MxMIndia

Tag: Alia Bhat

  • The new Tanishq ad breaks the traditional stereotype of how women have been portrayed in advertising, writes Prabhakar Mundkur

    Advertising and the Two Indias

     

     

    By Prabhakar Mundkur

     

    Prabhakar MundkurAdvertising like the other arts of cinema, music, is the perfect mirror of an emerging society. Often the arts can lead society, and at other times, it may just be a mirror of where society is today. It’s important for a brand to constantly search for cues from our daily living. So, a brand can often be a mirror of where we are but equally a brand may lead society into their own future.

     

    But advertising like cinema is good at constantly exploring emerging societal trends. Of picking up something that exists today but may not still be big. I think it is brave for any art to pick up an emerging trend that is not necessarily popular or fits societal norms. Titan is one brand that comes to my mind which is constantly leading from the front. Unfortunately, it has also meant that it has often come under fire for being experimentative. You will remember how it got trolled for the Tanishq ad last year which showed a real situation which revolved around an inter-faith couple and the husband’s family. One can’t deny that inter-faith marriages do exist in India and perhaps they are only growing. But that ad was from one of the Indias and trolled by the other India.

     

    Another ad that got into trouble with one of the Indias, was the Manyawar ad featuring Alia Bhat. Because of a play of words that the ad engaged in where the ritual of Kanyadaan was interpreted as Kanyamaan.

     

     

    And now comes another ad from Tanishq again in the area of marriage and relationships. And I can’t help feeling that it has done a good job of appealing to both Indias. Or has is?

     

     

    The conversations between the couples in the ad are very real, honest and portray the trust and confidence that two partners can place with each other by sharing their innermost doubts, desires and thoughts with each other. But equally I think it portrays a certain equality between a man and a woman in a relationship.

     

    For years, we have portrayed the Indian woman as subservient, something that is backed by the new GenderNext report (https://ascionline.in/gendernextreport/2/index.html) from the ASCI which says:

     

    “Women being featured in care-taking roles, placing the good of the family and friends as their primary focus and concern

    :: Women being targeted for beauty products featuring an unrealistic and unobtainable standard of beauty

    :: Women being informed and educated by the voice of a male authority figure”

    The Tanishq ad I thought breaks the traditional stereotype of how women have been portrayed in advertising. It is steering the portrayal of women in a very positive direction, while simultaneously exploring the deep relationship and trust that life partners can place with each other.

     

    Is the real India like this one may ask? Yes and No. I think, that in urban centres we can see man-woman relationships like the ones in the ad, but I can’t help feeling that as we move down the population strata, it may still be quite unrealistic.

     

    This ad may still be appealing to only one of the Indias and most probably this is the Tanishq target audience. What is different and perhaps a lesson for advertisers in the future is that it is possible to talk to only one of the Indias without upsetting the other!

     

     

  • The campaign will go live across digital platforms and aims to target young consumers

    Alia Bhat reaches out to millennials in new Fujifilm ad

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fujifilm India launched its second digital campaign with Alia Bhatt, the brand ambassador of the Instax range of cameras. The film is part of the campaign targeting millennials looking to capture their perfect moments on Instax camera.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Haruto Iwata, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said: “We are happy to launch ‘Real Masti Real Print’ campaign with Alia Bhat. The campaign reflects, how anyone can capture and save perfect moment on Instax camera. We are thrilled to have Alia as face for the Instax range of cameras. She is a Bollywood icon and popular amongst millennials for her great acting skills and charm which perfectly blends with our brand. Her playful attitude in the film organically embodies with what Fujifilm Instax is all about – young, fun and ‘kawaii’ (cute in Japanese). With this film, we look forward to doubling our sales and scaling newer heights in the imaging space.”

     

     

  • Brand Experience will decide the winner of the annual contest, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Amazon v/s Flipkart: The Big Sale Fight

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    In all likelihood, over the next few days, you will buy some item on the ‘Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale’ or the ‘Flipkart Billion Days Sale’. And at the end of the sale period, one of them will claim some astronomical figure of realised sales.

    Through the years, Amazon and Flipkart have successfully redefined ‘the biggest sale’ in Indian festival calendar. It is now nearer to Dassera than Diwali, an attempt to sweep the market before the traditional sale period.

