Incito MentisA blog by Syed Abdul Karim

JWT Mumbai’s Diamond Bride Campaign is a great example of rock-solid strategic thinking. It demonstrates how a deep consumer insight can lead to a major change in behavior. It shows how something as rooted as tradition can be challenged and how a new paradigm can be created. De Beers India came up with a very challenging brief “How to get Indians to use more diamond jewelry instead of gold at their weddings?” A question that had no easy answers. It’s like asking women in America to wear a black dress at their weddings instead of a white one!

This meant that the battle had to be fought on a higher ground. The inherent symbolism of security, well-being, tradition and value that came with gold jewelry was not going to be easy to overcome. To win this cultural battle, the planners decided to explore the modernity, status and glamour of diamonds and give them a whole new context with respect to weddings.

So what is the key learning that we can draw from this as planners? For me I think it is the power of context. If we can put something in an entirely different context and yet be relevant we can uncover some big insights and inspire dramatic changes in behavior. So the next time you want someone to use more of your product or service, I think it would be a good idea to get out of context, experiment with something fresh, bounce it off with consumers and then see where it takes you!

Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech a local real estate giant and the Norway based Telenor Group, launched their mobile network service in India. In a market cluttered with about 13 operators (including at least 7 major operators) and a half billion connections already sold, Uninor has a tough task ahead of them. With Etisalat also expected to join the ranks branding and differentiation is going to be an enormous task!

Perhaps not quite so for India with it’s strategic branding and insight-led advertising history. Over the last two decades riding on the wave of an ever-booming popular culture which is now reaching epic proportions in terms of global reach and impact, one can expect great strategic thinking and creativity from both sides of the table – client and agency teams. And that’s been the case for the launch of Uninor as well.

With the other half a billion expected to take up a mobile connection in the next 5 years, the battle is far from over. And this is what Uninor has set it’s eye on and they have done so with an inspiring message that talks to the young ambitious Indians using real and everyday language. A nation aiming to play a bigger game in the global arena, the Uninor brand positioning taps this insight well and brings it down to one individual with “Ab mera number hai”  (which roughly means “My time has come!”). With this positioning they have occupied what I call the “Heroism” space as per Luciola’s Proprietary Telecom Branding Tool - TeleCompass. This space is about building on the “Winning/Success” platform. What’s interesting is the fact that they are not depicting clichéd images of success as we see so many brands doing but really sharpening it and making it real. Here are some of their latest TVCs to give you a feel of the brand idea:

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

I bumped across a tweet by Chris Voss on the subject and it intrigued me quite a bit. This is highly unusual considering the fact that in Saudi Arabia at Applebees there is a note on the bill that reminds you to please tip the server despite the service charge! It made me want to dig a little deeper on this subject and I discovered some fascinating contrasts between Saudi and Icelandic society. I also got some insight as to why waiters in Iceland would take offense if they were tipped.

For one Icelanders are a very homogenous society unlike Saudi Arabia which is a mix of Arabs from all over the Middle East to Asians from Pakistan all the way up to the Philippines. Most Icelanders are descendants of Norwegian and Celtic people who settled in the 9th and 10th centuries. Their language has essentially been the same over the centuries. For the common Icelander reading their old medieval sagas from the 1200s is relatively easy for the same reason. This gives them alot of pride in tracing their ancestral roots. They are also homogenous when it comes to religion – 87% belong to the state church. They are egalitarian and highly literate. They have a great love of literature. They publish more books than any country in the world, while there are hardly any libraries in Saudi Arabia. Doing well and finishing one’s education are widely held societal priorities unlike Saudi Arabia where it is only beginning to become a top priority

Icelanders are also known to be very independent and individualistic, while Saudi society is extremely interdependent and collectivist. Icelanders have a strong work ethic. The country’s work week is the longest in Europe. While in Saudi people have not developed the same sense about work. This explains why there are so many expats in the workforce.

In Iceland before the mid-70s working as a server was considered a demeaning job. Tipping was therefore considered an insult as it further emphasized the server’s position as a servant. Therefore there is no tradition to tip in Iceland. Before the 70s going out was also not popular and there were not many restaurants either. However, that has changed since then, but the tradition of no tipping has continued. While in Saudi Arabia, people eat out very often. Most servers are expatriates and they are only here to make money. Therefore they feel no shame in being tipped. Rather they would be very grateful for the gesture! Interesting contrast don’t you think?

What can I say about Dan Ariely! This book is simply awesome! It’s a goldmine of insights. A must-read for planners looking to understand human behavior. This whole idea of behavioral economics is very intriguing (I did a post earlier on the same subject). Through a series of experiments Dan repeatedly proves his point about the infallibility of our mind that drives us to make decisions and do things we rationally cannot imagine doing. The scope of his research covers various dimensions of life from society to economics, from the mundane to the extraordinary. The findings are shockingly counterintuitive. For example, how a decoy on the Economist Subscription page leads people to go for the expensive print plus web subscription because the decoy makes it seem that the web subscription has been thrown in for free. Whereas without the decoy experiments have proven that most people went for the cheaper web-only option. See image below (although this has been changed now!). How can we be manipulated so easily?

I would like to talk about a whole bunch of such intriguing examples and insights, but I guess I would save those for later posts. But I would like to point to a section towards the end of the book which I think captures it’s essence. It is surprising to see how in a world where “change is the only constant” some old ways of looking at the world continue to dominate popular thinking. The analogy that Dan draws on is how man is clear when it comes to his physical limitations and is using all resources and technology to overcome these limitations but when it comes to the mind he believes he is limitless, flawless and continues to operate under the age-old framework of rational economics to explain how he would behave in real life. This he proves through the course of his book is far from true. He also states that continuing to operate under this framework is dangerous as some key issues facing mankind need to be addressed like how to avoid getting into another big economic crisis, how to create better educational systems, how to model health-care etc. It is time for us to look more openly and challenge these conventional ways of dealing with societal and economic issues.

Not surprisingly Dan also spoke about the core concepts of his book in a talk at TED. I have posted the video here. Check it out !

Volkswagen has done it again! This is simply a brilliant example of how to create influence using social media. As a DDB’er I can safely say that the VW Fun Theory does everything right when it comes to applying the DDB Influence Springboard (a proprietary set of tools to create influence in this new world of media). As a strategic planner I must add VW is one of my favorite brands. The VW Philosophy, their unique tone of voice is sheer genius. The strategy is so straightforward and yet so powerful. It is translated into three simple words – VW is going to be honest, human and intelligently humorous in everything it is going to do. Over the years, VW has delivered on this promise in all it’s advertising and won innumerable accolades for it. Now it’s taking it to a whole new level. This idea brings the element of collaboration to the mix by making audiences interact and live the brand promise (or Brand Conviction as we say at DDB). At the same time it is engaging the advocates to participate and contribute to the concept. The concept itself is fairly simple. You can change people’s behavior for the better if you can make it fun for them. The video below is one example of how people were made to use the staircase instead of the escalator by adding that element of fun! Just so you know this video has had more than 8 million views on YouTube to date. Need I say more! See for yourself!

Now that’s what I call a Big Idea!