7Up and actor Sathish Muthukrishnan celebrate April 'Cools' Day with Chennaites

On April 1, 7Up, the refreshing clear drink with a natural lemon flavour, decided to test how Chennaites react when someone plays a prank on them.

7Up teamed up with Tamil actor Sathish Muthukrishnan to see whether people in Chennai are ‘Cool’ or get ‘Fooled’ through pranks. Sathish posed as a local taxi driver in the city and drove around town, pranking unassuming passengers.

Sathish’s antics in the cab, with the passengers, ranged from him being an intrusive cab driver, who wanted to know everything that happens in their life to one who wanted to share all the details of his love story with them. He tested the passengers’ patience by playing old songs, having tourists perform a pooja in the cab, and even giving them marriage advice.

While some passengers fell for his pranks and became ‘Fools’, there were several others adopted 7Up’s philosophy of being ‘Cool’. The ‘Cool’ category of passengers sang along with Sathish, laughed at themselves, and some even saw right through the hoax and recognised Sathish before he could prank them.

The concept of April Cool’s Day stems from the brand’s philosophy that no matter what kind of a situation one is stuck in, it is important to stay cool. It builds on 7Up’s current ‘Put the Chill’ campaign, which tells consumers that it doesn’t matter how much there is to stress about -- when they relax, chill and don’t let it affect their natural positivity, there’s nothing one can’t take on.

Through April Cool’s Day, the brand is also giving a new spin to the philosophy of the Original Chiller, 7Up’s timeless mascot Fido Dido. The wriggly-haired mascot known for his quirky, fun attitude and witty one-line Fidosiphies reiterates the brand’s belief that there is no point stressing about stressful situations.

Nobel Dhingra, Director Flavours (7Up and Mirinda) and Area 3 Countries, PepsiCo India, said, “7Up as a brand has always encouraged today’s consumer to be their cool and optimistic self. This year, we have the original Cool Dude, Fido Dido telling India to ‘Put the Chill’ in their lives. We thought that there is no better day to reiterate 7Up and Fido’s message than April Fool’s Day. It’s the one day of the year where people are constantly worrying about which prank they are going to fall for. Our message is simple – on April 1 this year, don’t be a fool. Instead be like Fido, sit back, relax and Put The Chill in the day with a refreshing 7Up.”  

Sooraj Pillai, Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group, said, “Most pranks are played to fool people.  But we wanted a 7Up take on it. As part of the Put the Chill campaign, the idea was to celebrate the people who kept their cool in spite of being pranked. This takes the focus from the prankster and shifts it to the folks who never lose their cool. We worked with the inimitable comedian Satish Muthukumar do his thing and see who’s truly April Cool.”

The Video:

Credits:

Client: 7Up

Nobel Dhingra, Arti Hajela

Agency: DDB Mudra Group

National Strategy Head: Amit Kekre

Strategy Director: Phalgun Polam

Creative Head South: Vishnu Srivatsav

Creative Director: Sooraj Pillai

Associate Creative Director: Neha Sathe

Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group & Managing Partner, DDB Mudra West: Rajiv Sabnis

Sr.  Vice-President & Business Partner: Vineet Kindra

Director Brand Engagement: Abhishek Walia

Manager Brand Solutions: Maitree Lonare

Digital Team (22feet Tribal Worldwide)

Account Lead: Vivian Albert

Content Lead: Rukmini Sengupta

Content: Ipsita Barik

Content: Mridha Anand

Design Lead: Bharat Chauhan

Design: Nirmal Karn

Design: Khushi Goklani

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