A TIGER’S TAIL OF HAVELLS’ WIRE TRIUMPHS OVER A DRAGON WITH FIRE IN THE LATEST WORK BY MULLEN LINTAS DELHI
Conceptualised by Mullen Lintas, Havells India is back with a unique and entertaining ad campaign to promote its wire category.
Havells India has come out with a unique idea to promote its wire category and launched a campaign is to promote the brand’s proposition, ‘Wire that doesn’t catch fire’.
The ad conceptualised by Mullen Lintas keeps the viewers engrossed till the end with an entertaining video and a funky background score. It carries forward an already set positioning of being fire resistant and aims at the Southern market by tapping into the theme of Puliyattam, a Tamil dance form, where Pulli stands for tiger and Attam means dance.
Shriram Iyer, National Creative Director, Mullen Lintas, said, “The film has been made keeping in mind the Southern market but we also intend to promote it nationally. That is why we looked for something that has a flavour of South India. I always had this idea of using Puliyattam folk dance form and ideated this ad with the tiger’s tail not catching fire, keeping the same in mind.”
He said, “Now since we had been working on the idea of ‘wires that don’t catch fire’ for a while now, we always look for situations where a fire is involved. And then we work on the idea of the wires’ involvement in a story where we can naturally demonstrate the wires’ ability to resist fire. In an earlier conversation with the creative teams, the dragon had come up, but we couldn’t find the root that worked up until this point. Luckily, the moment arrived.”
Talking about the production process, Iyer said, “It was a very detailed process. Director Vasan Bala had to reach out to various artists and technicians, the first being an actor who can also render the dance gracefully. Then the costumes were designed, body paint, masks, all in reference to the original traditional art form. The details of the costumes had to be thought through. The tail was carefully constructed with real wire. The dragon’s costume had to include a mechanism to throw fire from his mouth. The location had to be authentic. Mostly, the Puliyattam is performed as part of temple festivals in South India. So that atmosphere had to be created.”
While some creatives did not find the brand positioned well, Iyer said, “It’s an already established proposition and I guess there are enough people who got it too.”
The film opens with a child looking through into a window and looks curious as he has earlier seen a dragon spitting fire from his mouth. Concerned, he runs through the streets to inform about the dragon to a man, dressed like a tiger. Showing his concern, he asks the man if they would lose. He assures he would see to it. The scene moves to the street, where the ‘dragon’ is making its entry, while the ‘tiger’ is seated comfortably. The dragon enters and spits fire immediately. To everybody’s surprise, the tiger is seen unconcerned. He gets up from his chair and walks to the battlefield. The battle unfolds. The dragon continuously spits fire while the tiger cuts through and extinguishes it with his tail. It continues till the dragon gives up and the tiger is crowned as the winner. The child asks the man how he managed this. The man replies that while the dragon had the fire, he had the wire and reveals that his tail was made of Havells Wires. It ends with Havells’ ‘Wires that don’t catch fire’ line.
The news was originally published in Best Media Info.