    Sales in India on a single day are nowhere close to the eye-popping record $30.8 Billion ‘Single’s day’ sale of Alibaba, which was more than the ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ sales combined. But we are getting there with growing e-commerce, better logistics, infrastructure and some help the banks and payment gateways.

     

    STRAIGHT FIGHT BETWEEN AMAZON AND FLIPKART.

    Ladies and Gentleman, the man/woman with a high-end mobile and slow connection and the laptop babu with a fast connection. The fight is opening soon. Guaranteed you will benefit in this ‘diwalia hone ko tayyar‘ (Ready to get bankrupt) sentiment associated with such sales.

    In the red corner of this ring of festival annual sale fight is the Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale with its very cultural centric motif that is scheduled for September 29 to October 4. Amazon Prime members can try it out from September 28 itself.

    In the blue corner is Flipkart, which has mastered the art of sale throughout the year. Its Big Billion Days Sale will start on September and 29 and end on October 4.

     

    This is a straight fight no consumer worth his or her last spending INR wants to miss.

    The banks are joining the fun with further cash backs and easy EMIs. Somewhere there is a hint of cashback within 72 hours of sale! Additionally, to keep the excitement, there is a promise of new additions on hourly sale, which is expected to boost repeat logins. And the exchange offers are not missing from the sale. Don’t have money, well, there is some 1,00,000 credit possibility with Flipkart.

    Both Amazon and Flipkart want you to keep your wishlist ready. No doubt this is the best sale one can aim at. But as per the earlier pattern, one can see additional Dassera sale, Electronic sales, Diwali sale online and offline. Maybe the only issue is too much option for the consumer that may delay decision-making.

     

    CONNECTING WITH THE CONSUMER.

    Now both the e-commerce sites have upgraded their systems and made arrangement to smoothen the consumer experience. But the campaigns by Flipkart seem heavy and lacking conviction. There has been a Billion Day Sale for production and media. It is overloaded.

    Deviating from ‘children acting like adults (adult kid)’ theme that predominates Flipkart as a brand, it seems to have gone back to the safety of celebrity advertising. Flipkart has cornered and employed every possible top celebrity interested in selling the idea of getting ready for the sale. Virat as a Cop and Deepika as a Lawyer, Amitabh as a Godown owner and Alia as a newsreader. Regional skew and for every region worth as a priority market, they have a regional star selling the Big Billion Day sale. Don’t know if the celebrities came in some sale.

    Meanwhile, Flipkart continued with the strongly associated Adult Kid format borrowing the characters of Circuit and Munnabhai for its Rewards Programme.

    Amazon is playing on the brand pull and the past experience of the family as the purchasing unit. And whoever I have spoken with, seems to have a strong perception that the discounts- delivery- experience at Amazon is far better than at Flipkart.

    This, in fact, will be a more significant factor in deciding which way the match swings. Because, people know in India that sale and discount is one thing, delivery, service and protection is something totally different.

     

    THE COMMUNICATIONS.

    AMAZON GREAT INDIAN FESTIVAL SALE

     

    FLIPKART BIG BILLION DAY SALE.

     

    In the past, Flipkart has used their strong Adult Kid format for the Big Billion Day Sale.. But for some reason, most likely it not giving then enough ROI, they have opted for the celebrity safety net.

     

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=FHD_yTkx9Dk

  • I found myself humming the song soon after which is quite an achievement considering most songs and jingles today are like wallpaper…  you hardly notice them, writes Prabhakar Mundkur

    Prabhakar Mundkur: The song “Rishta Wahi. Baat Nayi” from Star Plus has an Earworm

    By Prabhakar Mundkur

     

    Source : youtube.com

     

    When I first walked into an advertising agency as a student and long before I actually joined advertising I still remember seeing a placard on a copywriter’s desk which read “Is there a new way of saying ‘new improved’ ?”   I was reminded of that when Star Plus unveiled their new logo which certainly looked like a new improved version of their earlier logo.  And I would say the same thing about the line “Rishta Wahi. Baat Nayi” which said it was ‘new improved’ but being careful not to stray away too far from its current positioning as a channel. That’s how I would describe it in plain English.   If you went to a flighty innovation consultant however, he might describe it as ‘incremental innovation’. As opposed to ‘evolutionary’ or ‘revolutionary’.

     

    Design agencies have a unique language that only they can use.  It is always flowery, poetic and metaphorical.  One press release I read gave the rationale for the new logo as “the trademark red crystal star with the swoosh, now in gold dust signifying positivity, freshness and celebration of relationships.”

