MxMIndia

Tag: FCB Ulka

  • Home buying is still a long struggle accentuated by problems such as tedious booking procedures, lack of trust, no transparency

    FCB Ulka Digital and Tata Value Homes unveil ‘One Nation One Price’ proposition

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tata Value Homes Ltd. (TVHL) along with FCB Ulka Digital has pioneered the journey of online home booking with Tata Value Homes. Leveraging on the opportunity of festive season and championing the e-commerce route, Tata Value Homes launched the first-ever e-commerce portal for buying homes with a retail pricing proposition of One Nation One Price. So far over 300 homes have been booked within just few days of the launch.

     

    For decades the behaviour and method of buying homes in India has remained the same. Home buying is still a long struggle accentuated by problems such as tedious booking procedures, lack of trust, no transparency, etc.

     

    Keeping these challenges in mind, a year back, FCB Ulka Digital with Tata Value Homes embarked upon this online journey of facilitating house buying. The communication objective during the festive campaign was to reinforce this convenient and innovative method of buying homes online.

     

    To give further impetus to the idea, the team promoted India’s First Real Estate Website for buying homes. This website for the first time ever sold houses across cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune at the same price on the theme – One Nation, One Price.

     

    The campaign received an overwhelming response with thousands of users showing interest in the campaign leading to an online sale of over 300 houses. “Evolution of Indian consumer over the years to embrace the e-commerce platforms has opened up the market for consumers across the globe. With the increasing internet penetration, this new platform builds on the vision of being the largest provider of homes. We believe this will enhance the overall experience of the consumer in completing his online home buying experience”, shared Brotin Banerjee – MD & CEO Tata Housing.

     

    Commenting on the success, Satish Ramachandran, Sr. Vice President of FCB Ulka Digital said, “We have always believed digital can work wonders for brands and this campaign testifies the same. It introduces a whole new behavioral change amongst the customers, thus changing the marketing trend in the real estate segment.”

     

  • He looks forward to some great opportunities and help raise the creative bar on our key clients

    FCB Ulka appoints Tushar Pal as Creative Director

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tushar Pal

    Tushar Pal has joined FCB Ulka as Creative Director. Tushar has over 12 years of experience in mainline advertising. He started his career at Euro RSCG (now Havas), and thereafter has had successful stints at Mudra, Leo Burnett, Rediffusion Y&R and Ogilvy.

     

    Over the years, he has worked on brands like Onida, Godrej, Future Group, HDFC Bank, Sony Entertainment Network, Sony Max, Zandu, Times Group, Air India, McDonald’s, LG and Vodafone to name a few.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Tushar said “I’m very excited to work on FCB Ulka’s vast portfolio of clients. I look forward to some great opportunities and help raise the creative bar on our key clients.”

     

    Haresh (Harry) Moorjani, Executive Creative Director, FCB Ulka said, “We are happy to have Tushar on board. He brings with him diverse experience on a varied set of brands. We look forward to him adding value to an important set of accounts he is aligned to.”

     

  • While creatives elsewhere will create a furore, Indian counterparts seem to grin and bear it

    Why do Indian agencies turn a blind idea to Idea Thiefs?

     

    By Shephali Bhatt

     

    Caution:The tone of this article is slightly harsh. In our defence, if you are in advertising you had it coming.

     

    Under ordinary circumstances, you empathise with a victim. Not with the Indian advertising industry, at least not this time. Why not? Because for the longest while now, agencies who claim to be problem solvers haven’t figured out how to prevent a basic issue that mars their existence: the theft of ideas at pitches.

     

    A few weeks ago, we had an anonymous senior adman pen a much discussed column about idea theft. It’s this convenient thing clients do as agencies present their most ‘groundbreaking’ work. They adopt (read: steal) ideas that catch their fancy without so much as a by your leave.

     

     

    The Legalese Simplified

    – Ideas cannot be protected under any law pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR).

    – Copyrights protect expression of an idea. Patents protect inventions.

    – But, an agency can enter into an agreement with a client whereby he’d be bound to keep information given at the time of pitching confidential.

    – While industries like cinema, music, photography have strong unions safeguarding the creative folks rights, ideas are not protected under IPR anywhere. Only its embodiment in a tangible form can be protected.

