ITV

Tag: Subhash Kamath

  • 10 ads that broke stereotypes

    10 ads that broke stereotypes

    MUMBAI: Even as Gen Z with its short attention span skips through advertisements, jumping from channel to channel between breaks, there are some ads that are hard to ignore — be it for their peppy jingles, catchy tag lines or cool visuals.

     

    And then there are those, which not only touch us but leave us rattled and questioning. The recently released campaign by Anouk starring Radhika Apte is of the latter kind. Conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, the TVC talks about an issue we hardly hear ourselves addressing, even though it affects us pretty much uniformly throughout the country. That being the discrimination in workplace against expecting women.

     

    The ad showcases Radhika Apte as an independent woman working as a senior architect who misses her chance of being promoted in a well known architectural firm, by virtue of her pregnancy. In spite of being reassured that her performance isn’t being questioned, Apte is met with strong views on how pregnancy can be a disadvantage at the workplace. The ad concludes with Apte raising a voice against the discrimination and moving on to start her own thing.

     

    Anouk’s third chapter in ‘Bold Is Beautiful’ definitely treads away from the convention, into uncharted territories.

     

    This isn’t the first time that advertising fraternity has tried its hand at a non cliche plot line for a campaign concept and broken stereotypes. Off late there has been a  steep raise in campaigns with embedded social messages. Be it edgy and progressive storytelling that talk of non binary relationships, modern take on marriages and womanhood, or openly discussing Taboo subjects like sexual health and freedom.

     

    Needless to mention, every time an unconventional ad is released, it not only sparks conversations over the internet, it also leaves a viral trail of debates. Something Sideways co-founder Abhijit Avasthi finds smart but easy way of advertising.

     

    Though courting controversy for the sake of it doesn’t fit well with BBH India CEO Subhash Kamath either, he is all in for talking about issues that take us out of comfort zone if  “the content of the ad should be strategically relevant to the brand it is talking about. If it’s relevant and connects with people, even though it may piss off a few, it’s totally worth it to take up the challenge,” he shares.

     

     

    Given the buzz around the latest Anouk ad, Indiantelevision.com compiled a list of ten advertisements that broke stereotypes in recent times after speaking to several creatives in the industry. Here’s the list, though not in any particular order:

     

    Anouk: Bold is Beautiful : Radhika Apte

    The latest Anouk ad is simple and handles the issue directly instead of going for the ‘hinted’ approach. Not going deeper into the dos and don’ts of handling an issue like pregnant working women, and if the advertisement has done justice to it, it definitely starts a conversation on a topic we seldom shed light upon, even though there are many who are directly or indirectly affected by it,

     

    Airtel, Boss

    This Airtel ad that came out in 2014 sparked quite a controversy and left a trail of subsequent online debates amongst netizen. The advertisement showcased a modern day couple who work in the same company, with the wife being the husband’s boss. In office she asks him to work late and finish his pending work, while at home she reaches early to cook up a storm for her husband in the kitchen. While breaking a stereotype of work pay imbalance in India, the advertisement no doubt sent a confusing message. Going beyond the debate of the ‘right kind of message,’ this ad is still remembered for being different and addressing a non ‘black and white’ situation on gender equality.

     

    Remarriage: Tanishq

    Perhaps the most celebrated of them all when it comes to path breaking ideas, is the Tanishq jewellery advertisement that came out in 2013.

     

    While the setting of a wedding with the bride donning shiny jewellery doesn’t seem anything original for a jewellery brand, the narrative throws viewers a googly as we see the would be bride addressed as ‘mama’ by a little girl. Captioning it as ‘a wedding to remember’ this ad film conceived by Lowe Lintas and Partners not only opened up conversation on remarriage. It also changed its perception from being a social stigma to a glamorous affair.

     

    The Seatbelt Crew:

    Sometimes a simple message needs to be delivered with a powerful impact, and that’s exactly what Ogilvy and Mather did for VithU’s public service initiative on road safety norms. This two-minute video shot at a traffic light in Mumbai went viral, garnering more than 3.4 million views on YouTube.

     

    What makes the advertisement even more unique is that unlike most advertisements featuring transgenders, this one doesn’t ridicule them or weep over their pathos of everyday survival. Here, the transgender women we see on camera are means to an end, just like several celebrities or good looking models who are cast in advertisements to draw attention from a relevant target group.

     

    Do The Rex:

    At a time when condom ads are heavily layered with sexual innuendos, and cryptic ways of depicting sexual tension, Durex’s ‘Do the Rex’ campaign came as a breath of fresh air. It’s in your face and honest. And starts  a much needed conversation amongst the youth, which directly affects their sexual health. And who better to spearhead the youth campaign than Bollywood actor and youth icon Ranvir Singh, known for his unapologetic attitude.

