Radio gets on television: ‘Whatte Fun’

Whatte Fun is Radio City’s new tagline – and, station asserts, its new philosophy. The reason it has launched a television campaign after a while

The affair between TV and radio is nothing new. In the recent past, there has been some kind of alliance between television channels and radio stations. Recently, TV channels have done programme promotions, brand promotions, contests and even programme telecasts on radio. But this time around, it’s time for a role reversal. Radio stations are increasingly using the visual medium to promote their channels and create more visibility among the growing clutter.

Both Radio City and Radio Mirchi have launched TVCs recently. While Radio Mirchi has been operating in this space for quite some time now (with its Mirchi Sunnenewaale Always Khush campaign), Radio City has stepped in this zone after a while. The station has come up with two TVCs with the 'Whatte Fun' campaign.

'Whatte Fun' is Radio City’s new tagline – and, asserts the station, its new philosophy. As a part of the campaign, the station has already implemented a lot of cosmetic changes in the form of new ‘Whatte Fun’ station identity (jingle), new logo, lots of promotions, and a micro-website. The most recent development, however, is in the form of the two TVCs, backed by an outdoor campaign and programming.

The campaign takes idioms from daily life to exhibit a new way of looking at fun – and build a differentiating factor. Says Rana Barua, national head – marketing, Radio City, “Radio City is getting into all sorts of spaces it has never ventured into before. We are now a truly national player and the TVC is a part of just another brand-building exercise.” Radio City is promoting this new language -- a light-hearted play on 'What a fun' -- uniformly across 23 cities that it operates from.

One of the films, titled 'Kutte ki doom’, opens with the shot of a king obsessed with keeping his moustache pointed upwards. However, all his attempts lead to failure. Disappointed, the king cuts his moustache and secludes himself, but for the company of a couple of pet dogs. The scene cuts to the dogs wagging their tails. The king has a eureka moment: the next scene shows him smiling and flaunting a curled up moustache. The mystery is revealed as the next scene shows the pet dogs wagging their chopped tails. The film ends with a voice-over: 'Kutte ki doom tedi ki tedi rehti hain'. Then, `Tune in to Fun ki nayi bhasha!. Radio City. Whatte Fun!

The other film -- titled "Baal Baal" -- has a similar fun-based theme, this time intertwined with a cop-and-robber sequence.

Says Barua, “When we first got private FM in the country, listeners for the first time got access to fresh, innovative and entertaining programming meshed with the best in music. Since then, the category has developed to a great extent. With more stations coming in, it is important for a brand to become differentiated and meaningfully relevant to audiences. Thus, the journey from 'City Bajao' to 'City mein kho jao' to now, 'Whatte Fun' has been a natural transition, given the stage of evolution of the category.”

The campaign has been created by the Mumbai-based creative team from the advertising agency Meridian. The films have been produced by Abhinay Deo from Ramesh Deo Productions.

According to the creative team from the agency, “The concept behind the TVC was to create a unique language of fun and humour for Radio City. The brief was to position the radio station as a 'facilitator' to the hesitant believer. As a team we felt that what we were seeking was a behavioural shift and this could be possible only if an attitudinal shift occurs - the shift of 'not taking life too seriously' or as we put it 'Unclogging the mind'.”

Barua concludes that Radio City is going to use every medium available to bring alive the new approach. The idea, he says, is not to tell people how to have fun. That sounds like a classic case of `Whatte Fun’.