At the Ad Club’s People’s Choice Award for the best presented Effies’ Case Study, it was the usual ‘zigmarole’ of the advert experts to show how their stats zipped up. With the IQ (Innovation Quotient here) of the young turks from JWT, Mudra, Ogilvy, BBDO, Lowe and Rediff at a soar, the award could go to just about anyone. From Naarad Munis to Big Boss spoofs, Live magic and live Guitarists, the agencies utilised many of their clever tools to emerge different. Here’s a dekko at some of the liveliest case presentations we saw today:
Category: Consumer Durables
Brand: Bajaj Pulsar Agency: Ogilvy and Mather
A story well told, this case was simply a sarcastic stitch to reality. The presentation was a humorous skit narrating a slice of advertising life, taking the Pulsar case as an example. As they story goes: The client, leaves the planner and account director with a dry brief. The 2 struggle it out with the tardy creative guy to come back with some ‘todu’ idea in less than 48 hours. And when they finally get on a concall with the client, they make up an impromptu strategy to convince the client, leading to a completely different solution – that of MTV Stunt Mania. Humour and repartees galore, the presentation represented the journey of how actually Pulsar’s advertising came about. Wish the skit was a wee bit shorter to accommodate the ‘Results’ slides as well. This was a stunt well pulled off, we say.
Brand: Volkswagen Agency: Mudra Group
When Mike took the mike, his ‘Innovation story’ of the mega launch of Volkswagen’s was magical, literally. He used the simple route of live magic to weave in the tricks with his points. So when he spoke of 5 product problem points, he handed a different coloured scarf to their magician one for each problem who then rolled them together only to flash out a single multicoloured scarf…and you know what that laterally communicated. That and the overall campaign mustered up quite some limelight for the brand. Taking the Innovation platform ahead, the agency showcased the various media clutterbusters they used. For instance, The Polo stencilled hole in the daily newspaper or the hijack of the entire TOI adspace for that day were quite a stir. And so was the strategy of innovating a new target audience for the brand viz Women. An intelligent case study showcased intelligently. Kudos to Mike Follett and team.
Category: Consumer Products – Beverages, Confectionary and Food
Brand: Tata Tea Agency: Lowe
Tata Tea’s Jaago Re campaign was a no-frills presentation, but the impact of the strategic content is a revolution in itself. With subtle references to competition via the ‘Tiger’ anecdotes, the presenter quoted their challenges of capturing a tough low-involvement category market like tea. To counter the issue, the agency flipped the concept of tea consumption. Focussing on the youth, they adopted the route of ‘Awaken’ instead of the generic ‘wake up to tea’ Indian habit. The platform was a clarion call to the Youth to take a stand and fight against the one issue which mars India i.e. corruption. The brand championed the cause of ‘pilaana’ instead of ‘khilaana’ and raised the bar for not just tea brands, but overall advertising. Supported by heavy outdoor, online and social media campaigns Jaago Re created a wave through the route of Social Advertising which helped garner more participation even in the 2009 Elections. Time for the Tiger to ‘Jaago Re’, says Lowe.
Category: Consumer Products- Beverages, Confectionary and Food
Brand: Center Fresh Agency: Ogilvy and Mather
O&M rendered a fresh perspective to the little chewy mint brand of Center Fresh. Packaged as a spoof of the Big Boss episode, the presentation was a skit starring 3 junkie starlets of BB, and their talkative tendencies. The idea was to focus on the ‘Rather Chew than Talk’ property which translated into the ‘Zabaan pe Lagaam’ communication. The idea was presented through an entertaining narrative featuring how Centerfresh got the 3 catfighting starlets working instead of just talking. The TV campaign of the brand was supported by Radio and Online campaigns which brought in good news for the brand – of retaining its number 1 position in the market.
Category: Consumer Products- Beverages, Confectionary and Food
Brand: 7Up Agency: BBDO
Allu can Dance saala! This groove-to-my-move 7Up campaign in Andhra Pradesh got their superstar Allu Arjuna dance to their tunes. The techno-fizzy campaign titled ‘Click Cheshte, Dance Chesthan’ / Make Allu Dance’ used AR (augmented reality) to connect with the youth.
How it worked:
- The special edition 7Up PET bottles were equipped with an ‘AR’ code.
- The brand ambassador Allu Arjuna’s virtual avatar was created on a digital platform
- The consumer had to place the bottle in front of a webcam to activate the AR code, and watch their star dance to any of the seven dance moves they wanted him to do. Mobile users could place their camera in front of the PET bottle. Simple na?
The activity used pre-event hype tools comprising teaser TVC, Outdoor, Online marketing, Social Media et al. For Below the Line, an innovative interactive wall at malls was a part of the integrated communications plan. A mobile-based contest gave away 7 Allu-autographed iPods to winners everyday. All in all, client bhi khush, youth bhi khush. 7 Cheers for the BBDO case presentation.
Category: Consumer Products- Beverages, Confectionary and Food
Brand: Sugar Free Natura Agency: Rediffusion Dy & R
Their lone entry in the race for the ace, Rediff’s ‘Bhool Gayi’ case was presented through a typical ‘rescue from wife’ skit. The guy represented a typical mithai-masst male who is on a diet leash by his wife. As he narrates his fetish for the sweets the wife comes running in with a jhaadu to scare his unhealthy cravings away. The comical run-up to the brand’s communication of ‘diet bhool gayi’ was supported by the introduction of Sugarfree Natura – a sugar-like component which can be used full-fledged for cooking. Endorsed by Sanjeev Kapoor, the brand helps the wife to be now worry-free about her husband’s health. The campaign had made a strong use of TVCs and outdoors to reach out to their audiences. The results: The product transformed from being a ‘need to choose’ to ‘choose to choose’ one in the mind of the target audience.
Category: Integrated Advertising Campaign
Brand: Tata Docomo – ‘Do the New’ Agency: Draft FCBUlka Advertising Pvt. Ltd.
Their sole case study to be presented, Draft did ‘do the new’ while presenting their campaign. They presented the case backwards taking the audience through the slides beginning from the end, representing the out of the box thinking. Instead of the usual ‘one logo’ syndrome, they created 16. They spoke ‘pay per second’ instead of the running trend of minutes. And their jingle was recreated live with the team members joining in the crescendo (ref their TVC) as a live guitarist strummed along. The campaign had used a mix of outdoor and TVC but the path-breaking innovation was the ‘do the new’ simulcast on Radio. The brand got all the Radio Jockeys of competing stations at a common beaming studio, as they interacted with audiences, sharing brand content, creating the jingle and generally connecting with the junta. The results – they amassed over 30 million subscribers in record time. We saw quite a few other cracking concepts from some of the best thinkers in the corridors of advertising. But it remains to see what the People choose as their favourite. And that we would see on the 7th of December 2010 at the Turf Club – the grand award ceremony of the EFFIEs.