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Recently, Society Tea launched a new campaign ‘Masala Nahi Toh Mazaa Nahi’. Conceptualized by Ogilvy, the campaign revolves around every Indian’s love for cinema and chai. Riding on the strategy of this campaign, Shemaroo Entertainment tactically took over a Society Tea outdoor in Mumbai with a campaign of its own. The Shemaroo Outdoor goes on to agree with Society Tea outdoor to say, ‘Toh masala chai ke saath ek masala movie ho jaye?’. While this campaign between Society and Shemaroo was more like a friendly reply, there have many numerous instances where brands have taken on each other. <keyword id="25952" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mercedes-Benz">Mercedes-Benz</keyword> CEO Dieter Zetsche retired from his post recently, after leading the car manufacturer for 12 years. And while the world spoke about Zetsche’s stepping down, an ad spot by BMW, paying tribute to Zetsche went viral. BMW released a video, bidding farewell to Zetsche, which people might argue is a very nice gesture. The ‘heartwarming’ ad sports a Zetsche look-alike who is seen saying goodbye to colleagues at Mercedes-Benz, returning his ID and then seen leaving for home. The ad ends by saying, ‘Thank you, Dieter Zetsche, for so many years of inspiring competition.’ However, BMW brilliantly adds itself to the spot when they show the character zooming off in a BMW car with the words ‘Free at last’ on the screen, in the last frame seconds of the ad. The ad ticked all the right boxes, it felt like a genuinely heartfelt tribute, while also being smart advertising. However, while people initially lauded BMW for being humble and raising a toast to the CEO of a rival brand, many others later pointed out that the last shot, where Zetsche is seen driving out in a flashy BMW car makes the ad cheeky and not really as heartfelt as most people were making it out to be. <div type="Youtube" id="9rx7-ec0p0A" title="Retirement is about exploring your wide open future." thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9rx7-ec0p0A/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 <keyword id="1440186" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="competitive-marketing">Competitive marketing</keyword> isn’t really a new phenomenon. For years, rival brands have engaged in guerilla advertising, calling each other out and pulling each other down, in an attempt at achieving one-upmanship. For consumers, it is entertainment, where competing brands end up engaging in pun wars, which can be very witty at most times. Closer home, we came across a few examples of competitive marketing when smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi took a dig at rival brand OnePlus. OnePlus has been putting in some big bucks to promote its latest offering OnePlus 7. It recently roped in Hollywood actor Robert Downey Junior as its face and has been marketing its new phone aggressively. Looking at this as an opportunity, Xiaomi came up with an OOH campaign and placed it right beside OnePlus hoardings with the punchline, ‘Starkly Superior To The Lastest One’, clearly taking a dig at OnePlus. The images were tweeted by Xiaomi India Head, Manu Kumar Jain, and the Twitterverse was quick to notice this, which were shared across platforms widely. <div type="twitter" handle="manukumarjain" handlename="Manu Kumar Jain" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1097747771208040448/8ds587oq_normal.jpg" favoritecount="6767" retweetcount="792" status="&quot;Starkly superior to the latest one!&quot; +1 if you liked these punny ads! 🤓😁 #RedmiK20 and #RedmiK20Pro coming soon!… https://t.co/EVejqmkGRW" createdat="1559458989000" id="1135079389446647811"></div>
 About a month back, Oven Story came up with a series of videos where they promoted their pizza offerings while also poking fun at some of its well-established rivals like Pizza Hut and Domino’s. <div type="Youtube" id="01lS-9YAtqs" title="Oven Story Pizza, ye to #NextLevelCheese hai! III 40sec" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/01lS-9YAtqs/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 European lager beer brand Beck’s Ice too launched a digital film that took a direct dig at competitor Kingfisher, the ad implied that its competitor’s beer was not as smooth as Beck’s Ice. <keyword id="33542" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Burger-King">Burger King</keyword> recently also took its competitive advertising to a different level when it launched an Augmented Reality campaign where it asked people to ‘burn’ its competitor’s ads, and get a Whopper in exchange. <div type="twitter" handle="Ogilvy" handlename="Ogilvy" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1134818095279878146/uHppwvz7_normal.png" favoritecount="4482" retweetcount="4543" status="Title: Burn That Ad Client: Burger King Agency: @DAVID_SaoPaulo_ For their latest campaign, Burger King entices cu… https://t.co/HZSysvXWMs" createdat="1553090752000" id="1108369063951126528"></div>
 In the past too, we have seen some big brands engaging in competitive marketing. Who can forget the Cola wars in India in the 90’s? Or the campaign where Times of India came out with a video, pulling the Hindu down while launching in Chennai, which was dominated by the Hindu. The Hindu also later came out with a campaign titled, ‘Stay Ahead With The Hindu’. Both the campaigns were widely spoken about, despite it being before the time of social media. <div type="Youtube" id="_-qUnFZa6PM" title="TOI CHENNAI EDITION WAKE UP!" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_-qUnFZa6PM/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 <div type="Youtube" id="OT3xeaWVINA" title="Stay ahead with THE HINDU" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OT3xeaWVINA/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 Competitive marketing has an obvious advantage. It makes people sit up and notice. In the age of social media, anything that is a little different from regular communications generates a lot of chatter. Speaking about how brands can stand to gain, <keyword id="873832" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saurabh-Uboweja">Saurabh Uboweja</keyword> Chief Executive Officer Brands of Desire management consulting firm says, “Competitive marketing is a powerful tool if used intelligently. It brings unforced attention, creates dialogue around your brand and establishes your superiority over your adversary.” Since the advent of social media, coming up with campaigns like this has also become common because a lot can be said in just one post. This also makes it cost-effective. Says N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, “Guerrilla marketing or competitive advertising is usually low cost and usually piggybacks on a larger advertising campaign. It’s like a judo move, where you use the weight of the opponent against them. It becomes good conversation, and is usually remembered for a long time.” He further adds, “If done well, ads like this can be extremely effective. It brings the competing brand into the consumer consciousness, if it is well executed.” However, many also believe it is a double edged sword. Adds Uboweja, “It is sometimes confused with plain or crass sloganeering and may backfire as a result, making a brand appear desperate for attention.” Agreeing to Uboweja, Karthik Srinivasan, Independent Brand Strategist says, “Brands need to be very careful while coming up with campaigns like this. Campaigns go viral when they evoke a strong emotion in viewers, that emotion can be positive, negative, humor or disgust.” Sharing an example when two brands engaged in competitive advertising, while not putting each other down, Srinivasan says, “When Boeing turned 100 back in 2016, Airbus came up with a video thanking the former for the healthy competition. Similarly, Boeing came up with a video to wish Airbus a happy 50th birthday. In both the cases, the brands kept the snide-ness at the minimal. However, that also meant these videos were not as widely shared as the others.” <div type="Youtube" id="xWaTjYpczKQ" title="One thing to say to Boeing" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xWaTjYpczKQ/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 <div type="Youtube" id="5j3ob0CfH9I" title="Airbus, We're Glad You're Here" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5j3ob0CfH9I/mqdefault.jpg"></div>
 While brands do capture a lot of eyeballs for campaigns like these, they can also face a backlash, making it critical for brands to be very careful. Srinivasan explains, “People only share content like this when they feel strongly. And it’s not a very good idea to do that on a back of a strong negative emotion. In case of Xiaomi, they pulled OnePlus’ legs but the next time they fall short in some regard, people will pull Xiaomi down too. Brand need to realize that a piece of communication can also evoke a positive emotion and such creatives can also do well with consumers, if the campaigns are executed well.”

