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Reframe. Rephrase. Rejoice!

One of the most boring campaigns to conceive and probably one of the most difficult to hold viewer’s attention is the topic ‘road safety’. Viewer thinks, at best, that they know everything about it or, at worst, think nothing can be done about it.

One day, many years ago in the BBC canteen, a few journalists were discussing this and it fell upon Nick Ross to create a documentary on road safety that was both interesting and action-inducing. Though it felt like a punishment meted out to him, Nick decided to do something about it. What he did is an abject lesson on how a marketer needs to explore ways to puncture consumer complacencies. There are times when marketers need to create symbols of re-evaluation that will prompt customers to sit up and rethink of some of their assumptions about a certain product category. Especially when the category is as boring as road safety or as personal as impotence!

There were around 6,000 deaths on British roads every year. Both the British authorities and the general public had come to accept it as a part of life, a price they had to pay to drive on those very roads. Nick found that there were solutions lying around just waiting to be picked up. But because the topic in itself was boring, no one bothered to talk about it far less give it a patient hearing. Here’s what he did.

First, Nick decided he would reframe the whole concept of what was happening. He decided he needed to present an abstract number, i.e., 6,000 – in an entirely different context so that it gets attention and elicits an emotional response. He framed the deaths an ‘epidemic’. He said it was a threat to the entire safety of Great Britain and it was time the country faced up and fought. He titled his documentary ‘The Biggest Epidemic Of Our Times’. The stage was set.

Second, he realized he had to find an idea that would bring the 6,000 deaths to life in an entirely fresh way. In a manner that would make it unacceptable to the people. He began his documentary with an arresting set of visuals. He took a typical British town called Wallingford whose population was 6,000 and showed the entire town lying dead. The voice over was equally dramatic: Every year in Britain, a town the size of Wallingford dies on the roads. The drama was arresting.

Third, Nick knew he had the attention of the people. He now had to change the language of the authorities who could do something about it. The documentary urged the authorities to revise their targets. Targets? Instead of 6,000, the documentary said they should aim to kill only 4,000 people a year. Put simply, Nick was sarcastically implying that the authorities were killing people while they should be saving lives. The viewers were moved.

The people were agitated and demanded action. The authorities were forced by citizen’s voice and collective activism. Things began to change. Heads started to roll. Action was unleashed. Highway engineers explained how roads could be realigned. Academics showed how vehicles could be modified to avert a collision or absorb the energy of a crash. Technicians demonstrated how seat belts and helmets could save lives. All the changes were put in place.

There are just 3,500 deaths on British roads today. Their roads are among the safest in the world.

All coz an issue was reframed. The problem was brought to life. And the language was changed to induce action.

Imagine how many product categories in marketing, or for that matter problems in life, can be changed if only we reframed it well. And phrased it better.

Need proof?

When Pfizer was planning to launch Viagra, they faced a similar problem. The pill was supposed to cure impotence. But it was a harsh word. A problem no male wanted to admit in public.

Pfizer couldn’t say, ‘Come buy Viagra and come’ or something similar. They knew they had to reframe the problem. Find a softer phrase to cue impotence. They found one: Erectile Dysfunction. Or ED for short.

The company didn’t say impotence in their communication. They talked about ED. They even showed 30+ guys talking about and buying Viagra. Bob Dole, the republican party nominee in the 1996 American Presidential election was made the brand’s ambassador. What happened?

Things started to grow!

Even the brand too. Viagra has made tens of billions of dollars since its launch in 1998. All coz Pfizer reframed the problem. And found a phrase that pays!

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Bye 2022. Hello 2023.

A new year. Another set of 365 days. Will this be any different to Indian businesses?

Life runs on hope. Without it, nobody will celebrate the dawn of another damn year. As someone said ‘Last year’s resolution was to lose twenty pounds, now only thirty more to go.’

Indian companies had a few hits and many misses in 2022. Here are some mistakes they made and will never learn from. Why am I being pessimistic, that too at the threshold of a new year. Coz, these were the same mistakes they have been making for a while now.  Greek philosopher Santayana said, ‘he who doesn’t learn from his mistakes will be destined to commit them again.’ He should be smiling in his grave.

  • There were start-ups galore in 2022 too. That’s the good news. The bad news is many of them, haven’t bothered to create a brand. They continue to sell like a commodity highlighting only the category benefit. What does Swiggy mean? Food delivery app, you say. Fair enough. What’s Zomato? Food delivery app, you say again. Unfair, isn’t it. What’s the difference between the two? Aren’t brands about differentiating themselves from the other?
  • Staying with start-ups, many continue to find solutions where there are no problems. Take the q-commerce juggernaut. Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart et al promised 10-minute delivery. Customers didn’t ask for it, far less wanted it. The companies learned it the hard way. Now they don’t want to deliver in 10-minutes. But they want us to buy more. And want us to pay for it too. Fat chance. Suffice to say, q-commerce today means question mark commerce!
  • Stick to your knitting, goes the old saying. Too old probably that businessmen have forgotten it. After establishing themselves in a category, they want to expand beyond their core competence. To an unrelated category. Who cares if one doesn’t know much about the new businesses they are venturing into. One can always close it. Losses be damned. Amazon launched food delivery. Just that the business didn’t deliver anything to Amazon. They closed it. Online fashion retailer Meesho moved into groceries. It turned a no show. So, that was killed too.
  • Everyone and his uncle want to go online. Why not, what will all this faster 5G and smarter phones. But more than 85% of Indians still want the old-fashioned touch and feel of a store. No wonder the Indian online audience size has stayed put at 60 million for some time now. Omni channel is the in thing. Ask Unacademy. They are opening physical centres. They have damned the ‘Un’ in their name. Lenskart makes more money offline than they do online. Unsurprising for a lens company, their vision is better!
  • Celebrities in ads get attention, yes. But only to themselves. And when they represent a brand in which they are domain-agnostic, the results are catastrophic. Tender Cuts, the meat retailer had Chef Damu extolling its virtues. Made sense. Customers trusted the brand’s claim since it was said by someone who knew the product more. The company replaced him with Prakash Raj, an actor whose only claim to category knowledge is acting in a scene shot in a kitchen. It’s been some time since the brand has been seen in media. Blunder Cuts, you say. hmmm.
  • Business will continue to make money the old-fashioned way. When they earn it. No matter how antiquated and out-of-date it may sound, business with higher ethical standards stand the test of time. TVS and Tata are torch bearers. Lack of ethics is a short cut in the short run but a dead-end in the long term. Byju’s found out. Stories abound daily about their illegal, immoral and unethical practices. They may learn. Will they, before or after they die is the question.  

There were a lot more mistakes. A lot more errors. What the hell, it’s a new year. The time for optimism. A period of sanguinity. The dawn of a new day. So, here’s wishing you a happy 2023. Let’s learn from the mistakes made last year.

And make new ones this year!

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