Brand Talk: I am not a Gorilla

Anger is an emotion which we’re all familiar with regardless of age, height, weight, social status, race, creed, sect and gender, especially gender. And even though men are the ones who display their anger in the form of fist fights at the first opportunity they get, it’s the fairer sex who’s the ugly gorilla in the ad of the sickly sweet, excuse for a chocolate, Cadbury’s Perk (ad at bottom).

I am not a gorilla. I am a woman. Yes, I get angry, especially when I’m hungry but THAT does not make me a chest pounding, hairy creature with huge nostrils. A fire spitting dragon maybe but definitely not a gorilla!

Here are the problems I have with this ad. Firstly, there is the setting. The typical rishta aunty, the larki walay (parents of the girl) and the prospective in-laws. The former two are  singing praises of the girl in a manner similar to professional salespersons selling a new product to a difficult/moody customer while the latter are impatient to see the 'product' itself so that they can make their own judgment. When will we rid ourselves of drawing rooms where girls walk in holding neatly arranged cups of tea on a tray?

Stop portraying women in stereotypical roles! If you want to show an angry woman, why not show her in the role of the boss, screaming at her team?  What? It hurts your male ego? Admit it. You don’t have the balls to show women in a power position. And please don’t give me the bull about target market because a). Girls don’t eat Perk because it is sweet and full of calories (and tasteless) and increases their weight and b). Children usually eat it and they’re probably going to be more interested in an ad which they can relate to (they’re not stupid) -  not one with a girl their elder sister’s age. Sibling rivalry, you know.

My second problem is with the gorilla. I know Cadbury’s Dairy Milk has this one great ad in which a gorilla plays drums while listening to Phil Collins but this gorilla thing can’t work for you in all your campaigns, can it? Girls, usually, are sugar and spice and all things nice. Maybe you wanted to show how a simple, nice, obedient girl can turn into a monster when she’s hungry. Okay, but why a gorilla? Why not a tigress? And please don’t give me a Charles Darwin Theory here about selecting an animal which is closest to humans because I’m not going to buy it.

Tigers are sexy.

My third problem is with the premise that girl turns into monster when hungry. So are you implying that, when angry, men grow wings and halos appear over their heads? I’ll like to see such men because most of them, in our country, look like gorillas anyways, anger or no anger.

Besides, why would any girl, and especially one with such a temper, marry a wimp? And trust me, any guy who sits between his parents on the sofa is a wimp with a capital W!

Brand Talk - Sooper's Blooper

What were they thinking?

There can be a number of reasons behind their thought process. Maybe it's a new brand manager who wanted to make this mega TVC and impress all and sundry. Or maybe it was the old agency who thought that the new brand manager will buy this 'song +dance+biscuit' concept (see ad here). Or maybe it was both. Or maybe the top management felt that it was about time that the biscuit industry follows the sing song formula which was used, misused and abused by the telecom giants, milk brands and cola drinks, to name a few. 

But why Sooper? 

Sooper is the crown jewel of English Biscuits Manufacturers (EBM). And it deserves to be that. The biscuit tastes good, looks good and has very attractive packaging. It gave LU Bakeri (a product of Continental Biscuits) a run for its money so much so that Bakeri had to completely revamp itself; new product line, new packaging and a new campaign and still they are no match to the mighty Sooper. Even when EBM reduced the size of the biscuit and increased the price, Sooper survived. 

The thought, which I humbly believe, is behind this new campaign is merely to take the brand to the 'next' level (a jargon often used by our agencies and some brand people). How do we do that? The most easy method is to have some good looking people eating a tea time biscuit in an extremely seductive way at all the places where biscuits are not, usually, on the menu. You would think the models are taking swigs of whiskey or chugging down beer, and not eating an egg and milk biscuit. Looking at their expressions and body language it appears that the biscuit is giving pleasure of an orgasmic proportion. ‘Mazar Ker Lay, Dil Bhar Kay’ (Have a good time to your heart’s content) – what has that got to do with biscuits?

