Reliance Smart Ad Film: A Not-So-Strong Commercial With Strong Protagonist?
The video has been created by Tidal7 Brand & Digital, an agency co-founded by KS Chakravarthy and Venkat Mallik. Directed by Vinay Jaiswal from the production house – Imaginary Friend, the advertisement witnessed the debut of Bollywood’s legendary actor Asrani.
Reliance’s grocery retail business – Reliance SMART and Reliance Fresh, have launched a new ad film called #NayiShuruaat this New Year to mark the inception with a novel start altogether for the digital platform. The video has been created by Tidal7 Brand & Digital, an agency co-founded by KS Chakravarthy and Venkat Mallik. Directed by Vinay Jaiswal from the production house – Imaginary Friend, the advertisement witnessed the debut of Bollywood’s legendary actor Asrani. Storytelling, basically, is the main bridge the ad creators have tried, aiming to use the connection between the idea, product, and service with the targeted audience.
About the Ad
#NayiShuruaat is an advertisement that primarily tries to use the emotion to make the audience notice, remember, share, and buy what the commercial ultimately intends to sell. It features veteran comedy actor Asrani in a different avatar, unlike the ones he has played throughout the span of his career. Asrani, who never got too far away from his comedic roots, played a role of twins brothers whose relationship has been bitter for more than 50 years, ever since the younger brother married the elder’s first love, ‘Saraswati’. The brand tried to convey, everyone should let go off the baggage of sourness and try to revive the shrunken relationships just like the protagonist did in the digital commercial. There is no time better than the New Year to begin a fresh start.
Our Take
Looking at Asrani in the brand film definitely cultivated nostalgia in the garden of our thoughts. This commercial is not only the iconic artist’s comeback to the acting space but also introduces him to the ad world. His portrayal in the 2 minutes ad is unquestionably a pleasant one, but the marketing of the product through the brand film couldn’t help shape that impression of a product or brand.
Red FM’s National Marketing Head, Rajat Uppal shares a similar opinion. “While the ad film uses an iconic actor from yesteryears to make it register, it’s still a cookie-cutter approach of using emotional appeal as a trope. The brand message is not coming out clearly and leaves you fumbling to connect the creative with the brand. On the whole, it ends up being an average ad with fuzzy brand association,” Uppal said.
Comparing to Reliance Fresh’s previous campaigns like #JeeLeZara on Women’s Day, #ChhotiSiAchhai on Ramadan, and #DilSeManao on Diwali, this one lacked the relatable factor. The other campaigns spoke for themselves while the New Year campaign failed to evoke the required sentiments it aimed at. Even though the message expected to be poignant enough, the storyline involved more of a dramatic sequence from a Hindi film. The makers should have focused much on making the advertisement realistic and relatable than believable.