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The latest film from the house of Tata Tea is an attempt to wake up to the issue of student suicides.
Tata tea has once again launched an ad campaign under the 'Alarm Bajne se Pehle Jaago Re' thought umbrella. The new film '#ItsOk' demonstrates how simple gestures can go a long way towards relieving the immense pressure that students undergo when it comes to performing well during exams. It highlights the pressing issue of depression and suicide among students and the need for parents to do something about it before it's too late.
Post launching 'Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re', the brand introduced films on International Women's Day, World Water Day and Sports Day. Each ad film focused on the issue at hand and showcased how we can pre-act to address and combat these issues.
"Our agenda for all our Jaago Re campaigns has been to address a pressing issue and to drive behavioural change. So far, our digital metrics suggest that it's resonating well with our consumers," says Dash adding, "The Jaago Re campaign was visualised for societal good while achieving business objectives... we are looking at more ad films to take this conversation forward."
So we asked Shriram Iyer - national creative director, Mullen Lintas, "What gave you the confidence to take up this subject as a theme?"
"We know that the youth of today are under tremendous pressure to deliver when it comes to education. So much pressure that sometimes they tend to break down mentally. We also sadly hear or read in the papers about kids committing suicide every year come exam/results time. This realisation made us feel that we must talk to the parents because as parents, it is important to be cognizant of the pressure and help them ease it. A simple act by the parents can help kids deal with the fear of failure before the results come out," says Iyer.
"The idea of the campaign is to 'awaken people' towards their responsibilities. 'Jaago Re' struck a chord with the people and we have seen how positively they have reacted and are open to making an actionable change," Iyer adds.
Making an Impact?
When a catchphrase/tagline works, brands typically slice it many ways and come up with more and more renditions of it. Tata Tea has been doing this with 'Jaago Re'. So we asked the experts "Doesn't this ad dilute the original (anti-corruption, pro-voting) flavour of the line?"
Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Mumbai considers that while the brand may have taken up corruption or encouraged voting in the past, the platform is both strong and wide enough to encompass wake-up calls in other spheres of our life.
"There are too many children suffering from severe exam-related stress and sometimes the pressure leads them to take extreme steps. This ad could help open a dialogue between parents and children and diffuse the situation. If it saves even one life, then it is worth it," Chattopadhyay maintains.
On the other hand, independent advertising and marketing consultant Vibha Desai says, "As Indians, we have always taken our family obligations very seriously. We are a rooted in culture. Still, there will always be challenges which require you to look at life anew. The ad falls into that category and to my mind does not have the civil society angle. It's dangerous to weaken a strong proposition and I worry that is what happening here."
"There is nothing wrong with the thought, it's just that it doesn't have the weight that an issue should to be under the 'Jaago re' umbrella," she adds.
CREDITS
Creative Agency: Mullen Lintas
Creative Team: Amer Jaleel, Shriram Iyer, Garima Khandelwal, Satish Sethumadhavan, Trishna Parkash, Merlyn Miranda, Abbas Mirza
Account management: Kishore Subramanian, Lopamudra Bhattacharya, Pritish Wesley, Anahita Brar, Dwigvijay Devraj
Planning: Ekta Relan, Sushma R Rao
Production House: The Wired Society
Producer: Avnish K Bhardwaj
Director and Producer: Supriya Sarin
Film Department: Satyajit Ganu