Network18: Tag & touch

Created by Grey India, the first ever corporate campaign by the Network18 Group uses an element of its logo to 'Red Tag' the nation.

The term 'tagged' in social media parlance is employed when you create a special kind of link that is visible on the tagged person's timeline. Network18 claims that some or the other business from the group's stable plays a part in the audiences' life and hence the group is seen to be 'red-tagging' individuals in its new campaign. The message is that Network18 is a part of every individual's 'daily timeline'.

The TVC opens to a regular looking office, where a man is shaking his head in utter disbelief as he announces that the 'rupee is 56 to the dollar'. Following this, a female colleague rushes towards him with a red sticky tag, which she slaps on to his chest. He is surprised till he realises that the reason for her action was the Moneycontrol page open on his phone. Later, he sees her surfing some deals on Homeshop18. In a 'counter move', he rushes to her with glee and slaps her back with the red tag.

And so begins the tale of being 'red tagged', where people across India tag each other with red tags each time they are touched by Network18. From a young girl being tagged by her father because she pushes away her dinner plate after seeing a report on Anna fasting and a boy tagged by his friends after he is found abusing in MTV style, to a grandmother being tagged by her granddaughter while she dabs her eyes while watching BalikaVadhu on Colors. The film ends with a voiceover that highlights, if you were tagged every time Network18 touched your life, every individual would carry a red tag on his chest. This is Network18. 'The life in your day'.

This is the first time that media giant Network18 has launched a corporate campaign. The intent behind the move is to connect with the huge and diverse audience that the group serves.

Malvika Mehra, national creative director, Grey India says that the task was to introduce Network18 to the world and explain the role it plays in impacting people's lives. "We wanted to create something for Network18 that 'connects' with the consumer. We did this in a very simple way - we took an element from the Network18 logo itself - 'the red tag' - and had some fun with it," she adds.

Amit Akali, national creative director, Grey India, says, "When we went over the various properties under Network18, we realised that though none of us may know it, Network18 is actually a large part of our lives. We interact with it nearly 24x7 - when we hear the news, keep abreast with the business world, get entertained, listen to music, book tickets, send mails, shop online and in many other countless ways. It impacts us in ways we don't even realise, and is truly 'the life in your day'. That was the genesis of the campaign."

Both are of the opinion that they were very clear that the film had to tell people about the impact Network18 had on their lives. But rather than just telling people, they decided to let people discover the extent of the impact for themselves.

The TVC first debuted on Colors (a Network18 channel) on Saturday, September 1, during Jhalak Dikhla Jaa.

It was shot by eminent filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee. The idea of using the song 'Bachke Rehna' from the movie Pukaar as a track was in fact Banerjee's. The music lifts the playfulness of the film. The TVC was shot over five days in two cities by Nikos Andritsakis (the cinematographer of Love Sex and Dhoka fame).

Marked?

Nike had launched a campaign 'Touch me if you can. Biggest tag game ever.' Called the Nike 'Play Tag', the TVC was shot in a way as if there was a gigantic tag game in progress. But the execution level difference was that in this TVC, people are running away from being tagged.

'The life in your day' or 'Day in a life'?

The tagline 'The life in your day' is written by Grey India. But it has a striking resemblance to the Times of India -'A day in the life', although the latter is a campaign.

Satbir Singh, managing partner and chief creative officer, Euro RSCG India feels that the comparison is inevitable. "The execution is clearly chalk and cheese; very different. The words are closer but hey! I wish though that it was something distinct. There was no reason for it not to be," he elucidates.

Narayan Devanathan, senior vice-president and national planning head, Dentsu Marcom feels that it is a deliberate attempt. "In some sense, they seem to be aiming for the 'closer' target of ToI and its 'Day in the Life' positioning. A little more broadly, perhaps this is their way of saying the clutch of media brands in Network18 are more current and interactive than ToI (a proxy for print, although Forbes is a Network18 brand)."

Why now?

We have seen many Network18 brands launching individual campaigns in the past. So what could be the need for the group to launch a campaign after so many years of its existence?

Media houses usually target media agencies with their communication. "A consumer spill over is always welcome," says Singh.

Singh is also of the opinion that sooner or later, every large conglomerate feels the need to do a group communication.

He feels that the red tag is an interesting device. "I hope it transcends TV and is taken into other media as well. It can be a good force multiplier," he adds.

Devanathan is of the opinion that for a media organisation of this scale, to choose 'bachke rehna re baba' as the song narrative has more than a little irony. "In a time when the noise of media is inescapable and the idea of 'Big Brother is always watching you' looms large, you'd think it would shy away from reminding people that they're constantly being watched. If the idea with the song was to signal that Network 18 is the one being constantly watched, I am not sure that comes through. If the idea was to say that Network18 constantly and inescapably touches people daily, the song choice is wrong," he states.

Devanathan feels that at a time when fewer brands can afford to talk to the consumer in an old-fashioned one-way street of communication, rather than being the voice of the consumer, Network18 has squarely positioned itself in exactly the former space. "Considering most of its brands - and content - facilitate interactivity, the notion of 'we touch lives every day' seems a little archaic and inward looking. Compare this with the brilliant, compelling and interactive way in which The Guardian updated the story of The Three Little Pigs to fit with today's narrative," explains Devanathan.

Having said that, he adds that the red tag metaphor is a memorable way to introduce a tangible experience in a brand that is otherwise completely intangible.

"The first thing that comes to mind when a media conglomerate does a corporate campaign is 'IPO around the corner!' I doubt that's the case here, but it's intriguing all the same as to why it has chosen to create this at this juncture. One explanation is that there are brands that don't enjoy the legacy and track record that some of the TV channels do (like a comparatively younger BookMyShow), and there may be more in the offing that could benefit from the halo effect of a strong corporate brand down the road," he explains.

Devanathan concludes by saying that a call to action ("Like" us on Facebook) in a TVC directed at the general (urban) public would've probably enhanced the effectiveness of the work, and provided data that could be collected over time to showcase the effectiveness of the brands to media agencies and advertisers.