An easy day of share trading

ICICI Direct.com's new commercial to launch its trading platform, Trade Racer, attempts an emotional connect with share market traders, suggesting home as the best work place

Monday morning and a long way to work? What would you not give to hear 'Work from home today!' Monday blues could be a thing of the past if one goes by ICICI Direct.com's new television commercial launching its new direct link trading terminal, Trade Racer.

The terminal enables equity trading in both National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange, and derivatives in NSE. It provides live streaming quotes with advance charting tools. Users can set and view multiple watch lists, along with intra-day research recommendations. The platform also allows users to transfer funds and track their order and trade details.

The commercial, created by Dentsu Creative Impact, shows a typical household where the protagonist is getting ready for work, with his family members helping him out.

Towards the end, the trader is shown heading towards a door and in a twist to the tale, the door opens to another room in the house, where the trader sits at his computer to switch on the terminal and begin his day at work. The TVC ends revealing the product and featuring its advantages.

The ad has been directed by Samir Tiwari. Subrato Mehta is the creative director and the copywriter, while Nihar Kanungo is the art director. Working I is the production house. Post production has been done at Prime Focus studio.

The agency was briefed to communicate the Trade Racer launch and present it in a charming manner for traders to connect with the brand more intrusively.

"Active trading is like gambling but it is socially sanctioned. Hence, we played on the social aspect and brought in the family. We wanted the trader to be happy about being one and show him in good light," says Ashish Kaul, vice-president, ICICI Securities, in a conversation with afaqs!.

"The opening of the door is a beautiful co-incidence. While it opens into a room in the trader's own home, it also stands for the new product launch," he adds.

Commenting on the insight behind the creative, Gullu Sen, executive vice-chairperson and chief creative officer, Dentsu India, says, "Active traders experience an obsessive compulsive trading syndrome, to the extent that their body clocks are set by the market timings. While their professional life revolves around the market movements, they also seek social sanction for trading as an occupation."

The campaign will be mainly driven by television. The commercial, which will stay on air till the end of February, is being widely aired across business channels, along with select general entertainment channels.

An online campaign has also been chalked out in association with Google.

Trading views

Experts appreciate the simplicity with which the message of the commercial comes across but are of the view that a better effort could have been made.

"I suspect that the point of a single stop, easy, fast, convenient trading comes across fairly clearly. But should that therefore be about work from home - I am not certain. The execution is in keeping with most commercials on air - average. However, that does not take anything away from it," says Satbir Singh, chief creative officer, Euro RSCG India.

Rahul Jauhari, national creative director, Pickle Advertising scrutinises further as he finds "a lot of client written all over the film".

He explains that the film starts with an ICICI Direct.com branded desktop calendar, a member of the family reading a book titled 'Financial Management', the house-help handing the protagonist an ICICI Direct.com diary and the voiceover doing a 'loud sales pitch'. Just the music track (the signature ICICI tune), he thinks, would have served the purpose well enough.

"There is no message comprehension issue. The point is coming through but there are so many ways to do it better and the story could have been more charmingly told. An otherwise simple idea that you can trade like a professional from home has been marred by trying too hard," Jauhari says.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com