President, Head-Marketing | UltraTech Cement - Aditya Birla Group | Ex Nestle, Colgate Palmolive, GE, HT Media, Godrej Consumer | B&C, FMCG, Media | Creator of Iconic Brands | Believer in power of Teams & Human Insights
There are no Boring Categories Outstanding example. Thanks for sharing Delshad. Having spent some time with so called "Low involvement" categories, I think there are no "Boring Categories". The blame has to squarely lie at the feet of conventional thinking and focus just inside the "Product box". The real magic I have mostly seen working is Not in the products, but the "Human Insights". In some cases these categories are really High involvement, but low knowledge (mostly due to very occasional usage). Other cases the categories are "Too much usage" (like utilities) and thus turning them into blind spots. Case in Point - Cement, Paints - Watch any home builder spending months at the construction site, waiting like an anxious relative outside the operation theatre. Certainly more involvement than a teenager spending a millisecond to decide on a cola or bag of chips to choose. Mere shoes have been turned into Vehicles of Striving of the human spirt by the likes of Nike, Adidas. What we consider high involvement categories today, have been achieved by years of astute insight and creative thinking to articulate it right. So there are some categories that are "High Involvement" and others, rough diamonds waiting to be polished...
One of the world’s greatest creative minds recently told me that he built his career on so-called “boring brands”. That is brands in “low-involvement” categories like paints or adhesives. Brands that typically don’t fall in the glamorous bucket like colas and cars. But then again where’s the fun in typical? He said, the challenge and joy is in turning low involvement into high engagement. Never forget the power of ideas driven by real insights, emotion and what makes us human at the end of the day. This 2007 ad epitomises that philosophy for me. It’s not a Piyush Pandey creation. But I’m sure it gets a thumbs up in his books. Engaging. Entertaining. Endearing. Credits: Nordpol Hamburg and The Vikings Storyboard18 #brands #marketing #advertising #media
Anurag S.
6mo
Couldn’t agree more that some of these boring brands are actually very high engagement categories. However, having worked on the actual customer and influencer engagement funnels for these categories for over a decade.. I can share that most brands have great appetites for ephemeral campaign based consumer-centric ads and communication, but struggle with their legacy funnels while translating that consumer-centricity into real world long term strategies. The potential is immense, as you rightly said, but the effort needed to pilot and pivot to those discruptive consumer centric transformation requires resource commitment, an appetite for risk and willingness to fail at MVXs (Minimum Viable Experience). It also requires external ‘continuity’ partners as these tech-aided transformations are long term and are affected by employee attritions. We are working on evolving such models, as there are no precedences, and see more and more brands atleast initiate the discussion to understand what that transformation effort involves.
Sindhu Raghavan
6mo
Boredom is the precursor to creativity. What better way to demonstrate this than in the so called 'boring categories'. A lot of the memorable ads that we have seen from these categories' stood out for exactly this reason- consumers wanted something interesting to think about and be taken by surprise. Homes are a great analogy- a shell by itself is boring. Now throw in design, color, interiors and you get, " har gha kuch kehta hai", all this without taking away the essence and purpose of the shell. The same applies to 'boring categories'.
Rajendra Jaiswal
6mo
d irani post brings word fingering poking putin nitau russia israle syria humans lost belongings comment. u r minds and others reansit cargo ships blocked destroyed. world wide support to palistins. at jehruslem life supports after war3 destroyed food grains etc reason may be hate
Nandita Chalam
6mo
One of my all time favourites - always share it in my classes ❤️
Delshad Irani
6mo
Great point on breaking out of the product box, Ajay. Thanks for sharing.
Ripal Chopda
6mo
Absolutely agree, Ajay Dang.. As a young brand manager, you've consistently encouraged us to uncover life insights that seamlessly connect the brand and product with consumers, making the brand eternal and then the magic truly happens !!
Priya Lobo
6mo
Ajay Dang 💯my best memories are of all the work I call them non- glam categories! Be it Cenent, pipes & fittings.. the artificial separations make life complicated.
Love this Ajay. Thanks for sharing ..
Ex - Chief Revenue Officer Zee Media Corporation Limited
6moFabulous share - in my area of work ( sales ) I meet a lot of founders of some “ boring categories “ - like a sariya ( TMT Bar) , Cement , Ply etc and when they speak about their category and brand you can see the excitement and enthusiasm in them the way they describe their brands and proposition . Each trying to stand distinctive through unique communication positioning to stand out in these highly generic and not so “ involving or consumer centeric categories “ . The excitement rubs off - which motivates us to create contextual ideas and IP’s .