ITV

Tag: Incredible India

  • 2017 – The year of long-format ads

    2017 – The year of long-format ads

    MUMBAI: It’s the beginning of a new year! We are pumped up and optimistic about the year ahead and what new challenges it will throw up for the ever-changing, dynamic, uncertain and fast-evolving advertising industry. But what we are assured of is that we will continue to see some fascinating, some magnificent and a few lousy ads thrown in here and there in 2018 as well.

    Let’s pause for a minute and take a look back at how the ad industry fared last year. The key highlights included — growth of long format films, evolution of six-second ads, brands taking the digital route to connect with consumers and influencer marketing making it big.

    The first thumb rule of advertising that ad honchos vouch for is to understand your audience and engage them with well-written storytelling. But having a 20-second timer noosed around your neck doesn’t allow creative minds to conjure up enthralling stories that build an emotional connect with the consumer while also delivering the product information. The definite advantage of shorter commercials from a media investment POV is that clients can afford to run the spot more often, for a longer period of time.

    But in 2017, long-format ads showed themselves as serious contenders fighting for audience attention. What helped their growth was that both the makers and viewers embraced the magic of long-format storytelling. It was soon known that the engagement in it is higher allowing for better brand building. With television ad rates skyrocketing, marketers took the plunge into the more economical digital bandwagon that allows both freedom of time and creativity. Clients can choose to run an ad between 1-15 minutes or even longer without cost constraints. In an earlier interview with Indiantelevision, Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said that some stories need longer duration and compelling ads will keep the audience hooked.

    There are five ways to buy ad slots digitally—cost per thousand impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), cost per lead (CPL), cost per thousand (CPT) and cost per fixed buy (CPFB) without a minimum or maximum limit. YouTube, arguably the most popular platform for ads, charges per view giving the power to advertisers to choose. Instances of viewers skipping ads before 30 seconds are not counted as a charge.

    Digital ad is usually measured by click-through rate (CTR). CTR is the ratio of the number of times the ad is clicked to the total number of ad impressions. Success cannot be measured by CTR alone because an ad which is viewed but not clicked may still have an impact. Large formats usually attract 1-2 per cent CTR as opposed to small formats, which generate anywhere between 0.5 and 1 per cent.

    Cost per click (CPC), also known as pay per click, is used to direct traffic to websites, where an advertiser pays a publisher only when the ad is clicked. CPC is used to assess the cost effectiveness and profitability of internet marketing. In case of CPC, price for an entertainment content click would be as low as Rs 2 while a high transacting piece of content like travel could be upwards of Rs 30-35.

    2017 witnessed a plethora of brands taking the digital-first long format route right from insurance to FMCG, electronics and e-commerce. The product to be sold either took a step back or was incorporated seamlessly into the story.

    Indiantelevision brings you a compilation of the most touching, memorable and effective brand stories told in a longer ad film, by Indian brands in 2017:

    LG Technical School ad:

    Vicks ad:

    Ghadi detergent ad:

    Kashmir Tourism ad:

    Amazon Diwali ad:

    Kolkata Times Durga Puja ad:

    Parachute Hot oil ad:

    Also read:

    BFSI’s changing communication in the digital era

    Guest column: Ads that didn’t work!

    How iProspect’s Vivek Bhargava foresaw a digital future two decades ago

    The year of sex scandals

  • Jabong’s ‘Be You’ trumpets unique fashion statements

    Jabong’s ‘Be You’ trumpets unique fashion statements

    MUMBAI: A bearded man flaunting an elaborate and glittery nose-ring, a woman donning a shirt as a ‘pagri’, and a man wearing his jacket as pants. Sounds familiar? No? Well, that’s the point. Or at least the ‘statement’ that Jabong is trying to make with its new 2 minute long video that takes its brand statement ‘Be You’ to a whole new level.

     

    Conceptualised by Bates CHI & Partners, the film takes viewers on a picturesque journey of fashion, style, colour and uniqueness, be it through very obvious stereotype breakers or subtle hints at breaking the mould. Whatever be the complicated collective thought behind the campaign, (left to the viewer’s interpretation), it took the production team five days of prep work and a day of shoot at a ‘desi’ Mumbai studio to churn out this 2 minuter. A forty seconds version of the ad will also run as a TV spot. The quick shoot could also be due to availability of dates from London based award winning film, creative & art director Harvey B Brown of the IndiGo Airlines and Incredible India fame, who shot this ad film.

