Cement ads that tug at heart strings to bring home the message

Emotional ties are proving to be a strong adhesive for cement manufacturers, who wish to bond with their consumers.

Be it MP Birla Cement, Ambuja Cement, UltraTech Cement or CK Birla Group firm Orient Cement, companies are going out of their way to create cohesive, heart-warming advertisements.

The newly launched television commercial by MP Birla Cement is a case in point. Narrating the story of a married couple and the little sacrifices they make to build their dream home, the ad takes viewers to the heart of the home-builder through the metaphor of a beautiful relationship of a loving couple.

“The basic emotion we wanted to focus on is that couples tend to make a lot of sacrifices for their new home,” Sujoy Roy, Managing Partner (Creative) at Ogilvy & Mather, Kolkata, told BusinessLine . “We wanted to capture the essence, the agony that home builders go through, since they are our target audience,” he said.

The advertisement was conceptualised by Ogilvy Kolkata. Stating that building a home is no child’s play, Roy pointed out it takes years of planning in which married couples tend to often compromise on their holidays and little luxuries and comforts to save up to build a home. The advertisement aims to capture a slice of their lives.

Orient Cement’s ‘ Pressure deta nahi, leta hai ’ ad echoes the same emotional connect, humorously. As does Ambuja Cement’s depiction of WWE wrestler Khali’s struggles with weak infrastructure, wherein the wrestler is shown in several vulnerable situations with his strength becoming his weakness, unintentionally breaking up the walls and doors of his home.

Ambuja Cements is a part of the global conglomerate Lafarge-Holcim. Its earlier advertisement echoing Iss Cement Mein Jaan Hai (this cement has life in it ) highlighted the durable and strong qualities of the brand, as did its Boman Irani advertisement, where twin brothers make numerous efforts to break the wall between their homes, ending with Bhaiya yeh deewar tuthti kyon nahin? (why does the wall between us not come down).

Roy points out that the cement category has always tried to incorporate emotions, stories and family bonds in its communication. “India is a land of stories and advertisers tend to focus on a relevant story,” he said. Since MP Birla Cement is available across the country, the advertising company “decided to echo the point emotionally with consumers who wish to build their home.”

Moreover, since MP Birla “is a group known for its on-site expert services”, the need of the hour also was to seal the point and bring about brand recall.

UltraTech Cement, on the other hand, decided to infuse the grey drab world of cement with a little colour with its recent advertisement. Conceptualised by SapientRazorfish, the ad decided to give masons their due. In a statement, Kumar Pillay, Senior Vice-President Marketing Services, UltraTech Cement, pointed out that since masons tend to play an important role in the construction chain, the company decided to honour them. Digital firm SapientRazorfish handled the creatives, and captured all the emotions, wherein a mason who is immersed in his daily world of grey cement, indulges in colour with the festival of Holi as the backdrop. Bharatesh Salian, Vice-President, Strategy, SapientRazorfish, noted that brands have been getting more sincere in their approach to reaching out to consumers and that most ads tend to have a message.

As does the Wonder Cement’s ad Shuruvat Karo (make the right beginning). Conceptualised by the company’s in-house team, the advert shows a teacher in a remote village and his assistant ringing a bell to call out to the children of the village to come and study. The commercial aims to mobilise students to participate in the mission of building, not just the village school as they do initially, but also get involved in nation building.

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