Our take
Campaign name: Bhoot
Brand: Olx
Company: Olx.in
Agency: Lowe Lintas
The Campaign
The ad opens on the portraits of two regally dressed men hanging on the wall of a house. We next see the ghosts of the two dead men sitting at the dining table discussing that life has become boring after death. One of them hits upon an idea?playing hide and seek in the old house. The first ghost looks for a place to hide and opens cupboards, almirahs, trunks and even looks under the bed, but finds each of them choc-a-bloc with discarded stuff?golf clubs, a broken sitar, an unused sewing machine, a broken helmet, a table fan and many more. He even looks into the bedroom where a young couple is sleeping, deaf to the antics of the two ghosts. Exasperated, he tells the other ghost that there is not even a single corner in the house which is empty, on which the second ghost creeps near the sleeping man, and whispers in his ear: ?Unused samaan ko ghar mein chhupane se accha OLX pe bech do? (Sell off your unused stuff on OLX instead of storing them in the house). And in the process make some money. The next shot shows the steps involved in the process of selling products on OLX to show the convenience of the process. Tag lines ?Click, ad Upload karen and Sell? communicate the ease of using the platform.
Our Take
Olx ads tend to make you smile with their witty storylines, and this latest ad is no different. Based on the insight that people tend to hoard stuff that they rarely use, the campaign reminds the viewer that unused household goods lying around and blocking precious space, may be useful to someone else and can become a lucrative means for earning some cash by selling them through free classified website OLX. The key message promoted in the campaign is ?Unlock the value of the unused goods in your house? using Olx.in as the most convenient platform to do so. The strategy of playing up the sounds made while using the online marketplace?like ?Khachak?, the click sound for clicking a photo, ?KhitKhitKhit?, as that for using the keyboard and ?Kha-ching? which evokes the sound of the cash register ringing?works well.
What stands out in this ad is the attention to detail. So, we have this house which seems to have got frozen in time?the heavy chandeliers, curved furniture, the checkered linoleum on the floor, the wooden trunk embellished with metal work?all speak of a time long gone by. And in their midst, indicating that the present owners are being pulled in two opposite directions of the old and the new, are some modern pieces?the digital clock under the portraits of the regal ancestors, the laptop in the background, the calculator sitting casually on the dining table?nudging the viewer to the online platform of Olx. Each of these three actually stand for the various features of Olx?the immediacy of the platform, the convenience of the device, and the profits made. The two royal apparitions with their exaggerated mannerisms have an uncanny resemblance to Utpal Dutt as King Hirak in Satyajit Ray?s film Hirak Rajar Deshe. All in all, a commercial that does catch your attention, and more importantly, ensure high brand recall. The ad does not shout about the brand, nor is it subtle, but lays it straight. And that?s where its charm lies.