Does Competitive Marketing Still Work For Brands?

The Supreme Court appointed high-level committee led by former Chief Justice RM Lodha on Tuesday found <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword> official <keyword id="1682587" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gurunath-Meiyappan">Gurunath Meiyappan</keyword> guilty of betting during <keyword id="6354831" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Premier-League">Indian Premier League</keyword> season 6. 
 
Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Lodha said Meiyappan was found guilty of betting, whereas co-owner of <keyword id="13802" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajasthan-Royals">Rajasthan Royals</keyword>, <keyword id="18641" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raj-Kundra">Raj Kundra</keyword>, was found guilty of misconduct. 
 
Both the teams, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), have been banned from the <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> for two years. 
 
It comes as a big decision because both CSK and RR are the top performing teams in the league and have won the tournament in past. Apart from the two team franchisees being banned from the tournament, the decision also affects all the stakeholders of the game including players, media, brands and sentiments of their loyal fans. Besides, the overall image of IPL as a tournament is also put under scanner. 
 
Sponsors? 
 
A large sum of money has been invested behind these teams, as brands have locked them in for sponsorships and media deals, for promotions across mediums. 
 
In 2015 alone, Rajasthan Royals grabbed 15 brand associations, of which three new brands came on board. It had had similar amount of brand associations during the last season. The new brands for Rajasthan Royals include Spice Mobiles, Kalasalingham University from Chennai and security firm CP Plus. Apart from this the team has 9 previous sponsors such as UltraTech, Rupa, Lawman Pg3, Mitashi, TCS, Kingfisher, Pepsi, Deakin University, ICE X and Kooh. 
 
