Mother Dairy presents: Kabhie Khushi, Kabhie Makkhan

Just in case you happen to bump into a smart looking bull in sun shades around your neighbourhood, keep your refrigerator locked.

Did you ask, why? Well, just watch the new television commercials of Mother Dairy butter, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Delhi, and you'd know.

The two-ad campaign, already on air, show a similar situation of kids wanting to lay their hands on the Mother Dairy butter. The butter is kept in the refrigerator, under the watchful eye of their parents. Both - in one ad it's the father, in the other it's the mother - closely guard the butter from the mischievous hands of the kids.

The kids turn to their animated friend Makkhan Singh to help them steal the butter. So in one ad, Makkhan decides to pleasantly surprise the mother. She swoons. And kids rush to the refrigerator. In the second ad, our friend distracts the father, and kids taking advantage of the situation, steal the butter from the fridge. The ad ends asking teasingly 'Ab chupaoge kahan?'.

Other than the TV ads, the new mascot of Mother Dairy butter is also seen in cut outs dangling in the ubiquitous Mother Dairy booths across Delhi.

agencyfaqs! quizzed Saatchi & Saatchi about the turn of events after it won the creative duties for Mother Dairy. Anand Narasimha, executive vice-president, North, Saatchi & Saatchi, says, one of the communication tasks for the agency was to create brand recall for Mother Dairy's recently introduced butter.

It appears that to find the appropriate communication message for the product, the adults at Saatchi & Saatchi decided to take a lesson or two in creativity from kids.

Narasimha explains, "The target group, for Mother Dairy butter, is clearly kids. So we decided to get some kids over at our office, and asked for ideas for the ad. The kids suggested that why not have a situation where kids steal butter because their parents keep it under lock and key...just the way Lord Krishna used to, as a kid."

The endearing fables of Lord Krishna's pranks as a kid - butter and cream were his weakness - thus became the source for the script. "Well, the only difference was that the 'matka' (an earthen pot) was replaced by modern day contraception - refrigerator. The idea is of course rooted in our past culture," he adds.

Once the idea was in place, the agency thought of creating a bovine mascot; an experience that kids will immediately connect with. "The experience had to be made relatable and fun for the kids, and thus we created a mascot. And, kids simply love mascots," says Upputuru Emmanuel, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi.

While Mother Dairy butter was targeted at kids, getting youth in the fold was yet another task at hand. In Chillz ice creams, Mother Dairy saw the perfect recipe for attracting youth. "We were given a single line brief that the experience of having an ice-cream should be that of self gratification," informs Prasad Raghavan, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising.

From self gratification came the words Khud khushi. They became the slug line for the Chillz ice cream commercial. The term Khud khushi is pun intended. Khud khushi sounds very similar to Khudkushi, which means suicide. Khud khushi literally means self happiness, and thus by extension, self gratification.

Well, in spite of the pun, Khud khushi does sound a little weird. "That is exactly the idea. Since we are targeting the youth, we had to come up with something that was edgy and smacked of irreverence," explains Narasimha.

The concept of youthful cheekiness comes in full view with the cinema-spot. The ad opens on a middle aged woman gleefully watching TV. Something of interest to her daughter, in the programme, comes up and the mother begins to holler her daughter's name. When her calls are met with silence, she decides to check on her daughter. Her entry in the room and her subsequent search for her daughter, is played out like a suspense-drama sequence with accompaniments such as eerie music, water flowing in the tub... and so on.

Her gaze falls on a piece of paper kept on study table. It is a letter written by her daughter. The letter reads, "Mummy mein khud khushi kar ne ja rahi hun."

Much to our surprise, the tense expression on the mother's face breaks into a smile. The visual then cuts to the daughter, merrily enjoying ice creams with her friends. That is when the full import of Khud khushi becomes clear.

Creating excitement in the ice-cream market is driven by a two fold objective. First, to achieve national exposure. Mother Dairy hopes to makes its products available across north India by the end of this year, and become an all-India brand in another year.

The second is stiff completion. The Rs 750 crore ice-cream market is pegged to grow at 10-15 per cent annually, and both old and young brands (such as Cream Bell in north India) are getting aggressive in the market place.

For Mother Dairy, which holds a 65 per cent market share for ice-creams in Delhi, holding on to its home turf should not be a problem, but to become a national player, it has to stack up to competition against biggies such as Amul, Kwality Walls and Vadilal. And, that is surely going to be a contest to watch out for. © 2004 agencyfaqs!