Sack Race in 'Daag achche hai' teaching good values to Kids

Surf Excel, the detergent brand from HUL, in its latest campaign continues with their band of "Dirt is good' line of thought, with a little of difference of inculcating values like forgiveness in this TVC. The objective of the communication is to bring out the essence of Forgiveness as a value which teaches the kid to be harmonious with others. And encourage mothers to see the value behind stains.

Surf Excel, from the stable of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), is one of the oldest detergent powder brands, launched in 1959. From its initial positioning, the brand has evolved over the years. It was positioned as the washing powder which 'washes whitest'. However, over the years, the brand has rebranded itself by bringing new thought processes every time. Currently, in line with the global communication of HUL, Surf Excel promotes the proposition of dirt is good - 'Daag achche hai'.

Lowe Lintas has created the new TVC which begins with a child walking down a path. As the boy walks, he continuously pulls his trousers, which appear to be loose and keep slipping off. On his way, he meets three boys from his school, who laugh at him and as part of a prank, pull down his trousers. They make fun him of him by calling him 'chaddiwale'.

Suddenly, a teacher from the boys' school appears and inquires what's going on. To this, the young boy replies that that they were practicing for the forthcoming sack race. He holds his trousers like a sack and jumps into a pool of mud and dirt. The other boys feel ashamed and as the teacher leaves, apologise to the kid. All three boys then pull down their pants and jump into the mud. The TVC ends with the voiceover saying, "Daag achche hai."

Speaking exclusively to Adgully, Arun Iyer, National creative director, Lowe Lintas said, "Usually the whole thinking is what value the child can demonstrate through stains? For this particular TVC, we decided to take the value of "forgiveness'. It was how through stains, this child forgives some bullies who troubled him and through stains he teaches them a far bigger lesson in life."

"We are working on some more on ground stuff which will be launched in future. Surf Excel campaigns have always been about the values," he further added.

Industry leaders have praised this campaign and it has received a positive feedback. According one industry stalwart, "Surf Excel campaigns have always been memorable and have high recall value. This campaign is exceptionally well done and once again reaches to their target audience effectively."

The creative team at Lowe Lintas for the TVC includes R Balki, chief creative officer; Arun Iyer; Ramkrishna Gopi, unit creative director; AP Zeth, creative director; Sushanth Joshi, creative and Ankit Pandya, creative. The planning team includes Devika Sharma, strategy director and Abhishek Hariharan, brand planning director. The servicing team has Virat Tandon, executive vice-president; Satish Ramanathan, associate vice-president and Suchana Sarkar, brand services manager. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]