Good planning can still go astray

Good planning can still go astray

JAKARTA (JP): Even the most painstakingly planned and executed creative strategies have been known to fail miserably in the market.

A classic case, the launching of a detergent powder in the Middle East by a multinational company, is now one of the most talked-about cases in marketing classrooms around the world.

The creative concept was exceedingly simple in its strategy. The unique selling proposition of the product was determined to be its ability to remove dirt and make the clothes sparkle.

Accordingly, in the advertisement, the first picture showed a dirty shirt being dipped into a bucket of water; the second showed the name of the detergent on the bucket; and the third showed a sparkling white shirt being held up. The message was clear: In goes a dirty shirt and out comes a sparkling white shirt.

Although the ad worked well enough elsewhere, it bombed in the Middle East. Reason: Someone in the creative department had forgotten that in the Arab world, people read from right to left.

-- S. Vaidyanathan