How Manish Bhatt and Rajiv Rao created ‘The World of Mexican Chilling’ for Cristos
Currently valued at Rs 30 crore, the brand targets over 50% year-on-year growth and aims to compete with global market leaders, said Gopal Snacks CEO Raj Bipinbhai Hadvani to BestMediaInfo.com
New Delhi: In 2022, Gopal Snacks, the Rs 4,324 crore family-run brand from Rajkot, decided to take on the wafer giants—Lay's, Doritos, and Pringles—with their own creation, Cristos.
Currently valued at Rs 30 crore, Cristos aims for over 50% year-on-year growth. Raj Bipinbhai Hadvani, Whole-time Director and CEO, stated, “Our vision is to evolve into a global brand that competes with giants like PepsiCo and Nestlé. We want to continuously excite consumers with international flavours and innovative offerings.”
Fast forward to 2024, and the founders knew they needed a campaign as bold as their new wafers to win over the urban youth.
Enter "The World of Mexican Chilling," a quirky campaign created by M&C Saatchi & Saatchi and brought to life by Rajiv Rao from Nirvana Films.
To make Cristos unforgettable, they introduced Cristopher—one of India’s rarest human mascots—played by Pratik Motwani and his laid-back buddy. This duo chills out in six playful films, munching on Cristos, each with its own unique narrative.
The six ad films:
Cristopher - The Shooter
Cristopher - The Artist
Cristopher plays Tic Tac Toe
Cristopher at The Tattoo Shack
Christopher - The Trickster
Cristopher - The Prankster
Though Cristos is available in flavours like Salted, African Mint, and Korean BBQ, Bipin Vitthalbhai Hadvani, the founder and managing director, has a soft spot for the Mexican Chilli flavour, following its performance in the market. Having spent over 30 years in the snack business, he decided to crown it as the hero flavour for the Cristos campaign, letting it take centre stage in their first large-scale marketing push.
Jaydip Maheta, Head of Media and Communications, Gopal Snacks, said, “Namkeen as a mother category often reflects strong cultural ties, like Gathiya for Gujaratis and Jhalmuri for Bengalis. However, wafers stand out as a universally accepted and loved snack and are enjoyed by people of all ages, cultures, and geographies. Even multinational companies have made their Wafer brands a global favourite. So, it becomes strategically important for any Namkeen brand, including Gopal, to put a special focus on Wafers as a sub-category.”
When asked why Gopal Snacks waited two years to launch their first large-scale ad campaign for Cristos, Manish Bhatt, Founder Director of Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, explained to BestMediaInfo.com that family-run businesses often lean heavily on their robust distribution networks. Unlike giants like Unilever and Nestlé, they can afford to be patient before rolling out major ad campaigns. Also, he highlighted that Gopal decided to launch a campaign only after the IPO in March 2024.
Hadvani added, "The decision to go big with Cristos is to become a global brand, as there are lots of market gaps in the chips segment."
The campaign will be promoted across digital mediums, including OTT and radio, outdoor and print. Along with the six films, the brand has also created a lyrical anthem, cinemagraphs, GIFs and shorties for the campaign.
The campaign insight
Just like Coca-Cola is associated with happiness, Mountain Dew with courage, Kit-Kat with taking a break, Scarecrow felt that in this kind of category, to occupy a mindspace is very important. Therefore, with the growing mindset of the urban youth, it decided to go with ‘Chilling’ for the brand campaign.
Bhatt said, "With the rising mental stress, the craving to just chill has skyrocketed. We saw chilling as an intriguing concept, much like taking a break. Our goal is to make Cristos synonymous with chilling—whenever, wherever you feel like unwinding, we want Cristos to be the first thing that comes to mind."
Then the agency tried marrying the chilling mindset with the Mexican flavour and came up with this whole new world for Gen Z, millennials and urban youth, called ‘The World of Mexican Chilling’.
“The World of Mexican Chilling is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not only for the brand team, the production house and the director but also for everyone in our agency,” added Bhatt.
Brand anthem
Bhatt revealed that, just as every nation has a national anthem, they decided "The World of Mexican Chilling" deserved its own brand anthem, so they went ahead and created one.
Lyrics of the anthem have been penned down by Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi.
Music composed by Aman Pant, who is known for his work in Janhit Mein Jaari, Good Luck Jerry, Dozzakh, Dunki, Guns and Gulaabs, received critical acclaim for his original score in R. Balki's Chup. He has scored nearly 3000 ads as a composer.
The trumpet is played by the Kishore Sodha, also known as the Trumpet King of India, who has performed on tracks like O Maria, Sagar Kinaare, Bachna Ae Haseeno, and Inteha ho Gayi.
