5 Indian brands having the iconic status to pull off another “Another Level” campaign
I have been updating myself about what’s happening in the world of marketing for the past few months. That is when I stumbled across the recent campaign launched by our beloved tortilla chips brand DORITOS.
If you live under the rock (like I did for the better part of my years), here is what the campaign about:
On Aug 26, 2019, DORITOS launched an anti- AD campaign named ‘Another Level’ through MTV VMA where this iconic brand dropped its logo(!) The advertisement contains blurry images of the iconic chip packets — Red and Blue- with no name and displays the iconic triangular shape of the chips in every scene. Also, Doritos dropped its logo from all social media channels, removed all previous social media content and replaced Doritos.com with LogoGoesHere.com
Now, you must be thinking how can a brand run a paid marketing campaign and not put its most valuable brand element — its NAME on it? After all, the brand’s name is what makes a product identifiable. The brand name is a company’s way of talking to its customers.
But hey! The brand believes its iconic appeal will be more than enough to be embedded into the minds of a customer when he or she makes a purchase. It also believes the slogan ‘Another Level’ will be the future of advertising.
Why the need?
Gen Z customers are increasingly becoming skeptic about the marketing tactics used by brands. Advertisers are shifting gears to make their brand seem more genuine than others. For this, they are using the disguised method of ‘covert advertising’.
Brands have used covert advertising techniques in the past too. The strategic use of products like Volkswagen, Mercedes cars in Bond movies, Converse shoes in the movie ‘I, Robot’, etc. are a few examples. For the past few years, brands were focusing on social media influencers to influence, and thus, persuade people to buy the products. However, when this knowledge of ‘persuasion’ is evident to the customers, they adapt themselves to cope with these attempts. This may often result in a complete rejection of the purchase of the brand by the customer.
Doritos is trying to prove its iconic power to draw customers. Thus, dropping the logo from its ad campaign is one such minimalist approach to implement covert advertising by Doritos. It is aiming to ‘speak more by talking less’. As the first iconic brand to do so, Doritos is surely going to generate enough buzz in the market to generate interest for its campaigns. I am looking forward to their other ‘Another level’ themes in the future.
Now that you have an idea about what ‘Another level’ campaign is, let us look at 5 Indian companies which can easily pull off such a campaign without losing its identity:
- State Bank of India
The largest bank in India in terms of market share is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable brands in India. Owing to its deep reach in the rural market, it has the iconic power to capture customers even if its name is not written along with its logo. The blue circle with a ‘common man’ cut in the bottom will always be associated with SBI.
2.Tata Group
The blue ‘T’ is undeniably one of the most sought-after companies in India. With products and services ranging from insurance, chemicals, power to communication, IT and e-commerce, Tata has diversified its business to meet the Indian customer’s demands in every possible way. It is the most trusted brand in India. Thus, dropping the name from its logo will not take away anything from its brand appeal. Customers’ recall value of the brand will remain the same.
3.Amul
The witty little Indian girl with her clever wordplay has built a deep bond within Indian customers’ minds. I remember snatching morning newspaper from my father’s hands just to find out what the Amul girl has to say about a particular event during my childhood. After over 50 years of being a part of the Indian food industry, I would say Amul is such a brand where its brand mascot is more famous than its logo. I believe even if the name is dropped from its campaigns, the ‘utterly butterly’ delicious brand will continue to be the topmost player in the Indian butter market category.
4.Fevicol
With its witty advertisements to position itself as the strongest adhesive whose ‘mazboot jod tootega hi nahi’, Fevicol has successfully used humor to attract customers. Their ads have never failed to amaze us. It has been our most trusted brand of adhesive for more than 50 years. Such is its brand appeal that whenever a student goes to a stationery shop for buying an adhesive, he/she asks for ‘FEVICOL’ rather than taking the product name i.e. glue. The white glue is synonymous with Fevicol in our lives. Thus, having only the two elephants as a logo without its name is surely going to make people more curious about the brand.
5.Hero MotoCorp Ltd.
The largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world has about 46% market share in India. Although there is a huge competition in the two-wheelers market between Honda and Hero, the latter has always relied on innovation in its products to better satisfy the transport needs of Indian Common Man. The red and black bars will always hold a strong brand presence in the minds of Indian customers even if its name is dropped from its logo.
So, here is my list of Indian companies that can implement another ‘Another level’ campaign. Although we are yet to see the effect of the campaign for Doritos, I am sure covert advertising is the way to move forward in the advertising world. Please leave a comment if you agree (or not!)
