Know Thy Breaks
Naveen Kumar
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Posts by Naveen Kumar
An Out-Of-The-Fridge Idea
May 13th
Tag line: Fridge Mein Jayega, Bade Kaam Aayega
Client: Coca Cola India
Brand: Sprite
Creative Agency: O & M
Creative Director: Ajay Gahlaut
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Production House: Rising Sun Films
Duration: 35 secs
Year: 2009
Story: The Sprite fridge pack communication revolves around the idea – ‘Fridge Mein Jaayega, Bada Kaam Aayega’. The plot depicts a story of four roomies. These youngsters have nothing but a Sprite fridge pack in the fridge and have no idea what they are going to do for dinner. The plot unfurls when the protagonist, armed with the Sprite fridge pack at home, uses his quick wit to get themselves a home-cooked meal.
Rationale: Packaging innovation has always added a new dimension to the whole experience of having a soft drink, making it far more convenient for consumption and also offering better value for money. This was to support the launch of the 1.25 litre Fridge Pack which in the first place has been designed to strengthen Sprite’s consumer connect in the in-home consumption segment. (***)
Message: The storyline depicts the Sprite way of using the fridge pack and its handiness at home, keeping the brand’s tongue-in-cheek attitude, wit and irreverence. The story is based on a common insight of a typical bachelor’s pad, where youngsters staying away from their homes are always craving for home-cooked food. In their nostalgia, they invite their next door neighbour aunt, who oblivious of their intentions, happily obliges to cook for them. (****)
Freshness: With the trend of in-home consumption of ready to drink packaged beverages on the rise, the convenient 1.25 litre fridge pack offers immense benefits to the consumers. The new communication initiative depicts the convenience of this pack through a creative statement that is peculiar to brand Sprite. It was delight watching our often-been-vulnerable-chootiya friend Kavin Dave (the guy with a French cut) being in the side of ‘Sprite Apostle’ this time. (****)
Verdict: Having the Sprite fridge pack at home inspired the moment of quick wit, where they influence their neighbour to come and cook for them. Riding on the core idea of ‘Seedhi Baat, No Bakwas- Clear Hair!’, the latest communication takes forward the theme of youth continuously looking for smarter ways to move up the ladder and constantly seeking to take easier and uncomplicated routes to attain their goals. With a cool punch line (literally ‘Fits in your fridge, comes in handy in everyday life’), it illustrates that this is just one of the utilities this pack has to offer you.
Bole To… Bhaloo Ki Jhappi
May 12th
Tag line: Thandi Saans ka Blast
Client: Cadbury
Brand: Halls
Creative Agency: Contract Advertising
Exec Creative Director: Raj Nair
Copywriter: Raj Nair
Art Director: Manish Ajgaonkar
Music Director: Sneha Khanvilkar
Director: Ram Madhwani
Production House: Equinox Films
Duration: 45 secs
Year: 2009
Story: The recent TVC for the mint candy from Cadbury India is based on the same premise of ‘Thandi Saans ka Blast’ just like its last ad was. It takes the proposition a step forward on exaggeration pushing forward the idea– how cool it feels to have a Halls candy! The sugar confectionery brand features an arctic polar bear in the Indian summer heat as the star of its latest ad to promote its mint candy brand.
Message: The mint candy is aimed at individuals with busy lifestyles and the young college goers. The insight is that there are moments in the day when one feels sluggish. Halls could be the refresher, with menthol and eucalyptus in its ingredients, to get rid of the sluggishness. The creative thus tries to bring this ‘refreshment’ to the fore, demonstrating the intense cooling effect of Halls using bizarre and unexpected situations. The focus on the ‘coolness’ shows its impact on the quality of brand communication.(***)
The background music (Shring! Shring!) too is compatible as it somehow sends shivers down your spine which the protagonist is feeling.
