When a tiger's tail of Havells' wire triumphed over a dragon with fire

Conceptualised by Mullen Lintas, Havells India is back with a unique and entertaining ad campaign to promote its wire category. The ad film has been specially made to cater to the Southern market but will eventually be promoted nationwide too

Akansha Mihir Mota | Mumbai | January 12, 2017

Click on the Image to watch the TVC.

Havells India has come out with a unique idea to promote its wire category and launched a campaign is to promote the brand's proposition, 'Wire that doesn't catch fire'.

The ad conceptualised by Mullen Lintas keeps the viewers engrossed till the end with an entertaining video and a funky background score. It carries forward an already set positioning of being fire resistant and aims at the Southern market by tapping into the theme of Puliyattam, a Tamil dance form, where Pulli stands for tiger and Attam means dance.

Shriram Iyer

Shriram Iyer, National Creative Director, Mullen Lintas, said, “The film has been made keeping in mind the Southern market but we also intend to promote it nationally. That is why we looked for something that has a flavour of South India. I always had this idea of using Puliyattam folk dance form and ideated this ad with the tiger's tail not catching fire, keeping the same in mind.”

He said, “Now, since we had been working on the idea of 'wires that don't catch fire' for a while now, we always look for situations where fire is involved. And then we work on the idea of the wires' involvement in a story where we can naturally demonstrate the wires' ability to resist fire. In earlier conversation with the creative teams, the dragon had come up, but we couldn't find the root that worked up until this point. Luckily, the moment arrived.”

Talking about the production process, Iyer said, “It was a very detailed process. Director Vasan Bala had to reach out to various artists and technicians, the first being an actor who can also render the dance gracefully. Then the costumes were designed, body paint, masks, all in reference to the original traditional art form. The details of the costumes had to be thought through. The tail was carefully constructed with real wire. The dragon's costume had to include a mechanism to throw fire from his mouth. The location had to be authentic. Mostly, the Puliyattam is performed as part of temple festivals in South India. So that atmosphere had to be created.”

While some creatives did not find the brand positioned well, Iyer said, “It's an already established proposition and I guess there are enough people who got it too.”

The film opens with a child looking through into a window and looks curious as he has earlier seen a dragon spitting fire from his mouth. Concerned, he runs through the streets to inform about the dragon to a man, dressed like a tiger. Showing his concern, he asks the man if they would lose. He assures he would see to it. The scene moves to the street, where the 'dragon' is making its entry, while the 'tiger' is seated comfortably. The dragon enters, and spits fire immediately. To everybody's surprise, the tiger is seen unconcerned. He gets up from his chair, and walks to the battlefield. The battle unfolds. The dragon continuously spits fire while the tiger cuts through and extinguishes it with his tail. It continues till the dragon gives up and the tiger is crowned as the winner. The child asks the man how he managed this. The man replies that while the dragon had the fire, he had the wire and reveals that his tail was made of Havells Wires. It ends with Havells' 'Wires that don't catch fire' line.

The film was published on YouTube on December 27, 2016.

Creative peers review the ad:

Prathap Suthan

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle, doesn't find the ad demonstrating the product benefits clearly. He said, “It is an interesting ad. People will watch it for the uniqueness of the ad. I had to watch it twice to figure out that the ad was about fireproof wire. Therefore, from the communication perspective, I really don't know what they are trying to say. The overall ad is entertaining and fun. The other ad of Havells where the son prepares a tong for his mother to cook roti is where I get to see the product's benefits as the mother holds the roti on the fire with the wire tong. While this one is an entertaining idea, I don't think it demonstrates the product's benefits clearly.”

Santosh Padhi

Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder, Taproot Dentsu, said, “Though the texture and the setup of the film is nice, it's also good to see they tried to explore the entertainment space, but somehow I don't think this has moved me the way some of their earlier emotional TVCs did (where the mom is given a wire as tong or the daughter ties tiffin over the bonfire with a piece of wire. Those were real, believable and emotional). I feel keeping the benefit in mind, the emotional approach will certainly make lot more connect in terms of the messaging if the humour is not well told.”

When asked if he doesn't like the idea, Padhi said, “I liked the fact that they always used the product to demo it in an interesting and memorable way, which is always a challenge. But they have been successful in most of their campaigns. This particular film felt very interesting from the beginning, there is lots of visual drama. But ultimately you need to put forward the brand proposition in a great way, which I thought the ad lacked a bit.”

Rahul Jauhari

Rahul Jauhari, Chief Creative Officer, Rediffusion Y&R, said, “Put everything aside, I'll have to give the creative team this much: true to brand, the ad stands out. I like the fact that one single product truth has been consistently mined over years. The situation is fresh and engaging. Even the rough edges go with the feel of the film. So it's a thumbs up from me.”

Emmanuel Upputuru

Emmanuel Upputuru, Founder and Chief Creative Chairman, said, "The film makes the same product promise that Rs wires don't catch fire. But this time it changes the game. The film demonstrates two things at the same time: that Havells wires don't catch fire. And also that using local nuances in story telling is always better than using urban settings."

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/bmi/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Havells.jpg

Credits:

Client: Havells

Agency:  Mullen Lintas

Creatives: Shriram Aiyer, Prasad Venkatraman, Sarabjit Singh and Arvind Murali

Account Management: Anjad Ali,  KRK Ganesh and Aashiq Gesni

Planning: Ekta Relan

Production House:  Absolute Films

Director: Vasan Bala

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