Brands should avoid hard selling on social media: Nick Foley
Foley, President of South East Asia Pacific & Japan, Landor Associates, on social media don'ts, the impact of design on ROI, experience of working on client's side as well as agency's side...
Nick Foley is President of South East Asia Pacific & Japan for Landor Associates. Foley has worked on the client side of the business at a number of well-known brands like Mars as well as Nestlé, working across insight generation, brand positioning, strategic brand planning, new product development, and mass media campaigns; Foley is renowned for his pragmatic attitude towards the need for a commercially viable approach in branding.
A few excerpts from a freewheeling chat with Foley on social media don’ts, the impact of design on ROI, experience of being on the client side that he uses on the agency side and more…
How do you apply the client side learnings to now being on the agency side?
As a client what you are looking for from your agency is for them to understand your business well enough. So they can then start to bring ideas and initiatives. Anybody can bring in an idea, but it takes a level of understanding and a level of familiarity and partnership to understand what the client really needs. I am not saying that agencies should rush out and start taking numerous ideas to the clients. But work to understand your clients’ requirements along with their competitors’ strategy. The other thing that all agencies bring of course is objectivity. Working as a client when I was at Mars, sometimes no matter what I said my colleagues at Mars, we would not get necessary traction and purpose internally. But if one of my agencies said it, whether it was PR, media or advertising with little bit of authority, people sit up and listen.
What do you think are the factors that culminate into successful marriage between brand aesthetics and financial impact?
It seems like an unusual relationship. Design is born from creativity, from liberal thinking which may seem quite disparate from the paradigms that can control finance. Paradoxically the more financially successful you are as an agency the greater the freedom that gives you to go and try and experiment new things. One of the most important things in businesses right now is innovation and you can’t be innovative if you are making low margins, struggling to perform and the market saying why is this company not performing. It’s an unusual link but the more financially successful an agency is, greater the likelihood.
How does design as a discipline impact ROI?
Why would one pay more for an iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy 4? Because there is something more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The more beautiful something looks and as long as it is also delivering on everything else then that affords you greater premium then one can charge for that product and service.
Do you think that the design aspect is ignored when it comes to brands in India or do you see a shift in the importance given to design in terms of business perspective in India?
What we are saying that businesses are more focussed on the brand experience than on advertising campaign or logo or pure campaign approach. One of my most favourite examples for brand experience is airlines. With airlines you think about from the moment you are on the airport, to when you go through customs to when you use the lounge, to when you board the plane. Airlines are supposed to be one of the most homogenous services in the world. So brand experience is increasingly important. The thing that social media has done for most of the brands is that it has given the consumer a voice. This has helped the consumers to say what they want to the brand custodian via social media and brand websites. So we have moved from being brand managers to being brand influencers.
What are the social media don’ts for a brand today?
What social media has done is empower not only the consumers but also the small medium enterprises, and in one way social media has brought on a co- existence of all the various levels of companies and organisations on one platform. But if a company wants to do some sort of a hard sell on social media, people are just going to reject that. I would advise brands to avoid hard selling themselves and their services as this serves as counter- productive and distances consumers from the brand.
Any pointers on making a distinctive brand identity?
Colour palettes are incredibly important. For example blue is still the colour that people subconsciously gravitate to because it’s such a pacifying colour and that why United Nations chose blue and white as their colour. Red is a powerful colour and is often associated with market leadership and when you combine it with yellow it is a good combination. In India, what you would see is much greater mixture of colour palettes than what you would see in somewhere like in the UK, the US or Canada. For distinctive brand identity, you always have to come back to what’s going to be the stand out in the mind of the target audience. So one thing is you are either going to do with a world mark or you are going to do with the identity. Years ago Mercedes Benz decided that the three pointed star would signify everything that they did. No longer it’s written as an A class or B class in Mercedes Benz. Whereas companies like Nissan are still using the London underground approach to their identity. The mind works in pictures not in words. So, the more you can have something that is an unusual cover or structure the more it attracts people.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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ShareSwapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
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Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
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Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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