• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Sankar Radhakrishnan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov. 27

AUTOMOBILE batteries are a category in which advertising generally tends to take a macho, no-frills approach and focus on the toughness of the product.

So when Amara Raja Batteries created a new series of advertisements for its Amaron Hi-life car battery the focus was on being different and "doing some clutter-busting work" while retaining the brand's basic promise of long-lasting batteries. The result is a two-commercial campaign that uses large dollops of humour and is executed using the clay animation technique.

The ads, which have been on air on Doordarshan and various satellite channels for the last few weeks, are inspired by Indian mythology. While the first TV commercial features Kumbakarna, the legendary figure from the Ramayana, the second spot is based on the old hare and tortoise fable, says Mr S. Ramachandra, Executive Vice-President, Marketing & Sales, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.

Developed by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), both ads use a `Hinglish' storyboard, says Mr Ramachandra. The Kumbakarna spot was also translated into Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, he adds.

According to Mr Amit Seth, Account Supervisor, O&M, in a category such as automobile batteries where the level of involvement is low, the advertisements look at increasing the brand's salience so it "stays top-of-mind in every conscious battery purchase decision". So, the commercials aim at telling car owners that the product is a long-lasting battery with world class technology and comes with a three-year warranty, he adds.

Commenting on the rationale behind using the humour-laced approach, Mr Pushpinder Singh, the O&M copywriter who worked on the campaign, explains that the objective was to break through all the noise in the category by adding a contemporary twist to some old fables. "The fable route lends itself to interesting and exciting executions and is easier for people to associate with," he adds.

Mr Seth says the decision to use `claymation' or clay animation was part of the creative idea as the creative team felt this would be the most interesting way to achieve the desired effect. Though this is an old technique, Amaraon is the first brand to use it on television in India, he claims. The technique involves individually shooting each clay model and then digitally animating it, explains Mr Seth.

Producing the two commercials cost approximately Rs 30 lakh, says Mr Ramachandra of Amara Raja. There are no immediate plans to take the current campaign into print, he adds.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
IDBI Bank partners Saathiya to serve its customers better

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line