially using products with their brand name on non-alcoholic products. These products, of course, must genuinely exist and have tangible purchase or use to the audience.

Marketing experts and analysts have observed that one way alcohol brands can increase their volume of sales is by taking market share away from their competitors, and also by expanding the overall size of the market, which is expected to touch Rs 17,550 crore by 2014. To achieve either or both, these brands need to invest their capital in strong marketing strategies necessary for expanding the market and broadening their margins.

Selecting the vehicle

Selecting the right surrogate vehicle for the alcohol brand depends on the brand positioning, core brand elements, target audience and relevance. For example, Kingfisher, borrowing from its positioning of ‘Good Times’, ties up with properties that are essentially seen as light, mass celebrations, or simply living the good life. Enter successful association with the IPL and with the lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times. And, perhaps, a lifetime of brand recall.

The type of advertising media/campaign chosen also depends on the income of the target audience and the segment of the liquor brand. For example, surrogate products of a superior premium segment product can be promoted through TV advertising, whereas local brands or deluxe lower segments tend to have local advertising like shop branding.

Also the nature of the spirit decides the choice of indirect advertising. For example, a rum, beer or wine brand targeting millennials will opt for music CDs and special event sponsorships. Sula Wines, for instance, has a marketing mix of PR, advertising and social media along with a lot of BTL activities, and making good use of their assets. “We focus on building the brand through our vineyards and through our property Sulafest,” says Sunila Duggal, Associate Vice President, Sula Vineyards.

However, considering the short attention span of the audience and the highly competitive industry, experts believe that offbeat mechanisms to create brand extensions are best for brands bound by restricted advertising. “Today, marketers and agencies are adapting to platforms that were unheard of in the past,” says Anup Tapadia of Touchmagix Media. “Bacardi installed a motion and gesture-based dancing game at 36 pubs for 108 days across India, thereby interacting with the consumer at the point of purchase. We created an interactive bar for Ciroq, where as soon as a glass was placed, a bottle of Ciroq emerged from the bubbles. For Winston, we created a large 15 feet interactive bar which carried the eagle logo as part of all interactions.”

Digital media: A great tool to exploit… for now

Online platforms not only provide brands an engagement platform, but also allow them to create brand loyalty. Experts believe that digital liquor branding can be as potent as physical liquor branding, as it allows direct interaction with the audience. It helps understand their views, ideas, as also gives insights to how customers use the product and thereby indicate various other touchpoints that can be used for communication. It almost makes indirect advertising direct and allows 360-degree engagement with sampling, events, recipes with a two-ended pipeline from brand-to-customer and customer-to brand.

Bacardi, for instance, launched an experiential digital CSR initiative called ‘Walk the Line’ early this year, to promote responsible drinking, which got a tremendous response. So ‘shares’ and endorsements to relevant TG translate as dedicated direct advertising, giving more bang for the buck. Listening and asking here creates opportunities for product development and extension with free and unbiased market research.

Although there have been controversies regarding the promotion of alcohol brands through social media, no specific regulations have been set as of now. Thus liquor brands can exploit platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to promote their brands. Miller and Fosters, for example, have their respective Facebook and Twitter accounts in place, and often get involved in weekly contests and promotional activities.

Events: Still the best go-to strategy?

From cricket and golfing championships to award shows and music festivals, alcobev brands seem to be gunning more for high-profile events. Apart from high viewership and visibility on ground and on various media, these events provide perfect synergies for promotion online. Kingfisher Premium has associated itself with five teams of the IPL as the ‘Good Times Partner’, resulting in huge brand awareness among its target audience. Similarly, Johnny Walker Awards for Excellence has been a great promotional campaign for the whisky giant over the years, where people from various sectors are awarded for their achievements in their career and life. In this case, it’s brand and social awareness, a double whammy. And goodwill’s in the bag.

Marketers in the industry strongly believe that such sponsorship deals are better to establish brand recognition in a competitive industry, than say, bringing out packaged water that’s already a competitive category on its own.

But with surrogate properties, success depends on the marketing effort and the resultant community that emerges from it, perhaps the brand’s true ambassadors. “It could die quickly, lag on or traverse in natural progression from surrogate to spin or brand extension,” says Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India & South Asia. “Certain brands like Smirnoff and Bacardi create communities of loyal followers and the brand life cycle for their properties definitely increases.”

Focus on design and packaging Say Absolut, and images of the bottle’s sleek shape, and its highly creative, straight-forward print ads instantly come to mind. Such is the power of good design and memorable packaging – everyone knows that the font on Absolut’s bottle is blue, and that it has a shiny silver cap. For some reason, experts believe brand recall through pure packaging hasn’t seen a breakthrough in India – with the exception of Old Monk, a cult brand that has had a consistent design, and has virtually created the rum category in India, without much investment. “The biggest challenge the brand design team faces while designing indirect advertising properties or products is lack of direct access to the core product,” says Shekhar Badve, Founder Director (Marketing and Strategy), Lokusdesign. “In other words, the consumer cannot experience or taste (in case of beverages) the actual product either.” Therefore, visual drama in packaging, and leveraging it make sense.

