My favourite campaign is Amazon's 'Mom Be A Girl Again': Shefali Takalkar

The campaign is real and relatable, and the brand integration is effortless

Which is your favourite campaign and why?

One of my favourite campaigns is Amazon’s “Mom Be A Girl Again” campaign which was released in the year 2017. The campaign featured several films on the same theme – how family responsibilities often prevent women from following their passion. For example, there was this story of a girl who was passionate about playing football during her school days and gives it up once she becomes a mother and another about a woman who ditches her love for travel and photography because she has to make space for her child’s needs. All the other stories in this campaign are of mothers we know and every household can relate to. But I am sure none of us would have thought about the sacrifices a mother makes for her family.

That is the beauty of this campaign. It is real, relatable, believable, and makes you think and feel. The brand integration is also effortless, making the Amazon package an integral part of the story.

On what parameters did you base your decision?

Shefali Takalkar Creative Head, BBH India Content Studio

The parameters I have chosen to select this are storytelling, the execution, the role of the brand and the emotions that we see. All of the above factors make this campaign a perfect package.

The concept again is very fresh. I don’t think any brand before this has tried to build a connect with the mother who has given up her passion for her family. Everyone knows it, but no one thinks it is important enough to talk about it. A mother and her sacrifices are just taken for granted.

What do you think was the key idea the campaign was trying to drive home?

I think through this campaign, Amazon wanted to engage women consumers and build brand awareness and recall amongst this segment. Women are one of the fastest growing online consumers and hence it is important for the brand to build a connection with them. This campaign does that very well. It appeals to the child in the woman she has forgotten.

Do you remember the campaign winning any advertising awards? Do you think these awards serve any purpose?

I remember the campaign being widely spoken about and discussed but don’t know if it won any awards. Awards definitely motivate the teams that work on such beautifully crafted campaigns and also make all the hard work and sleepless nights worthwhile.

Sometimes because of the emotional element in a campaign, there is greater recall for the story than the product or service advertised. Do you feel this was the case with the Amazon campaign which had a strong emotional connect?

That does happen but that happens more with cause advertising but if the product becomes an integral part of the messaging, then it ensures good recall for that as well. In these ads, there was no way that one could have missed the Amazon box.  

Did this campaign inspire any of your work? What are your takeaways from the campaign?

This campaign did not inspire any work of mine but when I see the product really well integrated with the story, that becomes an inspiring piece in itself. In this era of content marketing, this kind of integration is even more important because we see more and more web series and content features coming out with brands integrated but one is not sure what role the brand is playing in the story. So examples like this or the Google reunion ads are striking ones in displaying that a product when used in an emotional story can make the message even more effective.

Do you remember some of the names who worked on the campaign?

The campaign was originally conceptualised by Azazul Haque of Ogilvy, Bengaluru, and his team.

What else could have been done to make the campaign better?

It is brilliant the way it is. I don’t think anything could have been done to make the campaign better.