Mudra and JWT hold their breath

Mudra and JWT are the only two Indian agencies to make it as finalists at the Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness (AME) Awards. The winners are to be announced on December 4 in New York.

Mudra has been shortlisted in the retail stores category for its case study on RmKV, a South India based textile company, which manufactures silk saris. JWT is a finalist in two categories, Apparel/Personal Items and Sports Marketing, for the Nike case study. The case studies described the strategy used and its immediate effect.

For the RmKV campaign, Mudra roped in popular South Indian actor Jyothika, but not as a brand ambassador. As Jyothika’s wedding was round the corner, this association seemed to be the perfect answer for RmKV. What colour sari Jyothika should wear for her wedding became the core focus of the communication. The idea was to get people to think – was Jyothika endorsing RmKV or was RmKV endorsing Jyothika?

Before one knew it, the advertising for RmKV started resembling a reality show of sorts. Some 42 spots on television and several other press ads had Jyothika addressing her fans, imploring them to advise her on what colour sari would suit her best. TVCs showed her checking out colours in every object she saw. The ads closed with Jyothika in a confused state of mind, requesting the audiences to send in their advice.

RmKV’s USP is that it offers the largest selection of colours in saris. Mudra’s strategy was born out of the need to capture this USP. RmKV had designed a sari with 50,000 colours in it. “In order to leverage the fact that RmKV could offer a sari in any colour, Mudra created an interaction with the audience so that RmKV was their choice when it came to sari selection,” says S Radhakrishnan, president, Mudra South.

The campaign was supported by television, press and radio. Viewers and listeners called in in their hundreds. The campaign ended with Jyothika announcing that the responses had resulted in an outstanding 50,000 colour suggestions. The 50,000 colour sari was then showcased.

The campaign was followed by a ‘Which Colour Do You Want Promise’ campaign. The campaign was discussed animatedly on blogs and in chat rooms.

JWT presented the Nike Cricket case study, which has won it laurels at many award festivals. It won a silver at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards and the London International Awards.

The commercial, ‘Mean Streets’, starts on a shot of a traffic jam in India. A group of boys in a bus start a session of cricket atop the bus, right in the midst of the jam. All the people caught in the traffic jam and the people in the vicinity take part in the impromptu game of cricket. Just when the game is proceeding well, the traffic jam begins to clear and the game has to end. Unable to contain himself, one of the boys readies himself for another ball. And the commercial ends.

“The TVC was initially created for the Indian market, but the impact created by it compelled the client to run it in the UK market as well,” says Dhunji Wadia, managing partner, JWT. The TVC has been displayed 16 times on YouTube and had around half a million hits by the end of July 2007.