Although no brand has attempted to focus on design yet, things could change with market leader Diageo’s presence strengthening in India. For instance Bailey’s, a Diageo brand, recently launched its new bottle internationally, with “lifted shoulders for a more elegant profile”.

Laws likely to be stricter

According to experts, while alcohol brands take the event, on-ground activation and/or digital route to market their brand, laws around them are bound to change soon, especially with rising cases of accidents caused by drunk driving and serious health risks linked to alcohol abuse. “The challenge is one of deception going right or deception going wrong,” says brand consultant Harish Bijoor, matter of factly. “The challenge also lies in the fact that stronger laws against surrogate advertising are around the corner. All surrogate advertising has an expiry date attached to its neck as of now.”

SPIRITED INTERACTIONS
Here's a look at how some alcohol brands have successfully managed to generate brand recall with the help of various platforms

Heineken 

The vehicle: Heineken India’s global partnership with the UEFA Champions League

The campaign and activations:

• The brand kicked off the ‘Heineken Social Reporter’ contest via its Facebook app, where a winner would fly to London to report on the UEFA Champions League Final for the Heineken Social Media channels in India. Applicants went through a three-stage online and offline process that assessed their football knowledge and passion, apart from other softer attributes and personality traits.

• The Candidate, a video featuring an unorthodox job interview for a place with Heineken’s event and sponsorship department, was launched on YouTube to go viral.

• ‘The Road To The Final’ ad was unveiled on various digital media channels, which features a lucky football fan, who receives a ticket to the UEFA Champions League Final. Facebook fans could also play the social pinball game inspired by elements of the new ad.

• Heineken has introduced ‘The Road to the Final’ promotion across bars and beer shops in the country – where consumers could win branded merchandise and a chance to win a ticket to the final.

The outcome: The brand received 400 applications for the Social Reporter contest and 4 million views worldwide for the Candidate video.

“Heineken has been associated with the UEFA Champions League for seven years now. Given the growing fan following that European football enjoys in India, we decided to leverage our global partnership in India for the first time this year with a multipronged activation programme. We expect the campaign to make the brand more salient and desirable among young Indian consumers.” Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice-President Marketing, United Breweries Limited

Hennessy

The vehicle: Hennessy’s quest for musicians to perform at the Blue Passions Festival in Cognac, France

The campaign and activations:

• In 2012, Hennessy launched its first everinternational Talent Quest called ‘Be Heard. Be Found.’ The contest used Facebook as a platform to find young talent to play at the festival.

• Musicians and bands had to submit a video entry of their own music performance on Hennessy.com to get a chance to perform at the festival. A judging panel, including the festival’s founder Michel Rolland, chose the top 10 entries, which were then published on Hennessy.com where Hennessy fans voted for the final winners.

The outcome: Moët Hennessy India leveraged their presence on Facebook and their relationship with the indie music community, thanks to the Hennessy Artistry India platform, to drive conversation about the contest. Over 500 bands submitted entries. The winners, Nexcyx, from Barbados performed alongside A-list artistes such as Sting, Hugh Laurie and Imany.

“For Hennessy’s Talent Quest, Facebook and the brand website played an important role. Right from sharing the ‘call for action’ to engaging fans with the concept, these platforms allowed Hennessy to speak to a larger universe of music-lovers and young consumers of luxury.” Gaurav Bhatia, Marketing Director, Moët Hennessy India

Smirnoff’s Lime Vodka

The vehicle: Spray Tester for Smirnoff Lime Vodka

The campaign and activations:

• How do you let your audience experience your new alcoholic product without tasting it? Smirnoff created a unique flavour spray tester mounted on a 180 ml bottle, for their Lime Vodka, which allows you to ‘smell’ the product.

• This strategy included a BTL approach where an off-premise product promoter, situated around various liquor and wine shops, sprayed the flavour on a tester card and then asked the consumer to smell it.

The outcome: This flavour smell-testing activity resulted in a faster brand attraction, which led to instant sales. The traditional buying and sales cycle was shortened, and through this strategy, the brand reported a 32% growth in sales and a 10-time increase in sales within the first month of activation.

Kingfisher

The vehicle: Kingfisher’s association with the Indian Premier League

The campaign and activations:

• IPL accounts for the brand’s biggest marketing spends. Kingfisher adopted a 360-degree approach, utilising TV, Print, merchandising, in-stadium advertising, consumer activations, etc.

