Lodha Group, the Mumbai-based real estate developer, has launched the second leg of ‘Jeena Isi Ko Kehte Hai’ campaign, starring its brand ambassador – Akshay Kumar.
Said Raunika Malhotra, President Corporate Brand, and Communication, Lodha Group: “As a brand with an all-encompassing vision, Lodha aims at steering remarkable differences in the society during this festive season. We have been providing a unique living experience to our customers, and this Diwali, we wish that everyone welcomes this festival amid the secured environment of their homes. Our brand objectives always align towards building world’s finest developments with utmost privacy, safety and ease accessibility, providing high services allowing consumers to lead a better life.”
Byju’s was the most spontaneously recalled brand on the IPL last weekend as MS Dhoni had the highest spontaneous recall as a celebrity endorser. The Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) ran a telephonic survey on Sunday, October 4 reaching out to 892 respondents during the day to check out recall of brands, their celebrities and their messaging. There were 41% female respondents, ad 59% male. All respondents were between 15 to 35 years.
So while Byju’s was the most spontaneously recalled brand on the IPL last weekend, its celebrity endorser Shah Rukh Khan trailed behind other celebrities who were more visible, hence more recalled. Dream 11 was at No 2 with multiple endorsers.
Swiggy, Thar, UpGrad and Altroz ranked highest amongst brands that did not use a celebrity. VI was not spontaneously recalled, notes the study.
MS Dhoni had the highest spontaneous recall as a celebrity endorser. Virat Kohli was a not-so-close second. Akshay Kumar was at #3; Ayushmann Khurrana at #4.
Said Dr Sandeep Goyal, Chief Mentor of the IIHB: “So far in the IPL, MS Dhoni is the biggest celebrity. Virat Kohli trails. However, it is surprising that Shahrukh Khan has not done as well as the brand, BYJUs, that he represents. Aamir, though supported by much lesser media weightages, is a better performing celebrity this season at IPL. Non-celebrity brands have done well too. Swiggy, Thar, UpGrad, Altroz, Lenskart, MG Gloster, Facebook, Amazon, Kellogg’s, cricket.com, and VI were mentioned in significant measure by respondents. PhonePe and Swiggy were rated as the best ads of the ones on the IPL. But, the feedback on qualitative goodness was inadequate and is mentioned here only as part of data received by default.”
Berger Paints has announced a new campaign for Berger HomeShield conceptualised by Lowe Lintas Kolkata.
Speaking about the campaign, Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO, Berger Paints said: “Just like a doctor who prescribes medicines only after accurately diagnosing the ailment, dampness should also be treated similarly. Scientific understanding is significant while finding the right solution. Damp walls and leaking ceilings are harsh realities in Indian homes with limited analytical solutions present in the market. Berger Home Shield with its Concrete Moisture Meter carries out a scientific assessment of the problem and then prescribes a suitable solution based on well researched parameters, which stands out amongst the current alternatives available to the home owners.”
Talking about the campaign idea, Sagar Kapoor, CCO, Lowe Lintas added: “Leakage is probably the biggest nightmare any home owner would have. What makes it worse is that there are as many fake solutions offered as there are reasons for the walls and ceilings to leak. Berger HomeShield hence aims at demystifying this issue with its Concrete Moisture Meter and waterproofing solutions. The story hence shows the confusion of a family in distress being offered multiple solutions not knowing which one to trust. Akshay Kumar is the voice of reason that asks them to trust science and not fake knowledge.”
Policybazaar.com, the online insurance marketplace, has unveiled its new television campaign titled ‘AapKiSideHai’. The campaign features Policybazaar’s brand ambassador, Akshay Kumar.
Said Samir Sethi, Head of Brand Marketing, Policybazaar.com: “While we continue to highlight the importance of Health & Term life Insurance through our marketing campaigns, with the brand promise of Policybazaar AapKiSideHai, we also intend to position Policybazaar as a customer centric brand, that is committed to stand by its customers, both pre and post purchase.”
Berger Paints India Limited has announced its association with Akshay Kumar for their Waterproofing range of products under HomeShield Brand.
Said Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO of Berger Paints: “We are very excited about the association with Akshay who is today one of the biggest stars in the Indian film industry. With a career spanning decades built on the edifice of his passion for hard work, devotion to quality and zeal to innovate with challenging roles, he is a perfect fit for Berger HomeShield which also embodies the values of trust, dependability, durability and high product performance in the segment of waterproofing. It is one of the fastest growing segments for us and the association with Akshay would help create better brand visibility and recall, helping catapult the brand as the preferred consumer choice”.
