Campaign : Switch on the best in you

Brand : Nescafe

Company : Nestle

Agency : McCann Erickson

The Campaign

Nescafe has recently launched two television commercials featuring Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Purab Kohli. The two ads are in the form of a narrative with the second ad picking up from where the first one ended.

Both the commercials begin at the corridor of a housing complex. The first ad focusses on Purab Kohli’s thoughts when he realises that Deepika Padukone is his new neighbour. Kohli is shown opening the door of his apartment, when Deepika steps out of the lift and walks towards her apartment which is just bang opposite Purab’s.

Both share friendly but hesitant smiles at the first encounter. But unable to control his excitement as he recognises Padukone, Kohli drops his badminton racket. With a surprised look on his face,he picks up the racket and closes his door. Excited, he starts making plans to meet her and goes into a reverie. But then, he imagines Padukone?s bodyguards stopping him from meeting her. He then thinks that her circle of friends would be of a different kind and Padukone would be least interested in him. Finally, he says ?forget it? and goes to his kitchen and prepares Nescafe. As he takes a sip, a voiceover follows: ?The bold taste of Nescafe. Switches the best in you?. And the idea strikes in his mind: ?Why am I thinking so much? She is my neighbour..so I can ask her for coffee? and the tagline follows: Switch on the best in you. The ad ends with the line: To be continued.

The second commercial focusses on Padukone?s thoughts after seeing Kohli. After the first encounter with Kohli, as she enters her apartment she continues to think about him. She finds him quite interesting and her thoughts to the racket in his hands and she murmurs ?badminton champ…?. She thinks about asking him out for a game but then hesitates. Apprehensive that Kohli could turn out to be an obsessed fan, she imagines that he will be all over the place and then his family and the media would follow. But as she takes a sip of Nescafe, the voiceover follows: ?The bold taste of Nescafe. Switches the best in you?. Realising that she is letting her imagination get the better of her, she decides to ask him for a game. In the next shot, the door bell rings and she opens the door and the ad ends with the tagline: Switch on the best in you.

Our Take

With Deepika Padukone and Purab Kohli in the lead, McCann Erickson has introduced two ads which gives the Nescafe brand a new and updated look. Nescafe has always preferred to keep away from celebrities in its commercials and this is a first where the brand uses two celebrities to espouse its cause.

Focusing on the contemporary, young but mature consumers, the brand tries to satisfy them with a storyline that is exciting and has a little bit of suspense in it. The episodic format only adds to the suspense and makes the viewer wonder what will happen next.

The commercial has tried to give the brand a modern and fashionable take. The ads have an entertaining narrative in a contemporary setting. The idea simply, but effectively, illustrates the inspiration a cup of coffee can provide.

A charming story, subtle soundtrack and good performances give the commercial a strong appeal. And the much-needed punch comes in the form of suspense. With more commercials to follow to take the story forward, we hope that those too are on the same lines if not better.

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