On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings has been associated with brands such as India Cements, Aircel, Gulf Oil, Pepsi, Reebok and Usha. In 2015, FreeCharge and ShopClues.com also joined the brand wagon. 
 
Now, with the teams being taken off for a couple of years, what lies ahead for the brands? Saurabh Uboweja, CEO, Brands of Desire points out that the brands associated with the teams are at a lesser risk. "Sponsors will not be affected much and neither their equity will be diluted to a large extent as they have not done anything wrong. They have other options to endorse and will definitely go for other teams. While India Cements, that owns CSK, will be affected, but that too not in a large extent," adds Uboweja. 
 
To this, <keyword id="175362" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Harish-Bijoor">Harish Bijoor</keyword>, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults finds that brands will be not be affected much. "It will be a short term loss for sponsors as their money to buy media will be affected, but not their brand equity. If not CSK or RR, they will be endorsing with someone else," adds Bijoor. 
 
A Tainted League? 
 
IPL is seen as the super bowl of India where brands partner with the teams to reach out to their target audience as the event cuts across the socio-economic categories. It is not the first time when the cases of corruption have come up in IPL. In past, players have been banned and teams have always been under scanner affecting IPL's image, so much so that in 2013, there were speculations that title sponsors Pepsi might walk out on the country's most lucrative sporting event. 
 
Now, as controversy strikes IPL back, how is the league going to maintain its equity? 
 
Bijoor finds that the decision will not affect IPL's equity as the tournament has been used to it. "IPL and controversy are no strangers. It all started with <keyword id="3257" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lalit-Modi">Lalit Modi</keyword>, and has just paused at CSK and RR. The game and the tournament will not be affected," asserts Bijoor. 
 
Uboweja mentions that the decision is a bigger loss for IPL. "If instead some smaller teams would have been suspended, people would not have bothered but now they will again think IPL as tainted as it has completely lost its credibility," adds Uboweja. 
 
For the record, Indian Premier League viewership grew by 20% over the 2014 edition. The reach of the tournament also increased by 2% with first 45 matches having reached 182 million unique viewers this year.

IPL Verdict: Do Tainted Franchisees Belittle their Brand Partners and the League?

In Latin, ad vertere means "to turn toward". In business terms, <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> has the ability to persuade for or against something. It has an instant effect on the viewer's mind, which can sometimes lead to image formation and impulsive actions. Depending on the level of acceptance of a brand in a viewer's mind, effective advertisement can achieve one of the following outcomes: 
 
1. Make a viewer aware about something valuable 
2. Generate interest to consider buying or associating 
3. Trigger an action, like a visit to the store or an online purchase 
 Out of the above, the first outcome is most likely, but least useful and strangely the most celebrated one. I am tired of hearing of <keyword id="476741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="brand-managers">brand managers</keyword>, who claim their brand as the most powerful one based on research that claims the highest awareness or recall for their brand. Interestingly, most brand managers consider one or more of the above three outcomes as a measure of the brand's success. 
 If <keyword id="135160" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="branding">branding</keyword> was as simple as advertising, everyone could create a brand and be merry. True branding starts much before advertising begins, and goes much beyond advertising as its effects last. Without the real experience of a product or service and experiences that support them, the brand is a myth in the mind of the consumer. The gap between perceived reality and reality is usually so large that it becomes unbridgeable with each passing advertisement, eventually hurting the equity of the brand as 'real experiences' continue to disappoint. 
 
Branding is about getting the house in order, and advertising is about inviting people to it. Unfortunately, more time, money and resources are spent inviting people to the house than getting the house in order. Advertising is cool and becoming famous gives a gullible satisfaction that you have arrived. It is self-fulfilling, but doesn't necessary imply success and, therefore, can be self-destructing. With advertising, you may succeed in convincing a buyer to try or buy your product, but in order to sustain and survive you will need a brand that performs and transfers value to the buyer that exceeds the cost she paid for it. 
 
