The Hindu Business Line : Saying it with wit

Tickling the funny bone is a gambit advertisers are using to get consumers more involved, even in categories which have traditionally not used humour to make a point.

IT has not been a particularly bright year on many counts, with bloodbaths in temples and on the trading floor, murder in the jungle and in shopping plazas, and dire warnings of deadly disease and economic woe. But there's nary a hint of despair in our ads: there are cheeky posers for condoms, spoofs of the classics for car batteries, punchy limericks for bread, witty one-liners for sanitaryware and insurance, and light-hearted banter for pharmaceutical companies. Indeed, if advertising is a bellwether of a nation's state of mind, we are lightening up and loving it. Certainly, we've been funny before, mostly for carbonated beverages, snack foods, some FMCGs and consumer durables. But more and more, the tone is witty, rather than laugh-out-loud funny, and it is apparent in not just low-involvement, high-impulse categories. This is a result of a natural evolution, says Jayraj Rau, Vice-President & Client Services Director, JWT, which opted for a witty execution for Cholamandalam general insurance and Parryware recently. "People now take quality and price for granted, and are bored of beautiful faces and straight product information - so where does the distinction come in?"

Wit is possibly the highest level of communication because it goes beyond explaining the ABCs of the product and the category; it goes even beyond a sensory appeal because it appeals to the intellect, says Rau, who also uses wit to break the monotony of long meetings and conferences. "So it's a clever, smart way of getting your brand noticed and liked, and your communication memorable," he says. Besides, when used well, it can "tell the entire product story without the need for long brand windows and voice-overs," adds Rahul Gupta, Account Director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising (O&M), which has tickled the funny bone for such brands as Fevicol, Asian Paints, VIP underwear and Onida.

These are not bad benefits for any product: take the ongoing campaign for the Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund. Unlike regular MF ads, which are big on copy and risk factors, this series has large, colourful visuals - of a sleeping man surrounded by many alarm clocks, and a man headed for a swim with several lifebelts - and minimal copy. "The situations conceived were relatable with a tinge of humour, and the tone is simple and friendly," says Rohit Srivastava, Senior Vice-President - Strategic Planning, Contract Advertising, which created the campaign. "It makes the brand someone consumers can relate to and be comfortable about."

Getting comfortable, and having fun with a topic often frowned upon in polite conversation was the object of KamaSutra's new campaign. The advertising for the condom brand was first based on the proposition, "The pleasure of making love," and steamed up TV screens with Pooja Bedi many years ago. It got people talking, but the new campaign - comprising three 20-second TV spots and four print ads - also has people smiling. In one spot, a guy starts thinking wicked thoughts when he sees a girl feeling inside her tote bag on her lap; in another spot, the sight of a waiter working on a wine bottle with a corkscrew sets a guy's mind racing. The sign off is a suggestive, "So, what are you thinking of?"

"Keeping on being serious about sex is passé, and doesn't have a connect with the youth or with everyday life," says Elsie Nanji, Vice-Chairman & Creative Director, Ambience D'Arcy, which created the campaign. "Young people are always making jokes about sex on SMS, on e-mail and in daily conversation; we wanted to connect the brand to something like that, so it becomes a part of their conversation, and they can just have fun with it." Initial advertising for the brand perhaps needed a serious tone, but the product and the category are at the stage where using humour is okay, she says.

Indeed, some ad practitioners are of the view that wit must come at a later stage, when the brand has been established, and is seeking to build a connection with the consumer. But in the case of Harvest Gold bread, the company and the agency, Equus Red Cell, decided to go the funny route right from the start - with a tone and manner and language the consumer would understand, and issues she could relate to. "Selling a bread brand on the basis of milk content or preparation techniques would be boring and silly," dismisses Swapan Seth, co-CEO at Equus, which has handled the account since 1997.

The campaign comprises weekly 80cc and 60cc print ads that are similar in look and tone, and use a limerick to parody or comment on an everyday issue, be it Bill Gates or the Delhi winter. The advertising even makes a dig at itself: "Bakwaas advertising. First class bread." Humour works in this case because it uses the lowest common denominator, so it is almost like the voice of the consumer, Seth says.

Still, using humour for a brand - even a low-cost, low-involvement one - is risky. But, at the heart of great brands lies the ability to take risks - "and luck favours only the brave," Seth reminds. The brand has over 92 per cent share of the organised market for bread in Delhi, and is a "cult brand", he claims. Still, it takes great courage - and trust in the agency - on the part of the client to back a campaign that takes a risk like this, Seth says.

