Monte Carlo keeps you warm out of home

Towards the end of 2009, lifestyle brand Monte Carlo came out with its winter collection, including a variety of designs from bright argyles and stripes to classic cables and self-structures. The collection targets men and women in the age group of 18-35 years.

To mark the launch of the collection, the company has come up with an innovative outdoor campaign spread across markets in north India - the brand's strongest foothold in the country.

As part of the campaign, larger than life cut outs of a girl and a boy, clad in Monte Carlo's winter collection, have been placed on hoardings and malls. To add a touch of the festive season, in the malls, the cuts outs have been placed in front of a Christmas tree. A similar innovation has been done in Rajiv Chowk Metro station, where the cut outs and the Christmas tree are placed close to a huge back lit ad display. While the ad display carries a creative of a couple dressed in the winter collection, to create a winter theme, the backdrop of the display carries a creative depicting snowfall.

This is the first time the brand has done OOH innovations. Discussing the importance of the medium, Anil Sharma, head, North, Aaren Initiative, tells afaqs!, "With outdoor getting cluttered, innovation has become a key ingredient of an OOH plan. The client's brief was to reinforce the brand in the mind of the TG (target group). This year, we pitched for some businesses where the key differentiator has been the agency's ability to think of innovative displays for the clients' messages."

Sharma shares that Nokia, Sony and HUL are some of the clients who use OOH innovations on a regular basis. He informs that in future, the agency will come out with more campaigns for Monte Carlo.

Explaining the rationale behind choosing markets in North India, Anoop Das, brand manager, Monte Carlo, says, "Winter is experienced majorly in north and north-eastern parts of the country. While Delhi and Punjab are two of the biggest markets for us, Bihar, UP and Bengaluru are some of the upcoming markets. In 2008, many brands floated discounts on winter collections. Since the current winter season (end of 2009 to February 2010) is more chilly, we are expecting a rise in sales."

According to Das, the campaign will create the desired hype for the brand as not many innovations are seen in the garment industry that is cluttered with vanilla hoardings.

For this campaign, the company has spent close to 30 per cent of its ad budget on outdoor.