Blue-Star says breathe easy as office like cooling arrives at your doorstep
Pallavi Srivastava, March 23, 2010
When the sultry and sundry summers arrive, it brings along a new rush in the advertising space. All of a sudden the TV sets are bombarded with commercials of colas, ice creams, Refrigerators, Air-conditioners etc. Blue Star, the air conditioning company, is no exception to this. The company has recently launched a new television commercial (TVC) promoting its cooling solutions for homes.
Blue Star dominates in the commercial cooling and refrigeration space. But the company is trying to make a cut into the residential cooling space too and that's why it has launched a whole new brand campaign to leverage the brands pedigree to impress the prospective consumers with Blue Star’s high quality products for homes. The latest TV commercial features a man who walks in his sleep and subconsciously stroll's around and finally reaches his office which is cooled by Blue Star. The ad ends with the man sleeping in his home and the camera shows a Blue-Star AC in his room. The commercial went on-air on 12th March, 2010. The tagline of the ad is 'Breathe easy'.
Talking about the whole idea about this TVC, Mr. Joe Thaliath, COO, Interface Communications (the creative agency of Blue Star), says "The Blue Star Split AC commercial is based on the insight that most people associate the cooling they experience in their offices to be superior and more reliable." In the mindset of the consumer, Blue Star is very closely linked to commercial and corporate (aka office) air-conditioning. Drawing on this insight, the Sleepwalking TVC of the brand tries to position Blue Star split AC's for home as superior than other air-conditioners for home cooling as it promises office-like cooling.”
It is the creative idea of this particular ad that makes it stand out among other ads in the category. The idea of representing better and superior cooling as office cooling is very appropriate. Especially in Indian context, we have a mindset that the cooling system in our office is very superior. That's what the commercial tries to cash on. Interface's Thaliath further says, "Though the insight was clear, to make it interesting and arresting for the Target Audience an intriguing creative leap was needed. This was struck upon in the shape of the ‘Sleepwalker’. The idea was to use a sleepwalking protagonist, who’s subconscious mind takes him on a seemingly aimless nocturnal stroll, but in reality he is heading to his office which is cooled by Blue Star."
Watch TVC Here
And the idea has been well executed too and that's what adds to the appeal of the commercial. The commercial was shot in just two days or rather just two nights, to be more precise. Though the film was to be shot in Mumbai, but the team made a conscious decision to not make the ad film Mumbai-centric as Blue Star’s brand requirements demanded that a very premium look should be achieved in the TVC. Thus a lot of thought and planning went into selecting the right locations to shoot in.
However, there was also a challenge in shooting this particular commercial and it was the requirement to shoot it in the night. Due to the theme of ‘sleepwalking,’ the entire shoot was planned for the night. "The entire cast and crew spent two sleepless nights shifting locations to get all the shots. With the first day of the shoot conducted in Madh Island, the crew had to battle swarms of mosquitoes to get their shots. Layered with mosquito repellent lotions, a lot of the crew seemed like tennis pros out for a night stroll, as they were carrying around electric mosquito buzzing racquets," adds Thaliath laughingly. Thaliath also shared that how one of the shots in the film required the sleepwalking protagonist of the film to have a near-miss with a speeding car. The lead actor of the TVC, was required to walk of the curb, just as a fast moving car zipped by in front of him. "The fact that the actor had his eyes closed helped greatly, in holding his nerve, as he felt the rush of air of the car whizz by him," he adds.
The key people that were associated in bringing this smart idea to life were Sunhil Sippy, Director of the ad, from Highlight Films (the production house), Robby Mathew - National Creative Director and Pratim Putatanda - Copy Supervisor from the creative team and Joe Thaliath - COO and Shailesh Gupte – General Manager from the servicing team of the agency Interface Communications.
All in all it's surely a beautiful ad with the right and clutter breaking positioning for Blue Star. Now the biggest challenge for Blue Star is to keep up to its high promise made in the commercial and ensure that its split AC's deliver at the level which is equivalent to that of office cooling. As their is tough competition in AC segment with more household names like LG, Samsung, Videocon, Onida etc. already having a strong hold in the market. And probably that's the reason the Blue Star seems aggressive enough with this campaign. The TVC will be supported through outdoor, print and a host of Below-the-line activities.
Nevertheless, a smart start for Blue Star in this segment. Let's see how much it helps the company to make a mark in the home cooling segment.
