Surf Excel Liquid - Yaaron ka Yaar

Hindustan Uniliver launched this month their first Surf Excel Liquid detergent. HUL hopes to get Indian consumers switch to liquid detergent but in the other countries liquid detergent already dominates the market.

Detergent is a category where dirt and stains have always been portrayed as bad. The category has always harped on functional benefits, however,Surf Excel has been taking a different route by  seeking to occupy the emotional space amongst consumers by playing on the paradox of dirt being good by showing children doing good deeds and getting dirty in the process. Surf Excel is loved by consumers in India and has a distinctive positioning in the minds of consumers driven by the ‘Dirt is Good’ advertising. The brands emotional position has helped Surf Excel to differentiate itself from the other brands. It has also helped surf excel to build a deep emotional connect with our target audience i.e. mothers.

The new liquid ad shows kids getting stained when helping their friends. The video shows some beautiful incidents like helping their friends ink pen to write, climbing the wall to get the shuttlecock, and getting the shoe from dirty water. The best part of the ad is its jingle and its already a big hit with Indian audience.

“Yeh mera dost hai

Sab ka host hai

Help ko ready hai

Sab ka buddy hai

Kare chamatkar Yaaron ka Yaar”

When children go out to play and get dirty, they don't just collect stains. They experience life, make friends, share with each other and learn from each other. This helps them become stronger and get ready for the world outside. That’s why Surf Excel maintains that “Daag achhe hai”. So let children enjoy their playtime and make new friends without worrying about stains, because every stain teaches them something new (HUL, 2013).

Agency: Lowe  Lintas

This campaign also linked in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/surfexcelindia . You can also get a free sample by filling the personal details and hitting like in surfexcel facebook page. The participants also need to share the link with five friends. This increases the number of hits in the surfexcel facebook page.

Augmented Reality Print Ad - Ford India

Today's Times of India newspaper has one full page Ford Ecosport ad which features Augmented Reality content. It uses Layar the world leader in mobile augmented reality and interactive print apps. Augmented Reality (AR) is the layering of media (video, music, text, picture, graphics, animation) on top of a live video feed or real world environment in real time to create an interactive experience.

The mobile AR world consists largely of two different types of experiences: geolocation - and vision-based augmented reality. Geolocation-based AR uses GPS, compass and other sensors in a user's mobile phone to provide a "heads-up" display of various geolocated points-of-interest. Vision-based AR uses many of these same sensors to virtually display digital content in context with real-world objects - such as, magazines, postcards or product packaging - by tracking the visual features of these objects.

To view the AR add first we need to download the layar app. Then open the layar app in your mobile phone and focus on the red ford vehicle show in the print ad. The AR image will pop up showing various Indian cities. Click on Chennai then you can see 8 important places in Chennai like Ennor pier, Huddleston garden, PoonamalleI barracks, Thalanakuppam pier, Chembrabakkam lake, lake of Roading, Sadras kalpakkam and Thiruneermalai. Picture of each location also given. You have to rotate your self (360 Degree) to see all these points in your mobile phone.

The participants need to post the unexpected location of the city to win Ford Ecosport.

http://ecosportdiscoveries.co.in/

Ford Ecosport SUV is only Rs 5.59 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) .........will pull the customers who were earlier driving a sedan or even considering buying a compact sedan or a top end hatchback will now shift to the EcoSport.

7 Up I feel up

7Up  recent campaign comprises two television commercials. In the Kathakali TVC, a Kathakali artist hands a bottle of 7Up to a girl waiting at the corner of a street. As soon as the girl accepts it, the audio system starts playing an eccentric mix of music from varied genres like dandiya, rock n roll, and so on, to which the artist gives an exuberant, though not strictly classical, performance. In the Kimono TVC, a Japanese woman clad in a Kimono hands a bottle of 7Up to a young man waiting near a station, and then breaks into lavani (a dance form of Maharashtra).

7up Kathakali

7UP Kimono

The campaign attempts to communicate that 7Up livens up a break in the middle of a dreary boring day. But Kathakali ad seems to be hated by many especially people from Kerala as the art-form was cheaply depicted in the advertisement.

Agency:  Taproot India

Cadbury Bournville Not So Sweet

Interesting ad which communicates sweetness is dangerous.  The Cadbury’s Bournville TVC  features blonde women chatting at a hen party. One of them is gushing about her new pet kitten to another who keeps exclaiming ‘so sweet’ to everything. Their onlookers, two more ladies watch them expressionless, sharing a chocolate, as a giant plant appears out of nowhere and swallows the chatter. The film ends with a shot of the bored onlookers and the brand’s logo and tagline – ‘not so sweet.’

Agency: O&M India

The major issue in the ad is no indian models used. I feel Indian models should be used to push this brand. This campaign  is integrated with Cadbury’s active presence on social media – https://www.facebook.com/cadburybournville

Axe Blast Ranbir keeps score

Hindustan Unilever introduced a new commercial for their Axe Blast. Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor features in the ad.  Kapoor uses a clicker to record the number of times he’s able to grab female attention. End of the day he able to get 147 clicks. He feels he’s done good enough, but the man in the driver's seat, shows with 2,475 hits. The secret for his success is then revealed, the man shown applying Axe Blast. The main theme is that "The Axe hero can even overcome Star-power". A chauffeur wearing Axe's newest fragrance gets more female attention than even Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor.

Agency: BBH (Singapore)

This campaign is also supported by facebook fan page. Currently Axe India fanpage has reached over 4,065,501 likes.  https://www.facebook.com/axeangelsclub?ref=stream

The ad is the exact copy of an older ad of Axe Clicker which featured Ben Affleck. I still feel that Ben Affleck ad communicates the message more clearly as actor meets the chauffeur in the lift. In Indian ad the actor meets the chauffeur in the car but only his face is seen. Its not clear if he is a chauffeur or friend. I think creative team missed the key element of the original commercial.