For Godrej, it’s rocket science indeed

The brand, for the first time, talks of the fact that it has been manufacturing rocket engines

You’ve definitely watched this one if you’re following the IPL. A coffee mug floats as mysteriously as the music in the background. Slowly, it tilts and the coffee flows out of the mug – but is suspended mid air.

This is the teaser for Godrej Aerospace: a technology offering that Godrej hasn’t spoken about in its erstwhile communication. The company has been manufacturing rocket engines and other rocket equipment since 1993. Recently, Godrej announced plans to use its expertise in aerospace while manufacturing other products such as consumer appliances, durables and advanced security systems. Godrej Aerospace supplies products to ISRO and has also supplied the 20th rocket engine.

Who moved my coffee?

Aerospace as a term is made up of the atmosphere of the earth and the surrounding space, and typically refers to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates and maintains vehicles that move through air and space.

The teaser ad has been shot by Lloyd Baptista of Nomad Films. The film is shot such that the entire setting is pristine white (to keep the ‘space’ look) and the music, too, makes use of the piano in a strange, haunting way. Composed by Rupert Fernandes, the music intends to create intrigue and ends abruptly.

As this is a never advertised brand, the teaser revealer route seems to be the answer for the first attempt. Arka Basu, assistant vice-president and senior creative director, JWT Mumbai, shrugs and says, “Not necessarily. But the thought here was to generate intrigue and a question in the mind.”

There were two teaser films that were initially planned but Godrej finally went ahead with just one. A lot of zero gravity footage was studied before Baptista could recreate the same for the ad. He and his team tried wire works, too, to understand how the coffee mug would drift under zero gravity.

Baptista also looked for a space lab where he could shoot the film in-camera, but due to time constraints, he settled for photo real animation. The background is a set created for the ad.

There was only one teaser ad before the revealer was aired. Television is the only medium that the campaign is utilising currently, though other media will also be used as necessary.

Up! Up! And away!

The revealer starts in outer space, where a rocket is orbiting some spatial body. The voiceover says, ‘There’s no telling where our space programme will end. But there is one place where it all began’. Subsequently, everything is shown in reverse mode. The orbiting spatial body starts to move backwards into the rocket where it came from. The rocket moves back into the propeller and finally to the lab where the initial sketches for it were prepared. The film ends with the Godrej Aerospace logo.

This ad has been created completely on visual effects by Red Chillies VFX. The film was created in order, that is, from the moment the person in the lab is sketching to the moment the rocket is orbiting in space. However, each situation was created separately and then played backwards.

VFX was chosen as the route because with aerospace information, there is a lot that is sensitive and not all of it can be made available for public viewing. The agency and the production house worked with the people from Godrej Aerospace as well to understand the technical aspects of launching a rocket into space.

Why here and why now?

Aerospace isn’t a product that you’d expect to see advertising itself in the first place, much less on prime-time television. When afaqs! popped the question on why ‘
launch
’ such an ad for a company that worked on rocket launchers, Ashutosh Tiwari, executive vice-president, strategic marketing, Godrej, explains that this is part of the brand promise, Brighter Living, that came about last year when the brand underwent a revamp with a change in its logo as well.

Godrej Aerospace was deemed worthy of airtime because the technological learning from here is put to use in other Godrej products such as air conditioning, refrigeration, locks and kitchens – a fact that is brought out rather subtly by way of supers in the revealer ad.

The revealer will be followed up by four-five ads that talk of how the technology used in Godrej’s consumer products (that are used every day) is at par with the superior technology used while launching a rocket.

Interestingly, Godrej Eon has been airing follow up ads that end with the message that the technology used for the product is powered by Godrej Aerospace. There are four films that will be part of this follow up, of which two are on air right now. One of them, titled Locks, shows how the precision poles used to secure rockets’ stages at high speeds are also used to make secure locks. Thus, the technology benefit from Godrej Aerospace is shared by other Godrej products as well.

Spaced out?

afaqs! asked for the opinions of a few members of the ad industry about the ‘out of the world’ advertising.

Sanjay Shetty, director, Opticus Films, offers the filmmaker’s take and says that the reverse launch ad is ‘difficult to understand’. He reasons, “They’re probably just trying to make a statement, a la Tata, when it did the ‘We also make steel’ campaign.”

Rahul Sengupta, national creative director, TBWA India, doesn’t mince his words. “Sci-fi and alien,” he declares. The creative head thinks that the ad seems like a ‘pat on the back’ attempt by the marketer – but doesn’t do anything for a consumer. “It seems oddly cold,” he says grimly.

Agreeing with that point of view, Vinil Mathew, ad-film director, Footcandles Film, says, “The absence of an emotional connect is the dampener, though the execution is pretty decent.”

A common point that all three raised was that they weren’t really sure of what the ad was trying to say.

For a product (Godrej Aerospace) that is being advertised for the first time, was it too much rocket science in the first lesson? We’ll leave the consumers to figure out that one.