Marketers: Don't be like Thanos

Yes, we have come to that stage in human evolution when we should take lessons from fictional villains in movie-adaptations of comic book stories. Perhaps the only saving grace is that we learn what not to do, rather than what to do, from these villains.

Lesson #1: Look before you snap!
In Endgame, Thanos gets to know that 5 years after his snap, Earth hadn’t flourished in spite of all the reduced competition for resources. And immediately, Thanos invents a new alternative of resource-planning – wiping everything out completely instead of partially.

That makes us think - Thanos had been doing this partial-killing for a long, long time before he got his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet. (Ha, that pun happened nicely!) If we start from the time of Gamora’s adoption and assume her aging process to be same as humans, it would mean Thanos had been doing this for at least a couple of decades (in Earth-time). And yet apparently, this was the very first instance when Thanos was analysing an outcome of his killings.

Does that mean he never went back and did a Return-on-Efforts-Invested analysis for all those years? Assuming he wiped half-a-civilisation every month for the past 20 or so years, he had killed half of about 240 different civilisations and not done any ROEI check! Wow!

Lesson #2: A Tree is not the same as the Forest
Thanos changes his life mission based on data taken only from Earth. But his snap had wiped out half the life in the entire Universe! That means he projected data from ‘sample’ of one, to the ‘population’ of hundreds of thousands. Maybe what happened on Earth was the exception and not the rule. He doesn't consider this. But then, even if he did, he had no way of finding out. (See Lesson 1)

I don’t suggest Thanos should do an MBA or study Market Research, but it seems even some basic knowledge would have helped him a lot!

Lesson #3: Don’t put all your Stones in one Gauntlet
To avoid getting killed, Thanos goes to a point in the past, where the Infinity Stones are with his enemy - the Avengers. Interestingly, in the original timeline, he was killed by these Avengers even when they didn’t have the Stones with them. Moreover, in the original timeline, Thanos was anyway able to get all the Stones, defeat the Avengers, and fulfill his life mission before he gets killed.

Thus, rather than just figuring out how to stay alive in his original timeline, Thanos goes to a battlefield where his enemy is not only stronger than him, but also more informed (Thanos knew nothing about time travel). And he does at the dual risk of dying and his life mission remaining unfulfilled. Why ruin an already earned achievement this way?

That’s why, marketers, don’t be like Thanos!
(And Thanos, if you are alive in any timeline, please study some research and strategy.)

Defending Gillette, or maybe not

Almost exactly 9 years ago, a brand from the P&G stable ran a very cool campaign titled ‘Smell like a man, man’. It showed an attractive African-American man in a towel talking directly to the camera (i.e. ladies watching the commercial) about how Old Spice body wash would make their man smell like the man he portrays. His attitude added to the charm – his persona was described as “wildly smug, cool-cat smooth dude”. The campaign was wildly successful, and it also won a Grand Prix for film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. In short, lots of claps and pats on the back.

Fast-forward to the present. Another brand from the P&G stable runs a campaign with the message ‘The Best Men Can Be’. This time, it’s a razor-and-after-shave selling brand that urges men to challenge themselves to do more so that they can get closer to their best. What an awesome, inspiring message! What could possibly go wrong here?

Umm, if you are with me till here, you know how polarising this campaign has been. Maybe there’s no hidden message behind the casting here too – in two different situations, the guys about to harass women being white, and the guys stopping them being black is just coincidence. But this ad made many men uncomfortable, and they are raising all kinds of questions about the ad.

Rather than look at those questions, let’s look at why they should be questioning this campaign at all. The first and most obvious fact is that this ad evoked a reaction. Meaning, it touched a chord somewhere. You could like it, hate it, scowl at it, but you couldn’t ignore it. Maybe it made you feel inspired, threatened, irritated, or simply angry, it means it did a fantastic job. It got your attention and it made you react. Strike one.

Next, is how this ad makes men feel about being a man. Some would feel being reduced to a stereotype. Or feel guilty because it holds them to a higher standard. Some would feel uncomfortable because it urges them to address an issue they have been quiet about, while some others would wonder if they really would have to interfere in a fight to earn the respect of their sons and be their hero. Again, this simply means that it touched upon a relevant, urgent issue that forces the viewer to take a stand. They aren’t just paying attention, they are now emotionally involved. Strike two.

