It's landmark stuff alright! A bride is getting dressed in wedding finery and walking towards the wedding area with a little girl. As the couple begin their 'saat pheres', the little girl, excited and restless, indicates she wants to join them. The lady endeavours to shshhh her, feeling slightly self-conscious but the groom, notices her gesture, lifts her in his arms and makes holy 'chakkar' a joyous threesome! Later, we hear the girl asking her mamma whether she can now call the man her 'Daddy'! Laughter all around.
This new TVC celebrating re-marriage with Tanishq's new-age collection as an emotional connector is grabbing huge eyeballs, making friends and influencing people, big time. Media calls it revolutionary, ushering in a whole new progressive tone and tenor, signaling the winds of change, capturing the mood of the nation, of a more sensitive India and brands therein.
Others call it a gutsy hit on a taboo subject (new-age Indian women empowered to make bold choices with the re-marriage celebration show, without any trace of inhibition and self-consciousness, with child in tow) pushing the boundaries of rooted, traditional beliefs as seldom dared to before.
Dissenting voices however point out that if it really was meant to be such a progressive statement, why the hell was the bride wearing so much jewellery? Shouldn't it have been minimalist keeping the soul and sanctity of the communication, intact? Didn't the jewellery bit make it a trifle showy and compromise the exalted impact, the point of view desired?
Women seem to love it, full-on! Delhi-based Director Moon Moon Dhar (Perfect
10) is convinced that it truly is coming-of-age stuff. "Tanishq is an established and respected brand. They had the guts - and insight - to walk the talk on a sensitive subject, woman's re-marriage. Sensitively riding on the product range, it played out a refreshingly charming story that is totally relatable to all new-age women of today's India. Moving away from the stereotyped visuals of glittering jewellery adorning models demonstrating different shades of ecstasy - with no making charges or festival discounts glowing - this TVC is ground-breaking because it brilliantly factors-in a telling point. Just loved it."
Art Director Seema Sethi is upbeat too. "It's beautifully cast, crafted and executed with warmth pouring out from every pore of the TVC! Yes, it's also progressive and demonstrates a bold connect with societal change towards traditional beliefs. However, I couldn't make the connect with jewellery. For me, it was a strong, well-made social comment. Period."
Communication Consultant Soma Chkravarti too gushes in unapologetic manner! "A truly exquisite piece of communication that dares to go the distance and takes us along. Bravo! Very obvious that there's women-power (Director Gauri Shinde) at work!"
Leo Burnett's celebrated NCD Pops Sridhar comes to the party with all cylinders firing. "This is truly break-out stuff for a variety of reasons. For one, it's a brilliant story through powerful social comment indicating both the organisation and brand's modern and progressive vision and connect with the Indian reality of today. Also, it reveals their sensitive and insightful take into new-age relationships - taboo-land? - seldom attempted before. Finally, it's about human purpose, dramatizing the need for a unique and identifiable brand narrative to create communication that is emotionally uplifting while declaring the simple fact that this special brand of jewelry calls for a special brand of celebration."
The veteran believes that this piece of amazing communication shouldn't surprise discerning viewers familiar with the Tata Group. "Long before CSR became a fashionable term in the corporate sector and media, Tatas have been walking the talk, across all levels of employees, with passion and purpose. Hence, this is going that route, an appropriate brand fit."
Ogilvy's Creative dude Sumonto Chat sings a similar tune, although in less effusive manner. He believes that the heart-head combo is spot-on and the communication cleverly rides on one of India's favourite celebrations: Weddings!
"We are a shaadi-obsessed lot and playing out a story, with a different twist designed to grab instant attention is a smart move. Also the fact that it has garnered such massive responses across press, social media and chattering classes, must mean its got it right. Ages ago, Femina did something even bolder - daughter getting Mom Married - but it was clearly before its time and there was no pro-active media, so it didn't generate the kind of responses it should have. This one has got everything in place - timing, form and content! Good job."
Marketing specialist Lloyd Mathias joins the fray with his very own take. "I do believe that advertising's primary mandate is to drive demand and sale and I am sure that this outstanding piece of communication does exactly this."
Mathias reckons that it has introduced - beyond the coy, blushing or the don't-want-to-marry-now bride, a new segment: The confident, not-so-young-with-a-kid woman, who knows where she's coming from and where she's going. The New Woman - all set to chart a new course. Also, the communication sensitively weaves in social comment to position the brand as a forward-looking one that empowers".
Film and Theatre person as well as Communication specialist Avijit Dutt wraps up this debate with a - typically - startlingly original take. "For me, beyond the ground-breaking social, cultural and emotional pitch, it does something no jewellery ad on earth has done: It seduces the second-marriage market for women in an unprecedented way!"
Cut to what the creators of this TVC has to say, Arun Iyer (NCD, Lowe Lintas and Partners, the agency that handles the account) is clear about what was required of the task. "A hi-ticket, new-age wedding collection was to be launched from Tanishq. We needed a new-age brand-story that would connect in a powerful yet unique way and we hit upon re-marriage and reckoned it to be the perfect topic: topical, relevant and superbly redolent with exciting possibilities. Besides, in year 2013, it wasn't the taboo subject it once was and everything considered it also would be the perfect positioning for the brand - progressive, visionary, liberating ... The marketing team and CEO were amazingly supportive and collaborative so we went for it! We believed in it and by all reports, so do the people."
Gauri Shinde (the Ad film maker whose debut film 'English Vinglish' created huge waves and who was in charge of the TVC) confessed that she fell in love with the script the moment she read it and believed "it was something that just had to be done!" Her superb casting and execution - with those little touches - just made it the super hit it has become. While she agrees that the powerful rendition of the concept could have hi-jacked the selling angle, she believes that "established, respected and hi-end brands like Tanishq doesn't require run-of-the-mill sales pitches. It needs a different and special brand story that offers subjective value to objective worth. Humanize the brand value & makes it embrace the human spirit. By the general reaction, it seemed to have done that which is very fulfilling."
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