Branding is the process of adding real value to the product or service and subsequently transferring it to its buyer with each passing action, interaction, presentation and performance of the brand. Advertising has an integral role to play in this process, provided the advertisement exactly and clearly communicates what the real experience is likely to be. Any deviation to this rule can be costly in the long run and even debilitating for some of the brands. The deviances, however, are commonplace, as the advertiser often confuses advertising goals with expected outcomes (as described earlier). Part of the reason for this is the advertiser's poor understanding of their own brand and the value it carries. 
 Let's take the example of smartphones. Good advertising can make users interested in a new smartphone. However, when you are operating in a customer segment where a significant part of the <keyword id="17402" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="brand-value">brand value</keyword> is derived from what others think about the buyer's purchase decision, it rubs off on her personal brand value. If the buyer after using it, begins to believe the smartphone isn't really as good as she thought it to be, it will hurt the buyer's self-esteem and personal brand equity, making him really bitter about the brand. It could mean an unstoppable downward spiral for the brand as the word spreads, which can be very difficult to reverse as a trend. This very fact makes the smartphone market highly volatile in which a new brand emerges in the top 5 every year. 
 
It is, thus, really important for an advertiser to understand his brand well, because only then he would be able to build and sustain brand momentum. In the next article of this series, we will discuss what path he should follow. Stay tuned! 
 
(Saurabh Uboweja is a Branding Expert and CEO of <keyword id="928355" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Brands-of-Desire">Brands of Desire</keyword>.)

Series: Decoding Branding Vis-à-Vis Advertising—Part 1

The <keyword id="2690596" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-air-travel-industry">Indian air travel industry</keyword> is in the middle of a significant metamorphosis and not the last one that we will witness in a lifetime. From bankruptcies and desperate measures to raise survival equity to market share fights driven by price wars (not customer experience), we have seen it all. Change is good and is often inspired by the experiences of the recent past. Some may question the viability of the sector where 4 out of 5 national carriers are in the red, but as <keyword id="172834" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Oscar-Wilde">Oscar Wilde</keyword> said “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. There are five broad themes likely to play out as we see the sector emerge into a developed sub-economy. 
 
 Clearer market segmentation and better customer experience 
 For the first time in 10 years, we will finally experience the difference between a low-cost and full service airline as new airlines such as Vistara look to redefine what a true full service experience should be. This will have a trickle-down effect on both full service and low-cost carriers who will become crisper in defining their service positioning and experience for the travelers. The challenges in clearer segmentation, however, would still remain as most domestic flights are 2 hours long and there is only that much wow factor possible in a short duration flight where 15 minutes each side are spent on taking off and touching down. 
 
Price neutralization will become a viable short-term marketing strategy Full service carriers will match prices with low-cost carriers to eat into their market share by offering more value per buck. <keyword id="6358200" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jet-Airways">Jet Airways</keyword> is likely to lead this trend as it has already consolidated all its three sub-brands into a unified full service identity from December 2014 emerging as the de-facto market leader in full service operations. This should gradually erode the market share of democratic airlines like <keyword id="6354706" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indigo">Indigo</keyword> who get a significant number of affluent travelers mainly because of their consistent on-time performance and lack of differentiated alternatives. 
 
New challengers will emerge in each category as incumbent leaders strengthen their hold We are not likely to see new market leaders in the short term, but new entrants like <keyword id="86568" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Asia">Air Asia</keyword> and Vistara will emerge as strong challengers to the struggling number 2s and 3s in each category. They will have the benefit of learning from more than one case study of ‘how not to run an airline company in India’. They will work efficiently from grounds up from day one making the Indian airline industry more broad-based and sustainable. 
 
Indian aviation sector will become more international, globally-owned and sophisticated With 49% <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> allowed in domestic airlines by foreign carriers, there would hardly be a performing Indian airline that is not internationally owned. This will not only enhance efficiencies in operations through learning from global operators, but will also infuse in the much needed financial strength to scale up in a fast growing sector. Indian origin airlines will also become more visible in international skies and some of them will have the opportunity to transform themselves into global brands. 100% foreign equity allowed in airport development should see some of the Indian airports emerge as global hubs in the coming years, which in turn will enhance the viability, resilience and reputation of the Indian aviation sector. 
 
Rise of the regional airlines After several futile ventures, perhaps, the most ignored and likely to be the most dominant trends of the times to come, will be the rise of well-funded, well-branded regional airlines. Not that we haven’t heard of South-based Air Costa and Air Pegasus, a slew of others like Turbo Megha, Air Carnival and <keyword id="2546323" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zav-Airways">Zav Airways</keyword> are looking to establish regional air prints in India. It is in no way going to be an easy ride for them as trust is hard to come by in airline travel. However, if they can convince travelers and other stakeholders about their efficacy and long term sustainability, we will finally see affordable regional travel take a sky leap forward in India. 
 
(About the author: The article has been written by Saurabh Uboweja, CEO Brands of Desire.) 
 
Image: indiatimes

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