India’s advertising industry is in the throes of dominant change in recent times and nowhere is it more visible than television and marketing campaigns themselves. Indian brands are now tapping into international markets and audiences for their products and services. The Micromax advertisement was one of the first campaigns that made use of an international ambassador in the form of global Hollywood celebrity Hugh Jackman and this helped the brand create its own presence and niche in the global market courtesy its tie-up with Jackman and its strategies like free X Men movie content provisions on its smartphones and the release of television commercials and promos for the same.
Other brands like Timex have also roped in ambassadors like fast bowler Brett Lee earlier. Reaching out to international markets is a strategy that has been employed before but only catered to limited markets and Indian consumer sentiment was always kept at the forefront. However, campaigns are now choosing to focus on global perspectives. This is witnessed through concepts like the sharing of happiness promulgated by Coca Cola to the need for every kind of friend which promoted Bharti Telecom.
All successful Indian advertisements have always tapped into unlimited reservoirs of emotion, something that has always worked with the domestic consumer. However, the global shift is visible with the advent of international brand ambassadors or creative and funky ways to get the message across. Brand strategies are changing in accordance with global tastes and consumer behaviour. The changing face of India as a global superpower has a lot to do with this shift in advertising messages and strategies.
Multiple Indian celebrities endorse famed global brands and the trend is being reversed here now. There are advertisements which have hit bulls-eye in a global context as well and this is opening up the floodgates for this new international flavour and feel in Indian advertising. Google Search had huge success with its story of two reunited friends across the Indo-Pak border and Indians lapped it up in spite of Google not being an Indian brand at all. The same strategy is being employed in reverse by Indian brands to create more audiences and newer markets for their products.
In line with this changing trend, advertising agencies are now focusing on getting the message across in innovative ways without turning to emotional triggers as was the call to action theme before!
