Thursday, January 31, 2008

Advertising Delivery: The Blue Star Fiasco

Have you seen the ad of Blue Star airconditioner? The ad seems to have stemmed from a very good research of consumers in the offices where they experience different temperatures at different places in the same office. The ad further illustrates the point by showing an eskimo in one cubicle and a camel guy in another.

The ad is absolutely fantastic. The ad agency and the research agency both have done an excellent job. It is infact so fantastic that it sets great expectations from your existing vendor of airconditioner. And it actually did in our office. Our office A/c which had been giving troubles since ages was slowly becoming a dumping yard of employee abuses. People literally wear jackets, sweaters and shawls in one part and fan themselves with paper on the other.


In a one-off meeting the problem was brought to the attention of the Management. The Management claimed that it was indeed using the best service provider in airconditioning. And then it came as a shock to all of us that it was infact Blue Star that was providing us the service. And inspite of repeated complaints and repairs, the problems remained unresolved.


The Blue Star is a case in point to illustrate that the ad message and the actual delivery may vary often to the amusement and irritation of the consumers.


But there is more to the eye than meets. The research might have indicated that people face different temperatures in the same office. But this itself is not a sufficient ground to justify the kind of marketing communication that came about. It is essential that in such revelations about the consumer, the Marketing consult their Technical counterpart and check on the possibility of eliminating a gap that has been identified. They ideally should have checked whether they can take care of such problems and live up to the message of the communication.


This is not the first time that such a variation is noticed between the communication and the actual delivery. And that is all the more reason to avoid an over-appeasing ad.