Cycle Pure’s latest ad film creates miniature landscapes of its products

As per Google, post-COVID, online searches for the word prayer have increased by 50 per cent. It looks like human beings are into prayers, more than ever before.

Cycle Pure Agarbathies recently launched a video product catalogue. It allows the viewers to pause the video at any time and add the item shown on the screen to their cart.

With this ad, the home worship brand aims to minimise physical contact and maximise safety of the consumers. It has decided to get rid of printed brochures and communicate its messaging through digital mediums.

This unique catalogue attempts to engage the viewer and prompt a call to action, while communicating the message in an impactful manner.

The visuals were conceptualised and created by a special team of creatives, filmmakers, designers and fabricators. Over 18 miniature scaled-down models of natural landscapes were created by experts using Cycle Om Shanthi prayer products. Mountain ranges were made out of vibhuti and chandan, river beds out of turmeric, a forest out of agarbathies, a planet out of kumkum, and more.

Morarji Anand, an ad filmmaker and director, Be Water Films, tells that the brand wanted to showcase its entire range of prayer products, besides just agarbathies, in the digital film. “It is a first of its kind initiative for the prayer industry player. Cycle products are made of natural ingredients and some of the key terms that we had in mind, while creating the ad film, were nature, purity and miracle.”

Unlike the usual client-agency relation, where there are set boundaries and the latter receives a script from the brand, it was different for this project, shares Anand.

“The brand involved our team from day one of the campaign. While there were several limitations to shooting because of the pandemic, it was important for the team to know the feasibility of an idea before it reached the production stage.”

The process involved many brainstorming sessions, as the team was working on something that was not attempted before, especially in the prayer space. Anand adds, “However, this is what also led us to create something new and fresh for the category.”

Once the idea was in place, it was time to get going on the striking visuals. This required the team to draw a parallel between each Cycle Pure product and nature. For example, creating a desert out of haldi, the Himalayan peaks from vibhuti, meteors from camphor, and a forest out of agarbathies.

It was challenging to recreate different elements of nature. Anand shares, “There’s a lot of aesthetic effort involved in recreating nature, and it is something that needs to be done mindfully. We had to keep in mind that we couldn’t go overboard, while doing this. The ad films needed to be relatable for the audience, while bringing out the grandness of these products.”

Commenting on the campaign, Arjun Ranga, managing director, Cycle Pure, mentions, “It was an ambitious project that involved intense experimentation and production. The film has been over a year in the making.”

“The lyrics of the track were specially scripted and composed to bring alive the aspect of the sacredness of nature in its purity and entirety. A divine track of the words of a 19th century saint poet, was composed. The result of obsessive detailing is a divine shopping experience for our customers.”

The background verse of the film has been a part of a school prayer in Tamil Nadu. The verse talks about how different elements of nature, like air, water and sunlight, have a healing effect. The tone of the song adds a classical touch and depth to the striking visuals of the film.

Anand highlights that while shooting, the team had a different song in mind. It was much more energetic than the current one. But once a part of the editing was done, the team realised that the song should also highlight the category of prayer. Hence, the team chose the current track.

The entire project did take a year's time but it involved not just shooting of the ad film. It involved other aspects, like brainstorming, various trials and hits before reaching the right ideas. There was a lot of back and forth with the brand’s feedback, before the most practical and feasible ideas were executed.

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