While the country is going ga-ga….or grrrr, over Aircel’s Save Our Tigers initiative, calling it frivolous, baseless and largely pointless, there is another ‘initiative’ that is getting big time paid media push. Strangely that ‘initiative’ is even more hollow than Aircel’s!
I’m sure you wouldn’t have missed Shriram Transport Finance’s full page ads!
Celebrating the ‘small truck’ owner of India is indeed a very novel idea, but the manner in which Shriram goes about this is as impactful as Aircel’s way of saving our tigers. At least in Aircel’s case, there are other people in the ecosystem who have been working for tigers, so some sort of collective responsibility accrues.
In case of Shriram, the idea is to highlight the importance of Indian small truck owners and the fact that a new fleet will help them deliver better. How would they buy new trucks? With offerings from Shriram Transport Finance, of course.
I’m all for self-serving initiatives, but before Shriram decides to take it to the broader audience in the garb of national/ public interest, some amount of thinking wouldn’t hurt.
Is the small truck owner a national hero? In an advertisement, Shriram can get away with anything – after all, who’s going to question the statements? But the bizarre part of the full page ad, that incidentally caught my attention, is where it says, “The modernization of our national truck fleet can happen only with a massive mobilization of public opinion. Each one of us can play a part in this. So, if you too believe that a younger fleet is in national interest, BLOW THE HORN!”
Hmmm, that’s interesting – Shriram is actually inviting people to participate in an meaningful cause! So, I’d love to know how our national truck fleet can help the economy. I’d love to know what the government is doing/ done for the truckers yet. I’d love to know how I, as a metro dweller, gain from India’s truck fleet and what are the ways in which I can help to improve the system/ process. This is a new initiative and Shriram has done everything right to bring awareness to this cause. Right?
Wrong!
The microsite created towards this ’cause’ is called okhornplease. Innovative enough.
- It has one single page, with the exact same text as the print ad.
- It also has a huge horn that I felt compelled to press – it is a symbolic way people can support the cause! In fact, I think someone from Shriram or its agency felt so committed to the cause, that they must have pressed the horn many times, sacrificing sleep and food. You can do too – just keep pressing it non-stop and see the bean counter add it all up, in the name of ‘support’!
- There are 4 educative links in the bottom – the first is for the corporate page of Shriram Transport. The rest are an excuse of a logo – each has a different font and color for the word ‘Shriram’ and completely different looking logos – almost as if the procurement team at Shriram was dealing with 3 different creative ‘hotspots’ for each logo.
- The fun starts when you click on the logo. Each one opens a fancy pop-up window with just one sentence each. Obviously…talking about how Shriram and its disjointly-logo’ed outfits help towards the ’cause’!
- That’s not all – they seriously mean it when they say people can participate in this cause – so, as is fashion these days, there is a Facebook link, but it is added almost like an after-thought – in fine print, right at the bottom of the page. So, Shriram finally does something right, by inviting people to say something about our trucks and make this alleged-initiative participative….kaboom! Sorry, that’s the sound of the bubble bursting – I don’t even want to go into the number of fans in the Facebook page because that is a factor of 2 things – the number of people within Shriram and its agency who have managed to find time to ‘fan’ it, and the amount of effort that has gone into thinking on what would make people participate. But, all it has is a few interesting photos of bums of lorries with Horn Ok Please, that very-Indian sight. There is nothing to even remotely suggest why people should become a fan of the page. At the very least, they could have announced a simple contest inviting people to submit photos of Indian lorry bums with creative depictions of ‘Horn OK Please’ – No. Nada!
It is unfortunate that an Agency FAQs story on this campaign says, “The print creative directs people to the micro-site that has been designed for the campaign –www.okhornplease.com, where support for the initiative can be registered by â??blowing the horn’. Over 120,000 people have pledged their support on the site so far“. A simple check would have shown that the microsite in question is nothing new at all – the same content as the print ad. and that the number is highly susceptible to manipulation!
This is underwhelming, no doubt, but it is merely an advertising agency mindset – using digital media like it is an extension of print and television, and shout corporate messages in the assumption that people will blindly trust this one too. Despite the fact that a consumer has to spend time and money to buy a television set, cable connection, newspapers etc., the advertisement is usually shoved into his/ her face. On digital media, I, as a consumer, ‘choose’ to go to a page. That choice has to be respected and accorded enough intelligence so that I feel that the time I spend there is worth it!
Social media enables participation and that needs to be used, but the thinking has to change. From adapting, existing mainstream media creatives to considering what is it that people want and why should they participate. On TV and print, I don’t have a choice but to sit through those messages passively. Oh yes, a website can be used for passive broadcasting too (depending on the objective), but not when it talks of ‘mobilizing public opinion’.
When I, as a consumer of ads, see the full-page ad, I have questions and expectations from something that is claimed as ‘public interest’. I have also listed some of those questions above – is that so difficult to anticipate? The first question is of course, ‘Why should I care enough to participate?’. And trust me, it is not difficult to answer.
