Brands out with ad campaigns celebrating the spirit of Durga Puja

Festive season is a great time for brands across categories to engage with their consumers. It is the time of the year when there is a lot of pent-up festive demand and the consumer sentiment is also positive.

Despite the challenges posed by COVID, brands aim to rekindle the spirit of festivals, through various ad campaigns, by depicting India’s culture and the power of its traditions.

The central theme of most of these campaigns is the pomp and vigour with which people across the country celebrate Durga Puja and Dussehra.

Here is a quick roundup of Durga Puja and Dussehra-themed ad spots:

Tanishq pays an ode to ‘Karigars’

Conceptualised by jewellery brand Tanishq and Lowe Lintas, the campaign, titled ‘Utshob Amader, Shaaj’o Amader’, celebrates the spirit of Durga Puja. It is an ode to all of Maa Durga’s ‘Karigars’, including each one of us, who contribute towards adorning the festivities in our own way.

The campaign highlights how the skilled Bengali master ‘Karigars’ of Tanishq have poured their heart and soul into crafting stunning gold jewellery with intricate designs. The film is set on the premise of adorning this festival of adornment itself. This ‘adornment’ aspect is integral to Durga Puja and represents a larger campaign philosophy.

The film features mother-daughter duo – Sudipta Chakraborty and Shahida Neera – along with Bhadra Basu, an acclaimed Bengali theatre actress.

Policybazaar.com highlights how ‘goodness begets goodness’

Online portal Policybazaar.com’s ad film is centred on the message of ‘good always triumphs’. The film reinforces the traditional theme related to Dussehra – the victory of good over evil.

Conceptualised by Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, the film starts with a Ram-Leela troupe doing Dussehra rehearsals. Due to zero ticket sales, the play gets cancelled. Raavan, the central character of the film, happens to glance at a stanza from the script which says, “Karmon mein achhai ho, hriday mein sachai ho, dare na sankat se jo, sada uski bhalai ho.”

The words have a transformative effect on him and he goes across the city, performing acts of ‘goodness’. These acts get noticed by people and, in no time, his videos go viral. This leads to a happy outcome as people queue up to buy the play’s tickets and it ends up being a full house.

V-Guard’s massive Maa Durga installation

Consumer electrical appliances brand V-Guard has created a massive Maa Durga installation crafted out of its long-lasting wires. The 500 kg unique edifice contains 290 coils of wires that can be stretched up to 26 km.

The colossal installation was the output of the finesse of 25 of West Bengal’s finest artistes, who toiled for close to a month to give final shape to it. This 16 ft gigantic installation, which is erected in Deshapriya Park Puja Pandal in Kolkata, is a tribute from V-Guard to the people of West Bengal.

V-Guard has also created a track, which encourages people to celebrate the festival. The musical feast has been developed in collaboration with Alive India and its band ‘Aurko’.

Asian Paints gives a peek into the true spirit of Durga Puja

Asian Paints recolours 2021 with its annual Sharad Shamman film that brings to light the essence of the festival. The film, titled ‘Baarir Lok’, means ‘people of the house’.

Each year, people across the country come together for Durga Puja to celebrate culture and the power of creation through historical traditions. In recent times, due to the pandemic, most of us have learned the importance of home as it is our safe space, a haven where we’ve been spending most of our time.

Asian Paints’ ad spot aims to remind us all to take care of ourselves and our homes, using ‘Baarir Lok’ as the medium of the message. The film’s background score has been created by composer-singer Anupam Roy.

ZEE5 unveils fresh slate of Bengali content

Video streaming platform ZEE5 has launched #AamarPujoSobarPujo, a digital campaign for Durga Puja, to encourage entertainment seekers to celebrate togetherness through the platform. Announcing a festive Bengali content lineup, the platform features shows, web-series as well as direct-to-digital releases, with many more in the pipeline.

The content slate includes exciting TV shows like Mithai, Amader Ei Poth Jodi na Sesh Hoy, Aparajita Apu, Dadagiri (Season 9), Uma; SOS Kolkata – a premium action thriller, as well as originals like Lalbazaar and Kaali (Season 1 and 2).

The campaign video features the natives immersed in festivities, with the age-old tradition of Chhau dance playing on one side. Several workers, including a police officer, a cab driver, a sanitisation lady and a waiter selflessly go about their jobs, finally turning into ZEE5 as they unwind and take a breather amidst the hullabaloo of the festival.

With #AamarPujoSobarPujo, ZEE5 raises a toast to health and service providers, who work relentlessly throughout the festive season for the welfare of the community. Through its content lineup, ZEE5 also aims to be a part of the festivities in every household across demographics and geographies, bringing about a wave of oneness and positivity.

Vi’s ‘Be a Pujo Champion’ campaign

Telecom service provider Vi, in its Durga Puja campaign, titled ‘Be a Pujo Champion’, attempts to bring many moods of the festivities together.

Pandal hopping, gorging on foods, Dhunuchi Naach (dance with the incense burner) are some of the inseparable moments associated with Durga Puja. In today’s digital, social media savvy world, everyone likes to capture the essence of these moments and share it with the world through a video.

The Vi Pujo Champion rides on that sentiment and encourages people to share their Durga Puja moments with the world on the stronger Vi GIGAnet network.

With the campaign, which plays heavy on OOH and digital under the theme ‘Be a Pujo Champion’, Vi celebrates three key aspects, namely Pet Pujo Champion, Dhunuchi Naach Champion and Pujo Video Champion.