Devina Joshi
Advertising

David all set to send shivers down your spine this winter

The ad agency has planned a rather wacko ambient innovation for Himani Navratna Cool Talc. Watch out, for this activity may just leave you a little ‘cold’

It’s not just the winter chill that will leave you cold this month, if ad agency David has anything to do with it. For one of its brands, Himani Navratna Cool Talc, David has planned a rather wacko ambient innovation, which is likely to knock the ‘wind’ out of people.

Navratna’s core positioning is that of a talc that leaves a cool sensation on application (the rationale being the sandal element in it). To bring this to the fore, WallStreet David (David’s out of home division) plans on placing life-size cutouts of the talc at prominent bus-shelters and roadsides in three cities (Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata). All very well, except that every time someone passes by the life-size cutout, he will be bombarded with a blast of cold air.

Actually, the air will be let out by blowers through holes in the cutout. Automatic movement sensors within the setup will pick up signals of any movement close by. Cool air will hit anyone within three feet of the cutout.

Praveen Vadhare, country head, WallStreet David, says, “Shah Rukh Khan was roped in as brand ambassador for Navratna a few months ago. But we couldn’t use him in this activity because he had time constraints – this will be a multi-city innovation over several days.”

David all set to send shivers down your spine this winter
This is how the whole innovation will look like.
Around four bus shelters each in Delhi and Mumbai’s prominent localities will be captured and the total activity will cost around Rs 60,000 per site. Bus shelters have been chosen as they are easier to monitor and control. Besides, use of other regular roadside areas requires permission from three authorities – the BMC, the local municipal ward and the traffic police. In Kolkata, though, the roadsides, too, will be captured, as such activity is not so difficult in that city.

Initially, the idea was to create the effect of ice, but that was rejected as being unfeasible. “Not only would that be expensive, but creating dry ice and maintaining the equipment would have been a problem,” explains Vadhare. The next best thing was a physical manifestation of coolness through cold air. The campaign has been created by Vadhare, along with Vishal Mittal (copywriter) and Hiloni Sanghvi (art director).

Vadhare was clear from the beginning that a regular hoarding was not the solution to an out-of-home activity for this brand. “A hoarding in Marine Drive in Mumbai alone costs lakhs of rupees,” he says. “This ambient method is not only cost effective, we’re also hoping it generates tremendous word of mouth.”

But why are they launching this ‘cool’ campaign in the winter? Kumar Subramaniam, president, David, explains, “Navratna is not really a seasonal product. We conduct activities for it all year round, this is just one of our renditions.”

© 2006 agencyfaqs!

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