Campaign name: Prison break
Brand: Tata Sky + HD
Company: Tata Sky
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Not just the length of the ad, but the cinematic treatment and the fast paced script gives this Tata Sky + HD ad a movie-like feel
The Campaign
Four foreign convicts, an Indian prison, and a much anticipated cricket match between India and Pakistan at 9 pm ? this is what construes the background for Tata Sky’s latest television commercial for its HD PVR offering, Tata Sky + HD.
How does the story begin? Well, the prisoners exchange a note over lunch. It says, ‘India Vs Pakistan. Tonight at 9 pm’. It’s a simple plan: To escape when the cricket crazy nation, which but includes the jailor and the jail guards too, is busy watching the India-Pakistan match. And so, the pace is set. The clock announces it’s nine, the prison lock has been opened and the corridors are dark and empty. As the convicts start to work on their disappearing act, the feel is almost like a Hollywood prison break. The prisoners are like acrobats as they leap over walls, jump down staircases and somersault over barricades in their way. But just when it seems they have overcome the last obstacle, they are caught. The jailbirds are shocked, not as much by the fact that they have been caught, but rather by the thought of what kind of Indian would give up a ot watch the India-Pakistan match. But the jailor answers it all. What kind of Indian? Well, its ?the hard-working Indian?. The film ends with shots of the recording facility of Tata Sky + HD with the message flashing over the screen: For those who don’t have time to watch TV.
Out Take
The commercial is a three-minute-and-30-second film and a bold move, very different from the usual 10-second/30-second format. So, at a time when viewers have short attention spans, does the commercial succeed in holding onto the viewers? Well, it does and how! The production quality of the ad is excellent and compliments the script, conceived by Ogilvy & Mather?s Abhijit Avasthi and Sukesh Nayak. It is crisp, fast and tongue-in-cheek. And yes, what better than choosing a India-Pakistan cricket match to do the talk on the importance of Tata Sky + HD’s offering for content recording that helps the hard working Indians to save the good for later without it having to interfere with their work. After all, for cricket fans, it is nothing less than criminal to miss a India-Pakistan match. Add to it the foreign convicts behind the bars and it gives the viewer an additional patriotic kick.
Now talking about the insight, the campaign is targeted not just at the SEC A audience who are unable to watch their favourite TV programmes due to time constraints (and can afford the R 6,000 fees for Tata Sky + HD) but also at the trading community across India who do not shut shop before 10-11 pm. Not to forget, they are also the current users of the basic Tata Sky HD (worth R3,000). Therefore, through a smart storyline followed up with a frank statement made on the hard-working Indian, the insight behind the campaign works just right.
But the question remains, will people who do not have time to watch TV find enough time to watch a 3-minute-plus commercial? Maybe not. And that’s why Tata Sky is now running smaller edits of the commercial (75 seconds and 30 seconds) across various channels. It has also launched two 20-second follow-up films on the same.
Anindita Sarkar
