Behind the scenes: Ogilvy revitalises long-form storytelling in MP Tourism's 'The Tale' ad

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, where attention spans are fleeting and consumers are inundated with content, some argue that the traditional storytelling-driven advertising model is losing its efficacy.

But revitalising the art of storytelling in advertising is Madhya Pradesh Tourism's latest 2-minute, 22-second-long ad film, ‘The Tale…Jo aaya so wapas aaya, ye MP ki maaya’, created by Ogilvy India.

From ‘Bioscope ad’ to  ‘Sau Rang’, ‘" target="_blank">MP Ajab Hai, Sabse Gajab hai, ‘MP mein dil hua bacha sa’, Ogilvy for over 17 years has consistently raised the bar of storytelling in Madhya Pradesh Tourism ads.

The video highlights that it will take several lives to visit all the tourist spots in Madhya Pradesh. The narration is gracefully depicted in the form of ‘Katha’ (a tale) through the rhythmic melodies of a folk song using MP’s very famous Gond painting.

Produced by Corcoise Film, the ad film is directed by Prasoon Pandey. Singer Kalpana Patwari has lent her voice to the song composed by Gulraj and theatre artist Nutan Mathur has acted in it.

Director Prasoon Pandey with actor Nutan Mathur during the shoot

Most often, tourism ads on television show beautiful landscapes, rivers flowing, birds chirping, snow-clad mountains, amazing monuments, and mouth-watering food. “But Madhya Pradesh ads don’t really need that depiction. Places in MP are already very popular. The briefs by the MP Tourism Board are always to propagate the many tourist destinations across the state in unique and new ways,” said Anurag Agnihotri, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India (West) and the man behind the campaign.

He added, "When we initially partnered with MP Tourism in 2006, the concept of advertising in the tourism sector was relatively new, and budgets were limited. This led us to use Computer Graphics (CGs) and creative illustrations as distinctive elements in our ads without needing to take a crew to shoot at various locations. We always try to create something that has a huge creative impact. Over time, this approach became the signature style of MP tourism advertisements."

Using the ‘tell-a-tale’ along with folk music and Gond art was not the first and only idea that the agency cracked for MP tourism, told Agnihotri to BestMediaInfo.com.

Initially, the agency had another idea of showing cartoons of a quintessential common family travelling to famous tourist places in MP, similar to the famous RK Laxman cartoon character ‘Common Man’.

To give shape to the thought – It will take several rebirths to visit all the tourist attractions, Agnihotri and his team first wrote the song.

After writing the song, they shared the idea with Prasoon Pandey, Director, Corcoise Films. Agnihotri said, “Prasoon got very excited with the idea and expressed his eagerness to direct the film. For a couple of days later too, he kept texting that he’s only been thinking about the film.”

Discussing the genesis of the concept involving a female narrator and Gond art illustrations, Agnihotri explained, "The song is straightforward and lends itself to vivid visualisation. We aimed to depict a narrative where a man undergoes rebirth as an animal, with subsequent reincarnations into a monkey, a bird, and so forth. Hence, Prasoon proposed the idea of presenting the ad in a tell-tale format, seamlessly integrating it into a nostalgic, calendar-style storytelling approach."

The pivotal breakthrough wasn't the adoption of calendar-style, old-school storytelling. According to Agnihotri, substantial thought and consideration were invested in devising a seamless transition, ensuring that the illustrations effectively conveyed the transformation from a tiger to a monkey, and subsequently, from a monkey to a bird, in harmony with the song's narration.

Subsequently, the creative team at Ogilvy opted to incorporate authentic Gond art for the illustrations. In the process of creating these illustrations, MP Tourism Principal Secretary Sheo Shekhar Shukla guided Agnihotri and his team to various museums and renowned Gond art locations.

"Eventually, we realised that using original Gond artists for the ad would extend the production timeline to over a year. As a result, we decided to draw inspiration from the Gond art form," Agnihotri revealed.

The graphic work for the Gond art illustrations was executed by Vaibhav More.

Agnihotri emphasised the meticulous consideration of intricate details during the creation of the advertisement. For instance, in the narration, the woman who recounts the story transforms into a tiger. Initially, the intention was to depict her entry into the Gond art calendar. However, this idea was abandoned due to the nature of the art form, which solely portrays animals, plants, and nature. Another instance involves the presence of subtle text within the illustrations, imperceptible to the naked eye.

The film took over three months to take shape. “Even Prasoon called me to tell me that in his whole career, he’s worked the most on this film,” exclaimed Agnihotri.

Remembering how they zeroed in on choosing Nutan Mathur as the protagonist who tells the tale, Agnihotri shared that initially, he wanted Raghubir Yadav to be the storyteller in the film. But that didn’t work out due to a mismatch of dates. “I went to the extent of calling his wife to persuade him to do this. Even the MP Tourism Board gave him a call.”

Yadav’s refusal was a blessing in disguise for Ogilvy, as Agnihotri and his team became resolute that, if not Yadav, the role had to be portrayed by a woman. “We felt that it would look more exciting if a woman was shown transforming into a tiger,” he said.

Changing gears, Ogilvy India embarked on the quest to search for an apt artist who could justify the role of a ‘Kathakaar’ (taleteller). Initially, Ogilvy wanted to onboard Teejan Bai for this.

For the record, Teejan Bai is an expert in Pandavani, a traditional performing art form from Chhattisgarh in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata with musical accompaniments.

Agnihotri continued, “But when the time came to shoot, unfortunately, she fell sick. We wanted an older person for the role because, logically, as part of the narration, the storyteller takes birth at least 17 times. Eventually, we found our lede artist in Nutan.”

A still from the shoot

Acknowledging Prasoon’s involvement and hard work in the making of the film, Agnihotri said, “After shooting the film, Prasoon decided to record the song Live, which is rare in today’s time."

Agnihotri emphasised that not just him, but even Prasoon Pandey believes it’s one of the special projects where each person’s contribution is equally important. “We can’t say it’s one man’s work. It’s a team effort. The person who thought about the idea, the person who gave the music, the cast, the animator, and others have an equally significant role to play.”

Despite its September 2023 launch, the ad had a limited 15-day run. Agnihotri clarified the abrupt discontinuation, stating, "The ad coincided with the election period, prompting its suspension under the Election Commission code, which prohibits advertising during elections. Subsequently, with the installation of the new chief minister, Ogilvy India has recommended the MP government recommence to the ad campaign."

All is well, that ends well! The ad is doing the rounds among the audience and is also appreciated by critics for its creative storytelling and engagement. Impressively, the ad has organically accumulated more than 6.3 million views on MP Tourism's YouTube page and exceeded 6.5 million views on its Instagram platform (the numbers represent data until the filing of the story).

Credits:

Creative agency: Ogilvy India

Chief Advisor: Piyush Pandey

Chairperson: Hephzibah Pathak

CCOs, India: Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Sukesh Nayak

CEO: Rajesh VR

CCO, West: Anurag Agnihotri

ECDs: Saurabh Kulkarni, Shahrukh Irani

Creative Team: Saurabh Kulkarni, Anurag Agnihotri, Shivali Sharma

Account Management:

EVP: Vivek Verma CSD: Mohit Patti

Production House: Corcoise Films

Director: Prasoon Pandey

Producer: Cyrus Pagdiwala

Music: Gulraj

Info@BestMediaInfo.com