    – The best way forward for a creative in any field is to be wise about their sales pitch.

    – If you’re a lyricist, share a stanza; a musician, share a tune; a scriptwriter, share a chapter.

    – And if you’re an adman, show your past work to the client or sign an NDA before showing speculative work.

    – If you are desperate, God save you.

     

    Inputs by Rahul Chaudhry, managing partner at Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, an Intellectual Property law firm)

     

    Some other agency gets to work on the campaign and soon Agency No 1 is staring at a YouTube video, now gone viral, that keeps clocking like after like. Leaving its staffers seething in impotent rage and the desire to scrawl ‘Hey, this was my idea’ in the comments thread.

     

    If this sounds distressingly familiar, look no further than the mirror while trying to find people to blame. First, agencies don’t do their homework. All clients aren’t cut from the same righteous cloth.

     

    There are Bermuda Triangles of the marketing world, who have a reputation for idea shopping. It was something a large Indian conglomerate was frequently accused off especially given its close ties with a particular agency. But typically, such clients opt for whoever quotes the lowest. And yet, pitch after pitch, ad shops go in all guns blazing, their finest creative minds working overtime, effectively delivering their best ideas free of charge.

     

    Mostly, the idea gets mutated by the time it comes to fruition so the original agency often finds its ownership hard to prove. To quote a few instances, the preorder strategy, a digital queue for the launch of a fast food chain in India was supposedly presented by an agency that didn’t get the account.

     

    A knit-wear brand is notorious for idea shopping. A creative head remembers writing a campaign for the Ministry of Tourism once. He didn’t win the account but one of his lines showed up in the final campaign. 8 out of 10 creative directors have been on the receiving end of this unabashed thievery of ideas.

     

    On the other hand, there are the rare cases of magnanimous clients like VIP who compensated an agency for using a modified version of its brand name suggestion for a new line of women’s bags – Caprese.

     

    Idea theft, like many advertising grievances, isn’t confined to India. Remember the #ShareACoke campaign? A veteran adwallah told us that when the original idea (by O&M, Sydney) was adapted by another agency in a different market, the Australian network agency created a mini uproar and got compensated. Good for them if that’s what actually happened. And what do their Indian counterparts do? Nothing. Actually, they discuss it grudgingly over a pint or few of beer.

     

    So, next to nothing would be more like it. The conversation brings about life-altering thoughts like – If the client can make us sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), why can’t we do the same? Legally, they can. But with agencies shying away from asking for a meagre fee hike, the chances of them demanding an NDA are slim to none.

     

    With undercutting and declining margins, agencies are under so much pressure to achieve topline, they can’t afford to say no to any fresh stream of revenue or upset a marketer by bringing up the NDA. The last thing anyone wants is the reputation of being a difficult agency.

     

    “The irony of it all is that despite being the biggest supplier of ideas, we have no command over our own product,” laments Anil Nair, CEO and managing partner of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. The client knows agencies are desperate for new business. If he is unscrupulous, he will take advantage of the situation. It’s a sign of a shortsighted client though, says Ajay Kakar, CMO, Aditya Birla Group – financial services, to relinquish Lord Krishna for his army. We know how that panned out.

     

    Nonetheless, it’s the agency network that should boycott such clients. So, why haven’t the doyens of this industry done anything to check these defaulters? “It’s because most of our senior leaders are on extension and they don’t give a damn about where this industry is headed,” says Satbir Singh, managing partner and CCO of Havas Worldwide India.

     

    You have people who should’ve retired two years ago, getting paid a crore annually. Why would they risk anything? Rather why do they need to risk it for something that in most cases doesn’t even concern them? Celebrated creatives are typically insulated from this phenomenon; it’s mainly the mid-level creative who often ends up feeling violated. Ideas are likely to build his career and the stuff histories are made of.

     

    The agency ecosystem needs to safeguard these or run the risk of losing talent to another industry (a fad plaguing advertising but that’s for another edition). The AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India) says it’s working towards protecting ideas.