Freshness: Exaggeration is an old game and doesn’t do much for the ad. And odd things such as a polar bear and a railway station don’t necessarily make for a great idea. But long as you don’t move away from the core thought of a product, exaggeration is fine and isn’t as risky. It’s when the core thought of the brand is forgotten in a bid to exaggerate that it won’t work. Unlike its rivals, it attempted dual positioning– makes you feel cool in summers & gives a fresh breath. (****)
Verdict: Great ad! It is again hyperbole at its height. As you keep on thinking till the end of TVC about which brand it is. The message is spot-on and the exaggeration works well to reinforce the core positioning of the brand. The brand has the tag line ‘Thandi Saans Ka Blast’ which communicates its coolness promise & scores a ‘top of mind’ recall for it.
The Price & Privilege Are All Yours
May 11th
Tag line: Choose Your Own Price
Client: Planet M Retail Ltd
Creative Agency: TBWA
National Creative Director: Rahul Sengupta
Creative Director: Ashit Desai, Siddharth Deo
Copywriter: Kashyap Joshi
Director: Roshan Shetty
Production House: Bang Bang Films
Duration: 30 secs
Year: 2009
Story: The TVC shows some slice-of-lives where it depicts how customers ask shopkeepers ‘Kitna’ (how much does it cost?) just before they begin to bargain. But the tables are turned in the last shot when a Planet M staff asks a mobile phone customer the same question. He further tells that now Planet M will ask its consumers ‘Kitna’, which translates to them having the freedom to choose the price they want to pay for a new phone, amongst other offers.
The Idea: The campaign is more of a promo to sell mobile phones at Planet M. In real life, all of us are used to asking the price (Kitna) before we buy anything. Now, when someone wants to purchase a mobile phone at Planet M, Planet M will ask the customers how much (Kitna). Thus allowing the consumers to choose the price range and add-ons they wish with their mobile phones.
Message: Mobile retail is not an easy business. Customers drive hard bargains and consequently the profit margins are thin as a wafer. It reinforces that the brand will strive to deliver consumers a ‘right to choose’ not just a phone of their choice but also the price they would like to pay and the special features they would like to avail thus making the purchase process unique to Planet M. The campaign aims to focus on its offer, ‘Choose your own price’, which claims to let consumers choose the price they want to pay for a new cell phone, along with other add-ons.
Freshness: Mobile phone retail is a part of Planet M’s larger scheme of participating in the budding digital music ecosystem. Handsets are the future of music consumption. They seek to encompass that ecosystem of digital music consumption. In this scenario, Planet M created a USP– It is ready to negotiate on the add-ons, though not on the phone. They have tried to create a film that establishes the telecom category’s connect with Planet M, using Planet M’s USP of ‘Choose your own price’, thus making the category association unique in addition to creating brand saliency and increasing footfalls for Planet M.
Verdict: Going forward, the cell phone would be the most preferred choice for listening to music and to some extent, watching movies. Planet M needs a very significant connect with this category to move strategically into the digital music space. It’s a very good advert that would make Planet M the most preferred retail destination for consumption of digital music. We can expect an unaided recall of the retail chain amongst prospective mobile phone buyers.
Even Gods Can Feel Insecure
May 10th
Tag line: Wealth With Protection Solutions
Client: Birla Sun Life Insurance
Creative Agency: JWT
Exec Creative Director: Tista Sen
Snr Creative Director: Pradyumna Chauhan
Art Director: Shweta Iyer
Director: Nikhil Rao
Production House: Chrome Pictures
Duration: 45 secs
Year: 2009
Story: BSLI made its association with ace cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma as brand ambassadors. The partnership begins with the launch of BSLI’s first campaign for its ‘Wealth with Protection Solutions’ category. Cricketers or sportsmen in general have short careers. The great question mark is always the next match, the next innings, or even the next ball. Their great ascent can all come down crumbling with poor form, injury or competition.
