Kajaria Tiles' ad campaign breaks conventions, stands out amid clutter

Which is your favourite campaign and why?

Advertising keeps evolving with time and there have been many campaigns which were good, perhaps my favourite at a given time before fading away. I would rather look at a campaign done in recent times and that would be by Kajaria Tiles —  Desh ki Mitti se bani tile se desh ko banate hain. The reason for choosing this is as my favourite campaign is that it has changed the rules of the game, moved away from category codes, broke convention and stood out in the clutter. For decades, tile advertising involved showing nice homes, shiny floors and stories being told around the flooring. And amidst this clutter, here comes a campaign which doesn’t show a house at all! Tiles are not even shown as we build a narrative and Akshay Kumar goes through various sequences, and the product comes in in the product window. The campaign was a big hit and of course, won awards too!

On what parameters did you base your decision?

The campaign delivered on all the expectations: Clear leadership imagery, absolute top-of-mind recall, increase in sales and yes, the competition starts following you (For instance, Somany ceramics’ “zameen se jude” campaign featuring Salman Khan.)

What do you think was the key idea the campaign was trying to drive home?

Kajaria is the largest tile manufacturer in India and leads the category in every single parameter -- capacity, production volume, sales figures, variety of designs and of course, the turnover. It is the only Indian brand that figures in world’s top 10 tile manufacturers and wanted to do a campaign establishing its leadership in the market and take a high ground. We also wanted to build an emotional connect and worked on the insight that a tile is made of clay or soil or mitti and from there, came the thought of Desh ki mitti se bani tile. The film shows how various people in diverse fields do their bit to make India proud.

What are the takeaways from the campaign?

Going with this campaign was a very bold call. Imagine beating the convention, there is no product in almost the entire film. The client was very supportive and went ahead with the idea. It was a giant leap and it paid off. Well, it did inspire another client to think big and take a national platform — who went ahead and signed Amitabh Bachchan for the brand campaign.

Sometimes because of the emotional element in a campaign, there is a greater recall for the story than the product or service advertised. Dis something like that happen in this case?
 

The good part of this campaign was that it had a strong emotional connect, great visuals and a superstar. Yet, the message at the end was summed up strongly. The message and the brand stood out loud and clear.