Lenovo: Your face can give away more than you know

In the 2000 movie, 'Cast Away', actor Tom Hanks is shown as marooned on an island. In the end, when he's rescued after four long years of depression, deprivation and loneliness, the audience heaved huge sighs of relief.

In the new ad for Lenovo's new Y-Series laptops, O&M has done a spoof on 'Cast Away', using Hindi actor Saif Ali Khan in Hanks' role. Only, in the ad, the real story begins after Khan is rescued.

"Yes, we did a spoof on 'Cast Away'," confesses Malvika Mehra, senior creative director, O&M. The agency was given the task of conveying the launch of Lenovo's new series of laptops, which are equipped with the unique feature of facial recognition in place of a password. This ensures both security and privacy as logging in is restricted to the one whose face is registered on the computer.

The agency experimented with various concepts to bring out the uniqueness of this feature, using Lenovo's brand ambassador Saif Ali Khan. After tossing nearly 15 scripts around, the 'Cast Away' spoof was deemed fit.

In the next frame, Khan is shown standing outside his home, anxiously ringing the doorbell. His wife opens the door, but when Khan holds out his arms to her, she recoils because she has not recognised him in his unkempt attire. Even his dog barks at him. Forcing his way in, Khan finds his way to his Lenovo laptop and stands in front of it. Meanwhile, his wife is desperately trying to phone for help. The system on his laptop does a face scan and correctly recognises him. A voiceover chips in, "Pehchaane aapka chehra. Naya Lenovo Y-Series. Ab aapka chehra bane aapka password (Lenovo's new Y-Series recognises your face. Now, your face is your password)."

Ajay Mittal, vice-president, brand and marketing, Lenovo India, explains that the target group for the Y-Series is mainly individuals using them for business or personal use. "Typically, laptops ask a person to key in a password to log onto the machine, which can be dangerous if hacked,” he says. "However, facial features are unique to a person, so this product ensures that your laptop is secure."

According to Mehra of O&M, "Khan is not recognised by even his near and dear ones in his shabby attire, but his laptop doesn't fail him. This, we felt, was a good way to bring out the uniqueness of both a person's facial structure as well as the product feature."

The film has been directed by Rajesh Krishnan of Foot Candles at Alibaug and Kashid. Initially, the script was longer than the stipulated 40 seconds, including shots of a kid, a supposed plane crash and also an elaborate chopper rescue. But these were chopped later to make things crisper.

A real chopper was to be used, but due to permission issues, they had to settle for a toy chopper operated by a remote control. Khan's getup, too, had to be perfect because it forms the crux of the story.

Amit Akali, creative director, O&M, says, "There was a time and space constraint, so a 20-foot stretch of land was made to look like a sea beach!" Mehra and Akali worked on the creative, along with Jacob K and Deepak Joshi, who wrote the final script.

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