As I wrote in one of my previous blogs, the key to getting the creative right is to get the target group right. Whom are you talking to? Is it the buyer, the customer like the mom or the housewife or is it the consumer like the son or husband? What does he or she do? What ticks her? What are her habit, hobbies? Half the battle is won if there is clarity on this point. The reason why Horlicks and Boost even though being competitive brands from the same client do well is that there is no overlap in their TG. Horlicks, be it the health food drink or the oats or the noodles, always talks to the housewife. And Boost always talks to the sports loving kid.

 

The next key thing for the agency is to get the creative idea approved by the client. And this is the tough one. With due apologies to the client, usually clients judge creative on their own likes and dislikes. And most of the times clients are not even close to being a TG. Usually the head of marketing or the CEO in a client side is pushing 45- 50 years of age. He or she is from a different generation than the usual TG of 18-35 year old mother, housewife or husband. And trust me the agency has a more diverse set if people than the client. From 20 year old trainees to 45 year old CEOs. From young, first job, small town servicing executives to having seen 1000 movies in 1 year, Australia educated copywriters. From fiercely determined 30 year old on the rise account directors to 35 year old, having made 50 films ,creative directors. The agencies have a better chance of proving that their creative recommendation work if they do it right and with confidence. Let me share two such instances.

 

The first instance is many years ago with a Kolkata based Indian client. The client had enormous respect for agency creative recommendation and would almost always accept it. We had recommended a path breaking script, negative in its approach using death as a metaphor aimed at a 25-30 year old first time house owner, well educated, urban and not living in a joint family.. The client who was almost 70 had some reservations about using death as a metaphor but had accepted it after we had showed him that the TG had no such reservation.

 

All went well with making the film and we had a slick, appealing film in our hands. Unfortunately due to a slight delay in production we were cutting the broadcast deadline a bit too tight. Those were the days of DD monopoly and one had to book slots on Hindi Feature Film and Chayageet, the two highest viewership programmes, well in advance. Due to client unavailability and clash of schedule, our creative head was not available, the onus fell on me to get the film approved by the client. And I could catch hold of the client only at 8 PM at his house.

 

Once there, I realised that his whole khandaan including his wife, sons, daughter in laws and grandsons were going to be my clients. I also realised that none of them were the actual target group and worse none had even heard the film script before. I knew I was in trouble after just one screening of the film. The elder son (around 45) who wanted to assert himself, opened the floodgates by ridiculing the whole concept as inauspicious for the brand. The wife and the daughter in laws under their long ghoonghats nodded in approval and declared that the rona dhona in the film just does not appeal. The grandsons were too small to understand it but flowing with the trend also declared their dislike for the film. The only small hope came from the younger son who muttered almost to himself how the younger generation thinks differently.

 

In hindsight, one good thing I did was not to react to each criticism. I waited for the dam to burst and then after the water was spent asked the client if we could discuss this on a one to one. It was obvious he was also rattled by the comments from his family. My opening remark therefore had to be confident, positive and reassuring. I looked at the client, smiled and said, "I am not surprised by these remarks. Because remember the film is targeted at a different, younger and more open minded target group.  In fact it is targeted to people like me. And I can assure you mine type love this film."

 

He took a deep breath, looked at me and suggested if we could tone down the negativity in the film. I didnt say a word for a few seconds and then looked up at him and knowing the risk I was taking said " Sure I can talk about this with my creative. But the essence of this film is the death metaphor. We either have it or don't have it at all. This idea is based on the same. And the TG we are talking to is not worried about superstitions to look at it with negativity. So either we run the film as is or we junk it."

 

The client smiled. Obviously, reassured by my confidence. We ran the film as is for about 6 months with the brand breaking new recall and sales records.

 

The second incidence took place a few years ago. An MNC with a global brand had reimposed their faith in us. We had repositioned the brand and after due approvals on the campaign we had produced a series of film. These were aimed at around 25 year olds into their first jobs as youngsters. The films had come off well and after being approved by the marketing team, were shown to the MD. He did not like the films and thought that they were too subtle and would not be clear enough for the TG.

 

As we got into a debate, it was obvious that the MD's mind was made. It was then that my creative partner stuck her head out. She insisted that the young TG would not only understand but love the films. Just when the talk was veering off towards doing a research she proposed that we show the film to his son who was around the TG demographics and psychographics we were looking at.

 

Coincidentally this presentation was also happening at the client's house. The client called his son and his friend who was also around. While we waited anxiously for the verdict with our fingers crossed the two young men looked at the films and to our delight not only liked them but had 100% comprehension. And to give credit to the client he was gracious enough to acknowledge his mistake of trying to substitute the TG with himself. 

 

So two tales of two families. One almost destroyed our effort and the other helped save it. All because we stuck to getting the creative judged through the lens of the TG.