Dry idea Advertising (B)

This case describing the struggle to get creative advertisement for the brand Dry Idea antiperspirant and new product line extension. The product was originally introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. Now advertising agency BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne) and Ames are trying their innovative advertisement. Product manager Carole Johnson is to select the best for 1984 campaign: how to get the kind of breakthrough advertising the brand needed quickly? Its about developing a new advertisement showcasing the product with right mix of aesthetic and efficacy that is expected to produce desired growth and stretch their brand muscles of deodorant product. Dry Idea brand group and Advertising agencies worked on 3 concepts and tested. 1. Never Never developed by BBDO and Body at work and Get Together by Ames. Now, result is out to choose the best.

issues and challenges

Disappointing test result for all the 3 commercials Tough decision to make a choice Time to review the measurement methodology used so for and look for meaningful way to measure the exact reality

solution
Branding requires continuous focus & repeat communication after implementation. Brand Monitoring committee can be setup to oversee the related activities and progress regularly.

results and benefits

Success relies in better communication in this strong brand building activity. Because a brand
identity can simplify customerbuying decisions, because the brand serves as a form of identification that connotes a specific level of quality, price or value

Promotional Videos can be reevaluated before airing like storyboard used by Disney to reduce the expensive making cost.
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Analysis
Unfortunately, when it comes to brand stretch through innovation the chances of giving birth to a dwarf are much higher than creating a hero product. Innovation is not happening faster in the advertisement for Dry Idea, more efficiently or more successfully. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's getting worse. More resources, energy and time are getting spent innovating than ever before and the results are dismal. Same level of Brand recall is observed in the newly tested commercial with the past history bench mark data. Brand extensions survive only after few years. In my view, the advertising agencies and brand group are just as well off gambling the company's money. But given all that brand extensions is mixed with existing product is not appropriate instead they should create a different attempt for the new product launch differently. The test result suggest on the Related Recall and Sales Message Recall there is no significant improvement on the score. Infact its slightly lower than the previous result with Spokes man.
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The result was measured using standard Gillette techniques such as ASI Recall Plus and Audience reward. Need to look at the way differently.

Customer look for the Dry idea brand as a product ... that adds other dimensions to differentiate in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible ... or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible. Lots of creativity and inspiration is put into coming up with communication ideas and innovation. However, many times it never gets good attention and fails to make emotional attachment.

My choice : Never Never by BBDO again based on the result

BBDO (Agent) stretched their creative power by producing this advertisement and also their concept What You Feel. Both campaigns were written on an efficacy oriented strategy emphasizing confidence in social situations. Dry Idea enhances the feeling of selfassurance of consumers to always be in control. This could build emotion bond with consumers in the long run. the help of their agency BBDO again. They are attempt to develop inspiring brand vision and position. However BBDO fail to produce breakthrough advertisement this time also. Chance are What you Feel advertisement may be better than this if considered for new product line extension.

The brand image is the customer's perception of their product and company.
New Product line should not be clubbed with existing product advertisement. Both wont sync on a common theme that will force to misunderstand the behaviour, desires and expectations of their audience. New Product line extension should be attempted separately to convey different themes in advertisement.
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Recommendation
Creating and enduring strong brand image is a long time process. Brand is a expected feeling, this make the average appear special and carries invisible meaning varies person to person. This is merely representations. But to carry values over times.
BBDO could attempt to use Cartoon advertisement also. BBDO should use Disneys quality improvement program such as storyboard concept at the early stage of the concept development before spending huge money. Traditionally, cartoon animators simply made up the story as they went along, adding deleting gaps is easy. The important element is visual humor. The storyboard which was nothing more elaborate than a series of sketches of the key moments of an action sequence pinned up in the order of their occurrence. Storyboard could be minor innovation, it was, infact, a great way to see a cartoon (the product) before launching an expensive animation process.

Drafted by, Senthil Kumar, ePGP-A

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Roll No (ePGP-03-80)