Rachit Vats
Advertising

AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star

With the aim of increasing brand awareness, AOL.in’s new TVC directs consumers to the website’s homepage and to enter a contest and leave feedback there. The winner of the contest will feature in AOL.in’s next TVC

AOL.in is seeking attention – it is throwing a party. But only youngsters who have a mouse and aspirations to be featured in a television ad are invited. AOL.in, whose core target group (TG) is in the age group of 14-35 years, is now looking at the lower side of that TG.

AOL, a Time Warner Company, launched its India operations in April. The sector was already fairly competitive and the entry of the US-based online giant made the domestic Internet industry sit up and take notice. Six months after its launch, AOL.in has geared up to unleash its brand campaign and create awareness about the AOL brand. It has released a TVC, the first of five, as part of the brand awareness campaign. This TVC targets youngsters, while those that follow might try to reach out to other TG sets as well.

AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star
'Neta' enters, teenager disrupts
AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star
Teenage boy hijacks the stage
AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star
The Press transmits the
scene to television sets
AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star
The voiceover explains the
futility of trying too hard
AOL.in could be your passport to be a TV star
Thanks to AOL.in the
teenager becomes a TV star
The TVC shows a young boy trying hard to be featured on television. AOL.in steps in to suggest that there is an easier way to be featured on TV.

The 20-second film shows a public event, with a local leader gearing up to make a speech. The politician thumps the microphone, but even before he can complete a sentence, a flamboyant teenager swaggers up on stage and tries to hijack the scene. He waves to the audience. The electronic press present captures the scene and transmits it live on television. The voiceover chips in to mock at the youngster’s extreme efforts to be featured on television. It advises him to log on to AOL.in, post his views there and thus become a star.

Basically, the website is strategically informing and persuading its TG to visit it. Once on, the surfer gets to participate in the Bano TV Star contest, in which he has to submit his feedback about the website. The winner of the contest gets to feature on AOL.in’s next TVC.

Krish Seshadri, senior director and head, marketing and content, AOL.in, says, “This is a campaign which helps us achieve multi-pronged objectives. At present, AOL.in is not very well known in India. The idea was to talk about the product and get consumers to visit the homepage. Thus, a situation was created to make the consumers participate in the process and involve themselves in the brand. The TVC directs consumers to the homepage from where they see imageries similar to those in the TVC. Once they click on it, they are directed to the contest page.”

This seems to be an apt way of killing two birds with one stone. The campaign instantly gains the consumers’ engagement with the brand. It also obtains their feedback.

Sudarshan Banerjee, associate vice-president, client servicing, Saatchi & Saatchi, says, “The message is clearly for youngsters who try different things to get their share of two minutes of fame on television. AOL.in shows them a simple alternative.”

AOL.in was also evaluating options to promote itself. Television seemed better than using the Internet advertising route. Research undertaken by JuxtConsult also suggested that.

The film has been produced by Chingum Chiclet. Ramesh Ramanathan, national creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, and his team conceptualised the idea. The directors for the film are Ruchi Pande and Mayur Tekchandaney and the producer is Marijke DeSouza.

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