Greenlam: Desperate times call for desperate measures

Imagine being threatened with a knife because you refused a friend’s invitation to visit him.

In what constitutes the second-ever ad for Greenlam Laminates (from the house of Greenply Industries), Lowe has given a comical twist to a situation that would have otherwise turned out quite ordinary.

The ad opens on the shot of a couple and their kid strolling past a table in a restaurant. The wife notices a man seated at a table. Recognising him, she nudges her husband and, pointing in his direction, whispers, “Naresh!” The three of them approach the man, who turns out to be the husband Suresh’s long-lost friend. The two friends embrace each other and ask questions about each other’s lives. Suresh invites Naresh home, but he declines politely, saying, “Bahut kaam hai, phir kabhi (I have lots of work, perhaps some other time).”

The ad marks a thrust towards brand building for Greenlam, as opposed to the first ad two years ago, which was purely functional in nature. It showed a wife trying every means to get her husband’s attention, including targeting fire at him, but he escapes each time by taking shelter under a Greenlam Laminate product. The tagline: ‘Stays new whatever you do’.

“While that ad wasn’t overtly salient, we knew we had to do something drastic to build Greenlam as a memorable brand, considering that it belongs to a non-involving category,” says Priti Nair Chakravarthy, executive creative director at Lowe. So, Lowe worked on a basic human insight – the need to show off something new.

“It is a common notion that if your house looks shabby, you avoid calling people over,” says Alex Joseph, general manager, communications, Greenply Industries. “But the exact opposite is true when you refurbish your home.” Particularly when you buy expensive-looking, stylish furniture, your first instinct is to show it off to whoever is in sight. “We just went ahead and exaggerated the lengths to which one will go in order to show off,” laughs Chakravarthy.

The agency had to make sure that the positioning for Greenlam stood out from its sibling, Greenply Plywood, which has already created a niche for itself. However, that seems to have taken care of itself, points out Joseph, as Greenply stands for durability, whereas Greenlam Laminates are more of a lifestyle statement.

The TVC is already being aired; press, outdoor and radio will be leveraged soon. The press and outdoor ads have the same family forcing people to have tea at their home, people who wouldn’t be invited ordinarily, such as a liftman, postman and pizza delivery boy.

The radio communication, which is still being finalised, is likely to involve RJs who will ask listeners to send in funny reasons for inviting people over to their homes; the radio spots, too, will revolve around the same theme.

The film has been directed by Prakash Varma of Nirvana, whose sole brief was to keep it as simple and real as possible and to bring out the humorous element. Trained theatre actors play the leads. Elements such as irrelevant conversation at the onset of the reunion, and even the very ordinary names, Naresh-Suresh, were all deliberate attempts to bring an element of reality into the situation, so that it looks even more ridiculous when the comical angle sets in. The film was shot in Mumbai over two days.

Joseph expects the communication to garner a 50 per cent growth in sales over the next quarter.

© 2007 agencyfaqs!