Mintrox: Love story with a ‘hard’ twist

In an ad for Mintrox, Parle Agro’s new hard, cinnamon mint, Creativeland Asia has borrowed freely from Bollywood to create a dramatic saga that has some rather ‘hard’ truths at its core

You may have heard of a ‘slice of life’ commercial, but this one’s a slice of Bollywood. And a large slice at that.

For the launch of Parle Agro’s new hard, cinnamon mint, Mintrox, its agency, Creativeland Asia, has crafted a TVC that not only borrows freely from Bollywood clichés, but also works around a basic human insight: Life is tough.

Raj Kurup, founder and chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia, says, “Most mint brands talk of freshness, or of the mint being good for time pass. We wanted to stay away from that.”

Mintrox being a hard mint with a rock like shape, it was decided that the mint’s inherent property of hardness ought to be brought forth. This was then connected to a human insight: ‘Life is hard’.

Set in a train, the ad shows a heavily bedecked young woman being taken by her relatives to her wedding venue. As they rejoice, she sobs quietly, implying that she’s being married against her will. The bride then remembers her lover’s words – a flashback sequence, in which he tells her to get off at Bharoli station, where the train slows down).

Soon, the station arrives, and in full filmi fashion, the bride tries to leap off the moving train. Then comes the twist in the tale: A train attendant, thinking she’s fallen off by mistake, pulls her right back into the train. As she stares at him stunned (while the station passes by), he tells her cheekily, “Thank you to bolo, sister (At least say thank you)!” As the still in a state of shock woman eats a Mintrox, the MVO concludes, ‘Life eej hard. Mintrox. Hard Cinnamon Mint’.
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The agency came up with 40 ways of saying ‘Life is hard’ before finally settling on the Indianism. “We wanted it to sound like someone who’s been through hardships is sharing wisdom with the protagonist,” says Anu Joseph, creative director, Creativeland Asia, who also worked on the ad.

Filmi elements such as a melodramatic background score, the feeling of liberation on the bride’s face as she runs, or even the train setting, were all added to make the film quirky, a spoof on Bollywood’s tried and tested formulas. “Fun and drama works in our country, and particularly in the mint category,” says Kurup. The film was directed by Rajesh Krishnan of Soda Films.

Another film for Mintrox on the same premise (but for a different product variant) is ‘Convict’, in which a convict escapes from prison and lands in a bus. Thinking that he has managed to escape, the man is relieved, only to find out that the bus is carrying mentally disturbed people to an asylum, which is where he lands up, too.

The target group for Mintrox is urban 18-30 year olds. Nadia Chauhan, director, marketing, Parle Agro, says the brand will soon be seen leveraging the ‘Life is hard’ theme in an ambient way in malls and multiplexes as well. For instance, the front two rows in cinema theatres are very uncomfortable. These seats will be branded with Mintrox ‘Life eej hard’ creatives in an effort to sympathise with the front seat viewer.

Joint promotions with MTV and ESPN STAR Sports are also around the corner. With the latter, Mintrox will sponsor cricket moments of defeat or loss with the ‘Life is hard’ concept.