Ahead of the upcoming festive season, Kurkure, has launched two campaigns. The campaigns promote an initiative with Airtel offering a special digital experience for all its prepaid customers. The TVCs feature Kurkure’s brand ambassador Akshay Kumar and Lay’s brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor were launched promoting the initiative.
Said Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “At Airtel, we are obsessed about offering our customers the best network experience. We are thrilled to partner with PepsiCo India to help all their customers experience our award winning 4G data services. This also gives us the opportunity to reward our loyal customers with complimentary data and unlock a world of digital experiences on Airtel Thanks when they buy their favourite packet of snack.”
Added Ritu Nakra, WPP Lead – PepsiCo Foods, India: “In the last few months we have truly understood the value of connecting with our friends and family. Keeping this in mind, the creative team at Wunderman Thompson developed the campaign idea for Lay’s which depicts that the answer to all your questions lies inside a Lay’s pack. Similarly, for Kurkure, the creative thought stemmed from the fact that everyone in the family is having chatpata fun in the kitchen with recipes. The integrated campaign developed by the WPP team at MS, VML and WT, brings this idea alive on this special initiative.”
Said Dilen Gandhi, Senior Director and Category Head – Foods, PepsiCo India: “The ‘new normal’ has catapulted everyone into a more digital world than ever before. At PepsiCo India, as part of our digital first approach, we follow evolving digital trends and develop matching strategies. Our insights showed us that consumers are enjoying our products and seeking convenience while working and watching content at home. The special initiative with Airtel is therefore is perfect fit that will further compliment in-home experience of consumers. With festive season kicking in, the initiative, truly emphasize the importance of staying connected with friends and family.”
The integrated campaign was developed by the WPP team at Mindshare, VML and Wunderman Thompson.
India has been under a full lockdown since March 24, 2020. After three subsequent extensions, a relatively unsuccessful Unlock 1.0 & 2.0 in June and July, spikes in positive cases are forcing many Indian cities to go under full lockdowns, again.
As the economy degrows, unemployment rises and sales decreases and every subsequent FY21 GDP forecast is worse than the previous one, the future seems bleak and unlikely to bounce back soon.
Basis a GroupM report released in June 2020, India’s GDP will contract by 3.7% and subsequently overall advertising spends will decline by more than 20% this year. This follows, as advertising in current scenarios is an after-thought, with most companies focused on reviving production and distribution. The drop in advertising has led to unprecedented job losses in the ad-dependent media industry, so much so that industry body International Advertising Association (IAA) has been running a campaign, ‘Let’s Advertise’ to spur advertising, since June 2020.
The campaign seems to have made some impact – brands in the Health & Hygiene categories or those that can pivot their messaging to sound Covid-wise have started advertising. However, this is a small portion of the market, and for the economy to revive, brands which can afford to, should, play a bigger role in recovery.
As Keynesian economics espouses, spending spurs consumption during times of economic downturns. If brands (which can) spend monies, this will spur demand, and the money will help the economy as a whole. In such pandemic times, the messaging of many brands is irrelevant, a great way to remain visible is by running Public Service Announcements (PSAs) campaigns.
While a decade ago, PSAs were issued by govt bodies, with the advent of social media, brands regularly run socially relevant campaigns because they help the brand earn respect and hence brand equity while also doing social good. Due to their affirming messages, PSAs also have higher than average trend-worthiness, i.e. audiences share these ads more because it helps them feel good about themselves to do something socially relevant.
With the notable exception of Mumbai Police PSAs, most PSAs released by government bodies in India, are pedagogical spiels, which are not engaging, even when starring celebrities.
In March 2020, just as the lockdown was announced, the Maharashtra government released a pedagogical PSA on Covid-19 headlined by the biggest stars of Bollywood including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar etc. A month later, Sony launched a PSA with a similar Bollywood lineup but a much better storyline. (The PSA can be viewed here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQk0VrL2I-w
Short film – ‘Family’, conceptualised and virtually directed by Prasoon Pandey for Sony Network starring celebs from across the country used storytelling creatively to communicate the importance of staying at home. It was telecast in April 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju7ku–S6F4
Hence, in Covid-stricken times, effective PSAs can help brands kill many birds with one stone – create brand equity, earn public goodwill, spur good behaviour, meet annual CSR target spends as mandated by Indian law and, most importantly, help the economy recover. Earned goodwill will also spur trials for those whose loyalties lie with competitors.