     

    While the call for a pitch fee went nowhere – rumour has it that agencies keen to pitch coughed up the fee themselves – in the last few years; they are looking to revisit pitch guidelines along with the ISA (Indian Society of Advertisers), shares MG Parameswaran, the association’s president and the advisor to FCB Ulka.

     

    The NDA clause will be a part of the revised guidelines, we’re told. So, when do we get this revised charter, we ask? In about three to four months, says Nagesh Alai, chairman of the legal wing. Until then, and maybe even after then, it’s open season on ideas.

     

  • Hero aims to strike a chord with football fans and harp on the unbiased unity which the sport brings to the table

    FCB Ulka conceptualises new campaign for Hero ISL

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hero has unveiled a new campaign for ISL. With this new campaign, conceptualised by FCB Ulka, Hero aims to strike a chord with football fans and harp on the unbiased unity which the sport brings to the table.

     

    The idea was to break the notion that football is a boy’s game and to get girls to live the spirit of football. In order to set the idea in motion and establish connect with the youth, Hero Maestro and Hero Pleasure have been specifically highlighted. The quintessential boyish charm associated with Maestro and the norm-breaking, free-bird attitude of Pleasure have been brought to life to convey the message that football belongs to all. Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt will be depicting the two opposite attitudes.

     

    Set to a fast paced, peppy track, the commercial opens with Ranbir Kapoor and his gang of boys playing around with a football along with their Maestro scooters. The momentum of the game leads them to a place where they are confronted by Alia and her gang of girls with their Pleasure scooters. Here, the commercial breaks the notion that football is not just a boy’s game through a challenge – “let’s play”, thrown by Alia to Ranbir’s gang and they complement the challenge with some freestyle football tricks of their own. The boys state that football is “a boy thing” while Alia’s challenge delves into the saying “Why should boys have all the fun?” – thus resulting in making football bigger as a game than it’s actually perceived to be. The unblemished rivalry between the two sexes blends seamlessly with the football fever in this commercial.

     

    As the title sponsor of ISL, Hero aims to use the commercial to voice its involvement with the game and use this occasion to bring youth together to cheer for the game and break the notions of a stronger and weaker sex.

     

    Sanjay Sharma, Group Creative Director, FCB-Ulka Delhi, said, “We wanted to use football as an enabler of youth unification with a very lighthearted and playful approach, using brand Hero as a driver for this unification.”

     

  • The global campaign, revolves around celebrating the real moments of people who truly live in Levi's

    FCB Ulka creates campaign for Levi’s new Commuter range

    By A Correspondent

     

    Denim brand Levi’s has launched its newest collection for the urban commuter – the Levi’s Commuter series. Focused on form and function, the Levi’s Commuter collection is intelligently designed to suit the needs of urban commuters. Some hero products of the collection include hooded truckers jackets, woven shirts, jersey tees, the iconic 5-pocket jeans and city trousers. The commercial, conceptualized by FCB Ulka Bangalore, carries forward the global brand philosophy: ‘Live in Levi’s’. The global campaign, revolves around celebrating the real moments of people who truly live in Levi’s.

     

    Sanjay Purohit, Managing Director, South Asia, Levi Strauss & Co said, “The Commuterâ„¢ line in India has been specially created for urban commuters who use the metro, the local trains or motorbikes. It is made of stretchable, water resistant and odor resistant fabric, with reflective tapes for better visibility at night. We have captured the unique benefits of this product in our latest campaign in a manner that is relevant to our consumers. Levi’s® Commuterâ„¢ brings together form and function in a product line that truly enables our consumer to Live in Levi’s®.”

     

    This TVC captures the commute of a musician from his home to the recording studio and the hurdles the streets have for him. The TVC highlights the practical benefits of the Levi’s® Commuterâ„¢ range as the protagonist rides through busy traffic, travels in a metro, and even walks in the rain to reach the studio. He does all this with ease and style, thanks to Levi’s® Commuterâ„¢.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Dennis Koshy, Vice President, FCB Ulka, Bangalore, said “Levi’s® has always been about being true to oneself and being effortless. Now, Levi’s® brings product innovation through functionality to the table with the Levi’s® Commuterâ„¢ line. The challenge was to retain the iconic imagery of Levi’s® while highlighting functionality in an engaging manner’.”