    Breaking down what his vision behind the campaign was and what he saw through his lens, Brown said, “Fashion can be bold and brave and yet be within reach. Through this campaign, I want to break the stereotypes that limit the very creative expression that is needed to make a truly personalized fashion statement. Beauty in advertising is usually defined to fit set criteria. I wanted our styling to be contrarian and inspirational. So you’ll see young men and women wear shirts as colourful turbans, sweatshirts as pants, men’s trousers as women’s jackets, and so on,” said Brown. Apart from the artfully shot frames, what is hard to miss is the semi ethnic trance like music that plays in the background, scored by well-known music composer and Abby winner Sameeruddin. The mandate from the client was simple, or rather there wasn’t any strict mandate to begin with. But there was an idea. “They were not looking at yet another campaign that talks about the great offers, deals, or the range of the ecommerce site’s inventory; or the advantages of online buying,” spoke out Bates CHI & Partners president Asheesh Malhotra. “Jabong clearly wanted the campaign to speak to the youth directly and bring in their perspective of fashion in the limelight. The campaign emphasises on Jabong’s brand statement ‘Be You’ and be comfortable in their own skin. So here was a client more interested in building a brand through a campaign, rather than a short term quarterly goal of sales,” he shared, adding that the campaign talks in language the youth of today speak, a language that is devoid of bias based on gender, size, ethnicity, etc.

    A recent market research done by MTV titled ‘Many Me Project also spoke of the plurality that exists in abundance in today’s Indian youth, a reflection of which can be seen in Jabong’s campaign. “This campaign marks the beginning of a new chapter for Jabong. Youth today are confident, comfortable in their skin and ready to make bold choices. They want to be fashionable, yet not be slaves to a trend. You could be skinny, plus sized, bold, meek, short or tall – but you are who you are – and fashion helps you Be You. This campaign celebrates their choices, and makes our brand philosophy much more relevant in the current context. After strengthening our fundamentals in last few months, we are bringing the focus back to our brand,” said Jabong CEO and MD Sanjeev Mohanty.

    Reiterating the same thoughts, Malhotra elaborated, “Today’s youth have an opinion and they are not afraid to speak it out. And fashion to them is about being comfortable in their own skin and making a statement as well. Otherwise, there really isn’t anything differentiating the many options we have to buy clothes online. You go to Koovs, you go to Myntra, you go to any other site under the sun, and buy the same piece of cloth. What differentiates Jabong is its understanding of the youth’s sense of fashion. Consumers can buy a full cloth and chose to wear just the sleeve, and Jabong is cool with that. That’s what’s ‘Jabong’ about their fashion statement.” This isn’t the first time an online retail brand has opted to take up the ‘bold’ approach. Going bold also has its downside. Trying too hard to steer clear of the stereotypes can be dangerous. It can altogether put you in another box of ‘different for the sake’. “It’s not about rebelling against or for a certain cause. Or forcefully connecting fashion with homosexuality or treatment of pregnant women in our society just for the sake of the stir it will create,” pointed out Malhotra, heavily hinting on Myntra’s ‘Bold Is Beautiful’ campaign.

    Does dressing models in attractive and eye-catchy clothes, and painting them in bold colors achieve that much needed reasoning behind ‘breaking stereotypes’?, we asked Malhotra. “Our focus was fashion and the spectrum that it covers. Sure, there is a lot of extremes shown in the video. We didn’t want to go out of our way to show extremes in fashion, but until and unless we depict a cross section of people with unique fashion sense that is natural for them, we we would miss the nerve of the campaign,” Malhotra justified. Bates CHI & Partners won the account for Jabong’s creative mandate not too long ago in March, and has already planned to go long term with the brand. The agency already has another video in store, shot and ready to be released by first week of July.

  • Jabong’s ‘Be You’ trumpets unique fashion statements

    Jabong’s ‘Be You’ trumpets unique fashion statements

    MUMBAI: A bearded man flaunting an elaborate and glittery nose-ring, a woman donning a shirt as a ‘pagri’, and a man wearing his jacket as pants. Sounds familiar? No? Well, that’s the point. Or at least the ‘statement’ that Jabong is trying to make with its new 2 minute long video that takes its brand statement ‘Be You’ to a whole new level.

     

    Conceptualised by Bates CHI & Partners, the film takes viewers on a picturesque journey of fashion, style, colour and uniqueness, be it through very obvious stereotype breakers or subtle hints at breaking the mould. Whatever be the complicated collective thought behind the campaign, (left to the viewer’s interpretation), it took the production team five days of prep work and a day of shoot at a ‘desi’ Mumbai studio to churn out this 2 minuter. A forty seconds version of the ad will also run as a TV spot. The quick shoot could also be due to availability of dates from London based award winning film, creative & art director Harvey B Brown of the IndiGo Airlines and Incredible India fame, who shot this ad film.

