The title of this page is what Alyque Padamsee advises to new advertising trainees. Lintas growth with Padamsee could not have been possible without his creative work on several campaigns. (click to see the a list of main Brands that he helped build). He worked very much as a creative but with mind of an account planner as well. He was interested in the multiple facets of the products which went beyond just making a pure fantasy like message.He believed in making advertising that was relevant and yet not boring either. This could have been the influence of theatre. He made it a point to get into the minds of the consumer and finding whether the product would be of any use to them. Padamsee was also very much research oriented, and believed in gaining consumer insights is a must prior to making relevant advertising.
As an advertiser, Padamsee was
one of the types that would even get the clients to reconfigure their brand
strategy and even phsyical formula if he felt that it wasn't of relevance.
There was burn relief brand called Pain Relief, Padamsee advised the clients
to change the brand name to Fast Relief and in the process also change the
formula to so that it gives its users faster pain relief. He observed that
there were a lot of Pain relievers in the market already, so why would somebody
pick the brand Pain Relief, it doesn't have anything special to offer over
the other brands. Below are three case studies of Padamsee's successful work.
Liril Soap
Brand Liril was one of Padamsee's biggest successes, it was a regular lime soap owned by Lever. The objective was to get into many households with a bang. Extensive research was conducted on housewives and young women, and Padamsee's group gained an interesting insight. They found out that the regular Indian woman, who normally lives with her husbands family faces a lot pressure in sustaining the whole family, whether it's the in-laws or her children. She never has a moment of freedom during her daily routine, except for ten minutes, which when she is in the shower. Out of that insight came the Liril advertisement which features a girl clad in a green swimsuit frolicking with great enthusiasm around a waterfall. It may sound obtuse, but that advertisement was so successful when it was released in the seventies. The moment of liberation that Liril provided appealed to the women of India and the soap became the top selling premium soap overnight and has retained that till today.
Its not only
freshness, its freedom.
Surf Detergent
One of Padamsee's most unforgettable advertising was for Surf detergent, which was struggling in the market with other cheaper detergents. The objective of Surf Detergent was to penetrate into this market and become a household name for detergents like its cheaper, competitor Nirma. Padamsee and his team saw the opportunity of creating a value based message that indicated that a cheaper detergent may not bring upon the same effects. They researched detergents for two years, and they found out about the value of value in a detergent as it was cleaning product. People want things to be clean, out of which a higher price can be compromised. They wanted to communicate this to housewives in Indian households, and they created a character called "Lalithaji" who played the stereotype of a typical middle class housewife. The character was depicted as a hard-core bargainer who will never settle for anything less than what she has paid for. With this created personality it personified the brand and Surf instantly became a household name along with "Lalithaji".
"Lalithaji"
Kama Sutra Condoms
A client who was very eager to
work with Padamsee entered his office saying that he intends to manufacture
some premium quality condoms from Korea an build a brand from scratch. Padamsee
jumped onto this project despite the fact that he wasn't aware of how much
the client was planning to spend. The research followed, consisting of endless
focus groups and other research techniques. One of the insights that they
gained was that condoms were viewed by the public and by competition as purely
protective like a medicine, which bought him memories of taking castor oil
as a child. With this insight, Padamsee's team decided to brand a condom as
a pleasure upper and not as a pleasure downer. The perception of condoms at
that time was something that made sex less pleasurable. Padamsee wanted to
change that perception and named the condom Kama Sutra, which was universally
known as the pleasure of love making which also became their slogan. A sexy
approach to a condom ad was unheard of in India which caused a furore which
eventually helped build the brand to a top of mind name. They also devised
a way in which a consumer (male) wouldn't be embarrassed to ask for condoms
at a drugstore and used the slogan, "just ask for KS". The sexy
approach to condom advertising may sound like common sense but it was never
practiced in India until "KS" came into the market.
Just ask for KS