Why do brand teams want to break away from the legacy of a brand? Why do we forget the basics and just focus on the advertising campaign? Why do both brand teams and the agency forget things like target market, usage situations, user profiles and brand personality? Why?

Poor Pied Piper – his days are over and done with, unless he, too, gets a makeover!

Brand Talk: Don Carlos brings in a 'Brand New Experience'

Shoes are a weakness for me. When I lay my eyes on a good pair my heart misses a beat, I hear violins and time comes to a standstill.

But a good pair is hard to find in Karachi. Even though there are many shoe outlets, both foreign and local, it is seldom that a shoe sends shivers of excitement down my spine. Advertising of shoe brands has changed over the years too. There are more designer brands in the market but they serve a niche only. When it comes to shoe brands for the masses, the two top brands are still Bata and Servis.

When I think of Servis, there are three things that come in my mind; Cheetah (a brand of Servis), Shahid Afridi (who is the brand ambassador of Cheetah) and the Mountain Dew ad – 'Cheetah bhi peeta hai' (even a Cheetah drinks it!). This just goes to show that the best ad Mountain Dew ever made featured a Cheetah. Wait, we’re talking about Servis here!

Servis has developed a new advertising campaign for their Don Carlos brand. Don Carlos is a relatively high end brand of shoes which has as a bold, sophisticated and mysterious persona (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqTAqcwkhJ0). But even though the Don Carlos ad is probably one of the very good Pakistani ads, it somehow never really attracted the high-end target market it showed in the ad. We loved the ad, we made parodies of it in college/university but we never walked into a Servis outlet to check out Don Carlos shoes.

(Chick magnet?!)

I think, with the new campaign, Servis wants more sales and less mystery. They even changed the tagline from, 'The DonCarlos Experience' to 'A Brand New Experience'. Not a bad step since they were never able to define what the Don Carlos experience really is. The new tagline, for me, is rather tacky. The new campaign is aimed, primarily, at the youth and the focus is on the shoes and usage occasions; mountaineering, hanging out at the beach, at a disco. [They don’t want consumers to only think of Cheetah when they think Servis and subsequently end up discussing and drinking Mountain Dew!]

(I'm too cool for you girl!)

The concept of the campaign is good but it lacks aesthetics. The photography is not up to the mark and the backdrops seem artificial. There are just too many girls in the ad where one good one could’ve sufficed. They have created sub-brands in order to differentiate the various types of shoes in the Don Carlos range. Thus we have N-Dure (Experience the Adventure), Maximus (Experience the Privilege), Classic (Experience the Prestige) and Breezers (Experience the Comfort). This is a good step provided that they stick to these names and have them prominently displayed in the retail store also. More than that, the sub-brands would make sense if, and only if, there are noticeable differences among the shoes.  Sales staff must not only know the names of the various sub-brands but also understand the differences between them. The entire campaign will fall flat if the salesperson has a blank expression on his face if a consumer walks in and asks for a ‘Maximus’. [Wasn’t Maximus the name of Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator? Why does Servis do this?!]

A good campaign but it’ll only work if it is accompanied with availability of the range at the stores and of course, knowledge of the sales staff. An ad can lead a consumer to the shop but once there the product and the salesman close the deal. Let’s see how Servis does on that front.

One thing they do have is a very decent website. Do check out www.servis.com.

(Hopefully, the shoes will survive the rocky surface!)

(These shoes don't look too comfy for dancing!)

Images: Sunday magazine (Daily times)

Dark and desirable!

Dark chocolate is our weakness (hubby dear and myself) and both of us often indulge ourselves with a big bar of Lindt 70% cocoa. It's amazingly dark, amazingly bitter and amazingly good! Here is an extremely creative ad of this chocolate which I found some time back on the internet (and discovered while I was cleaning up my hard drive). This ad should be shown to all those clients who hate copy and want their product all over the place in print ads. If your product is good, it'll be able to sell whether it occupies 80% of the space or a mere 20%. But telling this to a client is hitting your head against the wall, every time!

