The first thing to note about these two adverts is that the Safaricom ad ran on page 7, first right hand page, whilst the airtel ad ran on page 15. I shall make no comments about conflict of interest, but I do know for a fact that some media guys somewhere got an indian-accented earful this morning.
Snide comments aside, to me what is most interesting about these two adverts is that they perfectly demonstrate the two basic approaches that a brand can take when it seeks to mark a special occasion such as Diwali, Christmas, Easter or Father's day.
The first approach, a la Safaricom, is to simply convey a suitably warm and fuzzy message in the relevant language to the relevant community and in so doing indicate to them that you understand and respect their traditions, so therefore you should be best friends forever.
The second approach, a la airtel, is to use the occasion in question as AN OPPORTUNITY TO SELL!!!
In the case of this particular airtel ad, the slight drawback would appear to be that the offer being sold is not one that has been designed specifically with the target audience of this ad in mind, rather it is simply an on-going product/offer which has been given a diwali spin.
As you can probably tell, my instinct has always been that the approach demonstrated by the airtel ad is the correct one. I think that most consumers are perfectly aware that the brand talking to them is not their brother/sister/best friend, but rather is the face of a commercial enterprise seeking share of wallet. Thus I would argue that one shouldn't simply wish one's customers a happy diwali/idd/easter/whatever day, one should actually do something that gives those customers a happy day.
It is often forgotten that brands are ultimately judged by exactly the same criteria that we apply to human beings. Thus, in the long run, brands are always judged more by what they do than by what they say....
Happy Diwali, this post is on the house!
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