 "My Best Campaign: Minakshi Achan")
Why it is my best campaign
I could easily pull out a whole lot of work I've done in my earlier role (chief creative officer for Rediffusion Y&R) including the launch of Tata Nano, the Airtel commercials, some work on Bacardi or Eveready Batteries. But I really feel that, in advertising, you are only as good as your last campaign. Advertising is very "today's business" and your reputation is being built as you speak. There is no point, therefore, in talking about work that you have done five years ago. So I will speak about a recent one - the latest campaign we have rolled out for L&T General Insurance, Likh ke doge kya. It has been a very successful campaign for the client.
Brief to the agency
The brief was to crack a category defining idea which would focus on the feature of a six-hour response guarantee. With regard to insurance products, the moment of truth for the consumer is when he or she finds support from the insurer in his or her hour of need. The idea that we cracked for L&T launched their health product with a bang and underlined the differentiator in a world where promises abound and words don't count for much. It tackled a core question in a category riddled with doubts and questions.
Challenges faced
There were two main challenges for us to contend with: one, to ensure that we stood out in a crowded category and two, to be spot on with the tonality of the campaign so that the message is delivered strongly.
Routes considered
We looked at various ways of putting the message across. We considered going emotional since the category - and health insurance in particular - is driven by emotion. But we realised that a lot of people have gone down that road - of being overly sentimental. We considered being dead serious about the message. However, we figured people live in hope. They hope to not fall sick. We wondered then if we could reflect that in our tonality and hence put out the message in a light-hearted manner. As the insight of a six-hour guaranteed response time is powerful, we felt the delivery should be light.
Route chosen and why
When we chose the language of humour, our choices oscillated from going over the top and being overly loud or slapsticky to being on the quieter, subtler or quirkier side. We chose to be smart and opted for the no-nonsense approach while at the same time, taking great care not to suffocate the idea with clever execution tricks.
Outcome
As a part of the campaign we have developed four spots: the main 45-second launch film featuring a couple - in which the wife tells the husband that if he takes her for a vacation she will never shop again and the husband asks "Likh ke dogee kya?" - and three 30-second ones. The other films also explore day-to-day situations. One ad has a boss asking his junior to stay back late at work, promising a promotion in return. In another a milkman swears by his cow that he hasn't diluted the milk. Yet another features an astrologer who says the visiting couple's son will be married soon and have a kid within a year and a half. The common thread that runs through all these spots is that a lot of tall claims are made everyday without any guarantee. Unlike these situations where the people who make the claims or promises refuse to put it in writing, L&T is willing to put down its promise on paper. The campaign takes up an everyday phrase and weaves in the client's brief beautifully.
Will it work today
Likh ke doge kya is a timeless idea. It has the power to stay relevant and will simply need executions that will bring alive topics that are at the centre of discussions at that point in time. The campaign has proved to be successful with all stakeholders in the brand - the consumers, agents, employees etc. An indicator of its success is the fact that it has become part of popular vocabulary. We have even received emails from our viewers giving more ideas on how best to extend the idea. We know now we are on to a good thing.
I could easily pull out a whole lot of work I've done in my earlier role (chief creative officer for Rediffusion Y&R) including the launch of Tata Nano, the Airtel commercials, some work on Bacardi or Eveready Batteries. But I really feel that, in advertising, you are only as good as your last campaign. Advertising is very "today's business" and your reputation is being built as you speak. There is no point, therefore, in talking about work that you have done five years ago. So I will speak about a recent one - the latest campaign we have rolled out for L&T General Insurance, Likh ke doge kya. It has been a very successful campaign for the client.
Brief to the agency
The brief was to crack a category defining idea which would focus on the feature of a six-hour response guarantee. With regard to insurance products, the moment of truth for the consumer is when he or she finds support from the insurer in his or her hour of need. The idea that we cracked for L&T launched their health product with a bang and underlined the differentiator in a world where promises abound and words don't count for much. It tackled a core question in a category riddled with doubts and questions.
Challenges faced
There were two main challenges for us to contend with: one, to ensure that we stood out in a crowded category and two, to be spot on with the tonality of the campaign so that the message is delivered strongly.
Routes considered
We looked at various ways of putting the message across. We considered going emotional since the category - and health insurance in particular - is driven by emotion. But we realised that a lot of people have gone down that road - of being overly sentimental. We considered being dead serious about the message. However, we figured people live in hope. They hope to not fall sick. We wondered then if we could reflect that in our tonality and hence put out the message in a light-hearted manner. As the insight of a six-hour guaranteed response time is powerful, we felt the delivery should be light.
Route chosen and why
When we chose the language of humour, our choices oscillated from going over the top and being overly loud or slapsticky to being on the quieter, subtler or quirkier side. We chose to be smart and opted for the no-nonsense approach while at the same time, taking great care not to suffocate the idea with clever execution tricks.
Outcome
As a part of the campaign we have developed four spots: the main 45-second launch film featuring a couple - in which the wife tells the husband that if he takes her for a vacation she will never shop again and the husband asks "Likh ke dogee kya?" - and three 30-second ones. The other films also explore day-to-day situations. One ad has a boss asking his junior to stay back late at work, promising a promotion in return. In another a milkman swears by his cow that he hasn't diluted the milk. Yet another features an astrologer who says the visiting couple's son will be married soon and have a kid within a year and a half. The common thread that runs through all these spots is that a lot of tall claims are made everyday without any guarantee. Unlike these situations where the people who make the claims or promises refuse to put it in writing, L&T is willing to put down its promise on paper. The campaign takes up an everyday phrase and weaves in the client's brief beautifully.
Will it work today
Likh ke doge kya is a timeless idea. It has the power to stay relevant and will simply need executions that will bring alive topics that are at the centre of discussions at that point in time. The campaign has proved to be successful with all stakeholders in the brand - the consumers, agents, employees etc. An indicator of its success is the fact that it has become part of popular vocabulary. We have even received emails from our viewers giving more ideas on how best to extend the idea. We know now we are on to a good thing.
Client L&T General Insurance
Credits
Agency: Salt Brand Solutions
Client: Deepali Nair, country head,brand communications, L&T General Insurance
Creative: Vikrant Markal, Smita Mishra, Anisha Sarin, Sanket Pathare, Minakshi Achan
Account management: Siddharth Singh, Amritroopa Salien, Parvathy Raja
More From This Section
Production house: Soda Films
Post production: Pixion
Film director: Rajesh Krishnan
Minakshi AchanCo-founder, Salt Brand Solutions, Former CCO, Rediffusion Y&R