Coca-Cola India takes ancient art route

Celebrating the cultural prowess of the country, Coca-Cola India is ringing in the festive season by launching its new integrated communication initiative for brand Coca-Cola' "Come Home on Deepawali" campaign. The campaign celebrates the 400 year old ancient Warli art form and is a tribute to the spirit of today's youth and recognition of the distinct lifestyle of the Warli tribe of Western India. The campaign is expected to further popularize and encourage this unique Indian art form.

According to Warli artist Nitin Anand Dabholkar, "I feel very proud to have created these designs. This project, in particular has given me immense happiness and satisfaction since it gives the Warli art form the credit that has been long overdue. Coca-Cola India's persistent endeavor to revive the ancient art form enthused me to take up this assignment. I thank Coca-Cola India for not just for giving me this wonderful opportunity but also undertaking this unique initiative to celebrate the country's cultural prowess by reviving one of its oldest tribal art form."

The television campaign conceptualized by McCann Erickson begins against a city boy longing to come home from the stark and desolate backdrop of a lonely mountainous terrain. Coca-Cola helps him overcome desolation and gives him sense of upliftment and optimism. There is hope that surfaces almost magically for getting back home for Deepawali. The music adds to the positivity and celebratory spirit.

According to Anand Singh, Director, Marketing (Colas), Coca-Cola India, "Coca-Cola appeals to our optimism, to our belief in goodness and stands for celebrating togetherness. It is about enabling and acting as a catalyst in making connections. Much like the brand - Warli - the traditional art form is also about togetherness and simplicity and symbolises our connection to our roots. The Coca-Cola Deepawali Campaign ties all this together. It is a tribute to the youth of today. It captures their emotions and their desire to remain close to their roots as they step out in search of new opportunities."

Based on the concept of coming back home for Deepawali, the integrated communication initiative includes mass media advertising on all leading TV channels, complimented by Out-of-Home advertising, retail point of sale material, digital online applications for social networking sites and a range of on- the- ground initiatives. The digital leg of the campaign leverages facebook and mobile application where the user has to choose two destinations (start and end). The broad idea is for the user to complete his/her journey by accumulating 100 steps along the way. There are various boosters, which when used, will help reach the destination. Users can win free talk time and free trip to their home, among others.

The creative minds behind the campaign include Prasoon Joshi, Ashish Chakravarty, Tirtha Ghosh and Nakul Sharma. The film has been directed by Dibakar Banerjee of Freshwater Films. The communication has extensively leveraged Warli folk art figures created by Nitin Anand Dabholkar, a Warli artist.

Talking about the campaign, Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Erickson Worldgroup India said, "The tribal Warli art has been used to generate positive emotion, energy and celebratory mood during the festive season. To express the theme of home coming, the art has been used in the creative expression to create animated characters in the campaign, which symbolizes our connection to our roots and stands for the positive paths created by Coca-Cola for the fulfillment of the journey. Brand Coca-Cola has always believed in celebrating togetherness and this is what we are trying to communicate through this campaign." | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]