Bata launches new Eid collection with old jumbled up creatives

BY ALI NAQVI –

Every year Bata unveils latest Eid collection to lure the customers into buying quality footwear products. This year the new Eid collection accompanies screwed up version of ‘comfortable with it’ campaign featuring Maya Ali that was made more than a year ago. This muddling and jumbling of the TVCs make little sense.

Bata signed Maya Ali as Brand Ambassador in 2017. Maya appeared on two mega TVC productions with shooting locations capturing the beauty of different parts of Eastern Europe. JWT-Lahore was the creative agency that developed the concepts ‘More than a star and comfortable with it’ and ‘Me and comfortable with it’ around Bata’s international theme ‘comfortable with it’. Made by ace director Farooq Mannan, the TVCs did well to uplift the image of Bata as a brand.

Last year when JWT-Lahore office was shut down by WPP Group, Bata hired BBDO-Lahore as its creative agency. But what’s the point of employing one of the best creative agencies in the world if Bata had to fall back on creatives produced by JWT. Bata could have allowed BBDO to flex its creative mussels by creating the Eid communication for the brand. We have yet to see a major Bata campaign produced by BBDO. A 2D-animated TVC highlighting Bata Midnight Offer is also on air and that too was produced by JWT-Lahore last year.

Servis Shoes has come up with ‘Servis Se Lagay Eid Ki Ronaq’, a TVC which celebrates the festivity and all the happenings leading up to Eid. In terms of sales Bata has always been a step ahead of Servis due to its bigger sales and distribution network. But this Eid brand communication can make a real difference. Bata could have done better; if it was inevitable to use old TVCs there was no need to jumble up two different concepts. The tone and manner don’t jell in and so does the music. The ad that highlights the personal life of Maya has a sequence that was included in the ad especially for the Eid occasion. Bata could have stuck to that.  

Eid is an occasion when clothing and footwear brands are aggressively active to market their products. Special marketing campaigns are designed to claim bigger market shares. Market places, big or small, transform into buzzing shopping hives. A fresh Eid communication is imperative. If a brand fails to creatively connect with the consumers, the results could be disastrous. There are players in the footwear industry that have grown bigger in the last few years. Bata needs to revisit its marketing strategy to become more creative and competitive in the market.