JF-17 promotional effort vs the International marketing campaigns

[abdulbarijan]

 

[Dazzler]

congrats on promotion mate

 

[Bratva]

Daymmmm, I have become fan of Turk marketing campaigns. This is the perk of being a Public institution instead of government owned. They know how to attract the customers properly.

PAC/PAF should pay heed to ASELSAN marketing strategy and stop doing cheesy and cringe worthy voiceovers like they did on Block-2 marketing video.

 

[abdulbarijan]

congrats on promotion mate

Thank you very much!

Daymmmm, I have become fan of Turk marketing campaigns. This is the perk of being a Public institution instead of government owned. They know how to attract the customers properly.

PAC/PAF should pay heed to ASELSAN marketing department and stop doing cheesy and cringe worthy voiceovers like they did on Block-2 marketing video.

Since I've a marketing background, lemme just pitch in my thoughts. For marketing your basically dealing with a mix, composed of (usually) 4P's i.e. product, price, place & promotion. Here we are specifically discussing the Promotion P. So a comparison of this Aselpod video and the blk-II promotional video would be a better approach to see where we lack and what we have going for us. I won't go in to much detail as I think a general breakdown will suffice.


The Aselpod video

-In the first 15 seconds the video makes ABSOLUTELY SURE that the audience knows the product and what it is and how its generally used. i.e. ASELPOD, A Next generation targeting pod and demonstration of it being carried on different platforms.

-From 25 second onwards, it gives you every "Point of parity" (POP) and "Point of difference" (POD). So a basic definition of POP is the "point/feature at which product A (the one your marketing) is at parity with the rest of the competition" while POD is the "point/feature at which product A (the one your marketing) is superior or does things differently then the rest of the competition. So you can see the language used in the video which uses POP's like "sharp vision" and then you have POD's such as "superior target identification". The great thing about this video is that with every feature (POP/POD) it demonstrates it.

-Lastly, this video shows that the people at Aselsan know who their audience is and it caters to each segment. So if I'm a fanboy I get to look at stunning visuals, if I'm a enthusiast/pilot/engineer I get to know about the product and how good it is, if I'm someone from management I get to know about the benefits and it becomes part of my consideration set.

Bottom line, these guys know their audience, they don't waste their audience's time as you get to learn more and more about the product, the promotional video is crystal clear and focused on its product and it doesn't waver from it to other topics, the video is around 4 minutes long yet there is this continuous underlying message it bombards you with i.e. "this is our product -- and it's effin amazing" ...


The JFT video & comparison with the Aselpod video

When you look at the JFT promotional video, it starts with a voice over with riddle like lines which were done basically to attract the interest at first sight, but as we know weren't that effective. The video gets relatively better with the female voice over as it shows good visuals here and there while talking about PAF's history etc goes to its climax with a few performance visuals and has input from PAF pilots/maintenance crew and then the AC himself.
The criticism I have on the blk-II video is that it seems that the marketing team was a bit confused about who are we marketing to, and it lacked the focus on the product that you see with the Aselpod video. So, if I have to map out what the jest of the message is of the blk-II video, it seems to have the problem of info overload and wavering focus -- so the underlying message is basically like " This is JF-17 --- PAF is one of the better airforces in the world ---- PAF endorses JFT as it meets our requirements --- this followed by how we did in the project and here are a few details"... which frankly isn't the best approach to go with unless your basic audience is the domestic fanboy base who is interested in both PAF and JFT.

You can see that the Aselsan video of a targeting pod, was able to point out more POP's and POD"s in 4 minutes then the whole 12 minute JFT video which covered both JFT and PAF. It wasn't corny like the JFT video was in the start.It had laser like focus as to what was being marketed i.e. the Aselpod and it knew the audience and had enough for every segment of the audience ....

If PAF wants to do marketing videos with voice overs ... the following video should serve as a blue print ....

and if we're going for a documentary like promotional stuff ... this is how you do it ...

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Thank you---hopefully---soon there would be one showing the JF17----.

 

[araz]

Thank you very much!


Since I've a marketing background, lemme just pitch in my thoughts. For marketing your basically dealing with a mix, composed of (usually) 4P's i.e. product, price, place & promotion. Here we are specifically discussing the Promotion P. So a comparison of this Aselpod video and the blk-II promotional video would be a better approach to see where we lack and what we have going for us. I won't go in to much detail as I think a general breakdown will suffice.


The Aselpod video

-In the first 15 seconds the video makes ABSOLUTELY SURE that the audience knows the product and what it is and how its generally used. i.e. ASELPOD, A Next generation targeting pod and demonstration of it being carried on different platforms.

