Yes it’s true, and this philosophical belief of mine was further strengthened after watching Clear shampoos recent ad featuring Fahad Mustafa and Mewish Hayat, after which I now hold this to be a universal truth.
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The emotional roller coaster of this ad made me cry, why does a shampoo ad has to be so cruel? I had always suspected my ex to be a liar, a deceitful person always making lame excuses, always asking for things which were way overpriced, and sometimes injurious to health. But since love is blind I played along. Well to be fair she didn’t trust me either, maybe because I am me and she knew me well.
Anyways, her game reached another level when I started to lose my hair quite literally, suddenly everything changed, and my shampoo which I had been using for years started behaving just like her, even worst. So I started a process of a renewed self-discovery, and changed my shampoo quite drastically while sticking with my ex.
Something then dawned on me which maybe I had always known, people are just like brands, beautifully wrapped, claiming to be the best, seeking loyalty, pretending to be sincere, shining in glitter, mostly overpriced and almost always lying. Being a marketer my ex now seems to be the perfect personification of a living but a deceitful brand.
Coming back to the Clear ad and the dilemma faced by both Fahad and Mewish, blaming your shampoo for your lost love, and your lost love for me losing my hair, are pertinent points, delivering an impactful message in an intense manner. For me the end was not as happy as theirs 🙁 !!!
If we dissect the clear ad, it has an ok concept, the execution and production is excellent, however, from experience it can be said, that when you are launching a new product, with a strong brand claim, the communication strategy has to follow suit which seems very weak in this case. Strong positioning cannot just depend on using celebrity endorsements, it is a much deeper science, use of colors, background, music, and product packaging must reflect these changes, all of which are lacking in this campaign.
There has been a dearth of creative advertising in the FMCG sector in Pakistan, integration with social media and relevant call to actions are key factors for success if current millennials are being targeted. While losing your deceitful sweet heart might not be seriously injurious to health, dandruff definitely is a medical condition, clearly the ad misses out on mentioning its key product USP’s and actually how it might remove dandruff forever by continuous use, an obvious case of unclear product positioning. The ad visibly misses out here and fails to communicate how it is superior to its competitors namely Head and Shoulders, which also harps a same tune by using mostly sports related celebrities.
Personally I like the ad, because it is telling a story, talking of a relatable situation, and promising a long term relationship based on truth and no more lies. So maybe it’s time to change, but for me it’s too late, because out of heart break and sheer anger on my ex on fine morning I picked up a trimmer and shaved all my hair, the fewer the better, needless to so say since then I am searching for that one true love, although in vain!!!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiXkVr4HzQy/?taken-by=trendinginsocial
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Ali Abbas believes in the power of clear, straightforward writing. His blog posts tackle everyday topics with relatable insights and easy-to-follow advice. With a conversational style, he makes complex subjects feel understandable. He’s dedicated to sharing knowledge and empowering readers to take action. Find his latest posts on trending in social.