     

    Add some catchy music and groovy visuals to the mix and you have the perfect concoction to sell condoms to the youth and 40 plus alike. Directed by Karan Kapadia, no sooner did the video release than it went viral across multiple digital platform, and giving rise to a long sustaining campaign.

     

    Meglow: Fairness cream for men

    If you are one of those who are tired of watching advertisements that put being fair as an essential for succeeding in life, be it women or men, you probably cheered Emraan Hashmi for delivering the punch line in this ad film. Shot like any other typical male fairness cream ad, the story follows your typical underdog, trying for a job and losing his ‘glow’ as he stresses over it.

     

    Enter Emraan Hashmi with the solution to all his troubles: a fairness cream that will return his lost glow and lead him at the path of success… or not. The ad film ends with the anti-climatic disclaimer that fairness creams don’t land you job, but credentials do, even if you are dark.

     

    Sofy #Iamnotdown

    Sometimes we fail to realise that age old customs and habits that come to us naturally, might actually be a projection of social stigma. Such is the case with using phrases like ‘I am down,’ ‘I have got my chums’ etc, instead of directly addressing the topic of menstrual period. Sanitary napkin brand Sofy almost waged a war with their #SofyConversations campaign that went viral earlier this year. The campaign showcased young women from different walks of life urging women to start using the word ‘Periods’ instead of cryptic aliases, and accept what is natural to them with dignity.

     

    FastTrack: Come Out Of The Closet

    Recently the advertising world has made a huge progress when it comes to addressing non-binary relationships and same sex couples. While some approach it in a hilarious or heavier tone, Fast Track’s ‘Come Out Of The Closet’ campaign gave it a witty and humourous touch. Without being loud mouth about it, the ad showcases two young women with edgy fashion sense come out a closet, literally! It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out what the metaphorical reference is made with the closet.

     

    Shaadi.com: My Conditions Apply

    When it comes to breaking stereotypes there is an endless scope to deliver in the wedding scene in India, which, though went digital ages ago with matrimonial sites like Shaadi.com and BharatMatromony, it hardly shed away the conservative notions attached to it. Naturally it falls behind the rapidly progressing lifestyle of millennials who respects a woman’s choice and preferences when it comes to marriage. Shaadi.com’s latest ad campaign shows its attempt to transition from being just a marriage consultancy portal to reflection of the wants and aspirations of the country’s youth.

     

    Whisper: Touch The Pickle

    Yet another campaign about breaking taboos surrounding women’s menstrual cycle, this one deals with the dozens of Dos and Don’ts that are imposed upon women by society restricting them during periods. Starting from restrictions on what to wear, to superstitions on touching pickle, there are a whole stack of baseless superstitions and restrictions that make the experience harder for women in our society. Whisper’s #TouchThePickle campaign shouts out to all women who are fed up of these taboos, to break away and break taboos. Developed by P&G India and BBDO India this campaign was not only struck a chord with millions of women within the country, was also lauded internationally by winning the Glass Lion Grand Prix at Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

     

    While these advertisements grabbed our attention, there are plenty others that have strayed from the tried and tested formula and attempted something out of the box. The list goes on…

  • All eyes on Maggi’s relaunch campaign as brand clears lab tests

    All eyes on Maggi’s relaunch campaign as brand clears lab tests

    MUMBAI: If you are a loyal Maggi patron who has been pining for the product’s return to the market, it’s time for a fist pump. ‘The two minute noodles’ have been declared safe for consumption by the testing labs, announced Nestle India on Wednesday. The newly manufactured stocks have cleared all the three lab tests authorised by the Bombay High Court, and Maggi is expected to hit the shelves by this November.

    This isn’t good news for just Maggi lovers, but for the company’s investors as well. Since the news was out, Nestle’s share prices saw a surge. As compared to its previous day’s close of Rs 6234.35, the company’s stock was up 12.80 per cent at end of day’s trade on 4 November to close at Rs 6247.15. The stock opened at Rs 6256.85 and touched an intra-day high of Rs 6479 and a low of Rs 6220.80.

    The popular FMCG product came under scrutiny after more than permissible amount of lead was found in it, which eventually led to the product being taken off the shelf.

    To read more on Maggi’s ban from the market, click here.

    But Maggi’s fight to win back its lost reputation, and make up for its absence from the brand space doesn’t stop at government clearance.

    The industry’s eyes are trained to see what the brand pulls off on its marketing and advertising front, given that Maggi’s return could be the biggest brand come back of the year.

    A precursor to which we saw in a slew of short videos that Nestle recently launched on its official YouTube channel. These managed to evoke nostalgia for the brand, even when the product was off the shelf.

    Responding to the many love letters from loyal fans on social media, Maggi released six videos each ending with a ‘Miss You’ message. Conceptualised by McCann Worldwide, which handles Nestle’s corporate campaigns, the campaign instantly grabbed eyeballs with #WeMissYouToo spreading across social media.

