First published July 2, 2023. Updated Oct 31, 2023 with a) an edited version of the ad shared by Red Label (following my article?!), and b) link to relevant research article.

A recent advertisement projects the humble tea as “India’s social network”. The ad is probably trending by this time, and worth at least one watch. The customer insight is spot-on. The video portrays various ways in which tea takes the form of friend requests, likes, shares, trends, stories, and so on in India, becoming a social network in itself. Engrossed as we are in the narrative, we forget that this is a brand’s commercial. Finally, though, the very last shot tells us that the ad is from Brooke Bond Red Label.

Well, as I watched the ad play, my thoughts centred on the cup of Kanan Devan (Tata Tea) tea that I usually drink in the morning and evening… steaming tea in a steel tumbler… the quantity never enough but I never make more… I am happiest when that tea is fully foamy at the top… and when I blow on it a teeny bit, the foam makes space for the beautiful brown color beneath… if the color is the right shade, the tea will be the right taste… oh yes, the tea packet at home is nearly finished and I need to buy another of the green packets soon…

These and many other thoughts ran parallel to the ad that was playing. And so, when the ad ended with a visual of Red Label, the first thought that struck me was: I was thinking of Kanan Devan the whole time! Nothing in the ad would have helped me predict that the ad was by Red Label. For that matter, nothing in the ad suggested it was from any brand, and the ad could easily have been from the Tea Board of India, let alone brands such as Taj Mahal or Wagh Bakri or Tata Tea or any of the umpteen tea brands that fight for India’s throats.

Oh, well. Not good, says the marketer in me. If the ad does not unmistakably cue the brand, then why run the ad at all? Simple marketing wisdom says that the purpose of an ad is to strengthen the brand and/or drive purchase. But in the case of the Red Label ad, I am very likely to forget the brand, remember only the story, and even connect the story to a different brand, perhaps my favourite brand. Put simply, all this effort from one brand, and its competitor gets the benefit!

Understandably, brands that wish to narrate a story would not like to show the brand logo throughout the story as that could prevent viewers from being immersed in the story. A similar reason holds for not identifying the brand at the beginning of the ad: why spoil the story by bringing crass commercialism at the start? Then again, presenting the brand at the end of the campaign video poses a risk, as we see in the case of Red Label. (The whole issue might not arise if the brand is already identified, such as through a label on the YouTube video or search result. But consumers are not always paying attention to labels.)

So, can a marketer ever safely show the brand at the end? To answer this, we need to consider how the mind works. Product cues such as tea being consumed at a chai stall can spontaneously evoke “mental associations” – a collection of related information and memories such as product color, category, shape, prior consumption experiences, brands in the category, and so on that the consumer has built up over time. For example, a piece of chocolate could cue the purple color, the Cadbury brand, a recent purchase of chocolate, the taste of one’s favorite chocolate, and even the memorable Five Star “do nothing” campaign (watch it for fun, you won’t regret it).

When a product is shown without any brand information, the situation is ripe for the consumer mind to come up with related information and memories, which is very likely to include the consumer’s favorite brand and other top-of-mind brands. And so, the ad on “India’s social network” that shows many instances of tea itself and tea being consumed, and is thus replete with product category cues, triggers thoughts of a wide set of tea brands. By the time the viewer reaches the end, the Red Label brand hardly makes an impression.

Is there a way out? One solution is to cue brand in subtle way or in a manner that integrates with the story. Coca Cola’s recent art gallery ad does this very well. Another way is to use a story that cues the category very lightly or not at all. A Fevicol ad from 2019 that recently became popular uses this technique; the narrative is all about a sofa that passes hands for generations. By not cueing the category explicitly, the ad drives curiosity without crowding the consumer’s mind with brand names. Ads launched by market leader brands might not face as much a problem as other brands in the market.

The solutions above might not result in an ad that seems “ingenious” or “fabulous” as some social media comments have termed the Red Label “India’s social network” ad, but they will certainly help Red Label reap the benefits of its effort. And prevent the ad being attributed to Kanan Devan!

P.S. In carefully viewing later, I noticed that a product pack is indeed shown towards the beginning when Mrs. Masurkar makes tea. Very incongruously placed, though – in most kitchens, the tea packet is usually on the shelf, not the counter. The tea jar is what the customer handles every day.

Updates:

a) Red Label has uploaded, on Aug 29, 2023 – about two months after my article was posted – an edited 20-second version of the social network ad on its YouTube channel. (The original ad was uploaded Jun 29, 2023.) Interestingly, this edited ad starts with a shot that clearly shows the tea package (this was the very last shot in the original ad) and sports the brand logo on the top right throughout the ad. I would like to think that this is so because of my post and the subsequent discussions on LinkedIn! 🙂

b) The 2004 article ‘Do Not Wait to Reveal the Brand Name: The Effect of Brand-Name Placement on Television Advertising Effectiveness’ by William E. Baker, Heather Honea, and Cristel Antonia Russell in the Journal of Advertising examines the above issue in detail. The article is available at the journal website here.