The long battery life promise has already been taken away. And the creatives are weak, very forced, leaving one a little perplexed about the promise
Spice Mobile has decided to jump onto the ‘long battery life’ platform. There’s such a huge, huge clutter in the mobile space, confused marketers have to keep searching under their hats for some promising new rabbit they can latch on to. Else, there’s really nothing left to say to the consumers. And even on the battery life promise, they are a tad late. Zen Mobile just took that away.
So, I guess in order to get some amount of noticeability, they have signed up Bollywood struggler Sonam Kapoor as brand ambassador. Before I get to the creative itself, a related point: I have always wondered why these small actors get such fat endorsement deals even before they’ve done something noteworthy in their careers. Is it the idealess marketers’ failing, or are the Bollywood obsessed consumers at fault? Beats me, really.
Anyway, there are two commercials currently on air. In one, Kapoor is seen enjoying a movie on her cell phone. One twit, who happens to be passing by, excitedly blurts out the ‘suspense’ to her. The voice over says: “Pesh hai Spice phone big battery ke saath. Ab picture dekhiye bina rukaawat ke. Well, almost.” Er, not really sure how the long battery life is established since she’s still watching the film. Maybe I missed something out here. In the other film, the actress is onceagain seen watching a horror film—this time on a train. And gets startled when her phone rings. And, as you can imagine, it turns out to be the usual suspect: the telemarketer.
Extremely weak communication. There are two big problems with the creative work, aside from of course, the fact that the battery life plank has already been taken. And both have to do with the link.
Unlike Zen Mobile, whose creatives clearly established long battery life with the situations depicted, in this case the link is tenuous. And very forced. So one is left a little perplexed on the promise.
Secondly, because the idea lacks a punch, and the platform is old, the branding becomes very weak. So there’s no clear link established on what is being said and the brand in question, Spice Mobile. Viewers will totally fail to recall the brand, and no, young Sonam Kapoor isn’t going to be able to save the day.
In short, the key communication connections have failed. Hopefully that’s not the case with the phone itself. — Anil Thakraney
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