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Abbott's latest radio spots have been created while rafting, paragliding and running in the Himalayas. The footage serves as a digital campaign.
If you think pharma advertising is not cool, Abbott India's new campaign will surely make you rethink. The brand, in collaboration with BBH India, has come up with a 'first-of-its-kind radio-video recording'.
What this basically means is that it's a radio ad that has been video-recorded live, and not in a studio. And, that's not all. The radio ad has no annoying jingle or an insipid sales pitch. It's the live video recording of people taking part in adventure sports such as river rafting, paragliding, and running a marathon in the Himalayas.
Considering the mostly dull advertising that pharmaceutical brands come up with, this campaign by Abbott India is not only ingenious in thought and execution, it also serves a dual purpose - that of being a radio, as well as a digital ad.
While the experts we spoke to have their own take on whether or not the ad is suited for the radio medium, for which it is intended, you can find out if it works for you by listening to the recording sans the visuals...
High-impact
Rohit Upadhyay, managing director and CEO, Ibroad7, a full-service radio advertising agency, quite likes the idea of recording a radio ad, live, in this manner. "One can clearly see that a lot of hard work and creativity has gone into making it," he says appreciating the effort.
However, according to Upadhyay, it makes for very good digital content.
Sharing a similar sentiment, Manish Bhatt, founder director at Scarecrow Communications, says that although the effort is commendable, the entire exercise lacks the elements of a good radio ad. "In order to appreciate it, people must know the backstory. So far, the videos released on social media do not seem to have reached a large number of audience," he points out.
While Bhatt agrees that given the kind of advertising that one gets to see in the pharma category, Abbott's campaign is quite disruptive, but it lacks authenticity.
"If you look at the 'make-up tutorial by Reshma', and the more recent 'adidas Odds' campaign, they tell stories of real heroes and there the empathy factor is high. In the case of Abbott, people will be unable to identify anyone except Resul Pookutty. Not only will this fail to generate empathy, it may also lead to the ad coming across as a gimmick, especially on radio," he states.