‘kuch khas hai, khuch baat hai sabhi mein’, is the tune playing in the background of the new commercial for Cadbury’s, a salute to all the people who are celebrating in their own ways, being creative and not giving up.
MediaNews4U in a conversation with Sukesh Nayak – CEO Ogilvy India and Anil Viswanathan, Director – Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India.
In this moment of crisis, chocolate is the last thing in one’s mind, a beautifully shot film with different people, how did this idea come from?
A very interesting question, let me start with my own personal experience, how I wrote this and how the idea came to me. In the past 30 – 40 odd days sitting at home, I have personally been part of a farewell party online, my kids are born in May and most of their classmates are May born so lots of kid’s birthday parties online, I have celebrated so many birthdays, anniversaries sitting at home.
The easy excuse for everybody would have been we will do it later, but nobody said it. Everybody felt that it is important and imperative that things have to be done at the right moment, yes there are limitations, restrictions but we need to find a way to celebrate.
This is what struck me, if people are being creative, ingenious, we must thank them. We are locked in but our spirit is not. Humbled and moved by the stories of people finding innovative ways of celebrating their special moments, even when apart. This is our salute to them for not letting anything pull them down. A brand which has been part of our celebrations for many years, we as a brand felt that we must thank the people for having the spirit and finding creative ways to celebrate moments even in these tiring times and make it memorable. That is where I came from, the brand came from and the film came about to thank the people for their creativity.
We did an earlier film which was an ode to the Covid warriors, this is the second film.
We as a brand, have always used simple language to connect with people, this film was very relevant, when the consumer was getting creative with very little means, making banners etc with what was available, the creativity and the spirit must be saluted and it was our duty to thank them.
How did you put it together?
I had a vision, after doing Asian Paints, the first one was done in 4-5 days by friends and relatives, the second one was more polished as the craft was better, when you live at home for 30 days, you experiment, you grow and you learn to be better.
When I wrote this film, I thought this would be a photo documentary, I spoke to Prasad Naik, who I know well, never done a film with him but done many print campaigns with him. I wanted to work with a photographer, who had skillsets of a photographer and who had also made videos.
The hunt began across the country and we have a couple from the US as well in the film. They would shoot, send us the pictures, if we did not like it then we would ask them to reshoot it again. Imagine asking common people to do this, and people were so willing to do it without thinking twice.
Finally when we put the pictures together, it was looking so beautiful, then came the biggest challenge as to what would be the track ….I got a brainwave, as I was putting the visuals together I started humming, ‘ kuch khas hai, which baat hai sabhi mein, the song is Piyush’s baby and we all love it for various reasons, something in this track makes you feel good. It struck me as to, ‘khuch baat hai sabhi mein’, the film is really about this feeling, I needed to check with Piyush, as I needed to know his feeling and what he thought about the film. He gave us the go ahead. Everybody was so generous, the spirit of generosity was so incredible on a project like this and the collective output was brilliant.
My Belief is that when a piece of work penetrates into the subconscious minds of friends and families and even people who have not been in touch with you for years, pick the phone and call you saying I saw the film and it made me feel so good, hats off to you. I found this very extraordinary and humbling.
Every week I create something new, it is meant to do a job, but when you create something like this which goes beyond the business and touches and moves people enough to call you or message you, it makes you feel happy, it is beyond explanation and the music made me smile. These are works that I am proud of creating.
My own family and the people I know who are at home and going thru similar kind of questions, what happens tomorrow, the negativity, the anxiety and if I can create a work that makes people happy I am very very happy and we as a brand have created a communication which is relevant and matters, a brand which has been a part of your celebrations over the years, Covid or no Covid; the consumer may buy the brand if it is available or may not but chocolate is always reached out to when there is a celebration, and it should be part of this celebration also, it is the consumer’s creativity and not the brand’s creativity to make it special, so giving, caring and concerned we as a brand have to salute you.
For me personally the whole lockdown has been a humbling experience, learnt a lot and I hope we all come out as better humans, hoping we all come out more giving and compassionate.
Anil Viswanathan, Director – Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India, “For more than 70 years now, Cadbury Dairy Milk has been deeply infused in the lives of consumers and has always been an important part of the smallest of celebrations. However, with the current challenging times, while many feared that the new normal could not present celebratory moments people have proved otherwise by rejoicing every occasion by adhering to the rules of social distancing. Through this film, we wanted to express our gratitude towards our consumers for inspiring us with their undeterred spirit and highlight that ‘every home tells a sweet story’.”
