Transformational power of Marketing Communiques

Marketing communiques have the power to enhance consumer experiences. Sometimes even mar them. This enhanced experience is only relevant if the consumer were to be exposed to the message before actual purchase and use of a product or service brand. In fact, a strong communique can even 'manufacture' feelings, consumers go through.

Take the soft drink brand, Thums Up, in India. Positioned as the drink with the 'Anything For Thunder' attitude, it intends to heighten the otherwise drab experience of drinking a soda. Does the communique' succeed? Maybe, maybe not.

Again, imagine drinking an energy drink named 'Battery'. Brand names too are communiques. The name 'battery' conjures up images of getting 'charged'. To some others, the very name builds up images of something corrosive and horrid in your mouth!

Communiques that are able to enhance consumer experiences are termed 'transformational'. A transformational Ad is one which associates the experience of using (consuming) the advertised brand with a unique set of psychological characteristics which would not typically be associated with the brand experience to the same degree, without exposure to the advertisement. Such ads create feelings, images, meanings, and beliefs about the product or service that may be activated when consumers use it, transforming their interpretation of the usage experience.

It makes sense for marketers to use communiques to differentiate a brand by first exposing the consumer to a unique Brand experience, through a communique, before they actually use the brand.

Therefore it makes sense to let the consumer see Akshay and his death defying stunts through a TV commercial before they actually drink Thums Up. Else, to most it would be just another soda.

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