Synergizing Advertising Campaigns with Appeals: A Perspective through Cases

India is a land of coexistence. It is a place where unique blends can be witnessed, the old with the new or young, the traditional with the modern and the local with the global; the same can be extended to the ‘advertising horizon’. In administering brands and targeting potential consumers (also read political parties and country citizens), advertising in India has tried to come up to societal expectations in terms of the cultural milieu of India. Advertising is not new to India; we have historical fresco (Wall) paintings dating back to around 200 BC. The post-globalization economic advancement coupled with a strong cultural background and upsurge of the ‘big’, hitherto conservative Indian middle class has brought about changes in the pattern of reaching the target consumers. With reference to advertising, it can be said that there has been a shift from a hard-selling approach to a soft-selling approach—indicator is clear, appeal is the in-thing and is here to stay. The article looks at the various interpretations of advertising through the appeal lens and highlights the ad-shift through two long-living popular fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products, the Lux soap and Maggi noodles. The selection has been done out of a small survey of households concerning the top-5 FMCG mind recalls and these two happen to be the most popular among ladies and children (refer to household).