Contrabrand

And they asked in desperation, If you had to choose between sin and God, weaver, what would you choose? And he laughed and he said, Sin, always sin. Sin is fun, sin is forbidden, sin is, what shall i say, so sinful. They should forbid God as they forbid sin, then maybe he would become far more attractive and we would all be drawn to him.

God’s Little Soldier, Kiran Nagarkar

The concept, if you think about it, is not an unknown one in marketing, its called positioning. On the contrary, it is one of the pillars, and in this era of commoditisation, it is all the more significant. So it’s not altogether surprising to see brands like Chlormint, Mentos, Happydent and Orbit veer away from the expected trajectory, in their advertising.

There is some spring mention of the product in the ads, and the emphasis is on making the ad as ‘different’ as possible. From the weird cow doctor to a town getting lit by shining teeth and from ‘dubara mat poochna’ to noisy footwear in a classical concert, the ads are entertaining, to say the least, and show an abundance in creativity.

But a small dipstick i did, (unsurprisingly) proved my hunch- the ad was remembered, and appreciated, but what was the brand again?

So what’s upsetting the apple cart – commoditisation or hypercreativity?

What a bunch of cretins you have for your devotees, oh Lord, he laughed out loud. The fools would sever you from your creation.

and i bid adieu while you chew on it.