Being known as the only telecom service provider in the country that is absolutely youth based, it was obvious that Virgin Mobiles would pick up the youngest heart-throbs of the nation to present their brand to their target. And that is precisely what they have done, by roping in Ranbir Kapoor and Genelia Dsouza to popularize their entry into the GSM market.
This latest brand campaign of Virgin Mobile, titled ‘I is powered by We’, makes use of the catchy ‘Think Milke, Think Hatke’ philosophy to promote the main idea of the power of networking with friends among youngsters.
The campaign, created by Bates 141 agency and Brown Skins production house, features a series of TVCs featuring Ranbir and/or Genelia with their group of friends. The first commercial shows Ranbir’s friends setting up three girls to make his nagging girlfriend leave him. The second ad shows Genelia guiding a friend of hers to woo a girl on a STD call. The third commercial features both Ranbir and Genelia together (a potentially good twosome, but the cold chemistry needs to be worked upon), with a merged group of their friends, helping Ranbir impress and finally ask out a girl in the lift. Following are three of the commercials of the campaign:
LOOK: The overall look of the ad is typical Virgin-ish. One can easily make out that it is a Virgin Mobile commercial, even before the ad climaxes. The ad is young, fresh and colorful, and will definitely make you wait and watch if you come across it while surfing channels.
CONTENT: All the three ads portray a whacky incident and witty-humor, akin to all of Virgin’s commercials since its launch. The communication of the message of the power of networking and connecting with your friends has been shown in a well-crafted manner. But then again, I feel Virgin’s previous ads were funnier and a better watch.
CASTING: The ad mostly contains either fresh or recent faces, who the people have not yet had enough of. Roping in Ranbir and Genelia as Brand Ambassadors was a great idea for Virgin, as they not only are the flavors of the season, but also are an apt fit for the brand. Especially Ranbir, who, after Aamir and Shahrukh, is the third highest paid celebrity endorser in India. And the strength of brand Ranbir is evident from the fact that both Pepsi and Panasonic have renewed their two year contracts with him, and that Pepsi, who had initially signed him for Rs. 2 crores, has offered him a whooping 14 crores this time. Also, Ranbir has been roped in by John Players, where he would be replacing Hrithik Roshan! Albeit Virgin Mobiles as a brand had established itself well in the Indian market by targeting the youth, it was nowhere in the top 5 mobile service providers of the country. I’m pretty sure that this campaign of Virgin will help provide enhanced visibility to the brand, as well as boost its subscriber base.
CONNECT: The ‘Think Milke, Think Hatke’ campaign of Virgin will easily strike a chord with the viewers due to its youth-centric approach, and the fact that it has Ranbir and Genelia.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5
When it comes to Brand Ambassadors, Virgin seems to have struck the hot iron in the right place and with the apt tool. But I believe the copy could have still been made more whacky. Also, audience will be seeing Ranbir and Genelia on screen for the first time. So the interaction between the two in the commercial could have been portrayed in a better way.
1 ad-judications (comments):
ads are are really nice and fresh and ya it does seem to carry on from where previous ones left, and star celebs did not affect the kind of ads ( becoming star focussed) is a good thing, in the third ad although its ranbir all the way and genelia is pretty insignificant
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