Daraz Nepal rebranding to a lethargic brand; Mockery of clean feed with the new TVC
Just when Daraz Nepal presented the Nepali audience with a silver lining with the #DiscoverYourDaraz campaign, things turned out too good to be true. Daraz Nepal surfaced its latest TVC on 18th May, astonishing the audience with state-of-the-art visual effects never seen before in the country. In no time, the amusement of the Nepali audience turned into sheer disappointment. Daraz Nepal has shamelessly chosen to dub Daraz Pakistan’s work and apathetically share it on social media platforms. The brand’s display of ineptitude and lethargy is an utter blow to the creative potential of Nepali marketers as well as the government’s motive behind Clean Feed.
Let’s not even talk about clean feed first. Daraz recently opted to rebrand and even appointed a native MD in Nepal to adapt its localized strategy. Alas, its rebranding seems to have taken the localization route in the most undesirable way – Dub or copy international ads and save money, time, and effort. This tendency is a conventional rot that has seriously obstructed the growth of the Nepali advertising industry. Perhaps, the current MD should have stayed an additional year or two in Amazon to remain elucidated about the ethical and creative aspects of the advertising game.
Stop Patronizing the Nepali Ad-Makers!
While a multinational company like Daraz is forging its brand by operating in an untapped country like Nepal, domestic ad-makers receive zero benefits from the FDI. Large brands like Daraz resorting to such cheap tactics insinuate that Nepali ad-makers are untrustworthy and unreliable. It makes us wonder – Are marketers in Nepal inept in conceptualizing and producing innovative ads? Very unlikely when Nepali brands are known to opt for cost reduction while making marketing decisions. And cost minimization and quality optimization are two aspects of business that are not congruent for the most part.
Does Clean Feed even make sense to Nepali brands?
Coming back to Clean Feed, the state of the Nepali advertising sector is in complete disarray. With brands like Berger Paints disregarding clean feed with a dubbed ad featuring Kareena Kapoor, it is hard to discern whether brands are oblivious or anarchists. Daraz Nepal could have set an example to other brands by allowing domestic ad-makers to create its TVC. But it simply chose to break the law by dubbing the Pakistani version of the ad and airing it on live television.
Daraz Nepal engaging in illegal advertisements is heartbreaking to the marketing enthusiasts of the country. Particularly, the budding youths of the country are bound to be antagonized as the team at Daraz Nepal boasted a number of promising youths. Is the team at the company so immature that a clear-cut regulation like clean feed is incomprehensible? Having been led by a personality who has endured and succeeded in a multinational company like Amazon and still resorting to such a lowly tactic is just inexcusable for the brand.
The whole intent of implementing clean feed is to ensure that Nepali marketers are engaged in fostering creativity to contribute to the overall growth of Nepal’s marketing industry. Seemingly, Daraz Nepal wishes to stand together with brands that deliberately keep away from promoting the country’s creative industry!
