The Hindu Business Line : No dirt, cheap

COMING up with an ad for price reduction is always more challenging than a regular ad in terms of driving the message through the clutter. Lowe's ad for Hindustan Lever's latest price cuts for its Surf Excel brand uses a child to deliver the message to the adults around him.

It shows the kid wearing a paper costume (to cover extremely dirty clothes underneath) that serves as a notice mentioning the reduction in price. Considering it is Surf Excel Blue (hitherto Multiaction Surf) which has always been promoted on the children platform, the agency has decided to use a kid to talk about the lesser priced Surf Excel brand as well.

According to Priti Nair, Group Creative Director, Lowe, "Surf has always been about mothers and kids, so even if we are doing a price-off ad, the idea was to remain close to the core of the brand. The kid will tell the mother about the new price offer and thereby give him the licence to get dirty."

Using the existing baseline, Surf Excel Hai Na, the price cut ads are shorter in duration compared to the regular ads on the brand. "It is meant to be an intrusive commercial and there is always a restriction on the duration of such ads," says Nair. With the purpose of `hammering' in the message about its latest price cuts, the agency is faced with the challenge of merging the thematic values of the brand with the message about the price cuts.

"Such ads give us an opportunity to do something different. The purpose is to make it intrusive and at the same time remain focused in bringing out the message about the brand," claims Nair.

While a child is being portrayed to convey the price cut message, Lowe does not intend using the platform on a regular basis. "While research shows that most of the dirty stains come from kids, there are stains even otherwise, so we have decided not to restrict ourselves to kids alone," says Nair.

In fact, it is Surf Excel Blue which has always been more kid-centric. The original blue, fluffy Surf has been re-launched as Surf Excel Blue with `Excel Power', which has given it the new name. Its running campaign does have strains of the original Lalitaji commercial; this time, however, it shows a slightly older housewife surprised at the new Surf Excel Blue (Surf Badal Gaya Kya?).

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