Effies 2010: Being brave, taking 'panga'

Bates 141 and DraftFCB Ulka presented their campaigns for Virgin Mobile and Tata Docomo respectively on the second day of the Effies 2010 case study presentations shortlisted in the David v/s Goliath category.

A new category, called David v/s Goliath, has been introduced in this year's Effies by The Advertising Club Bombay. This category will recognise campaigns of challenger brands that have made a significant impact among established ones.

Interestingly enough, one of the campaigns shortlisted in the category quite literally speaks of 'taking pangas'. Bates 141's Indian Panga League campaign for Virgin Mobile is one of the three campaigns nominated. The campaign has also been shortlisted in the Internet Advertising category.

Effies 2010: Being brave, taking 'panga'

On the second day of the Effies 2010 case study presentations, the agency presented the campaign details, complete with a comical skit featuring the two main actors from the Indian Panga League films.

The challenge before the agency was to leverage the popularity of cricket during the DLF Indian Premier League and engage with the youth. The agency was also up against high advertising rates on television during the tournament.

Bates hence came up with the online campaign idea of Indian Panga League, a series of 105 unique short films made for the Internet. The films featured verbal battles between eight fans of the eight competing teams, promoting Virgin Mobile's low cost STD rates. The fans took digs at each other's teams through various banters.

The campaign consisted of a microsite (www.indianpangaleague.in), along with links across social media sites that let visitors share comments on threads and their own 'pangas' online.

Indian Panga League, the agency claims, resulted in an immediate upswing in brand imagery at a budget which was 1 per cent of that of competition. The microsite received 1.5 million hits during IPL, the films received about one million hits on YouTube, while the campaign received about 60,000 mentions on Twitter and gathered 2,791 fans on Facebook.

Also shortlisted in the David v/s Goliath category is the Dare To Do the New campaign by DraftFCB Ulka for the launch of Tata Teleservices' GSM service, Tata Docomo.

The team from the agency based the presentation around the concept of bravery, which, according to the agency, was the virtue of the whole campaign.

Being small means to be brave, said the agency. Docomo was the youngest brand to be launched in a cluttered market already dominated by five established players. The challenge before the agency was to be noticed and make a successful launch among the existing service providers.

The agency spoke of being brave, breaking the existing rules and not playing a tariff game like the other players. Neither did the campaign take the route of hard selling. Through its 360 degree campaign route, it played with the brand logo, signature tune and positioned the brand as being driven by consumers. It did not take a combative posture against other brands.

Talking about results, the agency says that the campaign resulted in Docomo exceeding its set targets by more than 300 per cent in the first nine months, with Tata Teleservices accounting for the highest net addition in terms of subscribers.

Docomo also figured among the top brands within a year of its launch, claims the agency.

The DraftFCB team wound up the presentation saying that bravery is in the mind and not in might, with the idea behind the campaign being not to be provocative.

The campaign has also been shortlisted in the Services (Telecom and Related Products) category.

The third campaign to be shortlisted in the David v/s Goliath category is Bajaj Discover's Discover India with the Power of One Litre campaign by Lowe Lintas, which involved a series of films showcasing unique places in India that could be discovered on a bike. The campaign promoted the bike's fuel efficiency through the films.

A total of 276 entries were received by The Advertising Club Bombay this year for the Effies, the highest ever received for the awards. Of these, 81 entries from 14 agencies were shortlisted for the presentation round.

The awards will be given away on December 7 in Mumbai.

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