Learn from the fire of Surf Excel Social Media

What happened this week with HOL's Surf HOL spot could happen in any brand campaign tomorrow. What should brands do when a simple advertisement is monstrated and then hit on social media?

The all-new Holi-themed Surf Excel advertisement is found at the heart of a controversy. The advertisement was published on February 27 and we told a story on March 6 . At the time, we did not know it would attract so much attention on social media.

The advertisement takes up the proposal "Daag Acche Hai" with which the brand has been working for years. It was trying to promote Hindu-Muslim harmony, but social media reacted negatively and soon the #BoycottSurfExcel hashtags began to be popular. Advertising is topical for Holi and the brand has been developing similar advertising campaigns in the past. In 2017, Lowe Lintas Mumbai created a similar campaign for the Pakistani brand brand #NekiEkIbadat.

Deepika Tewari

This is not a unanimous opinion; it's a polarized view. In this situation, would not you be with the people who are looking for your ad? Why would you succumb to the pressure of people who dissing your ad? Communication is such a subjective matter. There will always be defeatists. This does not mean that brands must withdraw advertising. It's not as if a legal body or government authority were telling them that it was anti-national or anti-social and that, therefore, the brand should take a stand by apologizing or dismissing it. taking note. I think this fits in with Surf Excel's point of view that "dirt is good" (in reference to daag achhe hai's communications) and in the continuity of regular thematic advertising that he was doing for Eid, for example.

Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Brand-Comm

Ramanujam Sridhar

In recent years As a company, HUL has deliberately tried to talk about sensitive topics by incorporating the message of its brand.I do not see anything offensive in advertising, but the view of people tends to to be very polarized – I can see it on my own side – various groups of WhatsApp, it is unfortunately people who talk on social networks

I think it's really exaggerated to say that it's a reflection of our times I certainly do not agree with that, I say it's a creative interpretation of a thought Yes, it's religious unity and the brand's message has a slightly different performance. I have spent all my life in advertising and I would like to have write an ad like this – it's the benchmark for all advertising.

People could argue b Because of the time of day – elections are imminent and people think they can solve any problem. If I were the brand manager, I would not worry, because a certain level of controversy helps the brand. This is not a global reaction; it's a reaction from one section in particular … If I were in their shoes, I would stay in bed for a while … Brands should be extremely cautious and sensitive right now. We have seen the damage that social media can do to brands, which is very real.

Abhishek Gupta, Director of Marketing, Edelweiss Tokio

Abhishek Gupta

Regardless of What You Meditate As As a marketing specialist, this forces us to remain vigilant and to remain vigilant about the type of communication we broadcast Social media quickly informs you about the information and the pulse of the audience As a brand, you have to defend a cause and make sure that it matches your brand.Once you have chosen the cause, you must stick to it and do something meaningful around it and The daag accedes hai and the goodness that comes out from the spot are a story that Surf Excel has been using for some time already.

On social media, there are people who support and those who criticize, to the point of not buying Surf Excel. there is a good balance between comm positive and negative, then you should stick to it.

Rohan Mehta, CEO – Social Kinnect, a digital marketing company

Rohan Mehta

Social Media helped the brands reach more customers than ever before, but it also gave rise to two-way communication channels.In the case of Surf Excel, an advertisement has created a spiral of negative comments simply because it is now possible to express an opinion on social media, anonymously and in real time.In the case of Surf Excel, they should exploit the positive feeling that the campaign also generated.

These days, it is more difficult for brands to dissociate themselves from real-time problems and current political and political news.With a growing number of conscious consumers and opinions, companies must not alienate their potential customers and maybe opt for a neutral attitude.

When a company immediately offers rebuttals to controversy, it shows the need to keep its reputation. clean. In the case of HUL, the best strategy would actually be to remain neutral and wait until the controversy surrounding the announcement dissipates. In the era of the Internet, controversies come and go, and this too will pbad.

Ravi Shankar K, Vice President, Online Affairs of India – Langoor

Ravi Shankar K

Given the prevalence of the use of social media, marketing and its disadvantages must enter the corporate communication booklets.Marks often find themselves at the mercy of the public when they talking about sensitive topics like religion, politics and regional identities, it's hard not to offend one section or another, and because social media gives voice to the mbades, individual opinions quickly blend into feelings of Mbad Forcing The company communication notebooks are absolutely essential to avoid or counteract these situations quickly.

Ideally, the brand's reaction depends on its position with regard to the issue.the brand is fully conscious of What she broadcasts and, having her beliefs in place, she may want to stay with her booth. In some cases, the communication may be wrong, misinterpreted or simply a mistake. In such situations, it would be advisable for the brand to clarify the sentiment and remove the offending content. Attempting to take advantage of the positive feeling can potentially delay the negative feeling and even make it uncontrollable. So, the main question to ask is "why did we do that?

Prabhakar Mundkur – Brand Strategy Advisor

Prabhakar Mundkur

The atmosphere in the country is a bit loaded at the moment, so I usually avoid religiously related ads. With the Surf Excel ad, the emotion is positive unlike the Red Label Kumbh ad, but once you rub to a religious theme , I would say that religion is a sensitive subject right now and that it's best to get away from it.

Trends on twitter is supposed to have a half-life of 24 minutes, which means that Half of all impressions, clicks, and retweets your tweet receives will occur in the first 24 minutes, then drop dramatically, so whether you publish an apology or not, the trend will go away. company believes in what it has done, it should not be excused. If it was a real oversight and they have

ALSO READ: The New Surf Excel Announcement Takes Its Proposal 'Daag Acche Hai' in advance

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