By afaqs! news bureauPublished: 14 Jan 2015, 12:00 IST

Advertising

Newsmakers of 2014: Ad Campaigns In The News

A round up of the big noise campaigns of 2014, across media channels.

Company:

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER

Campaign: Kan Khajura Tesan

Hindustan Unilever's Kan Khajura Tesan' campaign. Click here to view

Hindustan Unilever executed a stunning mobile marketing initiative that took rural Bihar and Jharkhand by storm. The company used the number, 180030000123, to inject a dose of entertainment into the lives of millions of rural Indians and up its business in these areas. 'Missed call lagao, muft manoranjan pao' was the tagline of HUL's Kan Khajura Tesan (or KKT), an on-demand, entertainment channel on the mobile platform. The campaign was titled 'Kan Khajura' as it represents the creature that sticks in the ear.

KKT is a 'mobile radio', that provides free entertainment to people who live in the 'media dark' regions of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Jharkhand, India's Hindi- and Bhojpuri-speaking belt. The content is interspersed with ads for HUL's brands. All a person has to do is give a 'missed call' to the KKT number. HUL calls back and starts playing entertainment content comprising Bollywood music, RJ talk, jokes, sher-o-shairi and educative content.

CREDITS

Creative Agency: Lowe Lintas + Partners

Media Agency: PHD India

Content: Hungama

Technology: Ozonetel Systems

Brand: DUREX CONDOMS

Campaign: #DoTheRex

Bringing a touch of realism to the otherwise overtly sensual imagery associated with the category, condom brand Durex featured actor Ranveer Singh in a digital film titled 'Do The Rex'. The film was a bold rap sequence and has over 3.2 million views on YouTube.

The video gives the viewer more than just pelvic thrusts and funny lyrics like "khushiyon ka chhaata"; Ranveer performs a replicable signature dance move called 'The Rex', which, we learn, is a physical expression of the joy and ecstasy one feels after having sex.

The campaign emerged from the insight that today, youngsters in India, not only enjoy sex, but also celebrate it. Therefore, the brand decided to keep the 'post-sex feel good factor' at the heart of this campaign.

CREDITS

Creative Agency: DigitasLBi

Creative Head: Partho Sinha

Creative Team: Ranveer Singh, Partho Sinha, Akshat Bhardwaj

Production House: The Edge Communications

Director: Karan Kapadia

Producer: NP Prakash & Karan Kapadia

Music: Mikey McCleary

Choreography: Bosco Caesar

Cinematographer: Ravi Varman

Singer: Ranveer Singh

Brand: AIRTEL

Campaign: The Smartphone Network ('Boss' film)

Bharti Airtel positioned itself as the preferred network for smartphone users, with this campaign. The film opens in an office where a boss informs her colleague about a project that needs to be completed on priority. Despite his protests, she is firm and urges him to start right away and leaves for the day.

On her way back, she calls her husband and asks what he would like to eat for dinner. Subsequently, one of the men in her office receives a call from his wife asking him to come home. He tells her that he will be late because of the assignment. His wife calls again, this time on a video call and pans the phone camera on the dishes she has made for dinner. Here, it is revealed that the boss is his wife.

The campaign stirred a debate on social media. Some angrily denounced the portrayal of a woman professional who is a 'cook' for her husband. Airtel called it a 'thematic film' with a contemporary take on the role of smartphones in bringing millions of data-savvy Indians closer to one another.

CREDITS

Creative Agency: Taproot India

Executive Creative Directors: Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi

CEO: Umesh Shrikhande

Writers: Agnello Dias, Pallavi Chakravarti

Client Servicing: Naved Punjabi, Gargi Vegiraju

Production House: Early Man Film

Director: Vinil Mathew

Producer: Swadha Kulkarni

Brand: NESCAFE

Campaign: Stutter Start

The 'Nescafe Stutter Ad' fetched a fair amount of attention on Facebook and Twitter after it appeared online on September 5, 2014. The campaign featured a standup comedian who stammers.

What's the biggest strength of a standup comedian who stammers? "Sss...ssus..suss...suspense," goes Rishi, the protagonist (played by Hussain Dalal). The comedian's act ends with the words, "Thank God for coffee... Isne mujhe lagaye rakha (kept me going) aur aapko jagaye rakha (kept you awake)..."

The film ends with the super, "It all starts with a Nescafe." On YouTube, the brand team put up a short paragraph that reads: "We all fall, get up and complete the race of life! And while we huddle up with friends, family and the world to celebrate the success, it is only that one companion that silently stays by our side all through the journey, right from the start, never letting us give up & keeping us on plan."

The ad also marked the brand's departure from its previous creative tack, one that saw Bollywood celebrities like Deepika Padukone sipping coffee.

CREDITS

Creative Agency: McCann Erickson

Director: Vinil Mathew

To view the full section click here.

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