What's mystery got to do with advertising? Plenty. It's often the X factor that clinches the sale

"Ye PSPO nahi jaanta," went the catch line of an advertisement of Orient Fans.

Towards the end of the advertisement it was revealed that PSPO stands for "Peak Speed Performance Output." Now what does that mean?

Or take the case of "ZPTO yukt naya Clinic All Clear." What does ZPTO stand for? Or take the case of Tata Xenon XT, the new car from Tata Motors. What does XT stand for? Or Johnson's natural baby oil with aloe vera? What is aloe vera?

Or products like Ariel Oxyblue and Opti-ThickTM Harpic?

All these abbreviations and terms stand for something. PSPO is a technology that uses lesser electricity to deliver more air over a larger area. ZPTO is a microbiocide, which is supposed to kill microbes that cause dandruff. But dandruff can happen for a lot of other reasons as well.

The XT in Xenon XT stands for Cross Terrain. Aloe Vera is a plant with supposed medicinal qualities and has been often cited as being used in herbal medicines.

Do most consumers understand what these terms mean? The answer in most cases, would be no. But do these terms matter to consumers when they make a buying a decision? Yes, they do. Marketing guru Martin Lindstrom elucidates this point through a brilliant example in Buyology — Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.

"When Unilever was getting to launch a shampoo in Asia, a mischievous employee with time on his hands wrote on the label, just for the hell of it, 'Contains the X9 Factor'. This last minute addition went undetected by Unilever, and soon millions and millions of bottles of the shampoo were shipped to stores with those four words inscribed on the label. It would have cost too much to recall all the shampoo, so Unilever simply let it be. Six months later, when the shampoo had sold out, the company reprinted the label, this time leaving out the reference to the nonexistent X9 Factor."

Now, that was the logical thing to do. And what happened? "None of the customers had any idea of what the X9 Factor was, but were indignant that Unilever had dared to get rid of it. In fact, many people claimed that their shampoo wasn't working anymore, and that their hair had lost its lustre, all because the company had dropped the elusive X9 Factor," writes Lindstrom.

The mystery associated with such terms makes the product more appealing to consumers. Marketers obviously understand this. "Mystery is a fascinating component as many brands leverage this in order to make us pay more. Take the Sony Trintron TV, for example. What is Trintron? No idea. It's some technical mystery, which claims that the TV is better — it sounds technical and fancy and seduces us to believe this is something very special. This is mystery in action," says Lindstrom.

"Advertising today carries too much informative content. In a world pervaded by information, the most interesting thing is what isn't known — mystery," said Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, in an interview sometime back.

Think about all those ball-point pen ads talking about the weirdly named foreign technology used in the pen's making. Add Gel has models which go by the name of NC 600, PG 300, PG 500, 2k Young and so on.

Another industry that has used mystery in branding very well over a period of time is the cosmetics industry. Why else would you have beauty majors naming products like Daily Resurfacing Day Cream UV SPF 15 PA++ and Tinted Moisturizer UV?

Moral of the story? Consumers should never get the complete picture of the brand that is being advertised, some mystery should remain. 

Vivek Kaul/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication