Tarana Khan

When Unilever launched the ‘Axeland’ campaign for its Axe men’s deodorant, few marketers realised that they could actually create the metaphorical land of beautiful women. But it did, with the Internet showing the way. Unilever created Axeland on the web, and the island came as close to being real as one can expect from the medium. Visitors to Axeland can drop in at the fictional country’s film studios, souvenir shop or the Catfight Alley – in short, any man’s dreamland. As evident from the success story of Unilever, Internet is the new competitive platform for promoting a brand identity.

Targeting ‘netsumers’
Brand managers know that it’s no longer enough to have an address on the web, ‘netsumers’ (online customers) have evolved much beyond that. They are no longer content with basic information on the web – they want to interact, they want to be involved and be part of what is often called the ‘brand experience.’ The Internet is a unique medium which not only offers the user privacy but flexibility as well. As Meera Sharath Chandra, National Creative Director, Mudra Marketing Services (of which interactive agency Tribal DDB is a part), says “The power is now in the hands of the consumer - he chooses how he wants to dialogue with a brand. If you are missing for the better part of his day, you're missing the better part of his life, his brand experience and his wallet.” Adds R Lakshminarayanan, CEO, Mudra Marketing Services, “Our portfolio brands are pulling in more results and creating stickier customer contacts than their peers. This really means we have made the brands self-generate revenues and self-aggregate audiences. Our role is in making brands come alive online - the rest is natural fallout if the creative messaging and dialoguing is spot on."

Besides, Internet takes on the form of one-to-one marketing, letting consumers respond instantly. “As more of the country's young adults move online, creating a website has become a way to add value to the consumer's brand experience that can't be done in a 30-second TV commercial or a 400 sq.cm print ad,” says Namrata Balwani, Head – Planning & Operations, Media2win, an online marketing agency. “While that interaction is over in a matter of seconds, an online experience can last much longer and therefore enable greater brand recall and assimilation of brand values,” she adds.

Brand brigade
The focus now is on a multiple online presence with each location catering to a specific product offering. Consumer brands giant HLL is proving how even FMCG can benefit from the online buzz. While its Axe success has already made headway, its campaign for Clinic All Clear shampoo is also noteworthy. Makeyourmoves.com , created by BC Web Wise, promotes the Clinic All Clear Ice Cool variant. The fun, interactive website invites the users to decide what they would do in different situations to attract the opposite sex. The responses are provided in the form of videos which range from hilarious to mushy. Chaya Brian Carvalho, MD & CEO, BC Web Wise, explains “Clinic All Clear has taken this route since a lot of brand sites blatantly push their products even in a designated ‘fun zone’ or space on the web today, which puts off the discerning youth. They have attempted to reach out to the youth by appealing to what they like most and entwining it with their brand communication.” According to the agency, the site received 5000 registrations in just five days of its launch, and about 2 lakh user sessions of 18 minutes each and 1.4 million page views. Come to think of it, it is nearly impossible to get these kinds of figures for a single product on any traditional medium.

Recently, HLL initiated another online campaign with BC Web Wise for Sunsilk shampoo, sunsilkgangofgirls.com What Axeland did for men, Gang of Girls tries to do for women. Claiming to be India’s first online all-girl community, the website comprises a Make-Over Machine, Gang blogs, Career Track and Parade Ground. The Sunsilk website has donned many avatars including the Just for You Zone with Jawed Habib and Mehar Bhasin, the Cool Zone to promote the Sunsilk Fresh & Cool variant, and a site for the Sunsilks Naturals range. Chaya of BC Web Wise adds, “We established that the Sunsilk site could not only deliver the short term brand objective, but engage the visitor online to interact further with the brand, the category, related topics and participate with the brand online.
Sunsilk online was a hit right from the beginning and every year we have only enhanced the offering over the last three years.”

Thus, adding to the interactivity is an element of attitude that the brand stands for, or the experiences it emanates. The award-winning website of Itch Guard, created by Tribal DDB India, did just that. It centred around the basic ailment that the ointment aims to eliminate – the itch. As Meera of Tribal DDB explains, “ItchGuard.com is a brand statement built on a deep consumer insight that the itch - and the constant scratching - needs to come out of the closet and be addressed in a cool and casual, open and frank way. It is a brand website, linking life's khujlees (itches) and the physical khujlees in a fun yet educative way!”

Colgate-Palmolive also developed an online zone for its Max Fresh toothpaste called Max Fresh Club, created by Media2win. Besides games, downloads and mobile content, the site has an interesting Dimension Test which measures the user’s level of ‘freshness.’ According to the agency, this website was visited by over one lakh unique users during a three-month period, who spent an average of nine minutes on it.

Speaking of going a long way, handset manufacturer Motorola let their users take a long shot with the Moto Pebl Pond, created by interactive agency Quasar. The website lets people make a wish by writing a message on a pebble and ‘throwing’ it across the pond. Explains Manish Vij, Business Head, Quasar Media, “In Moto Pebl pond, people throw pebbles in a virtual pond which allows them to relate it to something they can do in real life. Its popularity can be measured by the fact that 40 per cent of the users displayed a connection with the brand through their messages.” Similarly, in its MotoStar campaign, Motorola launched a website where users can upload there picture and receive customised wallpapers.

Community building
What comes across as a common element among all these successful websites is the sense of community. The Internet is a great place for people from all locations to commune and talk about a common interest that binds them. Chaya says, “A community allows users to control the experience. They can view only what they want and also get to know more about the product in an unobtrusive manner, in fact they are there out of their own choice…it’s less of a turn-off and more of a conscious choice, and therefore a more positive experience than, say, TV advertisements or plain vanilla sites.” Manish of Quasar agrees, “A community is a forum for two-way exchange of feedback. Also, the user can go back to the brand at anytime since there is a web address - so the longevity of a place where the user can reach the brand easily increases.” Of course, a critical element is also the ability to share, with almost all these sites inviting you to share the ‘experience’ with friends.

Over the years, the Internet has moved from being a display platform to a communication platform, and further to an interactive platform – to the stage where the consumers decide for themselves what they want on your online space. Companies have to develop a radical strategy when approaching this space, and also be willing to let the consumers hold the reins for a while.


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