You must have seen the new ad for a sugar-substitute starring Bipasha Basu. The south Indian version has actress Shreya Saran. I don’t care how they look or what they do, but a URL caught my attention in the end.
If you are in no mood to see the ad. or you are not a fan of Bipasha Basu, here’s the last shot – captured for posterity.
I wanted to see what was in the URL that the brand thought it was absolutely essential to add it in the last shot of the ad.! Surely…there must be some more tips on how to stay fit…right? After all, it is added in the ad. for a call-to-action…to transition interested viewers from passive television viewing to interactive online medium…right?
The URL is www.steptofitness.in. Since it is not the brand’s actual website, we can safely assume that this is the much-discussed and much-dissed ‘microsite’!
And…it is nothing but a poster!
Of Bipasha Basu.
With exactly 2 links in it – one, a small box to load the ad again. Err, didn’t we land in this site AFTER seeing the ad? Why? You think we may want to ogle at Bipasha all night? That’s a reasonably convincing answer, if I say so myself.
The 2nd link is for the main website of the sugar-substitute, which, incidentally, does not have even a SINGLE mention of this step to fitness whatever…at least not within this branding that has been so visibly touted in the ad.
Apart from Bipasha’s face, there are 3 lines about how you should avoid taking the lift and walk up the stairs. It’s almost like writing the script of the ad that we saw…and landed in this ‘site’.
The funniest sentence is in the bottom. It says, ‘For healthy living log on to www.steptofitness.in’. It is not hyperlinked with anything useful – it’s just a piece of text. Now…really? Aren’t we IN the site already?
That’s it…that is THE site!
With all due respect, I use this brand. Everyday. I have tried other brands like Relish, but I come back to this brand. Which is perhaps why I even noticed this ad…enough to see the ‘site’.
It’s a pity that a website is being beamed on prime time television and it is nothing but a poster. If that is supposed to be a joke…the joke’s on the brand.
A rude one, at that!
PS 1: The brand’s actual website has more howlers. A prominent box in the footer says, ‘Follow us on Twitter‘. Ok…great idea – can I engage with my favorite brand of sugar substitute on Twitter? 7 tweets, 16 followers…since December 2, 2009.
Now, I do not want to make fun of this effort, but could someone please apply some common sense? When someone says ‘follow me’ (in plain English – forget Twitter), the first reaction, if you do not know that person, is…’why?’.
Couldn’t someone have thought of an answer and then started this Twitter profile? The answer manifests itself in assorted ways – the reason could be consistency….of updates, related to the brand or its space. It could be based on intelligence…of updates; about what people did not know about this product or its category. It could even be about something associated with the topic of healthy living/eating that the product category promotes indirectly.
Why bother with such half-hearted, pointless efforts and insult your own brand? Not being on Twitter is perfectly legal and acceptable – remember!
PS 2: I’m aware of all those research studies that say that aspartame/sugar-substitutes are harmful. This post is not about the veracity of those claims.