Only Vimal launches 'Unformal' range with disruptive campaign
The extensive campaign has been designed by Scarecrow. The campaign included a 'No Tie Day' on August 23, two ad videos titled 'Suicide…', floating ties and the 'Ghost' videos, and tie-burning parties
Sohini Sen | Mumbai | August 26, 2013
Only Vimal, one of the oldest textile brands of the country, has decided to give the brand a makeover by launching a more contemporary formal-wear line. To connect with the latent needs of young, style-conscious Indians, the brand has designed new ranges like fashion jacketing, fashion cottons and fashion ceremonials. It is targeted at the newer Indian who is bored of wearing the same old formals and is looking for smarter choice.
Scarecrow Communication has conceptualised a campaign called 'Unformal' to drive home the message. The agency researched the use of formal wears in contemporary India. They realised that though Only Vimal as a brand has been successful over the years, it has not been able to reach out to the newer, younger generation of formal wear users. Studies, researches and market feedback pointed to a clear shift in preferences among the formal wear users (corporate). They are bored of the regular old-school formals and are looking to experiment. They are eagerly seeking newer colours, textures, shades, patterns, etc.
The name 'Unformal' came as it rightly reflected the younger generation's attitude. Scarecrow views this as a crusade against boring formal wear and uses this as a platform to launch a new range from Only Vimal which allows men to express their individuality and rebel against the conventional.
"Formal clothing as a segment is very stagnant and has hardly seen any change in the last decade or so. When we saw the samples and got the brief, we realised that what we needed was a disruptive sort of campaign. We did a small dipstick to understand the category. We realised that people are bored of the same set of formals they wear, they are ready to experiment. They are ready for something new," said Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications.
The campaign began with a 'No Tie Day' on Friday, August 23. The reason for this was that the tie is viewed as a sign of fomal wear. By refusing to wear ties, the generation is also refusing the old formal wears. However, to make the 'No Tie Day' campaign successful, they launched a slew of below the line activities.
Several videos on the digital medium had been released. The videos named 'Suicide attempt inside washroom' and 'Suicide attempt inside cabin' show a man in formal clothes going into the washroom or inside his cabin. A partial view then reveals what appears to be a suicide attempt.
However, what actually happens is that man has tried to kill the tie he is wearing, in other words, kill the symbol of formal attire.
Another set of videos – 'Tie Ghost Videos' – had a short clip of an apparent floating tie that was spotted at various locations across India like Marine Drive and Churchgate Station in Mumbai, Gurgaon Corporate Park in NCR and in parts of Kolkata. These videos were initially launched as spoofs, gathering a lot of mixed reviews from the audience. The videos were revealed to be a promotion of the 'No Tie Day' in the penultimate stage of the campaign, days before the actual event.
On-ground, specially designed tie collection vans visited corporate parks and engaged people in playing tie-killing games. On Facebook, a fun app called 'Tie Obituary' contest was created, where people could write a fun obituary for ties and celebrate their demise.
A 'No Tie Day' Anthem was also launched which was promoted extensively on radio. The anthem was later made into a video called 'Tie, your time is up', which also featured visuals of a tie burning flash mob.
On August 23, the campaign came to its final stage of phase 1. The company held tie-burning parties at various locations in different cities. Several flash mobs were also organised for this.
"We designed the theme around a new term that we coined – Unformal. By using that we are not going against formal attire, just that we are talking about a more trendy and youthful version of the same. Once the phase one is over, we will see how it has been received and from there on decide on the steps for phase two,” explained Bhatt.
The TVCs:
SUICIDE ATTEMPT INSIDE CABIN
INDIA'S FIRST TIE-BURNING PARTY
(OFFICIAL NO TIE DAY ANTHEM)
A COOL GAME FOR TIE-HATERS!
SUICIDE ATTEMPT INSIDE WASHROOM
Ghost wearing tie captured on Marine Drive CCTV
Ghost wearing tie spotted at Churchgate Subway
Ghost wearing tie spotted in Kolkata
Credits:
Creative Agency: Scarecrow, Mumbai
Creative Team: Manish Bhatt, Raghu Bhat, Sarvesh Raikar, Kapil Tammal, Diana D'souza,
Nikhil Kerkar, Lalit Sakurkar
Account Management: Arunava Sengupta, Amitabh Sreedharan, Riddhi Gandhi, Meera Shah,
Amruta Tendolkar
Only Vimal Brand Team: Anand M Parekh, Rajiv Pal, Rakesh Khattar, Shweta Patel
Digital Agency: Convonix
On-ground Activation & Event Agency: Go Bananas
Go Bananas Team: Khantil Mehta, Nishit Shah, Mihir Ranpara