SET Max: Mad about movies

It’s no surprise that Indians have always been crazy or ‘deewana’ about two things – Bollywood and cricket. But it’s another task altogether for Hindi movie channel SET Max to bring out this ‘deewanapan’ (craziness) in a new, surprising manner every time.

In the past, SET Max has had three campaigns on the ‘Deewana bana de’ platform – the Kapil Dev and ‘gali’ cricket ad in 2002, the ‘Devta’ ad in 2003 and the second part of the ‘gali’ cricket series in 2004. Now, the channel’s fourth campaign is out and this time, it’s not just a human being, but the entire environment, that’s going crazy about movies.

Explains Albert Almeida, executive vice-president and business head, SET Max, “This campaign is a reinforcement of all that for which Max stands – a passion for the movies. It’s a new, refreshing way of showing how one eats and breathes movies as a part of everyday life.”

And mind you, he warns, SET Max isn’t about transporting one to the world of movies, the way other movie channels are positioned. “It is quite the opposite. Max is about inculcating the fanaticism of movies in real-life situations.”

The TV spot for SET Max, conceived by ad agency Euro RSCG, opens on the shot of a young, sari-clad woman heading out of her house. A voice from above her yells, ‘Aati kya Khandala?’ She gets offended and demands to know who said that. In the second shot, the same voice yells, ‘Yeh haath humko de de Thakur!’ to a man holding wads of bank notes in his hands. Next, as a cop strolls along with a thug whom he’s caught, the voice shouts out, ‘Tera kya hoga, Kaalia?’ The dark-complexioned cop beats up the robber, thinking it is he who said it.

The camera then focuses on the source of the voice – perched high up in a chawl-like building is a parrot in a cage, who, like its owners, is watching SET Max all the time. The super reads, ‘Deewana bana de’.

Explaining the need for a bird to do the trick this time, Ashok Karnik, vice-president, creative, Euro RSCG, says, “This campaign is a reflection of the effect of movies. Showing human beings going crazy about the movies was covered in all our previous campaigns, so it was time to do something different. It then hit us – why not show a pet going ‘deewana’ along with its owners?” And what better pet than a parrot which has perfected the art of imitating human speech?

The strategy was to show this passion for movies trickling down from human beings to other species, and the environment in general. The press and outdoor hoardings use the environment to bring out this hunger for movies. One of the ads shows a busy, crowded street, with all the shop names inspired from Hindi movies, such as ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho Traders’ and ‘Ram Lakhani Electricals’. The second ad shows a buffet table laid out, with the names of the dishes resembling the names of film stars. The rice bears the name ‘Juhi Chawal-a’ and the ‘halwa’ is called ‘Mallika Sheera-vat’. A third ad has a marriage reception hall being decorated, with the words ‘Neela weds Nikhil’ decoratively arranged in flowers in the same pattern as the logo for the film, ‘Neal n Nikki’.

The TV spots will also air on news channels such as the CNBC-TV18 group channels and NDTV India, apart from Sony’s bouquet of channels. “The idea is to target the viewers as well as the trade guys, such as our advertisers,” says Almeida. In addition, vans and rickshaws are being used innovatively in small towns to carry the posters of these ads.

In tandem with this campaign, SET Max has also launched its ‘Sabse Bada Deewana’ contest, which will air on the channel in a reality show format. As per this contest, SET Max will choose the craziest movie buff from across the country through auditions across Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Kolkata and Mumbai. The six ‘deewanas’ chosen from each of these cities will then be eliminated by viewer votes till the Sabse Bada Deewana is chosen.

Quite ‘filmi’, what say?

© 2006 agencyfaqs!