-From 25 second onwards, it gives you every "Point of parity" (POP) and "Point of difference" (POD). So a basic definition of POP is the "point/feature at which product A (the one your marketing) is at parity with the rest of the competition" while POD is the "point/feature at which product A (the one your marketing) is superior or does things differently then the rest of the competition. So you can see the language used in the video which uses POP's like "sharp vision" and then you have POD's such as "superior target identification". The great thing about this video is that with every feature (POP/POD) it demonstrates it.

-Lastly, this video shows that the people at Aselsan know who their audience is and it caters to each segment. So if I'm a fanboy I get to look at stunning visuals, if I'm a enthusiast/pilot/engineer I get to know about the product and how good it is, if I'm someone from management I get to know about the benefits and it becomes part of my consideration set.

Bottom line, these guys know their audience, they don't waste their audience's time as you get to learn more and more about the product, the promotional video is crystal clear and focused on its product and it doesn't waver from it to other topics, the video is around 4 minutes long yet there is this continuous underlying message it bombards you with i.e. "this is our product -- and it's effin amazing" ...


The JFT video & comparison with the Aselpod video

When you look at the JFT promotional video, it starts with a voice over with riddle like lines which were done basically to attract the interest at first sight, but as we know weren't that effective. The video gets relatively better with the female voice over as it shows good visuals here and there while talking about PAF's history etc goes to its climax with a few performance visuals and has input from PAF pilots/maintenance crew and then the AC himself.
The criticism I have on the blk-II video is that it seems that the marketing team was a bit confused about who are we marketing to, and it lacked the focus on the product that you see with the Aselpod video. So, if I have to map out what the jest of the message is of the blk-II video, it seems to have the problem of info overload and wavering focus -- so the underlying message is basically like " This is JF-17 --- PAF is one of the better airforces in the world ---- PAF endorses JFT as it meets our requirements --- this followed by how we did in the project and here are a few details"... which frankly isn't the best approach to go with unless your basic audience is the domestic fanboy base who is interested in both PAF and JFT.

You can see that the Aselsan video of a targeting pod, was able to point out more POP's and POD"s in 4 minutes then the whole 12 minute JFT video which covered both JFT and PAF. It wasn't corny like the JFT video was in the start.It had laser like focus as to what was being marketed i.e. the Aselpod and it knew the audience and had enough for every segment of the audience ....

If PAF wants to do marketing videos with voice overs ... the following video should serve as a blue print ....

and if we're going for a documentary like promotional stuff ... this is how you do it ...

Great post. Really informative. Congrats on making the TT. You certainly deserve it. PAF need to learn a lot about marketing a pròduct and they need to do it fast. I think the marketing team needs to be invited in from outside and in consultation on tech matters from PAF should do the job.
Kind regards

 

[Manticore]

Furthermore it was addressing the global audience. While it was being used on different air crafts and by different pilots / technician teams, you rarely see turkish flags on the aircrafts or pilots. They have de-linked the product from the country giving it an independent global personality.

Looking at a green painted JF-17 becomes old rather quickly. We have to de-link the fighter from cheap image of the 3rd world pak/china product

The JFT video was corny in the start and less informative just like the content by the PTV 23rd march commentators. The knight rider effect was cheesy as well

JF-17 should show the active inter-operational ability of this aircraft in WOT as well on foreign soil along with other NATO aircrafts in the form of exercises. This is one master stroke which can overcome most of the marketing blunders done till now

Doctors cant become pharmaceutical reps and pilots shouldnt stoop down to salesmanship. Even the pilots flying the JFT in airshows should be delinked from PAF during that event. Something like the anatolian eagle team if not the PAC team with a different coloured g-suit.

In the pod video, I dont remember the the presenter saying ''1/3rd the cost of sniper pod'' thus sowing the seeds of misconceived cheepness of the product in our hearts unlike the JFT video which started as ''affordable firepower''

Great post. Really informative. Congrats on making the TT. You certainly deserve it. PAF need to learn a lot about marketing a pròduct and they need to do it fast. I think the marketing team needs to be invited in from outside and in consultation on tech matters from PAF should do the job.
Kind regards

PAC should hire the turkish marketing team which has made this video

JFT

PAC

 

[fjavaid]

Great post. Really informative. Congrats on making the TT. You certainly deserve it. PAF need to learn a lot about marketing a pròduct and they need to do it fast. I think the marketing team needs to be invited in from outside and in consultation on tech matters from PAF should do the job.
Kind regards

Awwsome videos...... f16 bloc 50/52 really showed why paf is still unable to leave this bird ...even after so much humiliation

 

[MastanKhan]

Can't we make some changes in tyre are and add some hard points just like Grippen NG has

Hi,

Yeah---you will have to do the Gripen NG modifications.

 

[aftab_s81]

Hi,

Yeah---you will have to do the Gripen NG modifications.

Thats going to be expensive, but then, the bird has to evolve.