     

    A star cast created the song itself – composed by Ram Sampath and starring Sunidhi Chauhan and Chaandni RMW.  The promo video featured Alia Bhat.

     

     

    The song definitely had an ‘earworm’.  An earworm is defined as a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person’s mind after it is no longer playing. So I found myself humming the song soon after.  That’s quite an achievement considering most songs and jingles today are like wallpaper.  You hardly notice them.  Or otherwise they are easily forgettable.

     

    Vistara: 3 agencies in 3 years

    Source: YouTube

     

    Yes, admittedly relationships are getting shorter.  Both personal and ad agency relationships. But when Vistara announced their third agency partner in three years as FCB Ulka, it came as a bit of a surprise.  For a brand which launched just 3 years ago they seemed to have not done travelled a lot of air miles, they have also done a fair amount of agency miles.  The brand launched with Ogilvy as its partner, then moved to Lowe in August 2016 and now FCB Ulka.

     

    Its last commercial ‘Fly the new Feeling’ with Deepika Padukone focused on the inflight experience. After all airline marketers will tell you that ‘inflight’ accounts for more than 80% of your overall experience of an airlines.  There was nothing special about the commercial itself barring the fact that Deepika fans could admire her for a whole minute.

     

    Somehow the Tatas are not known to change agencies every year.  Which is why it is surprising that Vistara is going through a different agency almost every year of its existence.

     

    Hopefully it is not an indication of the average time clients spend with their ad agencies and just a small aberration.

     

    Dhara Oil #ZaraSaBadlav

     

    Take a guess. Is India made up of more joint families or more nuclear families?  The debate was settled a long time ago with the 2011 Census which recorded over half of India’s households recorded as nuclear. Unfortunately for marketer’s joint families make up just 16% of all households.  And strangely joint families are thriving in urban areas rather than in rural areas. Because migration to urban areas are creating economic pressures that necessitate living in a joint family.

     

    But marketers and creative advertising people can’t resist the idea of making another traditional commercial featuring a joint family, trying out the hackneyed theme of mothers and mothers-in-law living with their children.  The other marketers and advertisers who read too many American marketing theories are chasing millennials which by one estimate has 400 million people. And 400 million people is a universe not a segment.  So, it is a challenge to find so many commonalities in such a large universe as easily as the American marketers are doing it.

     

    But Dhara has decided to go traditional by showing that it is perfectly alright for the girl’s parents to live with her and her in-laws. Wow! That is a huge joint family. Nice message. But only if there were more joint families in the India of today or if joint families were an aspirational view of the future to younger targets.

     

     

    I am not quite sure that today’s youngsters are imagining the perfect future together as living with their parents.

     

     

  • The 40-second ad film portrays her as a fervent shopper who enjoys every moment of the unique 'Try At Home' experience offered to her by the jewellery brand before making her purchase

    Alia Bhat endorses the ‘Try at Home’ experience for Bluestone.com

    By A Correspondent

     

    BlueStone.com has launched a campaign to promote its unique ‘Try At Home’ experience with its new brand ambassador, Alia Bhatt. The 360-degree campaign focuses on the brand’s proposition with a touch of enticement from Bollywood’s next generation superstar.

     

    The TVC has been conceptualized and executed by Contract Advertising in association with Dharma 2.0 and the music has been directed by Abhishek Arora.

     

    Speaking on the campaign launch, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder and CEO, BlueStone.com said, “Our ‘Try At Home’ service has helped us connect with our customers at a personal level, raising the bar on the overall jewellery shopping experience. Over 20% of our consumers shop from us by trying on the jewellery at the comfort of their homes and we intend to boost this unique service further. Alia’s role as a vivacious and style conscious shopper, perfectly complements the profile of our young and dynamic consumers, who will identify with her experience.”

     

    Added Ashish Chakravarty- National Creative Director, Contract Advertising: “When we were told about BlueStone’s try at home service the ladies at the agency wasted no time in requesting for a trial. There was a conference room full of girls and jewellery, all in the name of research of course. Their delight and excitement at the gold coming over is what led us to this fun space of Alia goofing around with jewellery in complete privacy. Something one can’t do in a showroom under the glare of sales people and spotlights. The styling, Alia’s effortless charm and of course the awareness of the service via this spot will have a lot of fine jewellery home delivered and tried on in the near future, we feel sure.”