Saturday, Nov 02, 2013
New Delhi: Jewellery retailer Tanishq tugged at the heartstrings of many a viewer this festive season after deciding to paint its latest promotional campaign in bold hues unabashedly celebrating caramel complexion and remarriage, possibly for the first time in Indian advertising.
The campaign, which has broken taboos by using a model with a darker skin tone than is customary in commercials, has gone viral in a big way with the social media hailing it as a ground breaking spot in Indian advertising.
Many have taken to social networking sites to describe it as the “bravest attempt” so far on the part of the jewellery brand.
Most advertisements show fair brides in their virginal beauty, but the Tanishq ad has completely broken the stereotypes by featuring a dusky woman going for her second marriage.
The spot features a beautiful bride having a playful moment with her daughter after bridesmaids help her adjust her jewellery. When the little girl feels excluded during the actual marriage rites, her stepfather invites her to join them.
As the situation gets awkward and her grandparents try to shush her, the groom is seen picking up the little girl and carrying her all through the wedding ritual. She later asks if she can call him “Daddy.”
“We had lot of discussions with Tanishq at the stage of conceptualisation. The ad shows the mindset that most progressive people in India have now. The ad makes a bold, progressive, statement and people like to be associated with brands that make such statements,” Arun Iyer, National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas, told the Gulf News.
Gauri Shinde, the mastermind of this ad is the same woman who was behind Indian superstar Sridevi’s fabulous comeback English Vinglish last year.
“We debated the line used at the end of the commercial ‘Daddy bulaoon?’ quite a bit. Some in the team wanted to end with the bride and the groom walking off with the daughter in their arms. But in that case some people might have assumed it was merely a renewal of vows. So we used that ending to drive the point home very deliberately. We did not want to leave it ambiguous,” Shinde told the Gulf News.
The Lowe Lintas advertisement has garnered much praise from online social circles.
Praising the commercial, member of parliament and industrialist Naveen Jindal tweeted: “A dusky bride with a daughter in an ad? Well done @TanishqJewelry for breaking stereotypes with grace & power #tanishq.”
Brand strategy expert Harish Bijoor feels the latest Tanishq campaign has succesfully managed to create a buzz through innovative strategy, cut through the clutter and talk about a cause.
Activist Hemender Singh describes the spot as “fantastic in every which way.”
“Beautifully written and shot, pacing is perfect, and the casting really does break barriers. Tanishq is a top brand owned by Titan, a brand of the Tata Group, which may be India’s largest company — one of the top, anyway. So to have this coming from a mainstream, well-known, high-end brand is just wonderful. It won’t solve the problem of Indian men and their misogyny, but it certainly knocks down one taboo,” says Hemender.
“The ad is cute with sentiments, it strikes the right chord, and the thought behind it is very progressive. If this is opening the hearts and minds of people to be spiritually generous towards couples or families engaging in second marriages, how wonderful. I like to think people deserve happy lives, happy families. This is a ‘fairy tale’ commercial, but sometimes people get the happy ending. If it encourages people to try to make a good life and to embrace children from other parents, how can that ever not be good?,” opines ad film maker Mayank Bhat.
Social scientist Kunal Aggarwal too applauds the campaign. “Well done Tanishq! Thank you for bringing attention to the fact that women can and should move on if one relationship does not work out as expected. Good to see that finally a progressive attitude is being adopted. It is a shame that so much focus is being put on the “dusky bride” when most of India is made of this colour. This IS India! This IS what we are! But overall happy to see an ad that’s moving forward! It also reminds me of the phrase: Unless we rise to the occasion, the best in us is lost. Clearly, this is a celebration of love, and love looks for opportunities to transcend the past, and build bridges to the future.”
Likewise marketing consultant Ashok Rana feels “the campaign has definitely made people sit up and talk. So I would say in that respect the brand has succeeded. It does not mean that conventional strategies for promotional campaigns are not valid anymore, it just implies that unconventional are valid too.”
By Karuna Madan ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
