'Here's to Music' asserts RK Junior in Saavn's new TVC

Music is one aspect of life that influences every person across age groups and geographies. The innate pleasing and soothing quality the art form possess, has grown over, not only with growing technology but also evolving consumers. If you are a music lover in the digitised world, you ought to be aware off and use various online music service providers. Saavn, a known name in the online music industry, has recently launched a new TVC featuring Ranbir Kapoor which highlighted the concept of how music touches and enriches our daily lives.

The campaign ‘Here’s to Music’ celebrates the essence of music and has been very well received. Released in early 2014, the TVC has been received extremely well on the digital platform. In less than a month, the TVC has received  over 5 lakhs ‘likes’ on reviews and over 50,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook. The TVC was targeted towards the digital audience and was focused only on digital media, making YouTube its primary channel.

Adgully caught up with Sneha Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Saavn to know the rationale, creative process of the campaign and more.

Sharing the idea / philosophy behind the TVC, Mehta said, “Music touches everyone’s lives - from a baby to the world’s biggest movie star. In peaceful moments, in joyous ones, in sombre moments, and in playful ones, music moves us all, every day. Saavn is proud to be part of that and hopes to be integral to bringing the heart and power of music to everyone in a 21st-century way. As we were building the spot, we show the concept to our friend, Ranbir Kapoor. As a Saavn fan, friend and now, brand ambassador, his reply was, simply, "It's beautiful. I would love to be a part of this."

The rationale behind choosing digital as a medium was quite simple. In introducing themselves to India, they wanted to make a great first impression - to show not just what they do, but why they do it. “Our brand is bringing music and joy to peoples’ lives. We’re not just here to build a business - we’re here to change the world, bringing music to everyone, regardless of age, income, or language. ‘Here’s to the Music’ campaign was planned to be our largest undertaking yet, a year in the making from concept to delivery. We scripted over 30 different scenes, filmed for 12 days, and recorded 5 hours of footage to build 90 seconds that truly capture love, life, and music,” she added.

Elaborating further she said, “The aesthetic is current; raw, modern, and driven by the idea of authenticity, right down to the understated, ethereal soundtrack. It’s not dominated by logos or product, and there is absolutely no call to action. It’s more like a short film and the associations with our brand are more subtle than in your typical advertisement”.

Speaking of the creative brief for the TVC, Mehta said, “We built this ad in-house from the ground up. From the initial spark of an idea, to the concept and scripting process and the pre-production and post-production phases, the ad was created entirely by Saavn team members”.

With an aim to make the ad feel genuine, the team has used a mix of actors and real people, as well as a mix of sets and real locations. There’s no one particular look, age group, or location type that dominates. While we see a girl performing bharat natyam in one scene, we see a garland-seller working on the roadside in another. “We didn’t want the ad to feel tied to any one regional, age, or income group – but it is very much rooted in India. We scripted most of the scenes but we were always open to the idea of filming spontaneous moments, knowing that music really does play such a large role in Indians’ daily lives. For example, an unplanned shot of schoolgirls sharing their headphones became the penultimate scene of the ad”, Mehta added.

For record, Saavn asserts to offer the largest music library of legal south-Asian music across the globe. Saavn offers an ideal vehicle for brands and advertisers with personalized marketing solutions and tools which enables them to reach out to the consumers through rich media formats and technologies.