The Ad
The TVC traces the journey of a young foreigner who has come to attend a wedding and decides to explore Bengal. Through the course of her visit, she sees different facets of the state, eventually feeling at home. Shah Rukh Khan makes an appearance towards the end of the film to tie the narrative together.
Target Audience
NRI Bengalis and foreign nationals
Business Objective
To make NRI Bengalis homesick and carve a place for West Bengal in every traveler’s bucket list by introducing new places, rituals and experiences that make one identify with Bengal as the sweetest part of India.
The Appeal
By showcasing various landscapes of West Bengal through different experiences, stories and structures with a classic Rabindranath Tagore song playing in the background, the campaign evokes a feeling of warmth, tugging at the heartstrings of Bengalis living away from home.
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Competitive Edge
Ogilvy & Mather has, in the past, created several tourism campaigns for states such as Diu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc and knows the tricks of the tourism trade. And this is also visible in the film with high production quality and the placement of a classic Tagore song adding to the feel. Moreover, some of the senior team members working on the campaign were Bengali and provided local insights to explain what the state is all about.
Tone of Voice
Nostalgic
Verdict
In line with the Incredible India! campaign and with an aim to boost tourist influx, every state is in revamp mode, launching tourism commercials. Amidst those, this campaign does stand out in some ways to get noticed, but doesn’t arouse the ‘wow’ factor.
Bengal has long been associated with its traditional sweets but the agency intelligently spins that to associate ‘sweet’ with the language, hospitality and cuisine of the state. This is executed well by focussing on the streets of old ‘Calcutta’ (Kolkata), Darjeeling, ancient terracotta structures, the folklore and cuisine with the music of a dotara taking the shape of an old Tagore song.
And just when you start enjoying the mood created by the film, the campaign leaves a bitter aftertaste with the presence of Shah Rukh Khan crooning a Bengali song towards the end. Yes, we understand he is the brand ambassador of the state, but how does he represent Bengal in the ad film? Singlehandedly, he introduces the “What…seriously?” guffaw factor for the viewer. While the agency claims Khan is a surprise element in the end, adding value as he is not selling any location but featuring as himself (an actor), his presence seems rather forced and breaks the storyline. All in all, a worthy effort by the team, but it doesn’t come close to some of the recent nicer tourism campaigns by other states.