John Players uses 3D effect in campaign for spring-summer collection

ITC's mid-priced men's apparel brand, John Players has launched 'The new face of the cool' campaign to promote its spring-summer collection. The collection is expected to hit the market in mid-April.

The new outdoor campaign features Ranbir Kapoor, whom the company recently signed up as its brand ambassador. The billboards are designed to give a 3D effect and are displayed at high-traffic locations to attract maximum attention.

"Typically, hoardings are with 2D creatives; and in metros, there is so much clutter in the outdoor medium that anything which looks different through creative or execution will get us more attention," says Dipra Lahiri, general manager, marketing, ITC Lifestyle and Retail Business Division.

Mukesh Manik, creative director, Encyclomedia Networks, says "We specialise in giving illusion effect in billboards and outdoor media, and we achieve this by our designing. We do not use any fabrication or any cut outs. In the current campaign, we have achieved this by putting up a shadow, which gives viewers the illusion that an object is there."

He adds, "What 3D illusion does is grab consumer's attention and get a double-take." However, he does not like to call it 3D, since it does not involve any technology. "We call it visual dimension; and we use conventional substrate with high-quality ink. Better material and designing is important," Manik says about the creating the illusion.

The entire campaign was conceptualised keeping in mind simplicity of design and brevity of communication. "In this campaign, we needed to promote the new face of the brand. So, the entire focus comes on him. We have tried to keep it simple, yet innovative", says Manik.

The campaign is short-burst in major markets, which will be followed with a regular campaign in other markets. "This is just to announce the new brand ambassador, whom we signed in January this year. Also, the point is not to have these hoardings in huge numbers, but at high-traffic areas and premium sites," Lahiri explains.

The main season launch campaign, which will come out in mid-April, is conceptualised by the brand's creative agency, Draftfcb Ulka, with print as the lead medium. The campaign will have about 200-250 hoarding across various markets, including major cities, as well as tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

The company does not plan to introduce any TVC. Lahiri says, "We have not done any TVC in the past two years; and we have found that print and OOH campaigns have been very effective for us."

He adds, "Hoardings work very well, especially in smaller markets, where print reach is not as much as it is in bigger cities. Also, a well-located hoarding with good creative that lasts continuously for a period of about 30-45 days, gives a lot of mileage in terms of brand recall and impact."

The company, in its previous campaign, had a front-lit, 32.5 ft x 17.5 ft cut out of Hrithik Roshan.

"The point is to get good innovation that get consumers talking about it. But at the same time, it is equally important that the creative is easily adaptable to the outdoor format," says Lahiri.

The summer campaign will end by mid-May.

John Players is available across the country through a network of 225 exclusive stores and more than 1,200 multi-brand outlets. The company is also planning to increase the number of exclusive stores to 300 in the next two years.