Louis Philippe: Reaching out to the 'Unreachables'

Louis Philippe's first ever TV commercial has an interesting storyline, high drama, and some good camerawork and editing. And it manages to sell the brand's premiumness too.

Watching the new TV commercial for Louis Philippe is like watching a 50-second Hollywood thriller. The locales, the taut plot, the editing, the feel… every little bit. No Bruce Willis, though.

The commercial is the first ever for the Louis Philippe brand, a move necessitated by the greater and more cost effective reach afforded by TV. And quite an interesting move it has been, in terms of creatives too.

The ad is about this millionaire who has saved a small town from extinction by commissioning a factory that would provide a livelihood to the townsfolk. As the millionaire's cavalcade drives through the town's streets lined with cheering people, the ‘villains' prepare to assassinate him.

However, at the crucial moment when the hit man has the millionaire in the cross hairs, a surprise gesture by the grateful townsfolk saves the millionaire's life. It goes without saying that the millionaire is the one who sports The Upper Crest.

This providential escape is how O&M, Bangalore, the agency handling the account, has interpreted the brand's new baseline - ‘Out of reach of lesser men'. As an agency executive explains, "The baseline implies that Louis Philippe is not an ordinary garment that can be possessed by everyone. It's for someone who is a notch above the rest in terms of style, fashion and attitude."

In fact, Louis Philippe has stuck with this positioning since its launch, back in 1989. Incidentally, Louis Philippe was the first premium readymade shirt brand launched in India. And the ‘status symbol' positioning appears to have worked. "You won't find too many men rolling up the sleeves of their Louis Philippe shirts," points out the executive.

Interestingly, although Louis Philippe too has a range of trousers, blazers and accessories, the brand is best known for its formal shirt. Maybe only because of the prominently displayed Crest on the cuff, which has become the most recalled visual signature of the brand. And one can't roll up the sleeves and display the Crest at the same time. Quite symbolic!

In the commercial too, despite all the distractions, The Upper Crest gets ample footage. Which was what the client brief demanded. For O&M, the task lay in dramatizing the Crest experience. "Starting from the premise that Louis Philippe is for the very rich - and therefore, the very envied - an assassination attempt seemed a natural extension. The dramatic possibility further strengthened its cause," remarks the executive.

The film was shot and edited in Sydney, Australia, over two weeks. Full points to Angel Gracia, the director, who has cleverly used intercuts between the street scenes and the sniper to build tension. Further, Gracia ‘desaturated' the colours in the film to give it a bleak, chic look.

"Given that the ad had an almost filmic breadth to it, he gave it a cinemascope effect to make it seem like a movie," the executive reveals. The target audience remains the same - the arrived, status-conscious man in the 25 to 40-age group, residing in the top 10 towns in India.

Which is fine by itself. Only, with Louis Philippe now available at factory outlets and discount stores (maybe a direct spin-off of the brand changing hands), some of the premiumness of the brand might have eroded. So would the ‘status-conscious man' still find iconic status in the brand?

The Team:

Art Director : Manmohan Anchan

Copywriter : Ravi Eshwar

Client's Representative : Shailesh Chaturvedi

Client Servicing : Suzanne Singh, Vidyut Udiaver, Nikita Bhargav

Production House : Feline Films

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