Target Audience Connect: It’s quite thoughtful to use a successful person with a mass appeal & recognition himself to communicate his insecurity. The idea stems from the realization that cricket is a great example of the fact that today’s success could be tomorrow’s failure. The target audience of the ad seems the modern ambitious Indian in the age bracket of around 30-35, who is on the road to progress, is successful, well settled, and probably has kids too. However, these people are also in two minds about whether their success will last. It’s also about the ‘what ifs’. (****)
Message: The objective is to connect with mass India, which is an aspiring bunch of Indians– people who earn their success. Life is uncertain and we should be prepared for any eventuality, this message is heightened even further when we hear it from the very cricketers we admire and emulate. Concept is nicely woven around the fact and skillfully executed. (*****)
Freshness: To achieve the mandate of shaking the TG from their apathy and lead them to action, the message should appear genuine and honest. Whatever the cricketers did on camera, it was very clear from the onset that the attempt does not look like yet another endorsement for them.The Birla Sun Life Insurance campaign is an honest and refreshing take on the realities of life as we know it. The use of cricketers goes beyond just brand endorsement and truthfully echoes an insight everybody identifies with. (***)
Verdict: And the ad only promotes the category with a generic insight. The question of promoting category at the cost of product is irrelevant. The commercial does not answer just one critical question– Why Birla Sun Life over someone else? I just hope it is effective for Birla and not their competition as there is no key differentiator as to why one should choose BSLI. But the theme of the campaign seems robust and somewhere seems to serve its purpose i.e. building recall for BSLI. The commercials, scaring the audience, leave them with a sense of unease, which from an insurance company’s point of view is good news.
Bathe Yourself In Nirvana
May 9th
Tag line: Get Charged
Client: HSIL (Hindustan Sanitaryware & Industries)
Brand: Hindware Bathroom
Creative Agency: Hakuhodo Percept
Exec Creative Director: Manish Masih
Director: Kiran Deohans
Production House: Candid Creations
Duration: 30 secs
Year: 2009
Rationale: With the tag line ‘Get Charged’, Hindware, the unprecedented market leader in sanitary ware has rolled out its new commercial aiming to build an emotional cord between the brand and the customers. People spend millions of rupees on interiors, exteriors or paints but when it comes to designing a bathroom people seem to compromise, despite the fact that a bathroom is the most essential part of your home. Bathrooms have also come to occupy much mind-space and share of wallet over the years and the company seeks to capitalize on these to grow its business.
Message: Today, a bathroom is not a just small cubical part of any home; it’s an attitude of the people who live in that place as well as a relaxation place cause people are looking for rejuvenation. At the other end of the scale such a brand have got people using the bathroom as a ‘wellness centre’ (wellness in terms of renewal) as they want to work upon the body. So you’ve got hydrotherapy happening in the baths using jets, you have massage showers– you have quite full-on bodywork happening in the bathroom. (***)
Target Audience Connect: Hindware has almost made it in changing the perception of a bathroom in the customer’s mind and making it exciting for a person to spend time in the bath, absorbing the ambience, unwind & relax, keeping in mind the hectic schedule they have in today’s working scenario. The ad targets the middle and upper class as well as the high-end customers. HSIL seems restructuring its portfolio to appeal to the middle and upper middle classes. (****)
Freshness: HSIL tries to create a product differentiation for itself in a market that also has several international sanitary ware brands. It felt & understood the human psyche correctly. So, it has highlighted that given today’s hectic lifestyles, people’s personal space has shrunk. And the bathroom has been projected as the only place free from interference where one can spend some moments alone & be at peace doing various activities 
for which otherwise he doesn’t have the time; e.g. listen to some music, do yoga, read books, etc. (****)
Verdict: Sanitary ware and faucets have become a style statement in present times. Thus, Hindware tracing its competition on electronic media, moved on from its print campaign making an effective foray into the telly to make a statement. The new brand communication simply redefines the spaces by making them the most exclusive place for distressing and rejuvenating life. Hopefully this powerful theme will garner consumer focus and establish brand resonance in customer minds as this new theme is universal in its brand appeal and transcends different target audiences.
