Kinley: A celebration of water

With heightened competition in the market and the enforcement of PFA regulations, mineral water brand Kinley has tailored a new strategy that ‘reaffirms optimism and faith in life’

‘Feel-good factor' is a very compelling concept in movie making. The depiction of golden-honey imagery, which makes the audience feel good - even fleetingly - about everything under the sun.

And the way this ‘feel-goodness' has been touched upon in the latest commercial for mineral water brand Kinley is fascinating. From the images of the lone Rajasthani child joyously welcoming a cloudburst to the liquid harmony of the lyrics and music, the ad is feel-good every inch of the way.

By design.

"Kinley is a reaffirmation of a faith in life," says Arvind Mohan, strategic planner, McCann-Erickson. "Consumers today are exposed to a very hostile environment… pollution, dirt and grime. There is an element of fear about the uncertainties of life. Added to this the general feeling of disenchantment with the way the world is going. Now Kinley is a denial of this déjà vu… an extension of Coca-Cola's platform of celebrating the good things in life."

While on one plane the communication is about reaffirming faith, on another, it's about defining water and its impact on people. "To be able to sell a mineral water brand, you must first understand what water means to people," says Mohan. "Which is why we looked at the different faces of water. Naturally, water is a thirst-quencher and a refresher. But when you look deeper, water has both physical and spiritual implications. Medically, it cleanses the body of toxins. And in Indian culture, it is both a purifier and a life-giver. Water has pre-cognitive and pre-verbal associations. It's something that cannot be explained, but has to be directly experienced by the self. It's like experiencing life. Kinley is, subliminally, the celebration of a direct experience of life - an inner joy." Feel-good.

The strategy - and its execution - is a big departure from Kinley's earlier positioning. It may be recalled that the first-ever Indian commercial for the brand was purely functional - hardselling the purity of Kinley through quasi-medical endorsement. And, of course, drumming in the Coke lineage.

So what triggered this drastic, though welcome, change in positioning? A couple of factors. "Today, there are many global brands in the market," explains Mohan. "There's Kinley, Aquafina, Pure Life, Evian, Perrier. Then there's Bisleri, which is still the dominant brand in the market. With so many brands, one cannot keep harping about things like purity." True. After all, how can Kinley claim to be purer than, say, a Pure Life or an Aquafina, when all these brands are of creditable pedigree? Consumers won't bite. "And with price differentiation being minimal, brand differentiation has to come from somewhere deeper," Mohan adds.

The coming into effect of PFA regulations is another factor. "The government itself has raised the bar. Entry-levels have become more stringent vis-à-vis hygiene and quality control. So now, I can't claim that my brand has better plastic bottles or a tamper-proof cap - these things are givens. Functionality is slowly becoming irrelevant. So, I have to start owning a nonfunctional idea."

PFA regulation has also forced Kinley, in particular, to change track. "According to the regulations, advertisers cannot have doctors in their ads," reveals Mohan. "And in any case, we realized that we don't have to have a doctor say that Kinley is pure. Coca-Cola itself stands for purity." McCann also felt that although the ‘doctor ad' was opportune as the consumer is looking for reassurance, Kinley should not be beaming a grim message. "Consumers like to be told that the world will be a better place. We wanted Coke's optimism and vitality to reflect in Kinley."

Interestingly, the new Kinley commercial rekindles images of the famous ‘Colour has a passion' Coke commercial that McCann had made during the 1992 World Cup. "Just what we wanted," exclaims Mohan. "Who can better offer reassurances of purity and joy than Coca-Cola."

Agency : McCann-Erickson, Delhi

The Team:

Creative : Pandrang Row

Servicing : Sanjay Nayak, Naveen Gaur

Planning : Santosh Desai, Arvind Mohan

Filmmaker : Priyadarshan

Lyrics : Prateek Bhardwaj

Music : Vishal Bharadwaj

Production House : MAD Films

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