Perhaps it was, for Shriram. Else, the initiative wouldn’t have ended up the way it has.
Tigers initiative, calling it frivolous, baseless and largely pointless,
there is another ‘initiative’ that is getting big time paid media push
and is equally banal. Strangely that ‘initiative’ is even more hollow
than Aircel’s!
I’m sure you wouldn’t have missed Shriram Transport Finance’s full page
ads!
Celebrating the ‘small truck’ owner of India is indeed a very good idea,
but the manner in which Shriram goes about this is as impactful as
Aircel’s way of saving our tigers. At least in Aircel’s case, there are
other people in the ecosystem who have been working for tigers, so some
sort of collective responsibility accrues.
In case of Shriram, the idea is to highlight the importance of Indian
small truck owners and the fact that a new small truck fleet will help
them deliver better. How would they buy new trucks? With offerings from
Shriram Transport Finance, of course.
I’m all for self-serving initiatives, but before Shriram decides to take
it to the broader audience in the garb of national/ public interest, some
amount of thinking wouldn’t hurt.
Is the small truck owner a national hero? In an advertisement, Shriram
can get away with anything – after all, who’s going to question the
statements? But the bizarre part of the full page ad, that incidentally
caught my attention, is where it says, “The modernization of our national
truck fleet can happen only with a massive mobilization of public
opinion. Each one of us can play a part in this. So, if you too believe
that a younger fleet is in national interest, BLOW THE HORN!”
Hmmm, that’s interesting – Shriram is actually inviting people to
participate in an interesting cause! So, I’d love to know how our
national truck fleet can help the economy. I’d love to know what the
government is doing/ done for the truckers yet. I’d love to know how I,
as a metro dweller, gain from India’s truck fleet and what are the ways
in which I can help to improve the system/ process. This is a new
initiative and Shriram has done everything right to bring awareness to
this cause. Right?
Wrong!
The microsite created towards all this ’cause’ is called, okhornplease.
Innovative enough.
1. It has one single page, with the exact same text as the print ad.
2. It also has a huge horn that I felt compelled to press – Shriram finds
it the symbolic way people can support the cause! In fact, I think
someone from Shriram or its agency felt so committed to the cause, that
they must’ve pressed the horn many times, sacrificing sleep and food. You
can do too – just keep pressing it non-stop and see the bean counter add
it all up, in the name of ‘support’!
3. There are 4 educative links in the bottom – the first is for the
corporate page of Shriram Transport. The rest are an excuse of a logo –
each has a different font and color for the word ‘Shriram’ and completely
different logos – almost as if the procurement team at Shriram was
dealing with 3 different creative ‘hotspots’ for each logo.
4. The fun starts when you click on the logo. Each one opens a fancy
pop-up window with just one sentence each. Obviously…talking about how
Shriram and its disjointly-logo’ed outfits help towards the ’cause’!
5. That’s not all – they seriously mean it when they say people can
participate in this cause – so, as is fashion these days, there is a
Facebook link, but it is added almost like an after-thought – in fine
print, right at the bottom of the page.
6. So, Shriram finally does something right, by inviting people to say
something about our trucks and make this alleged-initiative
participative….kaboom! Sorry, that’s the sound of the bubble bursting –
I don’t even want to go into the number of friends in the Facebook page
because that is a factor of 2 things – the number of people within
Shriram and it’s agency who have managed to find time to ‘Friend’ it, and
the amount of effort that has gone into thinking on what would make
people participate. But, all it has is a few interesting photos of bums
of lorries with Horn Ok Please, that very-Indian sight. There is nothing
to even remotely suggest why people should become a fan of the page. At
the very least, they could have announced a simple contest inviting
people to submit photos of Indian lorry bums with creative depitctions of
‘Horn OK Please’ – No. Nada!
It is unfortunate that an Agency FAQs story on this campaign says, “The
print creative directs people to the micro-site that has been designed
for the campaign –www.okhornplease.com, where support for the initiative
can be registered by â??blowing the horn’. Over 120,000 people have pledged
their support on the site so far”. A simple check would have shown that
the microsite in question is nothing new at all – the same content as the
print ad. and that the number is highly susceptible to manipulation!
This is underwhelming, no doubt, but it is merely an advertising agency
mindset – using digital media like it is an extension of print and
television media, and shout corporate messages in the assumption that
people will blindly trust this one too.
Sorry – social media enables participation and that needs to be used, but
the thinking has to change. From adapting, existing mainstream media
creatives to considering what is it that people want and why should they
participate. On TV and print, I don’t have a choice but to sit through
those messages passively. Oh yes, a website can be broadcast too
(depending on the objective), but not when it talks of gathering public
opinion.
When I, as a consumer of ads, see the full-page ad, I have a questions
and expectations from something that is claimed as ‘public interest’. I
have also listed some of those questions above – is that so difficult to
anticipate? The first question is of course, ‘Why should I care?’. And
trust me, it is not difficult to answer.
Perhaps it was, for Shriram. Else, the site wouldn’t have ended up the
way it has.