Budget-struck brands can collaborate with other brands; conduct digital-only campaigns to give the push to the economy to help its recovery.
As brands with diverse target audiences release PSAs, different strata of society will get targeted which will help in overall compliance. This is backed by research conducted by 2019 Nobel laureates in Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. In a paper released last month, they have shown that frequent celebrity messaging, in addition to the existent large-scale government messaging on Covid-19, can positively impact behaviour by nudging people to follow best practices. The research also shows that there are spillovers of good behaviour in the entire community even when a few are targeted.
In a CSR initiative, waiting to be replicated by national dailies, Kashmir ‘s Urdu newspaper Roshni, affixed a mask on the front page of the paper on July 20 to drive home the message about mask usage. Kashmir was under complete lockdown from 22-27 July, due to a rise in Covid cases.
VIRALITY TO BEHAVIOURIAL CHANGE
The challenge even for good PSAs is translating virality to behavioural change. The ease of communication brought on by social media has made armchair activists of the majority of the population. However, while these activists enable knowledge-sharing with other people they don’t bother much with acting upon the gained knowledge before moving on to the next trending topic. Which is why, despite the dangers of inobedience, many who wear a face mask, style it as a chin-guard.
Hence, brands should be careful to create PSAs which are not just a retelling of facts, but facts communicated in way to appeal to their targeted audience, whether it is through high quality storytelling, a new ‘Hook Step’ or a ‘Challenge’ which is creative enough to warrant sharing. Basis the research by Banerjee and Duflo, leveraging brand ambassadors signed on for lavish multi-year contracts will also help to drive behavioural change. So brands, any takers?
Bhuvi Gupta is a marketer with over 10 years across industries, of which the last six have been in Media & Entertainment. She has been a part of many launch marketing campaigns – specifically at the Times of India group, Republic TV and the latest in marketing a Bollywood film. She will write on A&M (mostly marketing, but often on advertising too). Her views here are personal. She tweets at @bhuvigupta3
Prince Pipes and Fittings Limited (PPFL) has roped in actor Akshay Kumar as brand ambassador for its recently launched water tanks segment.
Said Parag Chheda, Executive Director of Prince Pipes and Fittings Limited: “Akshay has been the brand ambassador for Prince Pipes since 2018 and we are delighted to extend this association with him and work with him for the new water tank segment, which is expected to grow at a high pace. He has been an integral influencer of several Indian social issues and the Prince Pipes brand portfolio resonates very well with Akshay’s ability to reach out to our industry participants across India, especially in Tier 2/3 regions and hyper local domains. With a 30-year legacy in manufacturing high quality water piping and now storage systems for a whole gamut of applications, our brand stands for expertise, trust, quality and high value, which are also true to Akshay.”
Starting July 24, Disney+Hotstar Multiplex will release a slew of potential blockbuster Hindi movies on its popular OTT platform. The films and the performers include: Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani in Laxmmi Bomb, Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt in Bhuj: The Pride of India, late Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjana Sanghi and Saif Ali Khan in Dil Bechara, Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pooja Bhatt in Sadak 2, Abhishek Bachchan in The Big Bull, Vidyut Jammwal in Khuda Haafiz and Kunal Kemmu and Rasika Dugal in Lootcase amongst others.
Existing subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar Premium and Disney+ Hotstar VIP can enjoy these blockbuster movies at no additional cost to their existing subscription. Non-subscribers can simply purchase an annual membership of Disney+ Hotstar VIP at Rs 399 to catch all these movies and other fare.
The first movie of Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex will be Dil Bechara, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and to commemorate his contribution to Hindi cinema, this movie will be available to all subscribers and non-subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar.
Said Uday Shankar – President, The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star & Disney India: “At Disney+ Hotstar, we firmly believe in pushing boundaries to achieve the unexpected. A few years ago, we took an audacious step of bringing sports closer to people by streaming it live on mobile devices – a move that forever changed the course of live sports in India. Today, as we launch Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex, we find ourselves yet again at the cusp of making a revolutionary change by bringing the biggest Bollywood movies directly to millions across the country. We are happy to partner with the best directors and most talented actors; and provide them with a platform to present their masterpieces.”
