A TOI News Article read thus
"The information & broadcasting ministry’s ban on surrogate advertising of liquor and tobacco brands looks all set to blow up into a full-fledged dispute between the government and broadcasters/advertisers.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) is likely to meet the information & broadcasting minister next week to discuss issues regarding ban on surrogate advertisements by liquor and tobacco brands on television.
In the meantime, IBF has advised its members to continue running advertisements that have approval from the Censor Board. While big liquor companies refused to comment, media planners and advertising agencies have questioned the I&B’s ban saying that if these brands can be sold, why can’t they be advertised."
As is clear, the hue and cry over the ban on surrogate advertisements for liquor and tobacco has reached an all time high. With an impending ban on surrogate ads there is a lot of debate over whether the brand extensions of liquor and tobacco products fall under the surrogate bracket.
Definition: Surrogate advertising
The dictionary meaning of the word surrogate is substitute. But no one in the industry is clear about the definition of surrogate advertising. According to some, surrogate advertising means advertising the namesake of the main brand. I would say that surrogate advertising is when you advertise one brand in the guise of the another brand.
The Sce
nario
Some famous brands that employ surrogates are Seagram (which releases CDs), McDowells (soda), Bagpiper (soda, cassettes and CDs), Godfrey Phillips (bravery awards), and Bacardi (cassettes and CDs). This brings us to the question of the big two. Wills Lifestyle and Kingfisher airlines. What probably began as a surrogates went on to become a huge business at least in the case of Wills lifestyle. Keeping the intention of the establishment aside the retail brand has a reputation of its own today and contributes a significant amount to the coffers of the group.
In 2000 the government formed a committee headed by the then additional secretary of the I&B ministry and which included prominent broadcasters to look into this issue. The committee recommended that products with real production and distribution channels cannot be called a surrogate. In that case a Wills Lifestyle can surely be not termed surrogate and manages to move into the Brand extension zone.
Same is the case of Kingfisher airlines which as a business would be bigger than the beer business and can be clearly proved as a legitimate business (Considering so many government officials travel Kingfisher nowadays). The casualties in case of a ban would be the smaller brands.
There were questions raised over the UB group buying the Bangalore IPL team a
s whether that would amount to Surrogate advertising. As discussions started the bangalore team was unveiled by Vijay Mallya under the name of Royal Challengers. What a master stroke? With the Indian Premier League and the buzz of cricket at its peak the Royal Challengers are on their way to gain more eyeballs for the brand than any event has managed in the past few years.
Vijay Mallya has mentioned during the launch that he would use the team to promote his brands and the promotional video of the Bangalore team stands as a testimonial to the same. The video has several shots of youngsters enjoying a drink as they enjoy the match. Now how is our health crazy health minister going to respond. Knowing him he is capable of demanding a ban on all matches of the RC team telecast on TV. But sadly reality and common sense works otherwise.
As a marketer revels at the ingenuity of such an exercise any ban on the surrogate ads is not to be take easily by the advertisers and the firms. Why allow a product to be manufactured and then not allow the people to know of its existence. And if impressionable teens is the reason then how about banning the million hours of television footage displaying violence, sex and crime.
As such bans continue marketers would come up with innovative ways of reaching the customer with their brands creatively finding place in all sorts of branded content, TV advertorials and in-film advertising. If surrogate ads are banned events would take main stage. Don't be surprised if you end up watchig a reaslity show to find the best bar-tenders in the country.
"The information & broadcasting ministry’s ban on surrogate advertising of liquor and tobacco brands looks all set to blow up into a full-fledged dispute between the government and broadcasters/advertisers.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) is likely to meet the information & broadcasting minister next week to discuss issues regarding ban on surrogate advertisements by liquor and tobacco brands on television.
In the meantime, IBF has advised its members to continue running advertisements that have approval from the Censor Board. While big liquor companies refused to comment, media planners and advertising agencies have questioned the I&B’s ban saying that if these brands can be sold, why can’t they be advertised."
As is clear, the hue and cry over the ban on surrogate advertisements for liquor and tobacco has reached an all time high. With an impending ban on surrogate ads there is a lot of debate over whether the brand extensions of liquor and tobacco products fall under the surrogate bracket.
Definition: Surrogate advertising
The dictionary meaning of the word surrogate is substitute. But no one in the industry is clear about the definition of surrogate advertising. According to some, surrogate advertising means advertising the namesake of the main brand. I would say that surrogate advertising is when you advertise one brand in the guise of the another brand.
The Sce
narioSome famous brands that employ surrogates are Seagram (which releases CDs), McDowells (soda), Bagpiper (soda, cassettes and CDs), Godfrey Phillips (bravery awards), and Bacardi (cassettes and CDs). This brings us to the question of the big two. Wills Lifestyle and Kingfisher airlines. What probably began as a surrogates went on to become a huge business at least in the case of Wills lifestyle. Keeping the intention of the establishment aside the retail brand has a reputation of its own today and contributes a significant amount to the coffers of the group.
In 2000 the government formed a committee headed by the then additional secretary of the I&B ministry and which included prominent broadcasters to look into this issue. The committee recommended that products with real production and distribution channels cannot be called a surrogate. In that case a Wills Lifestyle can surely be not termed surrogate and manages to move into the Brand extension zone.
Same is the case of Kingfisher airlines which as a business would be bigger than the beer business and can be clearly proved as a legitimate business (Considering so many government officials travel Kingfisher nowadays). The casualties in case of a ban would be the smaller brands.
There were questions raised over the UB group buying the Bangalore IPL team a
s whether that would amount to Surrogate advertising. As discussions started the bangalore team was unveiled by Vijay Mallya under the name of Royal Challengers. What a master stroke? With the Indian Premier League and the buzz of cricket at its peak the Royal Challengers are on their way to gain more eyeballs for the brand than any event has managed in the past few years.Vijay Mallya has mentioned during the launch that he would use the team to promote his brands and the promotional video of the Bangalore team stands as a testimonial to the same. The video has several shots of youngsters enjoying a drink as they enjoy the match. Now how is our health crazy health minister going to respond. Knowing him he is capable of demanding a ban on all matches of the RC team telecast on TV. But sadly reality and common sense works otherwise.
As a marketer revels at the ingenuity of such an exercise any ban on the surrogate ads is not to be take easily by the advertisers and the firms. Why allow a product to be manufactured and then not allow the people to know of its existence. And if impressionable teens is the reason then how about banning the million hours of television footage displaying violence, sex and crime.
As such bans continue marketers would come up with innovative ways of reaching the customer with their brands creatively finding place in all sorts of branded content, TV advertorials and in-film advertising. If surrogate ads are banned events would take main stage. Don't be surprised if you end up watchig a reaslity show to find the best bar-tenders in the country.
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