...and I've just realized - we've run out of our supply of 70% cocoa....if only I was taking  judo classes!

Is chocolate your weakness too?

Photograph: Google Images

Mobile hai Internet!

The ad under fire these days is that of Telenor internet more. In case you have no knowledge of the ad, please click on the following two links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuRWM38YapE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu17wBZS5tY

Before you start foaming at the mouth with rage and seething with anger or blushing with embarrassment (especially if your name is Faiza or Talha or Hassan) take a deep breath and evaluate the ad from a truly branding perspective.

The ad, you must admit, is quirky, especially the raspy voice-over. Sharp images, decent models and a crisp script make this a fun ad to watch. It's targeting the young people (generally) as they spend most of their time on the internet, surfing or chatting. User imagery is perfect - all students, from ages 12-22 can relate to the situation in the ad. The one thing I find objectionable in the ad is that both the ads revolve around the stories of two boys. Don't girls use internet too?!

Now this ad has created a lot of furore, or so it seems from an article a student of mine sent across the other day. So I sat up and took a careful notice of the ad again (I've viewed it so many times already on television!) in order to find the objectionable stuff in it. Following is what might be considered 'objectionable' in these two ads:

Ad: Faiza 

1. Gender stereotype - girl in library, with hair flying like a film star. Are we teaching girls to pay attention to their looks more than their studies?

2. Teaching kids (and adults) how to track people on Facebook.

3. Our youngsters are being taught immoral acts (making friends with the opposite gender).

Ad: CV

1. How can someone have such a casual attitude towards sending a job CV? Are we teaching our kids to become irresponsible and careless?

2. OMG! A dirty message in the inbox! We are encouraging porn!

Yes, I believe these are the only objections I could find in the ads.

Now for some serious ad analysis. Advertising, besides conveying the product message to the consumer, is also a reflection of consumer lifestyle at a certain point in time. Simply put, ads reflect the trends and lifestyles (activities, hobbies, pastime etc) of consumers (and this is not limited to ads only. It also applies to movies, music, drama, theater etc). The young generation (ages 12-22) is very tech-savvy and also heavy users of text messaging and chat services. By providing internet on their mobile phones, Telenor is cashing on this very lifestyle feature of the new generation.

That's all okay, you say, but the ads are inappropriate! I disagree. If you think the ads are inappropriate, you are using the ostrich approach. These ads are not teaching the youngsters anything they didn't know already. All of them use Facebook and trust me, they don't go on it to check the pictures posted by you dear old Aunt who now lives with her son in some remote corner in America. Nor do they do it so that you can post pictures of your grandson's birthday party for that same dear old Aunt. Facebook is a medium to make new friends, connect with old ones (which might include old flames) and check out the 'pictures' of friends' friends' friend. Get it? People didn't stop studying when Pink Floyd released, 'We don't need no education' (all those adults objecting to these ads were probably in their teens when the song came out).

Yes, there is a gender stereotype. I would, too, like to see an ad in which the story revolves around a girl and her friends. Dressing up is one of the fun things about being a girl and there are girls in colleges and universities who do come all dressed up (we had a few in univ also. The majority belongs to the 'wake-up-wash-face-go-to-college category). Anything objectionable in being dolled up? Yes and no. As long as they are not distracting (both in an attractive and annoying way), its all cool.

As far as destroying the morals of our youth by showing mindless activities like surfing all day on internet or opening dirty mails is concerned, are the youngsters of our country so gullible that they'll forget their morals, customs, traditions, teachings and all, just because of an advertisement?! 

Think about it. 

Ramazan- Eat, Sleep, Pray...Buy!

The countdown has begun as Muslims all over the world enter the last round of fasts. This month has been pretty steep for us in Pakistan; a shocking plane crash, terrible floods, sectarian & targeted killing and of course, the cricket betting scandal. This Ramazan has been one big test for us as a nation and whether we have cleared it, or not, is still a question mark.