 

[abdulbarijan]

Great post. Really informative. Congrats on making the TT. You certainly deserve it. PAF need to learn a lot about marketing a pròduct and they need to do it fast. I think the marketing team needs to be invited in from outside and in consultation on tech matters from PAF should do the job.
Kind regards

Thank you very much sir -- I'm not so sure if I deserve the honour as my background is marketing and all -- but I do like to learn and have learned alot from the likes of senior members and think tanks like yourself -- Coming to the comment you made, I don't think an outside marketing team is frankly needed ... a cross functional team composed of pilots/maintenance crew/management and professional marketers can easily design a good IMC (integrated marketing communications) campaign which frankly can outdo most of the marketing/IMC campaigns in the competition ... (I'll detail out as to how and all in my response to Manti)

Furthermore it was addressing the global audience. While it was being used on different air crafts and by different pilots / technician teams, you rarely see turkish flags on the aircrafts or pilots. They have de-linked the product from the country giving it an independent global personality.

Looking at a green painted JF-17 becomes old rather quickly. We have to de-link the fighter from cheap image of the 3rd world pak/china product

The JFT video was corny in the start and less informative just like the content by the PTV 23rd march commentators. The knight rider effect was cheesy as well

JF-17 should show the active inter-operational ability of this aircraft in WOT as well on foreign soil along with other NATO aircrafts in the form of exercises. This is one master stroke which can overcome most of the marketing blunders done till now

Doctors cant become pharmaceutical reps and pilots shouldnt stoop down to salesmanship. Even the pilots flying the JFT in airshows should be delinked from PAF during that event. Something like the anatolian eagle team if not the PAC team with a different coloured g-suit.

In the pod video, I dont remember the the presenter saying ''1/3rd the cost of sniper pod'' thus sowing the seeds of misconceived cheepness of the product in our hearts unlike the JFT video which started as ''affordable firepower''


PAC should hire the turkish marketing team which has made this video

Very good points -- Let me just give my input on some of them as this has turned in to a very interesting discussion (at least in my opinion )

-Global audience - The art of good marketing is not simply to have a wide/broad audience, but to satisfy each and every segment of the audience one is targeting. Like I stated before, the video had something for every one from your fanboy to the guy in the management to the pilots/maintenance staff etc. and like you said, it wasn't the whole patriotic documentary the blk-II video was, but a very well put effort that had little to no focus on Turkey -- All of the focus was on the product and its Points of parity and Points of difference ...

- Back tracking from Marketing of the Cost benefits- Frankly, it's a little too late for that. The market positioning (the process of creating a distinct perception of a product in the mind of the customer) has already been done. As far as I know it's one of the most challenging and expensive endeavors to try and change the market positioning of a product. A classic example in Pakistan would be the Lifeboy soap. Remember you would find it at every mosque and every labour/worker was using it to the point it was recognized as a "mazdoor's sabun" and families even from the lower lower middle class were reluctant to use it-- and then you had the whole effort by the lifeboy marketing team which redid the product's look, packaging, did a whole marketing campaign and all ... and after years of spending and effort--- today it is somewhat lost that positioning it once had and is now positioned somewhat like a safeguard substitute.

So the point being now that we've created the image of the "cost effective platform" it's near impossible to try and change it. But I don't think presenting the cost benefits is a bad thing at all. I just think the execution wasn't as good as it should have been. So let's consider the statement of "1/3rd of the cost of Western/European platforms" -- that statement is marketing wise not as good, because your defining yourself in terms of the western platforms and the benefit your marketing is 'cost'. Cost benefits are never associated with the western platforms to begin with, its probably the last thing on the mind of the potential customer which is going for a Rafale, EF-2000, Gripen NG, F-16 Blk-60 or M2k-5/9 because you know its going to cost you around 40-80 million per plane. So the first thing the customer is looking for is the benefits that it gains from the platform and only then after that detailed analysis do they look at the associated costs of the platform.

With us we've created the positioning in which the customer identifies the product firstly based on cost benefits and then looks at the associated benefits that it has. So a better statement would have been defining the cost benefits in terms of the Eastern competitors mainly the Ruskies. They've already declared the JFT as a main market competitor to the mig-29. And these are the birds which are more recognized or identified in terms of their cost benefits hence a better statement would have been -- our platform is XYZ % more cost effective then the Eastern/Russian counterparts.

-De-linking the product from the cheap image of Sino/Pak - Like I stated before,changing the image of a product is going to be hard. I suppose the root of this whole thing stems from the idea that when PAF uses a platform it "legitimizes" it as a good platform. So when the F-7P/PG came out PAF was the first customer, and the fact that we were the first customer and operate a respected airforce, it legitimizes the platform as " worthy enough" to be considered and evaluated and ultimately purchased. Kinda like a very twisted version of a celebrity endorsement. I wouldn't discount the tactic as it remains to be seen if its effective or not as many airforces did have the JFT as part of their consideration set.