     

     

  • The brand has arrived at a stage where it needed to broad base the thought and appeal to larger audience

    Dark Fantasy takes ‘Live your moment’ thought further with new TVC

    By A Correspondent

     

    FCB Ulka Bangalore has unveiled a new TVC for Sunfeast Dark Fantasy. The TVC is about celebrating little accomplishments or idiosyncrasies of oneself.

     

    The film is set in a fashion studio, where the protagonist (fashion designer) is working on her creation. The pack, which is the other character in the film, is patiently waiting and singing to the beautiful lady. Once done with her work, our woman turns to the pack and celebrates the accomplishment with it. The jingle is the soul of the film. It gives the brand a voice, bringing it to life.

     

    On the rationale behind the thought, Dennis Koshy, Vice President – FCB Ulka Bangalore, said “Dark Fantasy has already established its unique offering and image in consumer’s mind. The brand has arrived at a stage where we need to broad base the thought and appeal to larger audience. ‘Live your moment’ as a thought takes the brand forward beautifully.”

     

    Dharmesh Shah, Creative Director – FCB Ulka, Bangalore, expressed, “This film is a candid exploration of self-discovery – finding joy in the little, unguarded moments. What’s unique about this film is that the product is seamlessly playing the role of a character integral to the story. Because the only two characters in the film are the girl and the pack.”

     

  • The aim is to win hearts of the youth and become their most loved smartphone brand

    FCB executes new campaign for Obi Mobiles

    By A Correspondent

     

    FCB Ulka has crafted a new campaign for latest entrant in the smartphone market, Obi Mobiles. OBI Mobiles has ambitious plans for India and are looking at leadership position by being a one-of-a-kind smartphone player. Their aim is to win hearts of the youth and become their most loved smartphone brand.

     

    Ajay Sharma, CEO, Obi Mobiles, said, “In a market cluttered with innumerable brands offering the latest in technology, the challenge for us was to find a unique space for ourselves. While everyone is selling features we decided to create a brand the youth can relate to. With this objective in mind the current campaign projects Obi as the brand which is out there to celebrate individuality, without ever being judgemental.”

     

    If you look at mobile communication today it is largely focussed on features and product usage. Hence, Obi decided to break out of the template and let people make their own choice without being preachy. And with this in mind, FCB Ulka came up with the brand thought “Whoever you are“. A philosophy that illustrates how Obi celebrates every individual, as he/she is. And to bring it alive, FCB Ulka has created two brand films with a unique creative device. The films show people with animal heads. Why animals? Animals are simple to understand, honest, fun and always real. They don’t wear masks, they are who they are. So they were a natural fit.

     

    In one of the films, the protagonist is a black sheep of the family. A little different from the others. He does not try to fit with the crowd but acts himself around people. Instead of being bogged down, he is comfortable in his own skin of a black sheep.

     

    In the second film, the protagonist is a chameleon at her work place. The story revolves around her being her normal self. A little moody. A lot of fun, bold and proudly herself.

     

    Commenting on the TVC, Vasudha Misra, Sr. Creative Director, FCB Ulka, said “Advertising in the phone category seems like it’s all coming from the same place. With the phone at the front, back and centre of the communication. We wanted to keep our communication as distinct as our product. For Obi, more than anything, we wanted to establish a tone and a vibe that lends itself to all elements, even the logo. A unique one that people will be able to spot and recognise without waiting for the product window.”

     

    Obi is the latest entrant in the Indian smartphone market and is promoted by Inflexion Point, a globally focused IT supply chain company co-founded by John Sculley (former Apple CEO) and Neeraj Chauhan (Global Distribution Entrepreneur).

     

  • The commercial aims at empowering the consumers to make instant flights and hotel bookings from anywhere, anytime and redeem themselves when stuck in an awkward situation

    FCB Ulka campaign for MakeMyTrip’s mobile app

    By A Correspondent

     

    Growing beyond just providing voice calls, text messages, games and music, mobile devices have now also become the preferred choice to do online bookings. Though the mobile phone is convenient in many ways yet sometimes it puts us in sticky situations. Bringing on this insight that phone can put you in trouble, FCB Ulka has come up with its new TVC for the MakeMyTrip mobile app.