Ramazan is the one month when all of us, all over the country, share (more or less) the same routine (not that this similarity of schedules unites us or anything, unfortunately!) and the same (almost) buying habits.

Think about it. You get up for sehri and have something to eat, which can range from anything from a cereal and toast to naan and nihari. The next time you eat is in the evening, just like everyone you know, and the menu comprises of a lot of snacks which are, maybe, followed by dinner. As you get into the habit of fasting, you seek variety and decide to check out your favourite restaurant for iftari or maybe meet up with friends a little late for a cup of coffee (socializing without food is so boring!).

Now, let’s put brands into this picture. Everything you do all day involves brands and even though you only eat twice a day during this one month, you end up spending more money on groceries than you do otherwise. We tend to become more vulnerable during Ramazan; physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Brands make use of all the weaknesses of consumers to their advantage. Over the past few years, most brands have realized that targeting the emotions and spiritual side of consumers equals more sales. It all started, once upon a time, with Olper’s Ramazan ad campaign. This one ad changed the way people viewed advertisements. The ad generated immense buzz and along with the Ramazan special packaging and the mobile vans (which were a new concept then), Olper’s scored a big hit with its consumers. Milk, though consumed at both sehri and iftar, was a product consumers never associated with Ramzan. But Olper’s changed that view with their positioning (As baba Al-Reis has said, ‘positioning is not what you do to the product but what you do to the mind of the prospect’) and since its launch, every year consumers eagerly await the Olper’s Ramazan campaign.

The funny thing is that Rooh-Afza, a brand which everyone associates with Ramazan, never really associated itself with the holy month. A brand which we ignore all year round suddenly becomes an absolute essential at iftar! And yet, the brand has never done any strong activity to promote this association. On the other hand, Coca Cola is actively promoting itself with Ramazan and trying to make a place for itself on the table at iftar. Instead of going through the basic price cut route (like Pepsi; as if Rs. 5/- will make Pepsi desirable!), they’ve gone through the emotional route which gels in well with their overall campaign, ‘Open happiness’.

A category which keeps a low profile during Ramazan, yet is consumed greedily (by some of us) at sehri and iftar, is tea! Tea brands have not really focused on creating an emotional bond with consumers during Ramazan, a major reason being the negligible increase in tea consumption. Most of the tea we consume is during working hours and if we minus the three (or more) cups we drink during the day, we’re only left with two. And some light tea drinkers minus tea from their menu completely since there are so many other beverages that must be consumed also.  

But the one item on the grocery list which actually doubles in consumption, what with all those fried goodies at iftar, is cooking oil. For cooking oil brands, Ramazan is very important. They often plan consumer promotions a little before Ramazan, introduce price cuts and make sure their availability is 100%. This year,Mezan stood out strongly with their celebrity endorsement campaign featuring Aamir Liaquat and special Ramazan packaging. Dalda, and their positioning of ‘Mamta’ (motherhood), blends in perfectly with Ramazan and it also comes out very strongly in their Ramazan campaign.The one thing that almost all oil brands do is offer consumer promotions which include either a price discount or a free packet of chat masala with the oil. Chat masala, like Rooh-Afza, is a very Ramazan specific product. The sales of chat masala are very sluggish throughout the year and unless the sales team gets rid of the bulk of the product during Ramazan, they have a difficult task ahead for the rest of the year to dispose it off.

