What an Advertise-Meant?

Tagline: “Think Hatke”

Agency: Bates 141

Duration: 50 seconds

First seen: January ‘09

Ad Message: Introducing the new ‘Free after 3′ SMS plan from Virgin Mobile

Target Audience: Young 15-22 years college crowd

Frequency: Medium

Description: The ad starts with a girl having breakfast with her father, as he tells her ‘you are getting late beta’. She suddenly breaks into a foolish grin and says ‘last night kiss was like hmmm…he was awesome yaar!’ as the father nods at her. Next, she is in a college lecture when she gets up abruptly and shouts “Kitna bolta hai yaar, lecture suna raha hai ya lori, feeling so sleepy” and sits down. In the next scene she is sitting in front of a prospective groom who dares to ask “You made this samosa? very tasty huh”. The girl says “God kya dhakkan hai, mom has brought me one more namoona” before switching to a polite “jee thank you”. Last shot shows her in her PJs saying out loud “what am I wearing? Right now..nothing!” The ad ends with a voiceover “Live your sms life, nonstop, national or local send free sms din raat without any bag. Virgin Mobile, Think Hatke”

[Caution: Strictly opinionated comments follow]

Ohh dear, this is where their hatke thinking has gone too far. Unlike any of their previous campaigns which simplistically showed the out-of-box-thinking youth of today and how they are outsmarting the oldies to get their way in any situation, this one complicates things, and unnecessarily at that.

The idea that there is a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in every teenager and it is via the torrential use of smsing that they manage to live a sane life was a good idea to begin with. But not everyone will immediately link the girl’s blasphemous sentences as being the sms’s that are doing the rounds with her friends. Nor did I find the completely nerdy look of the girl (obviously inspired from Ugly Betty or apni Jassi closer home) befitting for getting across the naughtiness of this character.

Moreover, there are flaws in the consistency too (or maybe a case of an editor with extra sharp scissors?)– like why does the father nod in the first scene when there is no reaction from others in the scenes that follow? Why does she add a coy “jee thank you” in the scene with behcara potential groom? If at all, they should have had the girl say something sugary and polite at the end of her ‘real feelings’ in every scene, and that would have gotten across the idea much better imho.

Also, the whole new tariff plan from Virgin that you now have the option of sending 100 free sms’s after the first three paid sms’s of the day does NOT come through. It’s yet another powerful marketing strategy (which hopefully will sail-through inspite of this ad) from Virgin Mobile when you think about it, bang-on with the target audience…but just a glimpse of the logo ‘Free after first 3’ hardly does justice to it.

Now, living up to the trend they have a pretty decent microsite too – www.livethesmslife.com (which is where I got to know the above details about the tariff) with some cute Thumb Asanas to watch out for. But as for the ad, I will remain zara hatke whenever this one is on.