Day 1/ Is marketing a glamorous activity? Or there's a mundane side to it as well?

Context: I've taken a challenge to write at least a 500-word piece about marketing every day. Today's day 1. I am using a prompt by Riya Senani to get started.

Riya asked me, “is marketing a glamorous activity or there's a mundane side to it as well?”

So, I have a lot to say about this.?

Especially in the day and age that we live in where most folks think marketing is slick, cute, feel-good films with fast edits, and exciting music that give you that short-term dose of entertainment.?

Especially to all the young ones who are hoping to build their careers as marketers of tomorrow. My more experienced friends may find this post a little too basic and they may avoid this.

So, let's start with Marketing 101.?

Exhibit 1.?The other day I was talking to a client about doing a digital film and we started talking about CRED . He said, “Saurabh, I know that Cred comes up with these crazy mind-blowing ads every quarter but can you tell me three of those ads except the latest one?”

To be honest, I could not name 3.?

I remember Indiranagar Ka Gunda (featuring Rahul Dravid) and the one with Bappi Lahiri. And within that, I did not know what Bappi Da did. Maybe I am old. But the client who asked me this question is not old and he did not recall either.?

And there’s a point there. Marketing is NOT these fancy ads that get talked about on the internet.?

Then he asked me, what did those ads say about the brand (Cred) or the product feature.?

I was again speechless. Till date, I don't know what Cred does. Except for making cool videos and building Kunal Shah’s personal brand.

So, if you think marketing is having fun while making cool films, it is not.?

Exhibit 2.?In this day and age, a lot of people consider marketing to be what I call the “battle of billboards” where two or three brands will place cutesy billboards next to each other.?

Lemme break news to you. That is not marketing either. This is one billboard in a country that has millions, showcasing something that's been put up there to get eyeballs on digital.

Exhibit 3. There are thousands of social media influencers who "train" you on copy, art, memes and various silos of marketing. They help you up your Canva game (and charge a bomb while extolling the virtues of being freelancers). All you end up doing is creating nice-looking Instagram-worthy posts that most real brands would ever use, except to get some brownie points.

I have to admit - most times the output made by students from these “courses” looks good!

Visually stunning.

Great copies.

But that is not marketing.

That is just one piece that you created about a brand that has been established and cultivated by the tireless efforts of a brand team. You can write a smart line about fast delivery for Zepto because the brand has been established by seemingly infinite spending. You can think about a wise crack as a reply from Amul (GCMMF) because Amul has paved the way. You can come up with a line that The Times Of India would publish on their frontpage because they've established what they stand for. I challenge you to create one poster for a new brand.

Now, with that as a background, let me try and attempt to explain what marketing really is.?

I don't know what the dictionary definition is.?But to me, it would be something like, “a set of activities done over various mediums over a long-time to help create demand for a product or service”.

If I can go bolder, I want marketing to be a “thing” that makes itself obsolete - if you’ve done your job well, your job shouldn't need you. The best marketing is when it's invisible. Pause for a second. Think about it.?

There’s a lot of nuance there.

But more or less any definition of marketing would fit into this framework. The keyword is “set of activities” and not “an activity”.

So, a film is not marketing.

Hoarding is not marketing.?

A jingle is not.?

Marketing is all these activities, done over various mediums and over time to create demand in the minds of people whom you want to market to. Mind you, not sell. Market.

Here are some examples. Some old. Some new.?

Let me start with a new-age brand that “gets” marketing.

1/ The Whole Truth Foods . The Whole Truth does brilliant marketing. They would probably never do a large TVC like Cred. They will never do those billboard conversations. But each piece of their brand, each piece of their communication screams marketing. From their name to packaging to labels to their content to their community to everything in the middle - each thing talks about the same thing. And each thing paddles The Whole Truth. And no, I don't know their business metrics or how they are as a team, but I can argue in any court that they do brilliant marketing.?

2/ Bournvita. Tayari Jeet Ki. A malted drink. Full of sugar (hope I am not sued by them). And what gorgeous marketing. Each piece of thing they do (TVCs, print, hoardings, digital, microsites etc etc) pushes the marketing narrative that it strengthens you and prepares you for battles in life. And each communication piece extends the narrative.?

Within the Cadbury stable, I am surprised that we don't talk enough about how they've repositioned chocolates as mithai. That is marketing at its best. People may still argue that it’s not Mithai per se but they’ve changed behavior for sure. Which of Cred’s ads changed your behavior??

3/ Mutual Funds Sahi Hai operates in a seemingly boring and regulated category - money and yet they've done marketing very well. Disclaimer - I work as a contractor for this brand and thus I could be biased.

Over the last 6 odd years the team at AMFI and their partners (I have the vantage point of interacting with them often as a contributor), have brought “Sahi Hai” in the common person’s parlance.

None of the ads from MFSH would stop you in your tracks but the painful effort of building a narrative on a day-to-day basis on multiple channels (digital, on-ground, print, TV, even advocacy and a lot more) has resulted in a "Sahi Hai" outcome.?Each time you see a communication from MFSH, you would know it's from them - the teal color, the "conversation", the penny drop!

So that!

I can give more examples but I hope it's clear that marketing is very very mundane - great marketers do the same things over and over again till it gets tiring. And they continue doing it. Till they etch their way into history.?

And that, ladies and gents is the glamour component of marketing.

So, to respond to Riya Senani 's prompt, the glamour part does exist, but in bits and pieces. And that too for one tiny (and yet disproportionately) bit of marketing (filmmaking) ecosystem.?And for a tinier bunch of people. For other marketers, the road is long and very very boring.

Riya, I hope I answered your question. Any follow-ups?