By Sanjeev Kotnala
On World Social media Day, Brooke Bond Red Label tea film toasted tea as the Original Social Network of the country. The advertisement went viral over current social media platforms. The timing was just right.
Naturally, films like this had varied reactions. The public quickly recognised the insight and smiled at the contextual placing of the social media terms with relevant visuals of people consuming tea. The people associated with advertising, marketing and communication had polarised reactions. Some liked and appreciated it, and many questioned the strategy behind it, the purpose it aimed to solve and what it can achieve for the brand.
The Red Label Original Social Network Of India.
The film is a kaleidoscopic collage of slice-of-life situations where tea is the conversation facilitator. The Brooke Bond Red label film is well-made, and the voice-over is excellent. It is only a smart contextual justification of the social media terms with making and sharing of tea.
Now, the brand presenting ‘Tea as India’s Favourite Social Network’ seems an obvious statement and not an insight. But any brand could have explored it. The truth is, no one did it before Red Label. Some regions in the country may debate and suggest coffee or hard drinks as the favourite social network or platform, but that is a story yet to be explored.
Red Label film does bring a smile. Everyone loves the film! That’s where the problem starts.
Red Label Film Lacks Strong Branding.
The branding is not a strong point of the film. In most cases, the audience misses the brand. Few associated it with Tata Tea which keeps doing fresh creatives on relevant subjects like Climate change. However, the brand tonality is different. A lot many associated it with Wagh-Bakri for the film tonality; watch Rishto Ki Garmahat.
It is unacceptable for any brand unless this is a one-off attempt with low media weights and cost of creative. Maybe it is the ‘Brooke Bond Red Label’ push in category development. However, the film does nothing. It was more like the better-made AV that agencies used to present in Annual Review Board in the 1990s.
Different Take Over ‘Red Label’- The Original Social Network Of India
A few of the advertising veterans did believe that the Red Label, the Original Social Network Platform of the country, is a brilliant piece of communication. The brand Red label has been all about Desh ka pyala in their communication, like Hospital, Dooriyo Mai aapnapan, Hindu-Muslim bridge, and Swad Apnepan ka are full of warmth and bringing people together. The social network film is a contemporary representation of the same. It still works under the larger umbrella of ‘Swad Aapnepanka’.
The brand uses contemporary situations and relevance in life while holding on to the old charm. The earlier advertisement Surprise Visit is one such example after all “kuch gharon ki chai mein apnepan ka swad hota hai.”
Generation Gap In Reactions.
The newer generation sees nothing much in the film. Exploring and exploiting the emotions linked with drinking tea and layering it with social network terminology. That’s it and they find nothing great in it. Yes, it brings a smile; that is all the brand gets from this interaction.
The older generation gets a superiority complex of not missing much and enjoying their non-tech social networking over cups of tea.
Communication can hardly make tea contemporary and increase consumption! However, the new generation objects to advertising, emotionalising every bit of brand interaction. Someone said it best; why should it always be about ‘bleed the heart, bring out the tears’? Why can’t it be more playful and happy?
Net-Net
It is an excellent AV, something one could be proud of presenting at the annual review boards, press meets and maybe at the tea drinker club. It merely stops at raising a toast to tea on World Social Media Day- attempting to contemporise and present tea as the original social network platform. Nothing more, nothing less. The audience expects more from Red Label and the agency.
Thank god the brand is not preachy and has moved from its past folly of Kumbh – where elders can get lost- intentionally or unintentionally.
At Cannes 2016, it won for Mindshare the coveted Grand Prix Glass Lion. A year later, India’s first transgender band, the Brooke Bond Red Label 6-Pack Band performed live at Cannes, its first in an international arena.