Fastrack: The trick to get close to John Abraham

In an ad for Fastrack Eye Gear’s summer collection, Lowe has chosen to marry Morocco and Bollywood in a theme featuring John Abraham

For youth fashion brand Fastrack, it’s all about redefining the rules, and how; even the advertising and ideation process hasn’t been spared.

As summer is here, Fastrack Eye Gear is back with a campaign for its annual summer collection. The TVC features brand ambassador John Abraham in a setting in Morocco, with Bollywood as the central theme. “We chose an international locale to add aspirational value to our brand,” says Hemal Panchamia, assistant brand manager, Fastrack Eye Gear. However, there’s more to the story, as Rahul Sengupta, executive creative director, Lowe, Bangalore, reveals: “John was shooting for the movie ‘Goal’ in Europe. As a result, we had to create an idea around his travel itinerary, quite literally.”

Morocco was selected because Abraham has a huge following there, apart from it being a cost efficient location. The script was then woven around it. Leveraging Abraham’s profession, Bollywood was selected as the central theme.

Fastrack: The trick to get close to John Abraham

John Abraham flanked by Moroccan women in a frame from the TVC

The ad opens on a shot of Abraham scouring the streets of Morocco, stopping at a shop to buy something. Casually, he puts on his Fastrack sunglasses, but this sets off a chain of events. On seeing an Indian actor sporting the sunglasses, pretty Moroccan women devise a plan to catch his attention. In true Bollywood style, one by one, they all fling themselves at him, screaming “Bachao! (Help!)” Overwhelmed, Abraham removes his glares. The women look disappointedly at him and walk away. One of them even says, “Nahin! (No!)” in the style of a Hindi film heroine expressing her displeasure. The ad concludes with an old woman explaining to the bewildered Abraham, “Heroines.” The voiceover concludes, “How many you have? Fastrack Eye Gear.”

With Moroccan women mouthing clichéd Bollywood dialogue traditionally used to lure heroes, Lowe hopes to make the ad unique. However, while the viewer is surprised to see Moroccan women aping typical Bollywood heroines to draw the hero’s attention, the voiceovers given to them are Indian. Explains Panchamia, “The humorous element had to be maintained, and we didn’t want accents interfering with the dialogue.”

He adds that the penetration of sunglasses in India is as low as 4 per cent, and the effort is to grow the market as a whole by appealing to the masses, while maintaining a premium image. “Sunglasses are still seen largely as unwanted accessories, which, if need be, are bought off the streets,” admits Panchamia. “Therefore, our communication should address this problem by making the product and brand synonymous with fashion and style.”

The Summer Collection usually contributes 35 per cent of Fastrack’s yearly sales, and the same pattern is expected this year.

The film has been directed by Mad Entertainment’s Nikhil Advani (of ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’ fame). A total of Rs 40 lakh was spent on making the commercial.

The TVC will run mainly on music, sports and movie channels to attract eyeballs from Fastrack’s TG: 18-24 year olds.

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