Just Chillz: Capturing the feel good factor in a cone of ice-cream

India boasts of the largest youth population in the world. But the portrayal of youth in Indian advertising continues to be largely stereotypical. With reference to the ice-cream category in particular, Paul Thachil, CEO, Mother Dairy, feels that there are only two images of youth that come forward in ads: that of a rebel out to prove his point, or that of a person seeking to woo the opposite sex. Trying to break the mould is Mother Dairy, which is out with a television campaign for its youth ice-cream brand, Chillz.  

Ever since its launch three years ago, Chillz has largely been a Delhi-based brand. Local presence spelt local advertising for the brand thus far, with the occasional outdoor and press ads doing the rounds. But Chillz recently expanded its presence to the western, eastern and northern belts of India, with the South as its next target (by 2008, one should expect the product down South). With this expansion, Chillz will finally have a pan-India campaign, with television figuring prominently in the media mix. 

In research led by Nandu Narasimhan, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi (the agency working on Chillz), it was discovered that teenagers feel deeply about a number of issues to which many adults pay only lip service. “We distilled our learning down to a simple insight: the need for goodness and doing good exists in teens, but it isn’t easily apparent,” says Narasimhan. Saatchi has created two ads – ‘Teacher’ and ‘Basketball’ – for Chillz, and both will break soon on television.  

‘Teacher’ begins on the shot of a young man, gifts in hand, buying flowers off the street and rushing on. On his way, he spots an ice-cream vendor propelling his cart forward. He stops and purchases two cones of Chillz ice-cream. With all his purchases in hand, he lands up at the doorstep of an old woman. Wishing her a happy anniversary, he gives her the ice-cream and flowers. The old teacher recognises him as one of her ex-students, and sits with him and receives his gifts. She reads a card, and chides him for still making spelling mistakes. As the two share an emotional moment over ice-cream, a voice-over concludes, “Mother Dairy Chillz. It’s all about the goodness inside.” 

The second TVC, ‘Basketball’, has men on wheelchairs playing the game amidst a full crowd and enthusiastic cheering. The protagonist (also on a wheelchair), plays on, passing the ball to his best friend. One sees the duo put up a good fight for their opponents and, in the climax, the protagonist quickly propels his wheelchair forward and scores goal after goal to win the match. Amidst loud cheering and applause, he gives a high-five to his friend in the wheelchair. Then, to the viewer’s surprise, he gets up from his chair and the two leave the stadium (implying that even though he was not disabled, the boy played the match on equal terms with his wheelchair mates). The two casually consume Chillz ice-cream to celebrate their victory, as the VO concludes.  

According to Narasimhan, the goodness factor in these commercials stands for two things: the goodness in the hearts of its TG that inspires them to better people’s lives, and the goodness of Mother Dairy milk in Chillz. In fact, to prove a point in its social responsibility message, Chillz even associated itself with CRY (Child Rights & You), wherein some amount of the revenue earned from each Chillz purchase went to CRY.  

Good Morning Films is the production house behind the two television commercials.  

© 2007 agencyfaqs!