July 5, 2010

Recipe for disaster - Part 1 : Micromax

The theme for Micromax mobiles seems to be disaster....the ads end up in someone dying or getting seriously hurt.
The ads range from making you feel very irritated - Akshay Kumar laughing continuously in an extremely annoying manner for 40 seconds while he destroys an entire kitchen ; a little uncomfortable - boy gets bumped off by car; very uncomfortable - boy unknowingly shoves a baby down the escalator.

Everyone watches ads for the first time, if they are gripping enough, and these ads definitely have a good narrative, as you almost try to peep over the shoulder of the character carrying the mobile, wondering what could actually cause such mayhem. From the second time onwards however, I started reaching for the remote, to avoid the unpleasant feeling I get from seeing them.

But do I remember the brand? Hell Yeah!!

Recall isnt necessarily a good recall. You can remember a cafe for that fly in the coffee, or a restaurant for exceptionally bad service, or a product that left your face bluish green. These kind of brand recalls convert into a loss of revenue for the establishments/companies for a very long period of time.

However for Micromax,though the way they are generating recall is on the dangerous edge of putting off the 30 onwards segment forever off their mobiles, I think they are doing a lot of things right.

Lets see what -

Micromax Facebook


What works for it:
1. Very focussed. It is a facebook phone. There is no reference to any other feature.
2. The target segment is perfect, 16 to 20 something, carefree, and for a super connected generation.

What might not:
1. The ending leaves most parents feeling uncomfortable and they still have a huge say in what their kids buy at that age group.

to be continued...

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