Going solo

CAMPAIGN LOGIC

Bose Corporation's first Indian television campaign is all about music "" and no agency.

Lost in the music he's hearing, an old man taps out the notes on a piano. A turbaned Rajasthani plays the flute and a young woman catches the tune on her violin.

Another woman plays the sitar in front of an idol of Goddess Durga. A wrestler beats on his dhol, accompanied by a spirited South Indian woman on the mridangam, before a young man speeds up the tempo with an electric guitar.

The images fade to a black background with the Bose logo and the tagline "sound from the soul". The voiceover says "Bose. Now in India" and the last frame shows a woman blowing a conch.

This would have been yet another ad for yet another audio company. Only, there are some differences.

All the characters are playing imaginary instruments "" a classical version of air guitar, if you will; original artworks form the backdrop for the ad; the music was composed by hot new composer Shantanu Maitra; it's an ad for Bose India, the local arm of the world's leading audio equipment company; and the entire ad was conceptualised, created and broadcast without an ad agency.

"We bypassed the agencies because we felt we could translate our thoughts better through a film-maker," explains Ratish Pandey, general manager, Bose India.

Interestingly, although Bose has been in India for almost a decade, it's never had a mass media campaign before. (Which is probably why the ad's tagline says Now in India.) Until now, the company has always opted for product-specific print advertisements (Bose makes high-end speakers, headphones and home theatre systems).

The first ad film, in contrast, doesn't show a single Bose product, focusing instead only on the brand. "The idea was simple. We wanted to project Bose as a company that stands for good quality sound," says Pandey. Still, questions remain: why television and why now?

Here are the answers in reverse order. Bose India is finally expanding its presence in the country.

Says Pandey, "We could not expand because the import policy of the government did not allow many of our products to be imported. Back then, we could not even sell speakers."

From the time it launched in India in 1996, until 2002, the company operated through just two stores: one each in Mumbai and Delhi. Since Bose sells only through its exclusive outlets, that meant potential buyers had to either visit the stores or call the company's toll-free number and order specific models.

Naturally, mass media advertising made little sense at that point. In 2002, the law changed and the following year, Bose began reaching out. It quickly set up stores in more cities (Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai), taking its total to 11. This year, it plans to double that figure. Clearly, then, a national ad campaign now has increased relevance.

Besides, to now answer the first question, Bose has already tasted the power of television.

In 2005, it ran sponsorship tags and vignettes "" small animated movies on various sports "" that were developed by the creative team at ESPN. And during the Ashes cricket series in September last year, it again ran some pushbacks "" ads that appear at the bottom of the screen, between overs and other stoppages.

Like Bose's other advertising, these were also product-centric, promoting the Bose Wave music system.

Simultaneously, Bose India started monitoring footfalls at its stores. The company claims that after the television promotions, both walk-ins at the stores and calls to the toll-free number increased substantially.

Customer feedback also underlined that the print campaigns "" which ran at the same time as the ESPN activity "" received greater recall and generated more interest now, compared to when the print ads ran on their own.

Once the decision to make an ad was taken, the company decided against the agency route and instead contacted a few independent film-makers. Bose's worldwide advertisements and 30-minute infomercials were shown to them to help them understand the concept and the company's philosophy and vision.

Incidentally, a conscious decision was taken against repeating those global campaigns in India since they would lack local colour and appeal. "Bose made a new film because the Indian element was important," agrees Aniruddha Sen, partner, Illusion Films, which made the film for Bose.

Illusion presented the company with several options for the ad, including one with no sound and another that showed a young man writing a song for his hearing-impaired girlfriend, who runs her hand over the scoresheet as the music plays.

Finally, though, the "sound for the soul" concept was selected because it symbolises Bose with "the pure sound that comes from one's soul," says Sen.

It took Illusions Films close to 40 days to make the 60-second film. Initially, musicians were selected to play the parts, but they didn't portray the characters well enough.

Actors were then chosen and time was spent in familiarising them with the musical instruments they were supposed to "play". Some time also went in making the huge paintings that adorn the background of the film. The actual filming was completed over three days in a Mumbai studio, in time for the ad to be broadcast during Wimbledon.

The media buying function was handled by Carat. While the minute-long version has already been played on Star Sports and ESPN, smaller edits of 30 seconds and 15 seconds are also planned. Over the next month or so, the Bose India ad will also play on various music and English news cable channels.

Meanwhile, the ad is also being shown in select cinema halls. Bose is choosing upscale theatres that are located near its stores in the cities where it is present. Since many of the company's showrooms are located in malls that also house multiplexes, it plans to run on-ground promotions as well, to sustain customer interest.

Then there's the print campaign. Typically, Bose's print campaigns break around August and continue through the rest of the year, catching the traditional buying season. This year, too, the company plans a similar strategy. Only, this time it will have two campaigns "" one now, on the brand, followed by a product-centric one some weeks later.

Whether all these efforts will help it reach new buyers is still unclear. Consumer durables industry analysts point out that Bose already has a strong brand image in India; the biggest deterrent for potential buyers is its top-of-the-line pricing.

For instance, points out Gunjan Srivastava, business head, audio and consumer electronics, Philips India, "Maximum sales in the home theatre category happens at Rs 10,000- 20,000." Bose' s home theatre systems, on the other hand, range between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh.

Bose's executives refuse to accept that the company's products are restricted to a few and claim that the television campaign will help open the doors to all lovers of quality sound.

Declares Pandey, "Our products are the best in class and true music lovers appreciate that." Appreciation may be a given, but affordability still remains an issue.

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WHO DID WHAT

Client: Bose Corporation India
Agency: ""
Creative: Aniruddha Sen
Production house: Illusion Films