Campaign logic: The spice of life

In a new campaign, actor Shah Rukh Khan is seen pitching Dish TV as the flag-bearer of entertainment

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Brand: DishTV
Budget: Rs 20 crore
Agency: McCann Erickson

There is a common belief among Indian advertisers that more people will buy a product if they show more people consuming the product. So slice of life is perhaps the most overused formula in Indian advertising. With the latest campaign for its direct-to-home (DTH) services, DishTV seems to have fallen into the same trap. The energetic appearance of actor and brand ambassador Shan Rukh Khan, however, helps the series of advertisements catch attention to some extent.

The "Life, masala maar ke" campaign, comprising five television commercials (TVCs), shows the actor livening up the otherwise mundane lives of people by promising them entertainment with loads of spice. The first TVC shows a DishTV technician installing a dish. As the man fixes the dish an old man calls out to his grandson to check whether the connection is working. The elated child breaks into a dance confirming that indeed the connection is working. The second TVC is set in Rajasthan where a group of bored bahus are seen listening to their saas' instructions and grinding spices. In steps Khan and as he switches on the television set, the bahus break into a dance in tune with the catchy music playing on television. The third TVC features body-builders watching a horror film in their gym. They are caught by surprise when Khan creeps up behind them. The next TVC showcases a couple doing a naagin (snake) dance routine in the dead of the night. They stop for a moment as they discover their daughter is watching.

To their delight Khan steps in and, along with their daughter, encourages them to carry on. The last TVC has a group of army men animatedly watching a cricket match. The result of the match hangs in a balance. When their team wins the match the jawaans break into a jig with Khan joining in.

Khan acts as the sutradhaar (narrator) in the TVCs and urges viewers to add spice to their boring lives with the help of DishTV. By showing a cross-section of people, the ad reinforces Dish TV's pan-India presence. "We Indians are emotional, our lives are full of drama. We have this tendency of going over the top with things. The campaign captures this side of Indians," says Arun Kumar Kapoor, chief executive officer, DishTV.

The campaign, says the company, represents the logical progression of the brand from an early mover in a new category to one which is patronised by a huge majority of consumers. DishTV debuted in the year 2003 with the tagline "Wish karo dish karo". In 2004, the brand said "Dish har chhaath par" and in 2009 it wooed consumers saying "Ghar aayi zindagi". The brand's last campaign in 2011 claimed "Sab par dish savaar hai".

Kapoor says the changing taglines reflect the evolution of the brand as well as the DTH market. "The early communication was aimed at establishing an emotional connect with consumers. Subsequently with digitisation and the launch of digital addressable systems (DAS) the brand moved to product-based advertising and demonstrated its mass appeal saying 'Dish har chaath par' and 'sab par dish saavar hai'."

The new campaign has been conceptualised by McCann Erickson and the campaign budget is estimated at Rs 20 crore. "The challenge was to find evocative situations people can connect with or react to. The campaign had to appeal to stakeholders across geographies. For this to happen we had to highlight universal human emotions and touch upon essential facets of life everyone can identify with," says Jitender Dabas, chief strategy officer, McCann Worldgroup.

Dabas says the ongoing Indian Premier League is the classic example of how Indians want their entertainment - spicier and edgier. Kapoor says, as part of the ongoing DAS III expansion, DishTV is targeting towns with population of 5,000-plus. In rural areas it is partnering with village haats to spread the message across. The brand's key markets include Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Odisha.

With the fourth phase of digitisation kicking in, DishTV has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 800-850 crore for 2016-17. Industry reports suggest, Dish TV added 0.317 million net subscribers for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, taking the country's largest DTH player's total subscriber base to 14 million.