    Breaking down what his vision behind the campaign was and what he saw through his lens, Brown said, “Fashion can be bold and brave and yet be within reach. Through this campaign, I want to break the stereotypes that limit the very creative expression that is needed to make a truly personalized fashion statement. Beauty in advertising is usually defined to fit set criteria. I wanted our styling to be contrarian and inspirational. So you’ll see young men and women wear shirts as colourful turbans, sweatshirts as pants, men’s trousers as women’s jackets, and so on,” said Brown. Apart from the artfully shot frames, what is hard to miss is the semi ethnic trance like music that plays in the background, scored by well-known music composer and Abby winner Sameeruddin. The mandate from the client was simple, or rather there wasn’t any strict mandate to begin with. But there was an idea. “They were not looking at yet another campaign that talks about the great offers, deals, or the range of the ecommerce site’s inventory; or the advantages of online buying,” spoke out Bates CHI & Partners president Asheesh Malhotra. “Jabong clearly wanted the campaign to speak to the youth directly and bring in their perspective of fashion in the limelight. The campaign emphasises on Jabong’s brand statement ‘Be You’ and be comfortable in their own skin. So here was a client more interested in building a brand through a campaign, rather than a short term quarterly goal of sales,” he shared, adding that the campaign talks in language the youth of today speak, a language that is devoid of bias based on gender, size, ethnicity, etc.

    A recent market research done by MTV titled ‘Many Me Project also spoke of the plurality that exists in abundance in today’s Indian youth, a reflection of which can be seen in Jabong’s campaign. “This campaign marks the beginning of a new chapter for Jabong. Youth today are confident, comfortable in their skin and ready to make bold choices. They want to be fashionable, yet not be slaves to a trend. You could be skinny, plus sized, bold, meek, short or tall – but you are who you are – and fashion helps you Be You. This campaign celebrates their choices, and makes our brand philosophy much more relevant in the current context. After strengthening our fundamentals in last few months, we are bringing the focus back to our brand,” said Jabong CEO and MD Sanjeev Mohanty.

    Reiterating the same thoughts, Malhotra elaborated, “Today’s youth have an opinion and they are not afraid to speak it out. And fashion to them is about being comfortable in their own skin and making a statement as well. Otherwise, there really isn’t anything differentiating the many options we have to buy clothes online. You go to Koovs, you go to Myntra, you go to any other site under the sun, and buy the same piece of cloth. What differentiates Jabong is its understanding of the youth’s sense of fashion. Consumers can buy a full cloth and chose to wear just the sleeve, and Jabong is cool with that. That’s what’s ‘Jabong’ about their fashion statement.” This isn’t the first time an online retail brand has opted to take up the ‘bold’ approach. Going bold also has its downside. Trying too hard to steer clear of the stereotypes can be dangerous. It can altogether put you in another box of ‘different for the sake’. “It’s not about rebelling against or for a certain cause. Or forcefully connecting fashion with homosexuality or treatment of pregnant women in our society just for the sake of the stir it will create,” pointed out Malhotra, heavily hinting on Myntra’s ‘Bold Is Beautiful’ campaign.

    Does dressing models in attractive and eye-catchy clothes, and painting them in bold colors achieve that much needed reasoning behind ‘breaking stereotypes’?, we asked Malhotra. “Our focus was fashion and the spectrum that it covers. Sure, there is a lot of extremes shown in the video. We didn’t want to go out of our way to show extremes in fashion, but until and unless we depict a cross section of people with unique fashion sense that is natural for them, we we would miss the nerve of the campaign,” Malhotra justified. Bates CHI & Partners won the account for Jabong’s creative mandate not too long ago in March, and has already planned to go long term with the brand. The agency already has another video in store, shot and ready to be released by first week of July.

  • Amitabh Bachchan & Priyanka Chopra replace Aamir Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassadors

    Amitabh Bachchan & Priyanka Chopra replace Aamir Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassadors

    MUMBAI: Bollywood stalwart Amitabh Bachchan and India’s new international face Priyanka Chopra have been named as the brand ambassadors for Government of India’s ‘Incredible India’ campaign, making it the first time that the government has appointed actors.

     

    The endorsement agreement will be for a period of three years and the official announcement is likely to be made after 26 January.

