Cashing in on optimism!

IIPM, GURGAON

Want to improve sales in adverse conditions? Positive tag-lines should do the trick...

Crashing stock markets with evaporating values, increasing inflation with rising prices and tight liquidity with the dreaded pink slip issuance; the world is in doldrums. The populace has been engulfed in pessimism as the financial downturn creates an unprecedented hole in its pocket. As a result, purchasing power for even daily goods has been curtailed, hurting the bottom lines of many companies. In this bleak outlook when consumer confidence is at an all time low, corporations need to think out of the box. Vulnerable, major players have come out with ‘feel good’ taglines to hold on to their audiences.

In its bid to actuate things in a positive direction, Coca-Cola has decided to replace the ‘Coke side of life,’ the company’s tag-line of the past three years, with ‘Open happiness.’ Pepsi on the other hand has come up with its new campaign, ‘Every generation refreshes the world,’ while CK has launched the ‘We are one’ campaign. Showing its innovative side, Dunkin’ Donuts has come out with the tagline “You kin’ do it”. Not staying far behind, traditional players like IKEA and Mercy too have unveiled their new feel good campaigns, ‘Embrace change’ and ‘Believe’ respectively. Players claim that the current campaigns are meant to offer encouragement and a spirit of fun during these challenging times. “‘Open Happiness,’ embraces a positive outlook. It is an invitation to open ourselves to the positive aspects, to happiness, and to the potential for a better tomorrow,” explains a Coca-Cola, India Spokesperson to 4Ps B&M.

Before coming to a point, it must be understood that whatever marketing strategies corporations adopt, the sole motive is always boosting sales. Moreover, in the current market situation players cannot afford to lose their current customer base by not being innovative. “There is plenty of evidence suggesting that the tagline when used concurrently with other aspects of the brand such as the logo, colours and other auditory & aural stimulus, is likely to impact sales,” supports Stephen Byrne, Director (Strategy), DIFFUSION. These players are technically betting big on positive psychology in order to persuade audiences. A good and positive tagline increases the brand recall, leading to prompt purchases. “All this is part of a global movement towards more emotive and less functional taglines,” adds Byrne.

Interestingly, most of these ‘feel happy’ taglines are a response to competition’s calls rather than a perceptual favour to consumers. Evidently, the customer was of course always the king, but then it’s the corporations that laugh all the way to their banks!

Ratan Lal Bhagat

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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