Mumbai: Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL has launched #YehAbNormalHai campaign featuring MS Dhoni to celebrate the return of the League to its original summer window. With a brand-new title sponsor and the addition of two new teams, the Tata IPL 2022 is all set to hit the Indian shores on 26 March.
Directed by Vasan Bala, the campaign features MS Dhoni as a bus driver who has parked the bus in the middle of a busy road. The traffic policeman arrives at the scene and questions Dhoni’s actions, to which he responds by saying that he is watching an intense IPL game. The cop treats this as a usual occurrence, and drives away reinstating the fact that such fandom is normal for IPL matches.
Star Sports will release the campaign film in seven languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Gujarati.
Disney Star head – sports Sanjog Gupta said, “The Tata IPL 2022 campaign seeks to recruit millions of TV viewers and digital users across the country. Structured in four phases, the campaign turns the spotlight on fan frenzy and unique situations typically associated with the tournament as well as the distinct proposition of this year’s edition. #YeAbNormalHai adequately represents this, tying it with the social context of people discovering a “new normal” in their lives. The launch phase of the campaign strives to create a sense of excitement for the start of the 15th season, which promises to be the biggest ever.”
Tata IPL 2022 will begin on 26 March, 2022.The 10 teams have been divided into two groups and will play a total of 14 league matches (seven home matches and seven away matches) totaling 70 league matches, followed by the playoffs and finals.
MUMBAI: Brand Surf Excel has been known for its string of heart-warming advertisements that say ‘Kuch Accha Karte Hue Agar Daag Lag Jayein Toh Daag Acche Hain’. Be it Ramadan, Holi, or Diwali, the brand always has something interesting to offer the viewers in terms of a beautiful narrative promoting unity, most of the times with kids as the anchor.
This Holi as well, the brand came up its ‘Rang Laaye Sang’ campaign with a video ad that shows a little girl helping a Muslim boy reach the mosque without getting the colours on his cloth. In the end, she also quips that he will have to play with colours once he is done with praying. While the ad impressed a lot of people, a certain section did not like the narrative, which allegedly was against the Hindu sentiments.
The ad is drawing a lot of backlash on social media, with #BoycottSurfExcel trending on Twitter over the weekend.
#BoycottSurfExcel Either you roll back this ad immediately @HUL_News or you'll certainly be out of my house. Remember, it is not the India of 80s or 90s when you had monopoly in the market. We can easily and swiftly kick you out.
#BoycottSurfExcel its not about the content of the ad, its about the feeling that is created, its abt an underlying message saying that we dont know how to maintain communal harmony, its about using communal subject. its a highly irritating ad. https://t.co/XkHvjhfBr6
This is the example of intellectual terrorist. They are saying colors of festival as "daag" and promoting love jihaad. Can they make add on sloughters of animal or on any other community festival. Now its time to wash them from their detergent. Jai Hind….
However, there has been immense support pouring in for the brand as well. Vasan Bala, the director who is a part of the team that has made the ad, took to Twitter to share his pride on the support they have received for the ad.
Proud to have been a part of the #SurfExcel Holi commercial. An amazing and a brave team behind this!
Unfortunately to convey compassion, tolerance and love one needs to be brave these days.
Speaking about the ad and the backlash it is facing, communications consultant on digital/social media marketing and PR Karthik Shrinivasan said, “In the social media space, everything is a conversation because big brands and people are merely part of the stream of conversations.”
Sharing his own views on the ad, Shrinivasan quipped, “I thought the new Surf Excel ad was a lovely piece of work by Lowe Lintas. It made me smile at the ingenuity of the little girl who helps her little friend, while also tearing up a bit at the innocence with which children look at each other, beyond the differences we adults create among ourselves. Surf Excel has been doing similar ads using festivals as a backdrop, even in Pakistan (done by Lowe Lintas India). The connecting link is, of course, Daag Achche Hai.”
He further added, “I do not understand the pointless objections and controversy over the ad. If someone wants to see the ad from their Hindu lens, then doesn’t the ad show the girl (presumably a Hindu) as a brave, intelligent, magnanimous and quick-witted child? It shows her as a fantastic human being. That’s worth lauding if you care deeply about Hindu sentiments, I presume.”
Shrinivasan concluded, “The other objection is that they show Holi colours as daag and that somehow is insulting Hinduism. I do not understand this either. Holi may be a Hindu festival but it is not a pan-Indian festival. For South Indians, Holi colours are nothing but daag simply because they do not celebrate Holi. I won’t even venture into addressing the love-jihad angle given we are talking about children and that argument is way too disgusting and demeaning to even refer to.”
Brand-nomics managing director Viren Razdan also reflected the same sentiments as he said, “Adding a ‘human touch’ to dirt has been a continuing theme of the ‘Daag Ache Hain’ campaign. This ad too sits pretty much in the centre of this platform. Holi has on one hand been a celebration of the spirit of togetherness, its brash aggressive play being its hallmark – this story adds a layer of being sensitive and respectful, of course till you hug them with Holi.”
Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale, however, feels that marketers need to be cautious about the sensitive issues like religion and politics while designing their campaigns. He said, “A well-intended campaign can be seen in a different light as well, the negativity can spread rapidly with the use of social media. The unintended consequence of a well-intentioned idea can actually lead to brand erosion. Gone are the days when we could say that ‘any news is good news’. With multiple conversations across several platforms, all happening in real time, the perceptions of individuals are most fragile/easily malleable. Brands need to be aware of this and strategise their campaigns considering all the factors and without diverting themselves from the core brand values.”
He added, “HUL, known for its heart-warming campaigns, tried to accomplish something similar with a well-intention-led advertisement for Holi. In what has become a habitual trend on social media, the advertisement was seen in poor light, essentially blowing a non-issue out of proportion.”
Despite all this, a number of celebs and public figures also stood in support of the campaign. Here are a few tweets that have come up to support the campaign:
I have a better suggestion. Bhakts should be washed properly with Surf Excel. Kyunki Surf ki dhulai daag ko karain saaf. https://t.co/YiYrW4AM2j
I am buying 2 extra 2 kilo pack of #SurfExcel for reminding us that we are nice people. And live naturally in relative harmony. And, kids know no barriers, until they are taught. It will last me 6 months. but it is worth it to defeat haters.
MUMBAI: Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor has now joined hands with Saavn (South Asia Audio Video Network), a US-based digital music company as its creative collaborator. The association was announced at the online music streaming press conference, which was attended by India’s top music industry executives and influencers.
The superstar, as part of the association will work with the Saavn team on consumer marketing ideation and production, business development and content.
Talking about the partnership Kapoor said, “I’ve been using Saavn for years now, so it’s exciting to be working with the team on a deeper level. I’ll be helping to guide the brand, influence programming, connect with the next generation of music listeners and ultimately help build the best music product in India and potentially the world.”
“I look forward to being involved in a more business-centric capacity in the near future,” he added.
The partnership has initially materialised in the form of a new commercial campaign featuring a 30 second television spot. Kapoor provided a significant amount of input on the creative for the campaign. The TV commercial was written by Vasan Bala, who is the screenwriter for Kapoor’s new film, Bombay Velvet, alongside Sneha Mehta and Teddy Stern of Saavn and has been produced by Golden Gaddi Films, the ad production house of Guneet Monga who is the producer of The Lunchbox.
Saavn released a sneak-peek of its alliance with Kapoor in its “Here’s to the Music” campaign that went live earlier this year.
Saavn executive chairman Paramdeep Singh said, “It felt right from the beginning. Our collaboration with Ranbir represents an evolution in the way technology companies and artists work together in India. And that bridge between art and digital is at the very heart of what we want to accomplish at Saavn.”
The digital music company, which claims a catalog of almost two million tracks from both Indian and US record labels, will be rolling out a suite of new consumer-facing products and partnerships over the next couple of months.
MUMBAI: After garnering a fantastic response whilst competing at the International Critics Week at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival recently, Vasan Bala‘s Peddlers, starring Gulshan Deviah, Siddharth Menon, Kriti Malhotra and Nimrat Kaur, is all set to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year.
The film has been programmed for the City-to-City section with an aim to bring global cities to Toronto audiences where the focus will be on Mumbai this year.
Produced by Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap, Peddlers has definitely been creating an impact with the buzz around it in India and in the international festival circuits. Speaking about the film, Guneet Monga said, “TIFF is among world‘s top movie events, and is a gateway for international films into the North American region. We are very proud and honored to have not one, but four of our films including Peddlers at the festival this year. Eros International saw the potential in the film the moment they saw it and decided to back it up.”
Interestingly, Peddlers is Vasan Bala‘s directorial debut. Prior to Peddlers, Bala assisted Kashyap on Dev D, That Girl In Yellow Boots among others and partnered with him as the associate director of Michael Winterbottom‘s Trishna that was filmed in India.
Talking about his first film, Bala said, “It‘s great that the film has been selected at Toronto after Cannes. Since the French press sighted a very American independent influence on the film, I am quite curious how it will be received here.”
MUMBAI: Vasan Bala’s upcoming Hindi crime thriller ‘Peddlers‘ has been chosen to represent India officially at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival as part of International Critics‘ Week.
The film will also compete in the Camera d‘Or section.
Founded in 1962, Cannes Critics’ Week is the oldest parallel competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival. This is a parallel section at the Cannes Film Festival that discovered filmmakers like Wong Kar Wai and Bernardo Bertolucci among others.
Peddlers is a character-driven thriller about two parallel love stories – one about a cop and his married neighbour and the other of a girl on a mission and an aimless guy.
The film is about love, loss of innocence and coming of age.
Peddlers stars Gulshan Devaiah, Siddharth Menon, Kriti Malhotra and Nimrat Kaur, among others.
Eros International Media Ltd has collaborated with Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd (AKFPL) and Sikhya Entertainment for the film.
