Rediffusion has announced that Kaevan Umrigar has joined its Mumbai office as Executive Creative Director. In a career spanning more than two decades, Umrigar has been both a writer and a filmmaker, and has worked with advertising agencies like Contract, Everest and Dentsu Aegis on brands such as Cadbury, Hidesign, IFB, BPL, Business Standard, Indian Navy and Fair & Lovely.
Kaevan’s documentaries on the Parsi community have been showcased at various international film festivals and won a National Award. A local history buff, he has also co-authored a book and several articles on Mumbai’s history and heritage.
Said Kalyani Srivastava, Executive Vice-President and Head of Rediffusion, Mumbai: “Kaevan is a multi-faceted personality with interests that go beyond just advertising. He is fun to work with. Has a wry sense of humour. And that reflects in his work which most times has a sense of effervescence, joy and well-being that is not easy to describe,”
Indian Navy has launched a multimedia campaign aimed at attracting the best talent to join the Navy. The campaign, conceptualised and executed by Carat Communications, comprises two 60-sec TVCs, seven follow-up 30-sec TVCs, OOH, radio and digital. The campaign takes forward the ‘Ocean of opportunities’ theme of the previous Navy campaign, also created by Carat Communications. The campaign talks about working with the Navy which constantly offers more on every parameter and thereby influencing career choices amongst young men and women of today.
With a gamut of career choices now opening up for the Indian youth in the private sector, the defence services have a difficult task in attracting the best talent to become officers. The objective, therefore, was to present the Navy as a career option that offers something extra – the privileges of working with cutting-edge defence technology, the satisfaction of serving the nation, the pride of being a naval officer.
The brief to the agency was to project the Navy as a modern technological force in the forefront of extending Indian influence across the oceans, offering fulfilling careers at sea, on land and in the air.
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The most credible ambassador for the Indian Navy to talk to the youth is the naval officer. Therefore, they are the faces of the campaign. They voice their reasons for joining the Navy, the fulfilment of their expectations, their security for their future.
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The two 60 seconders show Navy officers preparing for duty, donning their uniforms. Their voiceovers describe their motivation to join the Navy, the role they play in the country’s defence and the tangibles and intangibles they get in return. Intercut with their preparations, are shots of the Navy in all its aspects and in all its glory, that sync with what the voiceovers are describing. The films end with the Navy officers exhorting the youth to follow in their footsteps. “The Navy gives you more,†is their message.
R. Ravi Shankar
The seven 30-seconders talk about the different values the Navy imparts to its officers. These values are once again fronted and voiced by officers. Each film takes a single letter that unites these values. E.g. Ability, Action, Authority; Confidence, Courage, Career; Desire, Duty, Destiny; etc. Again, the sign-off is “The Navy gives you more.â€
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Commenting on the campaign, R. Ravi Shankar, National Head, Carat Communications said, ‘It was an absolute privilege to work on a campaign of this size and scale for the Indian Navy. The campaign is essentially about how the Navy scores favourably on every parameter that the youth of today seek in their career of choice. We used our proprietary research tools to zero in on these parameters and discussed them at length with senior officers in the Navy before translating them into creative. The result is a 360 degree campaign that not only builds on our already established ‘An ocean of opportunities’ theme but also projects facts about a career in the Navy, which make it such an attractive and unique option.â€
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Kaevan Umrigar
“We decided to keep it simple and show the Navy for what it is, and the officers for who they are. Let them speak for themselves. Our objective was simple – “rongte khade hone chahiyeâ€. When youngsters consider the armed forces, we want the Navy to be first on their list,†added Kaevan Umrigar, creative head, Carat Communications.
Zahir Mirza
“We lived on an aircraft carrier like a sailor to shoot mid-seas action. We shot inside warships, submarines, and fighter aircrafts. There are no rehearsals when you are shooting warships in action. The film-making challenge was to produce Hollywood-style war film images while shooting in a documentary mode,†said Zahir Mirza, Producer and Director, Labradog Films.