This was true of Amara Raja's Amaron Hi-Life battery, too; its two-ad TV campaign offers a contemporary twist to the legend of Kumbhakarna and the tortoise-and-hare tale, with an innovative "clay animation" technique. Advertising for automobile battery has typically focused on product features, emphasised by jagged streaks of lightning or rippling muscle. The end result has always been "total inertia from the car owner," says Pushpinder Singh, Creative Director, O&M, which handles the account. "The whole idea was to get him interested in a boring thing - and humour was a good vehicle, since it allowed the portrayal of car battery in a very non-battery kind of way," he says.

Now, kids are singing the jingle, and even the trade is "mightily excited", Singh says. Not an emotion you would normally associate with a car battery - or with glass. Take the series of quirky ads for Saint-Gobain; for a product considered "industrial", the advertising - which is a light-hearted take on mundane situations - has made the product exciting and created enormous brand salience. The difference is particularly telling when compared with the predictably emotional ad for Modi Glass.

"The only way you can change the perception of glass and mirrors as industrial products is by not behaving like one - by making the brand more approachable and friendly," explains K.V. Shridhar, National Creative Director, Lowe, which handles the account. "You always like people who make you smile, and brands are no different; if consumers like your ads, there are more chances of them using your products."

In the ongoing TV spot for Asian Paints' exterior emulsion, durability is established without alternately drenching the house with rain and snow, but with subtle, witty cues: a run-down car and an older wife, against the still-like-new house. Just like any other good communication, if a funny story is built around a good core idea, then it can work, irrespective of the category, O&M's Gupta says. Even when translated into the vernacular - often, a hurdle to using wit - it is possible to find equivalent local idioms: in this case, "badiya hai" in Hindi became "pramadam" in the Tamil spot.

In the case of Spice Telecom, the brand proposition, `Never miss an opportunity' is manifest in humorous interpretations of local (Karnataka) eccentricities. Communication for cellular services generally tended to be full of techno-jargon, which intimidated consumers and put them off, says V. Subramaniam, Associate Vice-President & Client Services Director, JWT, which handles the account. "So one of the objectives of the communication was to `demystify' the category, and make it more user-friendly," he says.

This was done with colourful print and outdoors ads, and a 60-second `Lingo Leela' segment on the radio, where the focus is Kannadiga quirks. The casual tone and humour have helped create an image of Spice as a friendly brand that understands the people of Karnataka, and quickly build a base of over two lakh customers, Subramaniam says.

In the case of Meera herbal soap, of Chennai-based CavinKare Ltd, the intention was to carve a unique space in the crowded soap category. The TV spot, which is enormously popular, was created by Euro-RSCG: a young woman leaving on a trip is exhorted by her mother to not bathe ("Kulikkathe"), just as the train pulls out, because she does not have Meera soap.

"We chose to go with humour because it is so difficult to stand out in this category," says Venkatraman Mallik, Director, Euro-RSCG.

"And a good idea - or a good joke - cuts through the clutter like a knife through butter." That is also the idea behind the ongoing corporate campaign for Pfizer, which shows old people as happy people, reminiscing about old flames, and even cheating at a game of chess.

"The campaign captures the thought that a pharmaceutical company is not about depressing diseases, but about solutions for a happy, healthy life," explains Piyush Pandey, Group President & National Creative Director, O&M, which handles the account. Accordingly, he chose to use "slices of life with a light-hearted touch", rather than a straight, solemn route.

More advertisers are discovering the merits to using wit, especially with limited budgets. "Because it results in better memorability, it's money well spent - you don't need beautiful models or glossy double spreads," Rau says.

And it clearly is the way forward, regardless of the environment: "Particularly in environments such as these, it is a relief, a calming down of sorts, an optimism," says Seth of Equus.

"And brands attain greatness when they are optimistic in their outlook."

It's not all fun

Using wit or humour is not all fun and games; humour can sometimes get in the way of the message, and can be a victim of its own success: audiences may remember the joke, but not the brand. Also, because it must be visual and verbal, and because a witticism can quickly become stale, it needs to be refreshed constantly. This can work out to be expensive, particularly when using TV, says JWT's Rau. And agencies typically use TV, outdoor and radio for a witty campaign, as print is still considered a more serious medium.

Local metaphors can be a goldmine for a witty play of words or innuendo, but its appeal then tends to be limited; still, there are ways around it. Some advertisers have also held back for fear that consumers may not get the witticism - or, that they may misinterpret it and dislike it. Ambience's Nanji admits that using humour - or wit - is tough: "It's difficult to hit the right button - some may get it, some may not," she says. But others believe that the Indian audience is certainly evolved, and can get the joke, as well as the idea behind it.

"A lot of marketers tend to dumb down their communication, thinking that the audience won't get it - but that is not true," says O&M's Gupta, whose account, Asian Paints, has often thumbed its nose at the conventional advertising route. "Audiences are very evolved."

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