JWT's heavenly pitch for Century Mica

Campaign to be a shot in the arm for decorative laminates

The heaven is a shade of pristinely boring white and God and the angels are distressed with the monochrome boredom and then out of the blue comes the saviour Century Mica and laminates the heavens into Technicolour excitement, the advertisement ends with the lines "create...enjoy".

The entity behind this 'heavenly' makeover is the agency JWT Kolkata.

"The challenge in conceptualising this campaign for our client Century Plyboards India Limited was that decorative laminates as a category had not witnessed any structured advertising campaign for the last two to three years besides the odd heavy on technicality print ad," said MS Balaji, senior vice president and general manager, JWT Kolkata.

As a result of which laminates as a category is very low on salience on the consumers' mind which can appear as an opportunity as any regularised brand activity would have a much higher impact on consumer minds, Balaji explained.

Balaji also added that laminates did not command any brand loyalty and the aim would be to make Century Mica generic to the category.

A large section of the laminate market is unorganised and therefore another challenge would also be to establish the brand sans the price advantage, Balaji commented.

"Our extensive market research brought out key insights like laminates as a category was associated with cheap alternatives, but yet it is a quick fix solution to transform ordinary household furniture or surfaces and jazz it up into a thing of attraction and the important observation that though people employed interior designers for plans and suggestions but in the end their homes are something where they get to and love to play God with," Uttio Majumdar, vice president and client services director, JWT Kolkata pointed out.

The initial target audience for laminates would comprise SEC B and C, but with the new campaign idea we are hopeful that the profile would also encompass SEC A.

According to Senthil Parthasarathy, vice president and senior creative director, the creative conceptualisation came from this fact that people love to play God with their houses and who better to convey the message than the master creator himself. But the film also had to convey laminates as a trendy yet affordable alternative in terms of almost infinite options for house interiors and also the excitement of doing up the interiors of one's own house and hence the line "create...enjoy", Parthasarathy elaborated.

Through this unique concept, never attempted before in the laminate category we hopefully will manage to establish the brand as well as raise awareness and reveal the category in a completely new light, Balaji concluded.

JWT Kolkata is also involved in the Century's grass root efforts, in-store activities and B2B efforts.

The film is currently running on all major entertainment channels and a few key regional ones, the focus of the campaign is the west and the southern markets.

The manufacturing base of laminates for Century are though in the east, Bishnupur near Joka but the region does not count as a priority market zone like the west and the south.

Century Plyboards are also involved in implementing carpenter awareness programmes in different focus states like Tamil Nadu as a part of stakeholder influencing programmes to provide a platform and encourage greater product knowledge about Century Mica, its different ranges, varied availability and better utility.

Pepping up the woodwork

The initial target audience will comprise SEC B and C

With the new campaign idea the agency hopes that the profile would also encompass SEC A

The new film is currently running on all major entertainment channels and a few key regional ones

The focus of the campaign is the west and the southern markets

JWT Kolkata is also involved in Century's grass root efforts, in-store activities and B2B efforts