"TV is extremely relevant in India": Sukhleen Aneja, RB Hygiene Home

The USP of Mortein's new model of vaporisers is that it contains a smart chip that automatically oscillates between high and low mode. A TVC by Havas attempts to illustrate this feature...

The newest product in the pest control space is a liquid vaporiser from Mortein. The Mortein SMART switches modes automatically - the red light stands for ‘Power’ mode and the blue light represents ‘Normal’ mode. Mortein SMART will be available with the vapouriser and a 45ML refill in one pack for Rs 149 and is currently available across e-commerce platforms, traditional trade and modern trade stores across the country.

Commenting on the campaign, Bobby Pawar, chairman and chief creative officer, Havas Group, said, “Fact is, today when we are planning to colonise Mars, more deaths are caused by mosquito borne diseases than all other diseases in the world combined! Mortein SMART sits at the cutting edge of innovation in our fight against mosquito borne diseases and the communication sharply focuses on that.”

Ravinder Siwach, national creative director, Havas Creative, says, “The number of malaria, dengue and chikungunya cases we see every year are a constant reminder of this deadly disease. Through our communication, we have called out the irony that when everything else has become automatic/smart, must our mosquito protection remain as dated as ‘manual mode change machines’.”

On the sidelines of the launch, Sukhleen Aneja, chief marketing officer and marketing director, RB Hygiene Home South Asia told afaqs! that the brief to Havas was, "Today, enough and more consumers use liquid vaporisers. We wanted consumers to upgrade to a smarter choice. The brief was to bring the product magic alive, but with a relevant consumer insight. The second insight that led us to create this value proposition in the first place is that consumers are moving to smart devices in other categories of their lives, but when it came to machines that protect them from mosquitoes, they're still using ones that need to be manually switched to a higher mode."

"Without television, you can't cover the retail footprint of the brand. A large part of our spends are also going to be mobile first because this is a category in which you expect to encounter young moms who are busy, out and about who are also watching less TV," she says, commenting on her target audience.

"For any FMCG player with a large retail footprint, India continues to be a country where television is extremely relevant. You also need media to serve not just consumers, but trade too. Digital is extremely relevant too since Indians are spending more time with a mobile screen than with any other screen," she added.

According to Aneja, her strategy is TV as a baseline, supplemented by digital and print. "Brands are not built by 25-second advertising alone. They're built when seeded in a conversation where you're honest about what you're selling and you're willing to listen. That happens when a brand has a dialogue with consumers, not just a monologue. Digital allows you to engage with real people and ask them real questions," she says.

"The only innovations that consumers adopt are ones that solve real problems. The biggest thing we've done for evolving consumers is recognise their changing needs. More than what we say, it's what we sell and what we stand for. Liquid vaporisers is the fastest growing segment and aerosol sales are growing faster than incense sales, mainly because people are evolving too," she says.

To review the effort, we reached out to Priya Gurnani, senior creative director, Publicis Worldwide, Mumbai. She points out that the brand messaging in this seems pretty straightforward - the message is to upgrade and there’s a straight comparison between the old and new products. "In our time, parents used to be the major decision makers of the household, children never had much say. But with new generations, that’s changing. Now children are major influences in the decision making process in modern households. Personally I’d use it…" she says.

Gurnani however adds that the creative treatment with the two children feels a bit off because that’s not a conversation that children would have. "It’s a very 'aunty-type' conversation that would typically take place between two women and here, the dialogues are between two kids, and the language feels off. If this was a car ad, the conversation would still have made sense but since it's in the pest control category, I’m not too sure if it would work," she opines.

"The messaging might still appeal to children - they might tell their parents to buy the product that they saw in the ad, but the ad might not appeal to parents. The only takeaway that I can think of is that it's not just parents, even kids can judge me if I don’t have the latest tech in my house," she concludes.