Ogilvy unveils "simply the best' commercials for "Best Foods'

When it comes to food, Indians love to experiment with different specialty of dishes. How often does one talk about rice? On every occasion, meetings, parties and mostly, during lunch, one would presume. But, in the last few weeks, though, they have become the talk of the town. All thanks to the "talkative" commercials that are currently on air for Best Foods International. In consumer-speak, they are a treat to watch. But what has gone behind cooking these tasteful advertisements is another story.

The creative team at Ogilvy Delhi had a tough task at hand: to sell rice, the staple food of India, to all rice-eating consumers of the country. Ogilvy Delhi deduced a very simple insight that rice is never eaten in isolation. And this was the idea: Best - The Perfect Match. In brief, rice complements the food it's eaten with in the same way that a perfect couple complements each other.

This all started when Dinesh Gupta, Managing Director - Best Foods Ltd., decided to rope in Ogilvy & Mather, New Delhi to design their corporate brand identity, starting right from the stationary to new package design to the concept and the commercials. The new pack was an instant rage in the market because of its fresh and ethnic Indian look. It was a sweet start to a new relationship and somewhere in this was hidden a big idea for the commercials.

Ajay Gahlaut, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy, New Delhi elaborates on the idea, "There are various ways of bringing the thought of "The Perfect Match" alive and several were tried. But experience shows that consumers always warm up to human stories. Specially love stories, which is where we hit upon the idea of using different couples to make our idea talk. The chemistry between the couples brings charm to the commercials while effortlessly communicating the brand benefit."

The reason behind creating the TV commercials was that, the Best wanted their rice to be in everyone's mouth and their brand name on everyone's lips. Dr Aayushman Gupta, Business Director, Best Foods Ltd. says, "We had an interesting challenge to reposition rice from an uninvolved product for the consumer to a desirable brand. The positioning and communication had to be out-of-the-box, clear, uncluttered and keeping with the times through its cues and presentation. The entire team at Ogilvy Delhi thought wonderfully to help us plan and execute the same."

Amit Sharma of Chrome was a wise choice to shoot the scripts. His adept handling of emotions and dialogues comes out in full glory in the series. The three films each of 45 seconds, showed how couples from different age groups, mind sets and geographies have something in common ' the flavour let it be fish curry & rice, rajma & chawal or pulav . Chrome Films did thorough planning and research for two months before finalising the casting. All films were shot in single take to bring out natural reactions from the couples.

The three scripts were devised for three strategic markets. Each commercial weaved a beautiful story about a perfect couple. Nitin Srivastava, Sr. Creative Director Ogilvy, New Delhi recalls, "Cracking the idea was the hard part but fleshing it out was immense fun. We enjoyed writing stories after stories before we finally rested at three. Here, I would like to specially mention the efforts of Umesh Grover (Copywriter) and Jonathan George (Art Director) who behaved like the perfect match on this project."

On 2012 plan, Best Foods Ltd. has already begun their plans for the coming year. Ogilvy, New Delhi is gearing up to lay out a brand new, sumptuous experience of films. The consumers too, are waiting eagerly for a fresh serving. Here's to a relationship that defines The Perfect Match!

Credits:

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Delhi

Production house: Chrome Pictures

Creative team: Ajay Gahlaut, Nitin Srivastava, Umesh Grover, Jonathan George

Client servicing: Sharmista Dev, Vineet Kindra, Shivani Sharma, Lagun Sehgal

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