    In a later interview to a leading business daily, McCann Worldwide India CEO Prasoon Joshi had said that the campaign was an instinctual response to what was being said on Twitter and Facebook.

    While Publicis Worldwide remain the creative agency for Maggi, Joshi is heralding the re-launch campaign for the brand.

    The campaign may have tugged at the heartstrings of a few, but according RK Swamy Hansa Group chairman and International Advertising Association (IAA) India chapter president Srinivasan Swamy the campaign hit the market “a little late in the day.” Swamy also feels that the campaign was mostly targeted towards opinion makers, and not at the core consumer base of the product, which is a larger number than Twitter and Facebook’s audience.

    “I feel that for a FMCG product, social campaign through Facebook may not be adequate. They must employ mass media to engage with their consumers. The audience that they can reach through Twitter and Facebook, is small compared to its huge consumer base,” he says.

    Digitally Maggi may have made an effort to remain alive in our memories, but the volume the product lost from the shelves is not going to be regained by a campaign. It is going to be a long drawn out process, where the brand will have to make use of the mass media more aggressively, keeping digital as one of the peripherals, feels Swamy.

    And that is precisely what the brand has done with their recent full page ad in a national daily. Meanwhile, the company has been playing up Maggi’s safety.

    “Your Maggi is safe, has always been.” – is what the ad reads before it goes on to explain that 3,500 tests conducted in India and abroad by food standards authorities in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have pronounced the noodles as “safe for consumption.”

    During the ban, Nestle India lost advertising inventory of about Rs 10 crore due to Maggi recall although they aired commercials of Nescafe or KitKat in all advertisement slots booked for the instant noodles brand. Nestle notified broadcasters and other media houses in India to stop publishing Maggi ads till the next directive is issued.

    Nestle India is known for their conservative spends on marketing and advertising. Between 2010 and 2014, Nestlé India’s spending on advertising and sales promotions was between 4.2 per cent and 4.8 per cent of total income. With a powerful and impactful campaign in the queue, market analysts predicts a sea change in their spending in the sector, which may even go up to seven per cent.

    While not revealing any figures, Nestlé India’s new managing director Suresh Narayanan, had earlier stated that the company would “spend more on advertising, marketing and promotions across categories to counter impact on sales caused by the Maggi ban.”

    “They have to spend more on marketing and advertising if they even attempt to relaunch the product,” says BBH India CEO Subhash Kamath. “The brand has been off air for a while now. They need to come back with a bang and to be more credible and visible to their consumers,” he adds, saying that the company should spend a portion of their marketing spends in the initial phase of the re-launch campaign.

    This isn’t the first time that a popular household product needed a comeback campaign after they went off shelf for a period of time. Remember Cadbury Dairy Milk’s come back campaign with Amitabh Bachchan, conceptualised by the maverick ad man Piyush Pandey?

    Kamath recollects how Cadbury had re-packaged the product with an extra layer and brought it back to the market to convince its consumers, and how a similar approach may work for Maggi as well. “Credibility is something the brands need to earn, and campaigns can just assist it. Cadbury did a very good job at that time. Maggi will probably have to do the same thing.”

    Having said that, going the celebrity way to earn this credibility may not work for Maggi.

    “Bachchan Ji had a certain credibility in the eyes of the people at that time. It was possible for him to convince the consumers of the products lost credibility. Consumers today are more skeptical. They wouldn’t buy any product just because their favourite star is selling it. Chances are, Maggi wouldn’t go the celebrity way. They may prefer the testimonials of consumers and facts for their campaign,” opines Kamath.

    Incidentally, Bachchan was also one of the endorses of Maggi some years back.

    Going ‘bold and confident’ is the only way Maggi can pull this off, opines Grey South and southeast Asia chief strategy officer Dheeraj Sinha, who has also penned the book India Reloaded. “The biggest thing that the consumers will be looking out for in Maggi’s first relaunch campaign is the air of confidence. Their message to the consumers should be emphatic about the fact that they are back. And that should be sufficient,” he says, adding that evoking any more nostalgia and emotions may undo the campaign.

    Commenting on the pressure on the products marketing team, Swamy adds, “It is an interesting challenge for the brand marketers and their creative agencies. They must obviously take multiple approaches to strategise this relaunch. I don’t believe that the marketers are sweating under the pressure. I believe they will be closely monitoring the first communique that the brand will put out in the public, and evaluate the same. This is an important re-launch for them and they have to get it right. Irrespective of what the campaigns may say, consumers take a while to respond to these changes.”

    It is interesting to note that as per a survey conducted by Airloyal’s GeInsights, 73 per cent of the respondents said that can’t wait to get their hands on a packet of Maggi, while 27 per cent are still a little unsure of its safety.”

