Saregama's new audio player to belt out nostalgic tunes

Through its digital brand film, Saregama is trying to convince young buyers to consider Carvaan as a gifting option for 40-plus listeners

Saregama remains the best known name when it comes to switching on to old classics from Hindi cinema as well as a selection of regional music. India’s oldest music label and content company has now come up with a brand film for its new radio-like product Saregama Carvaan that turns on the nostalgia value with a sentimental tale of a man and wife. In the five-minute-long digital film, the woman is first shown singing a lullaby to their son. The choice of her song, the evergreen Lag Jaa Gale from the 1964 thriller Woh Kaun Thi? becomes a motif through the narrative, as she sings it to her husband and different points, including when their son leaves for boarding school and on her deathbed as a middle-aged woman. The ad ends with the son gifting the Saregama Carvaan, the portable digital audio player that is a treasure trove of thousands of such classics. The widower is seen sleeping listening to the same song in the final frames.

Vikram Mehra, MD, Saregama India, says the company had researched early in 2015 on the music consumption patterns across age groups. There was unanimity among the older age group that they find it very difficult to consume music of their choice in an easy accessible way. These are people who have grown up on old Hindi songs, but unfortunately with the death of cassettes and CDs are unable to listen to these songs in the way they would want, especially given that they are not as digitally savvy as the younger generation to download apps, search for songs etc., he explains.

“Carvaan is our attempt to give the ‘lean-back uncomplicated ala 70s Vividh Bharti’ listening experience to this customer base. It’s the right mix of digital technology married to an attractive retro physical form factor. Anyone from eight to 80 will find it simple to use the product. Along with pre-loaded 5,000 Bollywood retro songs selected using data analytics, Carvaan also offers USB, Bluetooth and FM radio,” he adds. Besides, the company considered the want of younger working people who live away to gift something personal to their parents. With this campaign, the company is using the younger age group as the buyer for gifting to their parents and seniors aged above 40.

The film was directed by Amit Sharma of Chrome Pictures. He says the film could be the story of any family that has lived through the past few decades, witnessing a time when growing up meant engaging in activities together at home with the radio playing evergreen songs in the background, especially on Sundays. “When I heard the script from The Womb, I could relate to it on a personal level. I picturised my parents, their relationship that they shared of joy, love, happiness and longing.”

The campaign was conceptualised by The Womb. The agency’s co-founder, Navin Talreja, says the brief from Saregama was more of a business kind than communications. “There are 120,000 songs in our catalogue and we need to find the best way to monetise the same” — that was the principal idea.

With 5,000 curated songs across artists, moods and genres, the Saregama Carvaan product has the entire collection of Ameen Sayani’s Geetmala, FM Radio, Bluetooth connectivity and USB drive. “From a positioning point of view, we chose to play in the USD 20 billion gifting market which has very few unique gifting ideas which also offer an experience that people would love,” says Talreja.