Quadrant makes it to the One Show Creative Showcase

Most ad veterans will tell you that a simple idea always works. Well, it surely seems to have worked for the IPG Group agency, Quadrant. Three of the agency’s press ads for Kenstar ACs have made it to the One Show Creative Showcase.

“The task before us was to portray Kenstar ACs as the ones that offer the fastest and most powerful cooling,” says Krishna Padhye, creative group head, Quadrant, Mumbai. “The brand proposition was the Intense Cooling Efficiency technology, which cools faster than any other AC.”

“So, we coined the term, the ICE Factor,” explains Amit Acharekar, the copywriter for the ads. “The insight that we used was that one doesn’t want to leave the cosy confines of one’s hidey hole if the temperature is extremely chilly.”

The three press ads are called ‘Cuckoo Clock’, ‘Jack-in-the-Box’ and ‘Mouse Hole’. ‘Cuckoo Clock’ shows a clock striking 12, with the cuckoo’s door wide open, but no cuckoo coming out to call the hour. The copy reads: ‘Kenstar ACs. Unexpectedly cold.’

The second ad shows a Jack-in-the-Box. The lid of the box is open, but Jack hasn’t popped out. The third ad shows a mouse hole with a big piece of cheese outside, but no mouse around.

“It’s so chilly outside that even inanimate objects such as the cuckoo in the clock or the Jack-in-the-Box would rather stay in,” explains Acharekar. “We used the line ‘Unexpectedly Cold’ because no one would expect the AC to have such a powerful cooling effect.”

He adds that the real challenge was the fact that there is a market full of air conditioner brands that propagate ‘cooling’ as their proposition. “So, since Kenstar is also about the cooling factor, we had to make sure that the visual idea was different enough to cut ice with the consumers.”

Pun intended, we suppose.

The agency also feels that since the visual was so strong, there was no need for body copy to elaborate on the benefits of the ICE technology.

The press ads, which appeared in select magazines, were supported by posters, danglers and streamers at the Kenstar outlets. It may be recalled that around a year ago, Quadrant had also made a TVC for Kenstar ACs, which had a chicken that couldn’t hatch because of the chill outside. Winter had nothing to do with that chill.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!