     

    The commercial aims at empowering the consumers to make instant flights and hotel bookings from anywhere, anytime and redeem themselves when stuck in an awkward situation.

     

    Mohit Gupta, Chief Business & Marketing Officer, MakeMyTrip, said “Mobile is the perfect channel for a travel company to provide real value to the customer and create higher engagement by enabling an easy travel-booking experience. Mobile provides a smoother user experience, increased personalization and allows faster access to relevant information. The film exhibits how MakeMyTrip mobile app provides instant bookings and cancellations of flights and hotels from anywhere.”

     

    The latest TVC is about a husband who is getting ready for taking a trip to Bangkok. His wife asks if the family can join him but he is insistent that it’s an official trip he and cannot take them. In the midst of their conversation they get interrupted by his friend’s call. Since he is busy getting ready he asks his son to put the call on speaker. The friend goes on talking about how efficiently he managed to fool wife into believing that it is an official trip, while in reality they are going to Bangkok to have fun.

     

    The commercial closes with the thought that if a mobile can put you in trouble then it can save you from trouble as well. Panicking, the husband asks for the solution which is the MakeMyTrip mobile app and cancel his current booking and re-book a trip for his entire family instantly.

     

    Commenting on the TVC, Sanjay Tandon – Chief Operating Officer, FCB Ulka said, “Life is really really on the go nowadays. So are travel plans that seize us at a moment’s notice. That is a key role that we are sure makemytrip’s mobile app will fulfil. And we needed to present that in an unexpected burry way.”

     

  • The new TVC created by FCB Ulka gets the message across, by highlighting the app cleverly

    FCB Ulka highlights ‘Shake Feature’ for Snapdeal

    By A Correspondent

     

    Smartphones have empowered consumers to shop on the go, at a time convenient to them. This calls for a shift in focus to a more tech savvy way of shopping i.e. via a mobile phone. But how do online retailers get consumers to download their mobile app instead of the competition? One way of course, is to innovate and introduce new features and thereby create a superior shopping experience. Snapdeal’s Shake Feature does exactly that. The new TVC created by FCB Ulka gets the message across, by highlighting the app cleverly.

     

    Keeping the quirkiness that is the hallmark of Snapdeal’s communication, the Shake Feature TVC, crafted by FCB Ulka, shows the protagonist (played by actor Pulkit Samrat) dancing at a colorful Indian wedding. Every time he does a shake with his smartphone in hand, he is given money by an enthusiastic relative in the wedding party. The voice over meanwhile tells the viewers that using Shake Feature is a sure shot way to get additional discounts from Snapdeal.

     

    Sachin Das Burma, Group Creative Director, FCB Ulka, commented on the campaign “The shake feature is a new thing and we wanted the communication to demonstrate this in an interesting manner, without losing out on the entertainment quotient and slice of life situation that has been our attempt for all work we do on snapdeal. I think we have managed to achieve that.”

     

    Sandeep Komaravelly, Vice President Marketing, Snapdeal.com, said, “The smartphone has become an extremely important medium to reach out to our customers. 50% of our transactions on Snapdeal.com come via our mobile app. The Shake feature is an innovative step to amplify the user experience while shopping on the mobile application. The customers will be able to avail exciting offers on diverse range of 4 lakh products across 6000+ brands.”

     

  • Alia Bhatt is the new face of the brand and the TVC portrays her in her fun loving, confident and adventurous avatar

    FCB Ulka conceptualises new TVC for Hero Pleasure

    Hero MotoCorp has unveiled its latest TV commercial for Pleasure, the 100cc, light and zippy scooter. The commercial has been conceptualized by FCB Ulka, and features new sensation Alia Bhatt.

     

    Hero had led the way a few years back to establish the scooter category for women with Pleasure and it has managed to carry forward its strength consistently through thought provoking advertising over the years.

     

    The ‘Why should boys have all the fun’ platform with this new campaign takes a leap further where the scooter is not just a commute or enabler of fun but it is the fun. The television comes from the thought when it comes to enjoying the thrill of riding, why should boys have all the fun.

