Lakshmipathy Bhat a.k.a bhatnaturally on Twitter tweeted about VIP Skybags just adding Facebook and Twitter icons on their print ad. And he also posed the most logical question, ‘How are people to click?’. He also followed it up with a very positive and optimistic blog post.
To start with, this is not a new trend, but is something that has taken disturbingly alarming proportions. I had referred to Mantri Square Mall doing the exact same thing more than a year ago, in this post.
And then, I noticed this print advertisement in The Times of India (Bangalore edition), front page, on May 9th.
Wow…is all I can say on the concept. I mean, how can anybody not rush to the nearest super stockist of Ayu:care Lavana tailam to buy a 12 month supply of this magical product? Come on, you take one look at that pretty girl’s perfect set of teeth (reminds me of Kulraj Randhawa’s pearly whites from the film, Yamla Pagla Deewana!) and you know this is the right product for you.
I know – let’s get to the point, shall we?
The ad. also has this line, just above the address.
‘you can freely share with us, log on to Ayucare Lavanatailam on facebook’, and a Facebook icon.
My question from the March 16, 2010 post stays exactly as-is.
Are we supposed to search on Facebook for this brand’s page? Why would we even bother to? Isn’t it like adding a phone icon and expecting people to search on the telephone directory? (Do we even have a telephone directory anymore?). Or, isn’t it like adding a ‘www’ icon and expecting people to search on Google for the webpage?
Whatever!
But, there’s something here that I’m mighty impressed about.
There are brands that we work/consult with who are paranoid of putting their Facebook page URLs (not icons…URLs, mind it!) in other forms of communication. The most common reason is that they are scared of negative remarks (as if they won’t happen if we don’t put it in print ads!). But this brand from Kerala has managed to do this so smoothly. And even better, it seems like the Facebook page for this brand is the initiative of a computer technician from the Ayu:care group – Jilu S Kumar, if you follow the breadcrumbs in their Facebook page with one solitary post!
So, a computer technician takes the initiative to create a Facebook page, convinces his marketing/advertising team to add it in the print ad and it happens! Hats off…and I’m not making fun of this guy at all – I’m serious.
The initiative is what really matters here. I don’t expect him (or others at Ayu:care) to be fully aware of the content requirements of the page or periodic management of the page – their first step is an inspiration by itself. I’m sure they’ll live and learn about what to do with that page eventually.
It’s just that – amidst all this joy – I would like to nitpick that they could have added an actual Facebook URL so that it becomes easier for the readers to actually ‘log on’ to the Facebook page. As against searching for it on Facebook and stumbling upon multiple pages that were not created by Jilu S Kumar. And this includes a personal profile created for the brand where we’re given to understand that Ayu:care is a male company.
Update: Thanks to this tweet from Karthik ‘AntarYaami’ Sridhar, I came to know about Ayu:care’s similar attempt (using only icons – no hyperlinks) even in their website!!! Yes, their website has a ‘Find us on Facebook’ box with 9,803 fans, according to them. And there are 3 icons below that – one each for Facebook, Twitter and Blogspot…and yes, all these are just icons. They don’t lead anyone to anywhere…now I’ve seen everything!