-What cards can we play now ? - With the platform already defined in terms of "cost effectiveness" what the PAC/PAF should do now is make a highly qualified marketing think tank headed by a post doc marketing expert, give the guy a few m-phils to research out how the defence marketing works, get him a few mba's from LUMS or IBA and form a cross functional team which includes the input of pilots/maintenance staff etc. (Kind of like the original design team which featured pilots) . They need to come up with an IMC (integrated marketing campaign)that gives POP's and POD's that define the JFT in terms of its performance, adaptability, maintenance ease, being less prone to being sanctioned, having more options in terms of weapons/avionics package and safety etc.Add to that the performance at different exercises against different platforms and marketing the achievements in WOT through the JFT's.

An IMC is basically an integrated marketing effort in which marketing at every level or opportunity is complimentary to each other. so for example in the case of JFT, you can market through different promotional videos, you market through air shows and all ... with the IMC there should be consistency in what benefits we market to the customer and marketing at each level should be complimentary to each other. So basically we have to come up with POP's/POD's that define the platform in terms of performance, and to quote my instructor back in the good old days of BBA , creating a campaign which defines your products and its benefits in terms of both cost and high performance benefits is one of the hardest marketing endeavors you can take up BUT IT DOES HAPPEN and can be executed successfully ...

Lastly regarding the JFT with different color schemes, I wouldn't want that out of the mix, Heck I'd love for more performances per airshow for JFT's -- So I would like a blue angel/thunder birds version of the JFT's say like the "white crescents" or something like that -- because every opportunity you have to show case your product is an oppurtunity to impress your potential customers ...

 

[MastanKhan]

Furthermore it was addressing the global audience. While it was being used on different air crafts and by different pilots / technician teams, you rarely see turkish flags on the aircrafts or pilots. They have de-linked the product from the country giving it an independent global personality.

Looking at a green painted JF-17 becomes old rather quickly. We have to de-link the fighter from cheap image of the 3rd world pak/china product

The JFT video was corny in the start and less informative just like the content by the PTV 23rd march commentators. The knight rider effect was cheesy as well

JF-17 should show the active inter-operational ability of this aircraft in WOT as well on foreign soil along with other NATO aircrafts in the form of exercises. This is one master stroke which can overcome most of the marketing blunders done till now

Doctors cant become pharmaceutical reps and pilots shouldnt stoop down to salesmanship. Even the pilots flying the JFT in airshows should be delinked from PAF during that event. Something like the anatolian eagle team if not the PAC team with a different coloured g-suit.

In the pod video, I dont remember the the presenter saying ''1/3rd the cost of sniper pod'' thus sowing the seeds of misconceived cheepness of the product in our hearts unlike the JFT video which started as ''affordable firepower''


PAC should hire the turkish marketing team which has made this video

Hi,

Thank you---a good post---. Paf may have a couple of more chances to re-market the air craft.

Three important things have taken place---Aselpod---air to air refueling---2 seater. Paf needs to take itself and its bragging out of the advertisement----and just sell the product---show the features---show the benefits.

Some live footage of strikes---refueling---communication capabilities---.

There should be no more chances with the local marketing company anymore---. Let those people advertise it, who have no emotional attachment to the product---except to make a great pitch so that their marketing gets known.

The ethnicity of the voice is very important---no lightening strikes---no quotes in the begining of the ad in a heavy voice---.

The green on the fighter aircraft makes it look VERY CHEAP----. A fighter aircraft is a harbinger of death and destruction---the colors need to be appropriate---.

And as you mentioned---pilots on promotional displays need to have a special different color uniform---.

 

[MastanKhan]

One thing must be kept in mind---current day marketing is basically a sales pitch---you selling the 'sizzle'---like the Gripen ad----.

A very simple and basic ad----shows you the features---gives you the benefits and then takes you on a ' real time ' demo ride into the battle field---.

The product has already been marketed----the current / future sales pitch about the product needs to be seperated from the previous attempts.

The diffeerence in advertisement between the JF17 and Gripen reminds me of the advertisement difference between the Lexus LS 400 and Infiniti Q45---.

Once Q45 failed in its AD to attract public---it was just simple catchup

Here is a link

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1993-05-02/infiniti-if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-dot-dot-dot

 

[My-Analogous]

Thats going to be expensive, but then, the bird has to evolve.

It will be less expensive because two country bear the cost of research.

 

[Manticore]

The endorsement of PAF would have carried more weight if it wasnt the manufacturer as well.

There are 2 reasons I can think of why anatolian team was black. They were serious, not circus freaks. Secondly black f16s can be spotted easily in the air.

We already have mushaqs with 'LOVEY DOVEY aircraft DOING TRICKS in bright colors' as MK has put it