Campaign Combat: ORDINARY CAPRESE vs. CELEBRATED LAVIE ADS

I started working on this story first by checking the reviews of the video. Out of the many similar comments, I picked one to quote, “Omg! So cute; look at her expressions so real... even in the ad she looks fab... heroine number 1” – there was not a single mention of the beautiful Lavie handbags. Certainly, the brand was overpowered by the celebrity. A situation where the glitters of the star blind your eyes to notice the product she or he endorses.

On the contrary there is a TVC for Caprese – another handbag company. The video starts with a lady wearing grey shades while holding a bright bag. When the lady changes her clothes, the colour changes but the bag remains the centre of attention. The ad intelligently used the ‘connect’ between ladies and the product but did not allow the focus to move away from the bag.

The verdict does not nullify the significance of a celebrity but it certainly raises a question mark. The intention of any commercial featuring a celebrity is to highlight the brand along with the celebrity. Rahul Sen Gupta, National Creative Director, TBWA, India, agency which created the ad said, “‘No, no, no, maybe yes’ that is the mind of a woman when she goes shopping. We captured this insight through Kareena’s wonderful performance as a girl next door, going through great denial and desire, all at the same time, in a Lavie store.”  Sandeep Goenka, COO, Bagzone Lifestyles opines “Kareena Kapoor, the eternal diva and style icon of the country has added an oomph factor to this brand. She is just like any other woman who is perplexed when it comes to buying handbags as the choice is endless.” But does the celebrity Kareena really fit the simple girl-next-door image?

A simple reason why BMW, world’s leading luxury car makers, has never featured any celebrity in their campaign is because they want to project their car as the celebrity. Among the effective and popular ads of 2012 were Ogilvy’s Vodafone ad featuring youth speaking about their facebook experience and; CCD’s first ever ad was about how casually you can sit and talk so the mantra ‘sit-down-ism’ was created. The reason for their success: they stuck with their motto and intention where the real star was the product. Coca Cola’s ad featuring Sachin Tendulkar was a good example of how a celebrity can be used without letting the product lose the attention. The ad talked about the passion for cricket and how it is played in adverse conditions; Sachin was effective even though he remained in the sidelines.

Caprese, on the other hand is not the real winner but it certainly does not let the viewer pass away without noticing what they were talking about – handbags. The campaign does not hit you like most popular ones do, but the basic objective is fulfilled. Just because an ad is incredibly popular, funny and/or viral, doesn’t mean that it is effective with the consumers. The same rule applies for celebrities – just because a celebrity delivers ‘Oomph’, doesn’t mean that this will power brands in
advertising.