    However, sample base for the responders form a small section of the product’s total consumer base, therefore whether this survey reflects the true guideline for the campaign is still something to wait and watch for.

  • BBH India welcomes new addition to their leadership team: Arvind Krishnan to return as Managing Director

    BBH India welcomes new addition to their leadership team: Arvind Krishnan to return as Managing Director

    MUMBAI: BBH India has announced a new addition to their leadership structure by bringing in Arvind Krishnan as managing director. Arvind comes back to BBH India after a stint at BBH London where he was Team Director, managing a diverse portfolio of Unilever, Diageo and other brands.

    Arvind will join the team of BBH India, CEO & Managing Partner, Subhash Kamath and CCO & Managing Partner, Russell Barrett along with Head of Planning ,Sanjay Sharma; Executive Creative Director, Puneet Kapoor, and Finance Director, Rishit Mehta to form the core leadership team at BBH India. Arvind will report into Subhash Kamath.

    Kamath, stated, “Russell and I are delighted that Arvind will be returning to us. He was one of our first recruits at BBH India and has been an outstanding star in the company. He brings a huge amount of drive and passion to the team here, combined with the valuable experience he’s gained during his tenure at BBH London. We have no doubt that both our people and our clients will benefit greatly from his leadership.”

    Gwyn Jones, Global CEO added, “Arvind has done an excellent job for the agency and it’s clients in Mumbai and London. It is great for us to be able to grow management from within and also develop talent for the future by moving from office to office like this.”

    Said Arvind Krishnan, “It’s great to be back. It’s been a fantastic experience working on global brands and helping them navigate through different markets. It has taught me the value of simplicity. Simplicity, that allows ideas to stretch and flex across geographies. The opportunity to apply this and create market-moving work at home is exciting and I’m thrilled at the prospect of working with the team in Mumbai again.”

    BBH is now a creative network wholly owned by the Publicis Groupe. BBH India was founded in 2009 and since then has grown very rapidly to a staff strength of 70 people and manages a portfolio of diverse clients and brands that include Unilever, Marico, Diageo, Skoda, Red Bull, Acer, Movies Now and World Gold Council, amongst many others.

  • ASCI and Goafest 2012 present ‘Creativity with a Conscience’

    ASCI and Goafest 2012 present ‘Creativity with a Conscience’

    MUMBAI: In a bid to encourage self regulation in advertising Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) in partnership with Goafest 2012 has announced a contest to promote responsible creativity under the theme “Creativity with a Conscience” during Goafest 2012. The ASCI Mobile Movie Challenge contest, which is open for advertising, marketing and media professionals, revolves around creating short films using a mobile phone.

    Teams of three young professionals under the age of 30 years will be asked to create a short film, between 30 and 60 seconds, using their mobile handsets. Each team will be assigned a mentor film maker who can guide the team members on the nuances of film making. The teams will create the art forms on one of the four briefs provided by ASCI.

    The teams will be required to create movies based on the themes of honesty and truthfulness in advertising, decency in advertising as per generally accepted societal norms, safety and avoiding exploitation of vulnerable sections of society, especially children and fairness in competition.

    ASCI board member Subhash Kamath said, “The theme, ‘Creativity with a Conscience,‘ goes hand-in-hand with ASCI‘s objective of responsible advertising. Our aim is to inspire professionals to abide by the guidelines set by ASCI and to take up self regulation on an individual level as the only other alternative is governmental censorship, which is, not desirable for a creative industry like ours. By reaching out to young professionals, we‘re ensuring that our efforts towards self regulation are understood by the people who will be implementing the work.”

    The entries will be judged by a jury of top creative directors and film makes of the industry. Four winning teams, one per brief, will be selected and each team member will be awarded during the Creative Abbys.

     

  • BBH India appoints Paul Ward as its managing partner

    BBH India appoints Paul Ward as its managing partner

    MUMBAI: BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) India has appointed Paul Ward as its managing partner. The position has been lying vacant since Priti Nair left a few months ago to form her own outfit.

    Ward was part of the original team that launched the Mumbai business in 2008. He left Mumbai in late 2010 and since has been based in Singapore working on various projects across the region including the forming of the recently announced partnership with The Mill in Asia.

    Says BBH India Managing Partner Subhash Kamath, “All of us are delighted to have Paul join our management group in India. He‘s been an integral part of our start-up and it‘s great to have him back again. As we grow and expand, it‘s critical for us to create better partnerships, better services and processes – all leading to great work. Paul‘s global experience and skills will be invaluable to us. And importantly, Paul brings a lot of fun and laughter to the table.”

    Adds Ward, “I‘m very excited to be returning to India. I‘ll be hitting the ground running, as there are lots of things to do both internally and externally. I‘ll be working hard to build more collaborative partnerships with the very best design, digital, film and experiential businesses across India.”

    BBH India handles various clients such as Marico, L&T, TVS and Lakme.