What is common between SIP and Parenting?
Years and years of campaigns establishing Mutual funds as “sahi hai”, addressed the barriers in investing. They educated and allayed fears, and now HDFC has taken the next step, providing a positive emotional reason to invest.
As parents, we try to teach good values and character, so the child grows up to be a good human being. This investment into our children’s future is presented as a way of life and equated to investing in SIP for the future as well.
The two things I think the ad got bang on are:
- Instead of a parent lecturing the child on what is the right thing to do, it uses the parent to show what is the right to do in a tough situation.
- The parent here, is the father, showing his vulnerable side to his son, both of which are missing in most traditional narratives. A man showing vulnerabilities in the role of a father is also more acceptable to the larger society in general. We need to make this side of men more visible in the mainline, not the aggressive characters that are making a comeback in Hindi films.
What a beautiful set of Ads by IKEA, great work done by the agency. Taking familiar conversations and presenting it as objects in an unorganised space to showcase Ikea’s storage solutions. For those living in smaller spaces, the problem is quite relatable and the solution presented in a funny way is bound to catch attention. For Ikea advertising these lower price point SKUs, will facilitate trials with low risk items and eventually upgrade.
Any luxury thing or experience has two aspects — perceived value and social status. Like beauty likes in the eyes of the beholder, perceived value lies in the eyes of the consumer.
But society decides the status. You can’t brag about something that the elites don’t consider cool or fancy. Toyota makes excellent cars, but Mercedes carries the status.
As per Statista, the top 3 luxury brands in the world (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Chanel) are French. France has six, Italy has two while both the UK and the USA have one out of the top 10 most valuable global luxury brands.
You can find other rankings, but the common theme European brands’ dominance with a few Japanese and American ones interspersed in between.
However, these are product brands.
The rankings are different when it comes to service brands like luxury hotels. Here countries like India and China have made a mark. For example, Taj and Oberoi are two of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world known for opulence, service, and attention to detail.
The challenge with service-led luxury brands is they are not easily replicable. You can’t brand any property Taj and expect people to pay a premium for it.
Services can’t be mass-produced.
Hence, if you want to build an Indian luxury brand, the service sector is an easier bet. Indian companies are known for their top-level service quality. However, creating an Indian luxury product brand remains a tall ask in today’s world.