     

    To date, Bachchan has been the face of many social campaigns like Gujarat Tourism, Polio Eradication Drive, Hepatitis B etc. Chopra, on the other hand, has made leaps and bounds in her career in recent years. Apart from being applauded in the roles she portrays in Hindi films, she also made headway in Hollywood by debuting as the lead in ABC’s television series Quantico and is also the first South Asian actor to win the Favourite Actress in a New TV series award at this year’s People’s Choice Awards.

     

    The duo replaces erstwhile brand ambassador Aamir Khan, who had been roped in by the creative agency working on the campaign – McCann Worldwide.

     

    It may be recalled that Khan was in the eye of the storm late last year, over his ‘intolerance’ remarks, which were blown out of proportion as well as quoted out of context in the media. Khan was the face of the ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ campaign for almost a decade.

     

    Earlier this month, the Ministry of Tourism had denied removing Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassador in a statement. In response to media reports citing that Khan would no longer be endorsing the campaign in light of the ‘intolerance’ controversy that broke out late last year, the Tourism Ministry clarified that “there is no change in the stand of the ministry in this matter.” 

     

    The Ministry further clarified that at present it had a contractual agreement with creative agency McCann Worldwide to produce social awareness campaign and it was the agency, which had an agreement with Khan.

     

    However, a senior bureaucrat Amitabh Kant, who was a key figure in implementing the campaign during his tenure with the Ministry of Tourism, earlier justified the government’s decision to remove the actor from the portfolio.

     

    At that time, Khan, on his part, had said, “Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible, and that’s the way it should be.”

  • Amitabh Bachchan & Priyanka Chopra replace Aamir Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassadors

    Amitabh Bachchan & Priyanka Chopra replace Aamir Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassadors

    MUMBAI: Bollywood stalwart Amitabh Bachchan and India’s new international face Priyanka Chopra have been named as the brand ambassadors for Government of India’s ‘Incredible India’ campaign, making it the first time that the government has appointed actors.

     

    The endorsement agreement will be for a period of three years and the official announcement is likely to be made after 26 January.

     

    To date, Bachchan has been the face of many social campaigns like Gujarat Tourism, Polio Eradication Drive, Hepatitis B etc. Chopra, on the other hand, has made leaps and bounds in her career in recent years. Apart from being applauded in the roles she portrays in Hindi films, she also made headway in Hollywood by debuting as the lead in ABC’s television series Quantico and is also the first South Asian actor to win the Favourite Actress in a New TV series award at this year’s People’s Choice Awards.

     

    The duo replaces erstwhile brand ambassador Aamir Khan, who had been roped in by the creative agency working on the campaign – McCann Worldwide.

     

    It may be recalled that Khan was in the eye of the storm late last year, over his ‘intolerance’ remarks, which were blown out of proportion as well as quoted out of context in the media. Khan was the face of the ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ campaign for almost a decade.

     

    Earlier this month, the Ministry of Tourism had denied removing Khan as ‘Incredible India’ brand ambassador in a statement. In response to media reports citing that Khan would no longer be endorsing the campaign in light of the ‘intolerance’ controversy that broke out late last year, the Tourism Ministry clarified that “there is no change in the stand of the ministry in this matter.” 

     

    The Ministry further clarified that at present it had a contractual agreement with creative agency McCann Worldwide to produce social awareness campaign and it was the agency, which had an agreement with Khan.

     

    However, a senior bureaucrat Amitabh Kant, who was a key figure in implementing the campaign during his tenure with the Ministry of Tourism, earlier justified the government’s decision to remove the actor from the portfolio.

     

    At that time, Khan, on his part, had said, “Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible, and that’s the way it should be.”

  • Tourism Ministry denies removing Aamir Khan as Incredible India’s brand ambassador

    Tourism Ministry denies removing Aamir Khan as Incredible India’s brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: The Tourism Ministry has denied removing Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador of the Incredible India ad campaign.

     

    In response to media reports citing that Khan would no longer be endorsing the campaign in light of the ‘intolerance’ controversy that broke out late last year, the Tourism Ministry has clarified that “there is no change in the stand of the ministry in this matter.” 

     

    The Ministry further clarified that at present it had a contractual agreement with creative agency McCann Worldwide to produce social awareness campaign and the said campaign featured Khan.

     

    It may be recalled that at a public event last year, Khan said that his wife Kiran Rao fears for the safety of their child and was mulling the option of leaving the country.

     

    However, as of now it looks as if Khan will continue to be the face of the Incredible India brand campaign.

