Surprise! You're on Frooti's camera

Creativeland Asia crafts an integrated campaign with a live stunt, and records candid moments, which now make up the TVC and virals

Picture walking down a street, taking in the summer breeze, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a gigantic mango falls out of a tree, scaring you out of your wits. No it's not a hybrid variety, just a prank that's part of a new campaign from Parle Agro's mango drink, Frooti.

From its rhythmic 'Mango Frooti, fresh and juicy' days to the current attitude-loaded 'Why grow up', the brand has come a long way.

In its new summer campaign, called the 'Juicy mango surprise project', the brand has tried to go a different route, by using no script and no special cast. Those featured in the ads are people who reacted to the prank and an anchor, who lets them in on the prank and allows them to sample the drink.

Sharing details on the making of the campaign, Sajan Raj Kurup, chairman and chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia, tells afaqs!, "The idea was to surprise people with a real big mango, when they least expected it."

Strategic locations were rigged with eight hidden cameras. Nine-feet-tall mangoes were created out of thermocol, silicon, curd and mango pulp, and covered in thin vinyl. These were dropped from trees and rolled down sloping streets, and the reactions of unsuspecting passers-by were recorded. "We must have dropped those mangoes some 250 times!" says Kurup.

He is quick to add, however, "We were very careful not to drop them near elderly people; we didn't want anyone having a heart attack on account of a mango."

He explains further, "It was the first time we worked with no script and no cast. It was really an experiment, and we had no clue if it would succeed. The director and I have spent long hours sitting inside small, dingy, two-foot cabins and monitor vans, looking at eight screens."

To convert this activity into a film campaign, the agency roped in filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films. Varma says, "This was one of the toughest assignments we were doing. We had no script; so, we would make things up as we went along. We had no actors; so, we would just look at people from hidden cameras and intuitively decide on them, as we had no clue how people were going to react to this big mango," explains Varma. The team recorded multiple videos and then looked at the rushes, to finally decide which ones they would use.

This is an integrated campaign, which included the live outdoor stunt, and a direct marketing and promotional activity that included sampling after informing the unsuspecting people. Now this footage also becomes part of the Frooti TV campaign, which goes on-air today. It will soon be part of a viral activity online as well.

Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and CMO, Parle Agro, says, "This is a fresh and juicy take on mangoes. This year, we have focused more on the 'real mango' aspect, in a sort of fun, 'why grow up' way. I'm sure people will find this way of emphasizing real mango more entertaining, and they will enjoy watching the adverts later."

Kurup adds, "Every mango drink brand talks about the 'real mango' aspect. We thought this way, people would definitely not forget Frooti's real mango element."

The campaign is now being taken across 12 cities to schools and colleges, as well as malls.

Kurup thinks this is the future of advertising, where the lines blur between TVCs, outdoor, and viral activities. "What we have attempted is nothing short of crazy. It's amazing when such risks in communication pay off. We will not stop here; we intend to drive it on-ground and on the Web too, with a lot more pranks, virals and user-generated mango prank videos," he says.

Just an afterthought: Maybe Creativeland Asia should add a disclaimer to the advert: 'No citizens were hurt in the making of these ads'?