An ideas divide and a bridge all need to see

GURUGRAM: I have a confession to make. For the past few months, I’ve been facing an existential crisis of sorts. What is advertising? What are we in this business trying to achieve? Results for our clients? Accolades for ourselves? Both?
This was triggered by something I’ve been noticing with increasing regularity of late; the growing disdain for ideas that are termed ‘addy’. This particular four-letter word is usually reserved for thinking that focuses on the hardsell, often at the expense of deep consumer insight or differentiated creativity.

And therein lies the rub. As a planner, I live and breathe insights. But as a responsible partner to my clients, I have to ask myself: since when did hardsell become a bad thing? There are many definitions for what constitutes creativity. My favourite has always been David Ogilvy’s: ‘if it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative’.

This seems counterintuitive to the current trend of big brand communication engulfing the world; let’s call it ‘wokevertising’, for want of a better term. ‘Woke’, of course, is the millennial term for the state of being aware and alert to the many injustices plaguing our society today. From sanitary napkins and soap to soft drinks and sports shoes, some of the world’s largest and most iconic brands have embraced larger social issues, with varied levels of success.

Very often, this works fantastically for both brand and business. For example, my agency and this newspaper enjoyed a stellar 2018 for our #NoConditionsApply campaign, which transformed a centuries-old tradition of divisiveness into a celebration of inclusivity. But for all the ‘festival’ success it achieved, winning a slew of awards across the world, what makes it effective advertising is the solid business growth it delivered.

I’m a strong believer in the power of purpose. A brand with purpose can act as an emotional anchor for consumers, often helping them form social contracts with each other that help them move from ‘we use the same brand’ to ‘we believe in the same thing’. But this brand belief is only valuable if it translates into quantifiable business results. Jim Stengel, ex-CMO of P&G and creator of Stengel 50, a list of the worlds’ 50 top-performing brands, cites that brands with purpose have collectively outperformed Standard & Poor’s Top 500 by almost 400% in the last decade.

Clearly, purpose works. But does all advertising need to be purpose-led? That’s where things begin to get muddy.

First of all, purpose-led advertising — by sheer virtue of the emotion it evokes — can often backfire. Case in point being a recent campaign by one of the world’s largest shaving brands, exhorting its consumers to be better versions of themselves in the light of ‘toxic masculinity’. As a man, the campaign resonated with me deeply. However, I am clearly in the majority with the video having racked up an unprecedented 1.1 million dislikes on YouTube in its first week alone. Public backlash has been severe, and it’s all come from their core consumer base, many of whom are vowing to never purchase the brand again.

One needs to question the business implications of campaigns such as these. Sure, it’s resulted in reams of offline and online PR, but how will it impact the bottom line? That remains the true test of its power.

Purpose can work fantastically when married to a deep understanding of your target consumer’s tensions and a clear narrative of your brand’s role in resolving them. Work like this often works as a 1-2 punch, winning critical acclaim and market share with equal aplomb.

However, I believe there’s also a place for straightforward, hardworking advertising that exists simply to sell. As an industry, we sometimes forget that we wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for our clients. And that our clients wouldn’t exist if consumers weren’t buying their products. So, whether your work is ‘woke’ or ‘addy’, remember: if it sells, it’s advertising. If it doesn’t, it’s indulgence.