• Kingfisher came out with numerous contests, where people won a chance to meet and interact with their favourite cricketer. Fans also participated in activations in pubs across cities where they won prizes like tickets to the IPL matches and merchandise.

• The brand introduced #KFBeerUP, a series of cricket themed events in cities across India, where Twitteratis were specifically selected and treated to an evening of cricket, music, unlimited beer and food, sponsored by Kingfisher.

• The Speculator digital app allowed users to answer questions asked after every three overs. They won/lost points in real time based on their answers, and a leader board updated the scores. Users sent their speculation through the app or even via Twitter, and the winners won badges and merchandise.

• The Kingfisher Ticket Trail activity got users to literally chase tickets for different matches on Google maps, Twitter and Facebook.

The outcome: These activities combined, managed to get Kingfisher a 6-million strong community base across social media platforms.

OTHER RECENT ACTIVATIONS

Diageo Reserve World Class India 2013: This international training programme, founded by Diageo Reserve Brands, is a celebration of flair and creativity in the craft of bartending. Contenders from various prestigious bars in India competed in regional heats, each aiming at a place in the global final that would take them aboard a luxury cruise liner.

Carlsberg India’s Cheer campaign: Carlsberg India launched a two month long ‘Cheer Campaign’ this April. This provided fans in India an opportunity to win a trip to England and get tickets to watch Liverpool FC play at the Premier League, as well as stay packages.

Salaam Bengal/India by Officer’s Choice:The brand equity of Officer’s Choice is centred on the proposition of ‘Righteousness’ – every person is faced with a variety of choices in life and Officer’s Choice encourages people to make the right choice. Both Salaam Bengal and Salaam India award properties recognize the common people who make these right choices in life against all odds.

DIAGEO DEAL STIRS UP MARKET
The big news in the liquor and tobacco domain has been Diageo acquiring 25% stake in Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits Limited (USL) in July, in a deal valued at about Rs 57.2bn. The acquisition will give Diageo, maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, access to USL’s distribution network in India, and help it build the market for its premium Scotch brands, according to industry sources. Of late, Indians seem to be drinking less alcohol, especially the cheaper variety, due to rising prices. High-priced brand Pernod Ricard, which earns more money than USL despite selling less than one fourth of USL’s volume, as well as Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt Ltd, are increasing market share.

SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT?
• The largest segment in the Indian alcoholic beverages market is IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) that accounts for about 41% by volume, while beer amounts for about 32% of the Indian alcoholic beverage market by volume.

• According to the Census Bureau, 112.2 million will enter the legal drinking age between 2011-16 and the number will rise to 116.9 million people in 2016-21.

• Favourable demographics, surge of the middle class, urbanization and changing culture will continue to drive adoption, consumption and premiumization in India’s alcohol sector.

PEGGED TO THE BRAND
Seagram’s Royal Stag roped in Saif Ali Khan along with cricketers MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan and Gautam Gambhir as brand ambassadors. In TVCs, they were shown as promoting the Royal Stag Music CDs followed by their famous tagline ‘It’s Your Life, Make It Large’. Other examples are Bagpiper soda and cassettes & CDs, Hayward’s soda, Derby special soda, Gilbey Green Aqua, Royal Challenge golf accessories and mineral water, Kingfisher mineral water, White Mischief Holidays, Smirnoff cassettes & CDs, Blue Imperial CDs, Teacher’s Achievement awards, Wills Lifestyle apparel and Johnny Walker Awards for Excellence.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

•The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (Tobacco Prohibition Act) prohibits all direct and indirect advertising of tobacco products in all media

• According to the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, India, 1995, any ad for a product that uses a brand name that’s also used for a cigarette, tobacco, wine, alcohol, liquor or similar products, will not be permitted. It also states that no broadcaster is permitted to show such ads promoted directly or indirectly

• The Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) has laid down specific rules and guidelines prohibiting surrogate advertising:

(a) Visual content of the ad must depict only the product being advertised, not the prohibited or restricted product in any form or manner

(b) The ad must not make any direct or indirect reference to the prohibited or restricted products

(c) The ad must not create any nuances or phrases promoting prohibited products

BRITISH HOUSEWIVES BEGAN IT ALL

Surrogate advertising started off with British housewives, who started protesting against the liquor advertisements that lured their husbands. Their protests led to stoppage of liquor advertisements in Britain and brand owners came up with promotions of fruit juices and soda using brand names of liquor.

(We also spoke to Santosh Kanekar, Owner, BeLive Corp, Shubhranshu Singh, Marketing Director, Visa, India & South Asia, Ahmed Rahimtoola, Senior VP-Marketing, Allied Blenders and Distributors & Subodh Marwah, Director, Marketing, Carlsberg India for this report)

Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com