Last, is the significance of the stand that they have taken or will take. It is not going to be an easy decision to make. If they agree with the argument, they have to plead guilty – guilty of being part of a group that has made not just workplaces, but every other place as well, unsafe for women; guilty of allowing, if not propagating a stereotype about men being aggressive, tough, and strong; guilty of asserting their masculinity by objectifying women, feeling entitled to their bodies, being insensitive to their feelings, emotions, and most importantly, consent. On the other hand, if they disagree with the argument, they fear being exactly what they have been accused of for decades – ‘good guys’ being complicit in the stereotyping of men, and harassment of women, even if only by inaction. Now they aren’t just emotionally involved, they are put in a moral dilemma. Strike three.

That a simple ad can do this, is by itself, pretty amazing. But let’s not get carried away. It’s just that this is the first ad that talks about this issue head on. And that too, by a brand that makes products almost exclusively for men. (You had forgotten it makes razors for women too, right?)

So, are justified men in applauding it or booing it?

Which camp is the bigger one? The right one?

What do I know? I am just another advertising guy.

Disclaimer: While I am hardly taking a side, it’s important to point out my employer has P&G’s competitor, Unilever, as one of its biggest clients. Also, that these views are my personal views, and they don’t represent anyone else’s.

Choosing a brand-name: Going beyond the rhetoric

Choosing a brand name is a tricky process.
Asking how to go about choosing is even trickier.

People who emphasise how critical it is to get it right, will talk about how Nike (named after the Greek Goddess of Victory) would have been a dud in its previous avatar of Blue Ribbon Sports, or of how the friendliness and simplicity of Apple Computer made it stand out in the tech-heavy, IBM-dominated personal computer industry. Could it have achieved similar success if it were named something as geeky as Altair 8800, another computer released around the same time when Apple was founded?

On the other hand are the cynics, calling the entire process a waste of time. They talk about how Coca-Cola gets its name simply from its ingredients, Pepsi from a condition it was supposed to be a treatment for, or that Mercedes was named so, only because a car-seller/racing-enthusiast asked it to be named after his daughter. If these origins can also lead to great successes, "What's in a name"?

Both these schools of thought explain their stand by cherry-picking success stories.
And both are non-starters to help the actual process of choosing a brand name.

So how do you go about it?

1. Start with the purpose of branding
Usually, the purpose of branding is said to be to stand out or to be memorable. But these are more evaluation parameters. The purpose of branding is to establish a reputation before customers can actually experience the brand.

The reputation could come from the credibility of founders (Chanel), or uniqueness of its ingredients (Coca-Cola), or some unique processes (Blaupunkt). Or it could just "explain" the product by association (Motorola).

Brands who are first-movers want to become the default choice and communicate the same through ubiquity - Android as an OS for mobile devices, Walkman as the personal audio player and lighter alternative to the boombox, etc.

2. Go for uniqueness
Pharma and ingredient branding are great examples here. Naming a medicine brand after its ingredient molecules is helpful but not unique if all companies are doing this. It wouldn't be wise to name your shampoo after its active ingredient 'panthenol', if Pantene already exists as a brand in the market.

A caveat here: uniqueness doesn't necessarily mean exclusivity. A brand can stand out by being inclusive too. Big Bazaar is one such example.

3. Look for a great brand story
Stories, especially origin stories make for great memorability and even reputation. But they may not exist and need to be invented. Hence I say "look for". Häagen-Dazs is an invented name that wanted to convey an “aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship.”

4. Build the brand elements
 Here comes the complete package - aesthetics like colours and designs, hard factors like physical structures and product features, and soft factors like brand personality, and customer service.

5. Rebrand if you can, and only if you must.
Flipkart started out as a book e-tailer and later, became a marketplace and one of India's biggest e-commerce companies. Should it have changed its name? Maybe. But it would have been expensive, and perhaps unnecessary. On the other hand, a hatchback from Tata Motors 'Zica' had to go for re-branding after emergence of 'zika virus' as a carrier of contagious diseases.

Hope this outline helps you go beyond the rhetoric.

Feel something can be added to the list? Add your comments.