Meghna Sharma
Meghna.Sharma@expressindia.com
The Ad
The film opens with a college ‘couple’ sitting together on campus. While the boy is engrossed in his world, his girlfriend wants to share a secret with him. When she suggestively tells him about her being home alone that night, he looks up as though the possibility of a wild night is dawning upon him. Instead he blurts out, “Toh tu aaj Pinky ke ghar chali ja.” Embarrassed, disappointed and annoyed, she offers him a Snickers bar and says, “Hunger na tujhe tubelight bana deti hai.”
Target Audience
15-30 year-old urban millennials.
Business Objective
To drive category growth through individual consumption and casual gifting.
The Appeal
Emotional
Sensorial
From Nautanki to Tubelight, Snickers’ three 20 second-ads and three six second-teasers make an attempt to show how hunger affects human behaviour and causes mood swings. Taking its proposition a step forward, the brand has also swapped the Snickers logo with hunger-related symptoms on its packaging.
Competitive Edge
The new campaign builds upon the brand’s global philosophy of How You’re Not You When You Are Hungry. Although, this time, the campaign has got a new spin through the tagline — Who Are You When You Are Hungry? As per the brand, it picked up 19 hunger symptoms that are commonly recognised by urban millennials when hungry, through a study. Its previous campaigns associated mostly with one hunger trait — that of being irritable/annoying. Also, while other chocolate brands focus on the product, the campaign aims to capture those symptoms and provide an on-the-go solution in the form of a chocolate bar.
Tone of Voice
Trying to be funny.
Verdict
It was in 2012 that Snickers launched its first TVC in India. Featuring actor Rekha, the film was an adaptation of the award-winning global campaign How You’re Not You When You Are Hungry. The film was cheeky and functional at the same time. A year or so later, the philosophy was carried forward with a new campaign featuring another actor, Sonam Kapoor. Again, the film captured the same insight — hunger makes a person behave differently, ultimately affecting the people around them — very well.
However, the same cannot be said about the recent films launched by the brand. Though it tries to capture the symptoms one undergoes when hungry, the execution spoils it all. Even the actors are too loud to relate to. There exists a thin line between being funny/ sarcastic, and being lame. The films fall flat and the insights — of becoming filmy, dramatic or dimwitted when hungry — aren’t as strong as the more realistic one of being cranky when hungry.
The brand believes that the campaign will help it build on the philosophy in a fun and distinctive way by focussing on what happens to one when s/he is hungry. Fine enough, but do the ads bring anything new to the table? We don’t think so.
Rating: 4/10
Agency: Bottle Openers Digital Solutions
Brand: Snickers
Campaign: Tubelight
Production House: R.A.T Films
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