The world of advertising is extremely entertaining. A whole of creativity goes into a single ad campaign.
It is hard to analyze whether a campaign will work with the audience or not. You never know when an ad becomes sensational.
However, one of the most difficult types of marketing is surrogate advertisement.
Surrogate advertisements are those which promotes a banned product like cigarettes or alcohol, in the disguise of another product.
These ads are risky as you have to convey your message properly among the masses & a test for your creativity.
In India, one of the major brand that does some fantastic surrogate advertisements is Seagram.
A liquor brand of more than 100 years, they seem to have perfected the art of surrogate advertisement.
So today we are going to pitch two whiskey brands under Seagram with a very different marketing strategy– Imperial Blue’s “Men Will Be Men” Vs Royal Stag’s “Its Your Life Make It Large”.
BACKSTORY
Imperial Blue
Launched by Seagram in 1997, Imperial Blue was later purchased by Pernod Ricard in the year 2002.
It is one of the most popular whiskey brands in India.
Royal Stag
Royal Stag was launched in 1995. Available throughout the country in many sizes it is Pernod Richard’s most selling whiskey brand by volume.
The name of the brand came from a species of deer, famous for its antlers, that is featured in the logo as well.
MARKETING STROKES
Imperial Blue – “Men Will Be Men”
After relaunching the brand in 2002, the company started it’s now celebrated tagline “Men Will Be Men” campaign. The tagline made a household name for itself due to its catchy phrase & excellent advertisement storytelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn9p6KsCrCQ
Ogilvy came up with the tagline which targeted Indian men from 25-35 years.
While the ads leave men in splits, everyone somehow connected with the storylines.
The ads portrayed men of the working-class section, living in Tier-II cities, who don’t get many adventures in life. However, he enjoys to relive a couple of humorous situations in life, which may be embarrassing at times yet enjoyable.
The brand targeted the “brighter side of man’s life” especially his daily interaction with females which may boost his confidence.
According to Ajay Gahlaut, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi who has worked on all the brand campaigns, “It is self-explanatory and anyone can narrate a quick anecdote around the tagline.”
The stories are simple & sweet along with the trademark Pankaj Udas type ghazal in the background (penned by Gahlaut himself) -‘Pyaar ki raah mein chalna seekh, ishq ki chaah mein jalna seekh’ makes for the perfect environment for the ads.
The storyline ranges from daily humorous situations like- two men eyeing each other’s wife at a grocery store, trying to hit another woman in the elevator, bargaining for a diamond ring after forgetting one’s anniversary or hiding belly fat in front of an attractive woman.
All of them are gold!
What works for these ads is relatability & the right use of humor.
In 2011, imperial blue commissioned a feature-length film called men will be men with a budget of 10 million.
In February 2012, Imperial blue became the official sponsor of world series hockey.
Royal Stag – “Its Your Life, Make It Large”
Along with Imperial Blue, Royal stag also targets middle class to upper-middle-class section of the society aged 25 to 35.
However, there is a major difference in the way it approaches its promotional strategy. For Royal Stag it uses major brand ambassador to promote its brand.
In 2002, the brand signed 8 cricketers Harbhajan Singh (India), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Jonty Rhodes (South Africa), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Mervyn Dillon (West Indies), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka), Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), and Andy Flower (Zimbabwe) for the brand.
The campaign was handled by Ogilvy & Mather, obviously.
Over the years many players like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir were featured.
In 2007, the brand aired it’s first TVC commercial with Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. In 2010, Shah Rukh Khan joined the bandwagon for a year-long contract.
The ads generally portrayed the story of these successful personalities where they reflect on their journey motivate viewers to ‘Make It Large” in life.
These ads became extremely famous with the viewers, mainly because of the way they are shot – larger than life personalities reflecting their journey & asking “Have I Made It Large?”, almost like a self-reflective question!
These ads are almost inspirational, self-motivating ones & very different from its sister brand- Imperial blue, where everything is relatable.
Royal Stag is the title sponsor of the Mirchi Music Awards.
GROWTH & REVENUES
In 2002, Royal Stag & Imperial Blue emerged as the fastest growing brands in the domestic market.
According to Revolvy, Royal Stag saw a 53% rise in its sale from 1.12 million cases in 2001 to 1.75 million case in 2002. In 2010, Royal Stag’s first time crossed the mark of 10 million cases and Pernod Ricard became the first multinational company to cross this mark in India.
Royal Stag sold 16.1 million cases in 2014 and remained the third biggest-selling whiskey in India from 2011 behind Officer’s Choice and McDowell’s No.1.
The brand also sponsors a Youtube channel for short films namely “Large short Films’ with more than 1 million followers.
According to Marketing Mix, Imperial Blue is a superior quality whiskey brand that has sales worth 3.5 million units annually.
According to the Economic Times, in 2018, the profits rose to 28% with a notable profit from Imperial Blue alone.
Can you see how the same brand uses completely different marketing strategies to emerge at the top of their game?
It is really intriguing how these creative mind works for different products.
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Disclaimer: All the above information is not to defame or promote any particular brand. This is just for reading purpose & do not have any unethical intention.
