MUMBAI: We are a culture that has always placed a premium on intellectual pursuits rather than athletic ones. In this culture, fitness and sports enthusiasts have always been considered unusual, sometimes even aberrations. With their passion often misunderstood and commitment questioned by everyone around them, it is hard to imagine the source of their unbreakable determination. Their passion demands of them a tough disciplined life and a lifestyle that cannot be compromised with, particularly the nutritional aspect.
By leveraging these rich insights straight from the lives of fitness and sports enthusiasts, MuscleBlaze celebrates their spirit and ‘never-say-die’ attitude and supplements their efforts by catering to their distinct nutritional requirement.
The hard-hitting digital campaign – Ziddi Hoon Main – created by the DDB Mudra Group, positions MuscleBlaze as the expert that not only provides enthusiasts with their dietary requirements but also understands their life and challenges. The brand understands that the force that drives fitness enthusiasts to go against the grain every single day in pursuit of their passion, is their own indomitable spirit.
The visuals are shot in dingy gyms, hard and unforgiving play arenas, both indoors and outdoors, where these fitness enthusiasts sweat silently without giving in to the questions hurled at them. What stands out in the film is not only the challenges that it portrays but also the diversity of people who identify as fitness enthusiasts. There are prevalent biases against women, senior individuals, differently-abled individuals when it comes to athleticism and the film highlights these biases as well. At the end, it is a celebration of the victory of passionate and adamant individuals and their unbending will against all odds.
With a staggering response on digital, the film has garnered 1.4 million views on Facebook and half a million on YouTube and Instagram, well within the first three days of its release.
Muscleblaze CEO and founder Sameer Maheshwari says, “Muscleblaze is committed to connect and communicate meaningfully with fitness enthusiasts. We believe “Zidd” as a concept will strike an instant chord with fitness consumers and strengthen Muscleblaze position as a leading sports nutrition brand in India.”
Muscleblaze business head Amit Tandon mentions, “This campaign is a step ahead in our endeavour to establish Muscleblaze as a brand that truly understands fitness consumers. Every fitness enthusiast is stubborn to an extent to achieve his fitness goals and Ziddi Hoon Main brings out this insight via a stylised and classily crafted AV.”
“The brand team had just come off a huge hit with ‘tum nahin samjhoge’. The benchmark had been set. But more importantly we felt that it was time to lay down a platform that can be ownable and on which we could build the brand. Zidd, is that platform and we believe is easily extendable to both internal as well as external audiences,” adds DDB Mudra Group chief creative technologist Brijesh Jacob.
Abhijit Avasthi: The media had a field day when Ogilvy & Mather chief creative officer Abhjit Avasthi put in his papers out of the blue last year. The mystery was unravelled six months later, when Avasthi announced his new creative solutions start-up Sideways, of which he is a co-founder. Aimed to be a multi-dimensional creative solutions provider, Avasthi even gave an open invitation to professionals from different industries to join his new venture.
Ajay Chacko and B Saikumar: Industry veterans and Network18 associates, who severed ties with company almost at the same time, came together after a long time to team up with media and broadcasting veteran Ronnie Screwvala to form a new digital media company called Arré. The venture aims at establishing a digital brand, which will offer multi-genre¬, multi-lingual content across video, audio, text and other traditional and new age art forms.
Barkha Dutt: Media professional or not, there is hardly anyone unfamiliar with this veteran journalist, who anchors NDTV’s prime time shows. Therefore, her announcement to quit the news network as an editor to start her own digital multi-media company has saddened several fans of Dutt – the reporter. As she firmed up plans for her new venture, she moved to the role of consulting editor for the news channel, while remaining closely associated as the anchor for The Buck Stops Here on weeknights and We The People on weekends.
Cyrus Oshidar: Former MTV man, who is known for his involvement with iconic shows such as MTV Bakra, Roadies, et al, made a comeback this year with what he does best – telling stories about young urban India. Through videos, photos and tongue-in cheek style of articles, branded content start-up 101 India is designed to be the window to open-minded listless and creative millennials and what they find interesting.
Gaurav Seth: Those who have known Gaurav Seth as the senior vice president of Sony Entertainment Television did a double take when he ended his relationship of over six years with the broadcast network to co-found Purple Canvas. Fresh in the picture, this new content creating start-up already has its first television series underway.
Nitin Suri and Chraneeta Mann: When two highly creative individuals get together, the combination always leads to creation and that’s exactly what happened when former Dentsu national creative director Suri and Rediffusion Y&R national creative director Mann joined hands to form The Mob. Funded by the wholly owned subsidiary of Mogae Media, the venture aimed to marry television commercials and content with mobile phones.
Prakash Nathan: This former UTV Disney India operations head and UTV Motion Pictures vice president too recently rolled out India’s first ever digital media market titled CineMArkets Digital Solutions along with partners Girish Kumar and Inkswipe Consulting LLP. Backed by his experience of two decades, Nathan is already leading this CineMArket into new avenues.
Prashant Bhatt: Colors fiction head Prashant Bhatt, best known for shows likeMadhubala and Udaan, surprised one and all in the first half of the year by venturing into production. Bhatt launched the new production house – Studio B&M – along with his business partner and cinematographer Sanjay Memane. The one year old production house is already slated to produce Mastaangi for Channel V.
Pratap Bose: As the DDB Mudra Group chief operating officer, Bose helmed several path breaking projects and even donned the hat of the Ad Club president. Therefore his decision to take on the role of an entrepreneur and start his own creative agency – The Social Street came as a surprise to the industry at large. His former colleagues and associates Mandeep Malhotra, Arjun Reddy and Pradeep Uppalapati were quick at his heel, and joined his new venture as partners.
S Yesudas: The most recent executive to join the start-up bandwagon is former managing director of Vizeum India and media expert S Yesudas. Along with partners Ajit Nair of MX Advertising and Amit Tripathi from IdeateLabs, Yesudas plans to disrupt the current industry with their ‘unagancy,’ which is christened triggerbridge. From the way the agency is spelled to its operational objectives, triggerbridge comes across as having an innovative and modern outlook towards the current advertising space.
