Tanishq: Once again!

Tanishq's new ad on its wedding collection showcases contemporary jewellery as a reflection of the progressive Indian society. Created by Lowe Lintas, the TVC is the second commercial on Tanishq's wedding range that was introduced in the market in 2010.

Remember the ad where just trying Tanishq's wedding jewellery made a girl change her mind about not marrying? The first ad for the brand's wedding jewellery collection was widely appreciated for its emotional connect. Once more, striking the emotional chord of women, the premium jewellery brand has launched the second commercial for its bridal collection to target the upcoming wedding season. The ad focuses on the brand's contemporary range of wedding jewellery through a story woven around a remarriage.

The television commercial, created by Lowe Lintas & Partners, opens with a bride getting ready for the wedding, when a little girl walks up to her and interacts with her. The bride and the little girl then walk together to the wedding mandap. As the confident bride goes and sits next to the groom, the little girl goes and sits next to an elderly couple and the pheras start. The little girl tries to tell the elderly couple that she also wants to go "round and round" but they tell her that she can't. She then calls out to her mother (the bride) and says, "Mama, I also want to go round and round". The groom, on seeing how sad the little girl is, calls out to her and carries her as they complete the rest of the pheras with the her.

Tanishq launched its wedding collection in 2010. Even though its range of wedding jewellery is widely appreciated, the brand is not a preferred choice of wedding specific customers due to varied reasons such as lack of wide range and high price.

To tackle this, Tanishq plans to introduce a range of wedding jewellery that is a fusion of new age and contemporary designs set in age old kundan and polki, which makes it unique and differentiates it from the competition.

According to Sandeep Kulahalli, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Tanishq, the company believes that the wedding jewellery market is quite sizeable in India but the brand is not strong enough in the space. "Although we have merchandise but in the traditional part of the wedding, we were not playing a large role. Now that the wedding season is around the corner, we have a chance to connect with the urban consumers. So build merchandise, talk about it and hopefully over the years, the consumer will start looking at Tanishq as the wedding jewellery. Therefore, we said if we can do something to grab the attention of the kind of consumers Tanishq has been appreciated by, the progressive set of people."

Each state and region in India has its own style of jewellery and hence to depict a standard wasn't easy. Tanishq opted to showcase a piece that is different - a fusion of polki and kundan. "We wanted to portray jewellery that sharply differentiates us in the viewers' mind. If there is any brand that has a point of view in the consumer's mind it's Tanishq, rest are jewellers that supply jewellery. We showcase our brand in the media as stylish and our communication is stylish, too. We have invested in the brand campaigns but not much particularly on marketing our wedding range. But because we don't advertise our wedding range much, people think that we might not have it."

The brief given to the creative agency, Lowe Lintas & Partners, was to establish Tanishq as the "differentiated wedding jeweller". Even if the customers buy the bulk of their wedding jewellery from a competitor, the brand wants them to buy the brides' main piece from Tanishq.

Arun Iyer, national creative director, Lowe Lintas & Partners, tells afaqs! that the commercial does not target people who are probably considering getting married again. It is just a brand statement that Tanishq is trying to make.

Iyer adds, "We, therefore, thought of taking this concept of re-marriage which is a growing phenomenon and nobody looks down upon it anymore. Because it's wedding collection, we wanted to do something around the wedding and then we thought how to showcase new-age and here is something. It is a great statement for a brand to be making."

The agency aimed at keeping the ad as natural as possible, hence, the little girl expressing her desire to go "round and round" too. "We didn't want to make it too in your face. We wanted to keep it as natural as possible. So if a remarriage was going on, maybe this is how it would have been," he explains.

There wasn't any major research done by the agency before conceptualising this commercial. It's just the gut call that the client and agency took, Iyer tells afaqs!. The campaign is split 70:30 in favour of GEC and niche channels, respectively, and will run during October 25- November 30.The agency partner is Lowe and the media partner is Maxus. The digital media partner is Interactive Avenues, while the outdoor comprises largely local partners in each region/state.

Breaking boundaries?

Jasravee Kaur, vice-president and strategic planning director at JWT India believes that this ad focuses on the key moments in a wedding whose appeal is universal. "The emotional expressions around these critical moments are also thoughtfully captured; will connect with women across. It has an emotional core/appeal that will resonate across segments. It is a completely new interpretation of 'wedding to remember' and borrowing from real life happenings around. Culturally, there has been a lot of stigma around re-marriage which does not find acceptance in a modern Indian's attitudes to life. This ad sparks a new conversation around weddings. It's brave work and resonates with the changing Indian mind-set; the blurring boundaries of life stages and more global mind-sets."

Mayur Hola, ‎executive creative director, Contract Advertising Delhi, says, "Another nice story from Tanishq. They've been doing a lot of product and price focused work and built nice stories around the same. This time they've featured the product within a refreshing story. Nicely executed! Love the shehnai-guitar fusion track and the casting of the mom-bride is impeccable. It takes a brave client to run a contemporary and progressive spot like this in a traditional space. But that's what you need to do to break clutter when there are so many cinematic slices of life running on TV. Finally, I'm not sure the messaging is crystal clear. Is it Shubh Arambh or is it wedding jewellery from Tanishq? Either way, the aura is good and it'll be loved."