Other brands have jumped on the band wagon also. It seems that everyone wants a piece from the emotional and spiritual consumer pie. Telecom companies have a bundle of offers; special call rates between sehri and iftar, prayer alerts, special religious wall papers, hadith and Quranic verses through sms – you name it, they have it for you. I receive the most sms from Mobilink everyday trying to convince me to have a more fulfilling Ramazan by subscribing to one of their ‘offers’. If only they knew how much I hate their brand (and still own it! I’m not tearing my hair out this time. Why should I lose my hair over Mobilink!). Others, like Unilever, try and reach out to their consumer via an indirect route. This Ramazan, as I discovered on spending a certain amount at Park Towers, you are entitled to a gift bag which contains numerous Unilever goodies. You feel good about getting some free stuff, they make you sample their products and in most cases, grab you as a customer. End result: you feel the giant multinational cares for you during this holy month!

The brands which top the list when it comes to exploiting consumer vulnerability during Ramazan are our television channels. Every other channel has a special sehri and iftar transmission which are, more or less, the same. Everyone wants to attain the status that Aamir Liaquat had achieved these past few years during Ramazan. In fact, Aamir Liaquat was like Rooh-Afza; forgotten the year round and re-surfacing in Ramazan (this year, with the change of channel, he seems to have lost his earlier emotional appeal). In Ramazan our television channels offer a similar mixed bag of software; cooking shows, religious programs featuring scholars, and programs featuring actors, singers, and hosts trying to sound religious. No wonder people spend more time praying, there’s not much to distract them on television!

Having said all that, what does Ramazan mean to us? Do we consider it as a month which provides us an opportunity to spend some quality time with God? Or do we just take it like any other month of working and socializing, with a slight change in schedule? Have we equated Ramazan with consumerism along with its other attributes? It seems that we are more concerned about what we eat at iftar, how many iftar parties we go to, the various restaurants which we check out for iftar, the clothes & accessories we buy for Eid and how to make up lost sleep. We seem to have forgotten, especially if we look at the current situation of our country, the big picture of Ramazan. It is a month of practicing patience and being compassionate but as Pakistanis, we seem to have removed these two words from our dictionary and thus, from Ramazan.

Sleep, eat, pray and buy in Ramazan but also give, forgive, count your blessings and spend time with loved ones. Make most of these last few days of Ramazan – who knows what life has in store for us next year.

Photographs: Google Images

Just one minute?

Mobilink has tried its hand at comparative advertising through its latest Jazz campaign featuring Mani and Azfar. Trying to use the humor approach, they have introduced a new package, Jazz Bemisaal Ramazan offer, which competes directly with Ufone 'Minute per Minute' offer.

The Ufone 'Minute per Minute' offer is simple. For every one minute you talk from your Ufone number to a Ufone number, the next minute will be free. To activate the service you dial a particular code but you can enjoy this offer for a limited time only.

And what is the Jazz offer? Well, after every one minute, you'll get one hour free. The catch? Unlike Ufone, which is offering this service on all its packages (except the Uth package), Jazz is offering this ONLY on its Octane package. Never heard of this package? That's why Jazz gave this 'bemisaal' promotion on it; hardly anyone owns this package!

The celebrity endorsement of Mani and Azfar doesn't do any wonders for the brand. Firstly both these stars have lost the appeal they had earlier (during the 'Sub Set Hai' days) and secondly, they aren't funny anymore. Thirdly, as compared to the Ufone ad, the execution of the Jazz ad sucks. The only consolation is that  at least its been shot on home turf, unlike the other Jazz Ramazan ads on air these days (which are awful, to say the least).

Why am I still a Jazz user?!? (tearing my hair out!!!)

Images: www.ufone.com, www.mobilinkgsm.com

Juicing it up!

It's when I start making big plans for my blog that I falter. Summers are at their peak in Karachi and it's hot, hot, HOT! But summers bring mangoes also so we can't complain too much I guess. For the sports lover, this summer is all about the football world cup, kicking off on June 11th 2010. And for the music lovers, the new season of Coke Studio which starts from today.(www.cokestudio.com.pk)

What finally woke me out of my slumber today and got me writing this blog was a very surprising discovery at our local grocery store. Since teaching brand management, I have developed the habit of checking out brands at stores for so called 'discoveries'. Changing in packaging, price, new promotion schemes etc keep me updated for class. So although I'm not in the mainstream branding scenario (read: jobless), I do have a fair idea of happenings in the brand town.