     

    Alia Bhatt is the new face of the brand and the TVC portrays her in her fun loving, confident, adventurous avatar which matches with the personality of the scooter as well. The TVC shows her enjoying her time with her partner, the pleasure scooter in the lovely locales of Kulu Manali.

     

    Vasudha Misra, Senior Creative Director, FCB Ulka Delhi, said, “Hero Pleasure is all about putting girls on an even keel with boys. From being a vehicle that helps women ‘go places’ we wanted to evolve it into a vehicle of pleasure. Hence, the idea of why should guys be the only ones to ride purely for the fun of it. Also, the role of music was extremely important in the concept. Indian rap has, fairly or unfairly, got a misogynistic image. So we purposely used rap, and a light-hearted banter between a guy and girl, to drive home to message.”

     

    Sharad Mathur, Vice President, FCB Ulka Delhi, said, “The TVC is aimed at breaking the stereotypes in the Indian society about girls not able to go out and live life as boys do. The communication showcases the protagonist enjoying the thrill of riding the all the new Hero Pleasure, lending credence to the brand philosophy that the young girl of today can go out and have fun just the way she wants and how she wants. Hero Pleasure is the scooter of the young confident girl of today who believes in fun, mischief and independence. And Alia Bhatt, the youth icon, captures this attitude perfectly. Her charm, vibrancy and naughty but nice image brings alive the proposition of the brand – Why should boys have all the fun?”

     

  • While the new commercial carries forward the core brand promise of younger looking skin, there is a social message that is weaved in as well

    FCB Ulka essays core brand promise via new TVC for Santoor

    By A Correspondent

     

    FCB Ulka has unveiled a new campaign for Santoor, the flagship brand of Wipro Enterprises Ltd. that showcases a different facet of the Santoor woman’s personality. The spotlight is on her desire to be more than just a beautiful face and make a real difference to her world. While the new commercial carries forward the core brand promise of younger looking skin, which has been the cornerstone of Santoor communication for over 25 years, there is a social message that is weaved in as well.

     

    The TVC conceptualised by FCB Ulka begins with the protagonist noticing some kids playing on their PSPs or video games in a basketball court. She is disappointed that kids today have forgotten to play real games and are completely hooked on to impersonal virtual games. The protagonist starts playing basketball herself and attracts the kids’ attention. The kids are sufficiently intrigued and leave their video games to join her. Two women onlookers who have been seeing this scene play out are in awe of the protagonist’s beauty and they mistake her for a college student who is encouraging kids to play a real game. They are completely taken aback when she eventually turns out to be a mother.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Dennis Koshy, Vice President – FCB Ulka, Bangalore, said “The Santoor woman is not just beautiful. She is intelligent, confident and can make a difference to the world around her. The insight that kids play more virtual games than real games these days was used to build a context to communicate this, without letting go of any of the core brand properties”.

     

    On the execution, Dharmesh Shah, Creative Director – FCB Ulka, Bangalore, said “It was the right time for Santoor to celebrate a new celebrity – the Woman. We thought we give her a slightly more social role without getting out of the beauty space in terms of the narrative.”

     

  • The TVC works in tandem with new Packaging, Print, Outdoor and Point-of-sale

    FCB creates new campaign for Sunfeast Marie Light

    By a correspondent

     

    A new commercial created by FCB Ulka marks the relaunch of ITC’s Sunfeast Marie Light Oats. The TVC works in tandem with new Packaging, Print, Outdoor and Point-of-sale.

     

    This animated film brings alive the key ingredients in the product as characters. Oats is portrayed as an energetic woman and wheat grains as a dynamic man, hence bringing alive the ‘lightness’ associated with Sunfeast Marie Light. The choreography captures the sheer emotion of feeling light.

     

    Product attributes like extra added Oats, wheat and extra fibre, crispiness and lightness is woven into the storyline. Music adds to the overall mood and underscores the brand baseline, ‘Eat Light. Live Light’.

     

    According to Dharmesh Shah, Creative Director, FCB Ulka, Bangalore, “The TVC interestingly showcases the coming together of oats, wheat and added fibre and thus adding lightness to the life.  The TVC also portrays the protagonist as being ‘light’ in attitude”