The perils of a poorly constructed home...

Indian home interiors company Livspace has launched its maiden brand campaign titled #LivspaceYourSpace. The all-digital campaign went live in key metros - Delhi NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai - which house large catchments of working professionals looking to make homes for themselves.

This campaign has been conceived and created by Tilt Brand Solutions, and a press release from the brand mentions that this is Livspace's attempt to capture its USP of bringing transparency and predictability into the once-in-a-lifetime home interiors process by organising the fragmented interiors ecosystem through technology.

The ads attempt to depict the behind-the-scenes reality of creating beautiful homes - from crumbling materials to unexpected finishes, disappearing contractors to spiralling costs, through slice-of-life moments in the daily life of a young couple. These moments attempt to relate to and capture the broad experience of a young professional making a home in India, and showcase the difference that Livspace can bring to the home experience.

The release also mentions that the TVC will run on multiple platforms including SonyLiv, VOOT, TVF, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, InShorts, and Hotstar. LivSpace will also serve as the associate sponsor on Hotstar for the upcoming India-Australia cricket series.

Kartikeya Bhandari, chief marketing officer, LivSpace, says, “With growing exposure, Indians are investing money and effort in expressing their identities through their homes, which is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Unfortunately, the absence of standardisation and process makes home interiors a gruelling, or at best, a forgettable experience. With the home being a family’s most important environment, Indians deserve better, and that’s what Livspace offers. For our first campaign, we wanted to showcase the pain points in a relatable manner.”

Commenting on the campaign, Shriram Iyer, chief creative and content officer at Tilt Brand Solutions, says, "The more we interacted with the LivSpace team, the more certain we were that we would be part of a journey that was going to fundamentally change India's behaviour when it came to doing up homes. While speaking to home-owners, the one thing that resonated right through was that doing up one's dream home is easier said than done. There are many things that could go wrong and most usually do! Hence, we chose to build our entire creative narrative around a young couple discovering the settling-in pains of their newly designed home. We used humour to enlighten audiences about the perils of designing their interiors themselves instead of getting an expert to do it for them."

To understand the strategy better, we reached out to Ajay Ravindran - director, planning and strategy, VMLY&R India, who feels the creative strategy of the campaign is on point.

"Livspace is one of those bold startups that aim to organise an unorganised sector – in this case, interior design, contracting and carpentry. It’s a perilous undertaking in the best of times! From a cultural standpoint, the biggest challenge is that we Indians have made peace with shoddy experiences," he explains.

Ravindran adds that it's not odd to find even modern urban homes that have poorly designed carpentry, kitchens, rooms, wardrobes. "We account for errant, unprofessional carpenters. We overlook these things. What the campaign does beautifully is that it takes mundane, small, neglected issues and makes you take notice. The absolute lack of dialogue and the dramatic flare-ups help these small issues stand out in all their naked glory. Things we sweep under the rug now command our attention," he says.

He opines that the objective of advertising for LivSpace is to break the apathy of people to poorly designed homes, shoddy workmanship and overall unprofessionalism. "...and in doing so, invite people to find more about the brand. While that remains to be seen, I feel the campaign delivers to this objective," he says.

Ravindran adds that for the campaign to reach its potential, it would need to be supported by a robust content strategy, website, influencer strategy and actual customer experience. "In today’s connected world, it is not realistic to expect advertising to succeed in isolation," he concludes.