Before I mention the discovery, I must mention some mysterious happenings around the store since the past two days. All of a sudden, Nestlé Fruita Vitals had put up big posters (and I mean BIG) on the store windows (or whatever little was available of the window) and branded the counter area also. I found this a little strange but didn't pay much attention towards it. It was only today, when I crossed the milk aisle, that I saw why. There was a new juice brand occupying the shelf- Olfrute.

The name was quite descriptive; O indicative of the fact that it was from the house of Olper's (although there is an Olper's logo at the top right hand corner, just in case of any confusion) and frute = fruit.

So, here we have, yet another fruit juice in the market. Olfrute, by Olper's, which is 'For a Fruitastic Life'. What I didn't understand is why they have 'fruit' written in their tagline but 'frute' as their name? Does that make the name funky? Maybe it does because they are using a generic word as a brand name but by spelling it differently, they have managed to create a new brand, just like in the case of Owsum (awesome) flavoured milk. But I like the tagline. For a fantastic Fruitastic life? Good one!

Now, for the taste test.........it's good! I am a big fan of Nestlé orange juice but this one is equally, if not better, good. It's smooth, and doesn't leave any aftertaste (although it did smell a little like the juice which is served in airplanes) which Nestlé does. Hubby dear, on the other hand, has been won over by Olfrute and he is quite pleased with his glass of juice.

The packaging, though, is very disappointing. In the packaging department, no one has come close to Nestlé. Fruita Vitals has the most amazing packaging; the most glamorous being that of the apple juice (I still remember the ad of Umair Butt!).

Olper's did give Nestlé a lot of competition in the milk category. Whether it does so in the juice category, we are yet to see. In the meanwhile, you check it out and let me know what you think while I go and finish up my juice before hubby dear gets his hands on it!

Marketing Moms

Moms are amazing. They bring us into this world, feed us, help us when we take our first steps, buy us stuff, put plastic covers on our school books (and write our names on them), cook delicious food, help us make posters for class, scold us, hug us, and as we grow older; they step on the sides (in most cases!) and watch us survive on our own in the real world (using many of the things we've learnt from them).

Can we ever really repay our moms for all that they do for us? Well, not really. Moms don't want repayment (again, this might not apply to all moms). Their love for us is unconditional and they are the only beings in the world who are capable of loving this way. That, of course, does not mean that we should not show our appreciation for all that they do. And to help us heap lots of appreciation on our mom we have, very conveniently, 'Mother's Day'.

An American lady called Anna Jarvis, in the memory of her own beloved mother, endeavored to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday, which she succeeded in doing in 1914. But by the 1920s, she was soured by the 'commercialization' of it. Embittered by the way this day was celebrated she said, ' A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother - and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment'. (source: Wikipedia).

I think Ms. Jarvis was upset because she never got a box of candy for her mom or maybe she did and her mom didn't let her eat the candy! Jokes aside, Mother's Day is one of the best things to have happened for most brands. Although our brands caught up a little late (but then, we had our own set of problems during the 1920s in the subcontinent and brands didn't feature in our lives much back then), they have done well and now Mother's Day features BIG in their marketing calendars.

One of the brands which is most related with mothers in Pakistan is Dalda. 'Jahan mamta, wahan Dalda' is a phrase we have practically grown up with. It's a very strong positioning and one that is recognized, and most importantly, understood by its consumers. Dalda cooking oil is one of the oldest brands of Pakistan and it has always talked about 'mamta' (motherhood). In doing so it has associated itself with one of the most important relationship in the life of its consumers. Over the years, the mothers in their ads have undergone changes but the essence remains the same - mothers and their love for their children which is manifested in (among other things) providing the very best food cooked in, of course, Dalda cooking oil.