  • Incredible India launches short-film contest for travellers

    Incredible India launches short-film contest for travellers

    MUMBAI: Incredible India, an initiative by the Ministry of Tourism in association with content-based digital solutions provider Trivone, Bangalore-based digital media and content services company, has launched a short film contest for travelers.

    The aim of the contest is to promote tourism by depicting pristine destinations within the country. It is open to both Indians and foreign nationals. Anyone who loves traveling and capturing those moments can upload travel videos of less than 3 minutes’ duration, on the Pixel13 (www.pixel13.in) website to showcase the best of their experiences.

    Trivone founder and CEO L Subramanyan said “We are happy to join hands with Incredible India to promote Indian tourist destinations globally. Our aim is to get tourists to document and articulate their experience through a short video film that can be accessed by anyone who visits the website. We also think that such a venture can create awareness of little known places within the country which have thus far remained unexplored.”

    The jury is headed by filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and actor Kamal Haasan. 
    The short-film adjudged as the ‘Best Film’ based on the online poll and jury will receive a prize worth Rs 50,000.

  • O&M takes Incredible India concept forward

    O&M takes Incredible India concept forward

    MUMBAI: The Incredible India campaign – Find what you seek – conceptulaised by Ogilvy & Mather takes the meaning of previous campaigns a step further.

    “Look at our geographic terrain, culture, history or art; we are a very diverse country. And we want to convey the same message through this campaign. Whatever one is looking for in India, he/she will find it here,” explains O&M executive creative director Ajay Gahlaut about the idea behind the new campaign.

    The Ministry of Tourism had briefed O&M to dig a little deeper into what makes India truly incredible. The team started researching by talking to travelers from around the world.

    “Our previous campaigns described the word Incredible but through the new campaign, we will give more meaning to it. We always aim to evoke curiosity about the country,” says Gahlaut when asked how different the new campaign is from the previous ones. The earlier Incredible India campaigns have also showed prospective tourists different parts of the country – be it the deserts of the west, the hills and mountains of the north, the beautiful coastal beaches or jungles and the backwaters in the south.

    The campaign isn‘t city specific but travel specific and showcases everything from Leh and Ladakh to Kerala. The campaign (a total of nearly thirty pieces includes press and outdoor advertising) covers a range of experiences in India through the eyes of the tourist.

    For instance to describe Kolkatta, there is the image is of a rain-soaked window through which you can see the trademark yellow cabs in the distance. The captions go: ‘Watch artists paint what nature paints‘.

    Similarly, the one on the Rann of Kutch says: ‘Go into a salt marsh. Get out of your comfort zone‘. An image of snow covered Chang La in Ladakh says: ‘Discover new heights, discover a new high‘. An image of the floating oil lamps on the ghats of Varanasi is accompanied by the caption ‘See candles float, see hope float‘. A picture of two rhynos from the Kaziranga National Park, Assam, comes with the advice ‘Avoid loud horns, Admire sharp horns‘. Another one, depicting the festival of Holi says: ‘Throw colours on others. Add colour to your life‘.

    Other pictures include a variety of images from camel rides in Rajasthan to wildlife reserves of Madhya Pradesh, from the tea plantations of Munnar to the Taj Mahal in Agra, from the backwaters of Kerala to the beaches of Andaman, from Kathakali dancers to Tibetan monks.

    India‘s diversity is well represented in the series.

  • I&B, Tourism Ministry work jointly to promote film tourism

    I&B, Tourism Ministry work jointly to promote film tourism

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has promoted Incredible India and Cinemas of India as a sub-brand of Incredible India at four international festivals since it entered into an agreement with the Tourism Ministry in February 2012.

     

    These are the Cannes Film Festivals in 2012 and 2013, the European Film Market in Berlin, and the International Film Festival of India in Goa in 2012.

     

    Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi told Parliament that I&B Ministry had constituted on 15 April 2013 an Inter-Ministerial Committee for promotion and facilitation of film production with the objective to facilitate shooting permission in India.

     

    The MoU on 16 February 2012 was to create and build upon a film tourism vertical of ‘Incredible India Campaign’ by promoting Cinemas of India as a sub-brand of Incredible India, with emphasis on its linguistic/cultural/regional diversity.

     

    The aim was also to promote India as a film destination, both for international and domestic film producers; participate in various international and domestic film festivals, markets and events; frame policies and guidelines for facilitating shooting of international films in India;  maintain dialogue with the state governments and union territory administrations for development of locations for film shooting and promotion of tourism; and constitute a national level committee for coordination with various stakeholders for promotion of India as film and tourism destination and for facilitating visas for film units from overseas.