Other musicians include Satyajeet Prabhu on Accordion, Adrijo Bhattacharya on Flamenco Guitar, and Shivam Pant on Bass Guitar.
The lead female singer, Suman Sridhar, is known for her upbeat and groovy style, with Bollywood hits like Muskaane Jhooti Hain (Talaash), Fifi (Bombay Velvet), and Hawa Hawai (Shaitan). The lead male singer, Shahriyar Atai, is a versatile singer with a presence on stage, TV, films, and radio.
Bhatt explained, “As we're celebrating Mexican culture with this flavor, we infused elements like Flamenco, guitar, trumpets, and accordion to capture the essence of Mexicana. The lyrics are playful and quirky, designed to create a lighthearted, fun atmosphere—perfect for the urban youth’s ideal chill session.”
The creation of the human mascot ‘Cristopher’
Just like a brand needs a catchy anthem, it also needs a hero—meet Cristopher!
This fun-loving guy mixes English with Mexican, always has a positive vibe, and brightens everyone’s day. His top loves? Music and munching on Cristos Mexican Chilly wafers. With a passion for Mexican Chilli, Cristopher is never without his guitar, ready to strum a tune or blow a trumpet. A skilled dancer who can Salsa and tap, he's also an expert shooter. Decked out in his traditional Mexican outfit and signature hat, Cristopher is the guy who’ll turn your frown upside down. That’s the Cristopher magic!
In a time when a disproportionate amount of brand budget is being spent on celebrities and influencers, Scarecrow created the brand's own influencer and celebrity.
“When we studied the world of brand mascots, we found that the majority of them are either illustrations, animations or CG. This inspired us to create Cristopher, arguably the second-ever human brand mascot in the history of Indian advertising after Onida’s Devil from the late 80s,” commented Bhatt.
Bhatt further told BestMediaInfo.com that after repeated rounds of extensive research, thorough evaluation, and deliberation among 150-200 candidates, the agency zeroed in on Pratik Motwani as Cristopher.
Motwani is an actor who has taught in institutions like The Kennedy Centre and Yale School of Drama. Motwani is also seen in web series like Avrodh Season 2, Bajao and Special Ops Season 2. He is also the Hindi voice of Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire. He currently is on the Board of Directors of The International Michael Chekhov Association, NYC—an institution in NYC that teaches the Michael Chekhov Technique of acting.
Motwani’s character, Cristopher, is the epitome of easygoing—usually found chilling in a hammock at the beach or lounging on a chair. He’s got a laid-back crew to keep him company and mixes his English and Mexican with a dash of local Gujarati and Marathi lingo.
Critopher’s look is created by Meghana Arora, who is a fashion stylist and costume designer with over 15 years of experience and curated looks for brands like - Akasa Air, Reliance Digital, Siemens, Airtel and ITC. She created the costume for Cristopher blending traditional Mexican details with his character quirks.
Not just this, Pratik Motwani, aka, Cristopher also made a grand entry singing the jingle with a customised twist basis the event during the press conference for the campaign at the Scarecrow office last week.
The execution process
After approaching over 22 production houses for the campaign, Bhatt zeroed in on Rajiv Rao and his production house, Nirvana Films, as he found Rao’s treatment and interest in the film most valuable.
The film was shot over two days at LightCraft Virtual Studio in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Director Rajiv Rao of Nirvana Films, shared, “We received the project just as the monsoon started and needed to shoot six films plus additional content in just two days. An outdoor shoot wasn’t feasible, so we chose a virtual studio in Goregaon. The studio provided a perfect beach backdrop that no real location could match, giving us exactly the look and feel we wanted.”
He added, “Virtual production offers great flexibility. In this case, we created the entire backdrop using computer graphics, which was more cost-effective than doing the same in post-production after Chroma.”
Rao mentioned that both characters, Cristopher and Buddy, were finalized just a week before the shoot. “I had only 1.5 days to rehearse with them, but their chemistry was fantastic, making the shoot a lot of fun.”
Reflecting on the experience, Rao said, “I had the incredible opportunity to co-create a new mascot and direct the launch campaign for Cristos. From visualizing the scripts and bringing the characters to life to crafting the landscape, selecting props, and composing the music—every step of creating the world of Cristos was a profound learning experience. I’m grateful to have worked with such talented people, and the magic we created together has been truly inspiring.”
(Left) Manish Bhatt; Rajiv Rao (Right)
Bhatt concluded, "Since the start of my career, I’ve always dreamed of creating something iconic, like the Onida Devil. With this campaign, I finally got the chance to craft something that will stand the test of time.
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