Campaign : Technology that touches lives
Brand : HCL
Company : HCL
Agency : DraftFCB Ulka
The Campaign
The ad begins with a banker receiving a sermon from his child’s school teacher on how the kid needs to improve his grades. Trying to find a solution, he sees an HCL executive in the background giving a demo of an education software. He points that out to the teacher, saying that’s what’s required to make his kid excel. The next shot is that of the banker at the golf course where he encounters the HCL guy again. The banker then is seen in a dense forest on a holiday where he again sees the HCL executive in a jeep. Using HCL technology, he is enabling banking in areas where banks are non-existent. In the next shot, the banker is seen at a holiday spot where policemen question him about the bag lying at his feet. The HCL guy comes to his rescue ? indicating HCL’s expertise in security solutions. Then we move to the banker traveling in a car with a colleague and he is miffed with HCL being everywhere. His colleague points towards a bill board sporting HCL as the best employer.
Our Take
To begin with, it is a challenging task to bring out a sequel to anything, be it a 2-hour movie or a 30-second TV spot. HCL has managed to showcase different applications of their technology in this ad which were not covered in the earlier commercials. The ad begins with an interesting conversation between a parent and a teacher. And very naturally the HCL guy appears in the background and offers a solution. You hope the story progresses in the same tone, but suddenly, almost with a jerk, you are taken to the jungles only to show HCL making another impact. That is where the ad seems to lose out and more so in hindsight.
In the earlier commercials, the touch points of HCL came up naturally in the storyline. But in this one, the HCL angle is being thrust upon the viewer. To the extent that it becomes too self congratulatory towards the end and that too using a third party, in this case our banker. He is being subjected to HCL everywhere so much so that he is annoyed. And so is the viewer. For one, the banker is more believable and real than the epitome of perfection portrayed by the HCL guy. Second, the HCL character ends up looking more like a model, but the banker delivers an ace performance which comes across as very natural. You end up liking the banker more than the HCL guy. HCL is not a fashion brand and, in a way, the ad typecasts the HCL employee! It’s better to use an achiever from sports or technology or any other field as a brand ambassador. And most importantly, the touch points could have been weaved into the storyline in a much better manner.
Ratings
*****? By