Speaking about this initiative and its effect on the overall industry, he further added, “Theatres are a special experience. So, they will always exist and thrive. But the potential of the industry can’t be capped by the number of release windows and theatres available. Our initiative will dramatically increase the number of films that can be made, giving film-lovers more films to enjoy and the creative community more films to make. We firmly believe that this will generate a massive momentum for more and different kinds of films to be made in India. It’s a win-win for all.”
Leading hosiery brand Dollar has undergone a makeover. The brand’s new identity is a result of a a brand architecture exercise led by LinConsult, the strategic consulting division of MullenLowe Lintas Group. To promote the new face of the brand, a campaign conceived by Lowe Lintas Kolkata was released soon after.
Said Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries Limited said: “Our new vision focuses on ‘Wear The Change’ which is aligned with our business ethics to constantly innovate and keep up with the trends and changing consumer needs. The reinvigorated brand identity will provide a new dynamism to the business profile internally, to the end customers and stakeholders.”
The campaign film featuring Akshay Kumar is directed by ad-film maker Shiven Surendranath. Commenting on the campaign, Janmenjoy Mohanty, Regional Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas added: “These are fascinating times. We are perhaps living through every cliché about change we had ever heard. If ever there was a time to embrace change and new thinking, it is now. Dollar’s new point-of-view reflects this and urges us to begin from within and wear the change we’d like to see in the world.”
Dollar Industries has unveiled its new corporate brand identity with the credo of ‘Wear the Change’.
Said Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries: “Our brand identity focuses on ‘Wear The Change’ which is aligned with our business ethics to constantly innovate and keep up with the trends and changing consumer needs. The reinvigorated brand identity will provide a new dynamism to the business profile internally, to the end customers and stakeholders,” adding: “Our logo retooling exercise provides the brand a distinct identity. The ‘Knitted D’ symbolises our product line. The rebranding step has been taken to re-organize the brand architecture altogether making the brand visibility more precise and clearer. The company has become simpler in maintaining various categories which in return will make a positive change in the market.”
RR Kabel has launched its integrated marketing campaign, #serialkiller. Taking the brands previous campaign further, Akshay Kumar who is RR Kabel’s brand ambassador, is back in his fireman avatar promoting awareness around the brands champion product – Firex LSOH.
The campaign highlights how mainstream media often tends to overlook fire accidents in the country, preferring to focus their time on terror attacks or natural disasters, despite the fact that on an average, fire accidents are the cause of significantly more loss of life than any other major catastrophe.
Shedding light on this, Shreegopal Kabra, Managing Director, RR Kabel said: “The loss of life from electrical fires is on a steady rise which is highly alarming. Our objective is to educate the masses that during an electrical fire, smoke does more damage than fire itself. People are ill informed of this and many such facts due to lack of awareness and poor media coverage on such issues. With this campaign, we have attempted to grab media’s attention, urged them to talk about this issue, spread awareness and encourage them to fight smartly against fire.”
Talking about the creative thought behind the campaign Kirti Kabra, Head of Communications & Director, RR Kabel added: “After months of research and countless hours studying consumer behavioral data, our brief to the agency was that the new campaign must highlight real issues and expose facts, which we believe will help break common myths surrounding fire accidents. It was also important for us to ensure there is a common link between our previous campaign and this year’s strategy. For far too long have brands sold products under false pretenses, contrary to that, RR Kabel’s communication strategy is based on facts and ethics effectively delivered by Mr Kumar.”
India has been under a full lockdown since March 24, 2020. After three subsequent extensions, a relatively unsuccessful Unlock 1.0 & 2.0 in June and July, spikes in positive cases are forcing many Indian cities to go under full lockdowns, again.
Prince Pipes and Fittings Limited (PPFL) has roped in actor Akshay Kumar as brand ambassador for its recently launched water tanks segment.
Starting July 24, Disney+Hotstar Multiplex will release a slew of potential blockbuster Hindi movies on its popular OTT platform. The films and the performers include: Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani in Laxmmi Bomb, Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt in Bhuj: The Pride of India, late Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjana Sanghi and Saif Ali Khan in Dil Bechara, Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pooja Bhatt in Sadak 2, Abhishek Bachchan in The Big Bull, Vidyut Jammwal in Khuda Haafiz and Kunal Kemmu and Rasika Dugal in Lootcase amongst others.
Dollar Industries has unveiled its new corporate brand identity with the credo of ‘Wear the Change’.