Mango Drinks - A comparison of TVCs

To provide some base to the analysis, I'll briefly describe the fruit based beverages market in India- divided into 3 categories shown below.

I personally feel that the consumer does not differentiate between fruit drinks / nectars. Frooti, Maaza, Slice all fight for the same mindspace. The juice category (spearheaded by Real) however has clearly scooped a separate space for itself. If you are preparing the strategy for a product (marketing followed by communication strategy), you need to have an idea about the consumer's buying behaviour before deciding how to action communciation objectives. So here are two suppositions:

1. Beverages are low involvement products. In simpler words - They are low cost and I do not go through extensive information search prior to purchase.
2. There are few differences between the brands - in terms of features, taste, pricing etc

Hence, the brand choice is driven by habit rather than any sort of loyalty. (reference: Assael Consumer Behaviour)

Thus the communication objective is that through constant repetition I need to connect with the consumer (who passively receives such inputs). In simpler words - after all the hoochamoocha of marketing, as my consumer stands at at Kirana store, he/she should say "Bhaiya ek Frooti dena" before coming down to option2 or 3 (A similar scenario holds for modern retail outlets, where the consumer should pick up my brand over the other stacked products).

Now that we are thinking on the same platform, let us explore what such products require from TVCs. The framework used in this discussion is the Rossiter-Percy grid. I've summarized the grid recommendations here. (More details are available here). The grid splits ads across Level of Involvement and -ve/+ve reinforcement. Beverages are clearly benefit based products (As a contrast Harpic, Insurance, Clearasil would be -ve reinforcement). The Grid suggests that:

Sell on emotions - try and trademark an emotion
Visuals on their own must do the selling (as contrasted with an informative narration)
Sparse Copy, Strong Slug Line
Celebrity Endorsements and/or humour works well here

Bless the Admakers for dovetailing the theory. Makes our analysis easier! Now lets indulge in the fun activity of nitpicking advertisements.

Maaza (view storyboard)

Maaza has continued to use Satish Shah Kaushik in their campaigns. The baseline is 'Bina Gutli Waala Aam' - claiming Maaza is as pure a version of mango as any other variety. They have used an obvious version of humour - a cheeky kid outsmarting an older person (usually handled by confectionery commercials like Candyman, Mentos). The visuals are below average - long footage for small narratives. At the end, the baseline clearly stands out - so Maaza earns points for that.

Slice (view ad)

They have used a fresh/unique baseline of 'Aamasutra' (a play on the word 'Kaamasutra'). This matches with the suggestion of trademarking an emotion - though I feel its a weak tagline for a mango drink. They have used Katrina in the ad - the first actress to endorse a juice brand. Visuals are again unique for a mango drink, but the excess white reminds me of Air Conditioner Ads!

Will Katrina help break away from the beverage clutter ?

Frooti (view storyboard, ad)

They have reinforced the impression that Mango in India is synonymous with Frooti - explicitly connecting the brand with indulgence in consuming mangoes. Unlike the cheesy nature of Maaza humour, this one is more understated and contemporary (like Vodafone, Virign Mobile commercials). The visuals are a treat, especially the kids getting whacked for mango aspirations! Makes one nostalgic and giggle at the same time.

I personally feel that Frooti has created the best advertisement of the three. I hope that some data on sales would validate these opinons. Till then, enjoy the season of mangoes.

p.s: I hope your understanding and respect for Marketing theory has inched ahead :)
Sources:
Afaqs: 1,2,3
Beverages Industry: 1,2
Blog : Marketing Practice