In a surprising move, Gems decided to re-position itself. The brand so far had appealed to kids suddenly decided to change the target market to adults. This move is fueled by two campaigns now on air.
Watch the ad here : Gems Sculpture
I am still wondering the logic behind this drastic re-targeting which obviously has to be backed by
re-positioning. The brand now has the tagline " Raho Umarless" roughly translated to " Be Ageless" .The concept is that the brand encourages the users to enjoy life regardless of the age. Another perspective is that the brand brings the child in you. Although the concept ( although not new) sounds reasonable but the way the agency has executed it is nothing but atrocious. The fact that it is Ogilvy who has done this hopeless work makes it even more surprising.
From the two ad, the ad featuring the lady is the most atrocious one. Neither the lady looks Child-like nor the hyperbole theme is interesting. The sculpture ad is predictable but still does not convey the brand's intended positioning.
What is puzzling is the brand's reason for targeting adults. The brand sales may have been plateauing over these years and this may have forced the firm to think about the segments.It is true that Gems is seldom patronized by adults.This is a predominantly kid's chocolate but adults do indulge in it when he buys for the kids.
Some newsreport suggest that Gems has broadened the TG but the advertisement message suggest that the brand has gone for a complete re-positioning and a change in the targeting strategy rather than broadening.
While there is a logic behind the new TG, the brand failed to provide any compelling reason for adults to buy Gems. " Raho Umarless" is a weak attempt to attract adult to rethink the way he looks at Gems.Ideally the brand should have attempted a non-hyperbolic, real life enjoyment which would have attracted the TG. The brand is assuming that by looking at a campaign, the adults would indulge. But in my opinion, when repositioning, the brand needs to build salience. So it cannot afford to miss details like Why buy the brand and when to indulge in the brand. Those finer details are missing in the new campaign.
It is also interesting to see that the brand is not trying to rope in youngsters but adults. Wonder why they chose to target 30 year olds rather than 20 year olds? Remember this is the company that built a brand like Cadbury's Shots in a short period of time. That magic is sadly missing in the ads. It pains when execution fails for a powerful brand like Gems that too when it attempts a repositioning.
Having said that the nostalgia of Gems is still there will hopefully drive the brand into adult's mind sans the hopeless repositioning execution.
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I think they have done a tremendous job. In my opinion they have expanded their target segment from child perspective to any age group. they want to bring up the childish nature in you even you are old. In my opinion it's a good way to increase their target audience.
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ReplyDeleteCadbury Gems target all age group. They want to expand the client base. it is the mind set of the people Gems is for Kids. They want to possession themselves in the all age group category. what is feel is this is the right thing they have planned to expand consumer or customer based. :)
I am quite a fan of the new logo and design. It's nice to see a quirky brand aimed at adults and who better to do so that Cadburys!
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