MUMBAI: Marketers are forever in search of new engaging ways to connect with consumers, but consumers, at the end of the day, are people. In India, the word ‘people’ has a varied connotation with the country having a population of over a billion, nestling several languages, religions and cultures. Hence a message targeted at a few million might not connect with the rest.
While the Indian calendar is checkered with festivals that trigger traction from several millions, there are few things that connect the 1.8 billion as one like cricket, a national crisis or even our pride as Indians.
Creatives understand this well, and have time and again thrilled, moved, excited and even tickled us with these instances of Indian-ness. This Republic Day too, there are a handful of brands riding the patriotic wave and delivering some version of the many facets of what makes us Indian. Indiantelevision.com handpicks a few for our readers.
9XM’s #OneDreamOneIndia
A Republic Day video preaching religious harmony has been done to death and therefore is commonplace. But what about a video that reflects unity of several political ideologies? That is exactly what we see in this 90-second video where actors — who are clearly depicting stalwarts from major political parties in India — join hands to stand up against any threat to the nation. Going on air on 25 January, the ident ‘OneDreamOneIndia’ is sung by JSL Singh and Ranjit Bawa capturing the nation’s spirit of unity and freedom. The ident will be promoted across social media platforms and YouTube. After laughing at several newspaper cartoons that make fun of the rivalry between the national parties, and cracking up at their puppet parodies on television and digital medium, this new initiative from 9XM comes as a breath of fresh air.
Gaali Free India
Our constitution grants us free speech and by virtue of it we are free to use the language we choose, even if it is vulgar. But have we stretched our freedom too far to notice that ‘gaali’ has become part of our vocabulary? A question Water Communications’ founder and director Vandana Sethhi asks the nation through an innovative campaign.
Inspired by Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative, the campaign gives an interesting spin off and seeks cleanliness in speech.
Videocon: FlagOfChange
The tricolour of Indian national flag evokes several emotions. It also carries the burden of several freedom fighters who gave their lives to gift us this day when we walk free with pride. It also carries the pride of the leaders of that time who gave their blood and sweat in building the Constitution. And yet we see many amongst us who take this for granted and bring down the decades worth of effort in a minute by giving into petty temptations. To some, it’s for extra cash, while for others, it might be to save themselves from bureaucratic hassles. This powerful short-film by Videocon created by Rediffusion Y&R reminds us of the burden of the Indian flag and urges everyone to start changing our mindset, at the same time inserting a message on anti-corruption.