Dalda's association with Mother's Day has emerged strongly in the past few years and they have incorporated it very well with their overall brand identity. Their big event, to celebrate this day, is the 'Dalda Expert Mom Award'. The interesting thing about these awards is that it is the children who nominate their moms by sending in a story to Dalda about them (Sheer brilliance, don't you think? Children are not the influencers nor the decision-makers when it comes to buy cooking oil brands. But they will one day. And Dalda is training the kids well for that day). After screening of these stories and a rigorous process of interviews conducted by Dalda experts, moms are shortlisted as nominees for one of six award categories (for details visit:www.daldaexpertmom.com).

So what does this do for the brand? It gets to refresh its brand message through a brand extension (Expert Mom Award) which is very interactive. The entire household becomes involved in the process; kids sending the application, mothers going for interview with the Dalda experts and fathers/husbands keeping the morale high (while hoping, in some cases, for a monetary reward also besides the plaque). Interacting with the brand in such a manner leads to the development of a very strong bond with the brand. And what better way to celebrate Mother's Day then to tell the whole of Pakistan that 'my mom is the best in the whole country and she has this award from Dalda to prove it'. Another generation of kids getting ready to become future Dalda consumers!

Of course, then there are so many other brands who want to join the Mother's Day band(brand)wagon. Nido, a powdered milk brand of Nestlé, has come up with a new advertising campaign to pay homage to mothers. This campaign, unlike Dalda, is mostly limited to out door hoardings and print ads (there might be a TV ad also which I haven't seen as yet) with the message - ' Thank you mom, for helping me get up!'. Nido associates strongly with mothers and its positioning also revolves around the mother-child relationship. It has its own brand based show, Nido Ye Taare Hamaray- The Nido Young Stars Show which celebrates Nido's heritage of nurturing and good parenting (www.nestle.pk/brands/nestle-nido).

No brand, though, has such a big ownership of motherhood and, now, of Mother's Day as Dalda Cooking Oil has. You might ask that there are many other brands which feature mother-child relationships in their ads; Surf Excel, Dettol soap, Safeguard, Lifebuoy, and Nestlé Milkpak but they don't celebrate Mother's Day in a big way. Primarily, these brands do not position themselves on the motherhood platform. Surf Excel has a simple message of 'Dirt is clean' which is rooted in the philosophy of modern parenting/child upbringing. Safeguard, Dettol and Lifebuoy are anti-bacterial soaps, primarily, which use the concept of family health and protection from germs in their positioning (generally speaking). Similarly, Nestlé Milkpak speaks about 'Mazboot Gharana' (strong household) which includes both parents. Their focus is not on the mother alone and therefore, Mother's Day is not a priority.

It is brands and television channels (especially morning shows) which have created greater awareness among the consumers (read: YOU) about Mother's Day. It doesn't matter whether you are users or non-users of that particular brand, you join the cycle of purchases which leads you towards buying a host of other brands. Greeting cards, flowers, cakes and candies are all part of the celebrations which make up this day. We are compelled to celebrate this day lest our moms feel left out. All the mothers of the world are being made to feel special so why should our mom not be?

So, is Mother's day commercialized, much to Ms. Jarvis's disgust? Yes, it is. But then, so is everything else in our lives. We have fallen into the brand trap; hook, line and sinker, whether we like it or not. Thus, you might find yourself ordering a special Mother's Day cake from Pie in the Sky, flowers from your nearby flower vendor (which may include fancy imported flowers), Hallmark greeting cards, special chocolate goodie baskets from LAL's or Butler's Chocolate, a brunch at your exclusive club (or maybe dinner at some fancy restaurant) and maybe even book a very exclusive treat for mom, a manicure/pedicure session at a good parlour (I think Bina Khan Salon had a special offer on Mother's Day last year). Happy (branded) Mother's Day!

But whether you cook your food in Dalda cooking oil, wash your hands with Safeguard or clean your dirty clothes with Surf Excel; you need to tell your mom she's special, and don't limit yourself to one day of the year only, no matter what the brands say.