Campaign Logic: Magical moment to bind family

TV commercial by Club Mahindra reiterates brand's promise of memorable experiences to rekindle ties

Brand: Club Mahindra

Budget: Rs 10-12 crore 

Agency: FCB Interface

In our busy lives, holidays or quick getaways may end up as tasks which merely ensure that we tick all the right boxes — unless of course they are filled with memorable moments spent with loved ones, especially family. Club Mahindra Holidays uses this insight to good effect in its new television commercial (TVC) by limiting a story to just one magical moment between a young boy and his parents.

The ad opens with a couple of shots of the family’s holiday location at one of Club Mahindra’s resorts in the backwaters of Kerala. The bespectacled kid is shown trying his hand at angling, hunched over the railings next to their floating cottage overlooking a lake. He senses a catch and pulls backs the fishing rod only to discover some weed hooked to it that he ends up lobbing on his mother’s book that she was reading. The woman screams and recoils. Not wasting a chance for mischief, the kid follows his scared mother, while his father who was standing by checking his mobile phone joins in the fun as they run around together. There is no dialogue, but only a song sung by a child and the ad ends with a voice-over saying, “Jab hum bachhe ban jaate hain, bachhe dost ban jaate hain.” 

Robby Mathew, chief creative officer of FCB Interface — the creative agency which conceptualised the ad — explains that many of us tend to skip a family occasion because of urgent work in office but do not do the opposite. A disconnect at home between family members is common for vacationers, he says, adding that we also live with the guilt of not devoting enough time to each other. Also, people today are more preoccupied with products and obsess with deals when making a holiday plan. “When we decided to do this campaign, we said we’ll sidestep all this. Even the property will only be the backdrop for what we are talking about. A holiday is when the family has the time to connect.”

He says the brand Club Mahindra is about family and is among few that also attract the elderly, adding they also have plans to communicate features with the older generation.

While a non-transactional approach in the creative communication has been part of previous Club Mahindra ads — which similarly focused on the family aspect — this TVC tries to highlight the singular moment in the context of “rebooting relationships”.

According to an Icra report, the Indian hotel industry was estimated to grow up to $1.8 billion (Rs 123 billion) by 2016. Club Mahindra are the category leaders in vacation ownership.

Giridhar Seetharam, chief marketing office, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India, points out that while vacation ownership makes up about five to six per cent of the hotel industry in the US, in India it would come up to only one per cent. “So, there is a potential for us to develop 5x in the next 10 years,” he asserts.

For this campaign, which is on air across 55 TV channels supported by print, digital and out-of-home presence, the company sought the views of its members on holidaying, followed by a research to understand how holidaying has changed in last decade and the new trends.

“Increasingly, the family is getting split even while staying under one room, as each member  has his or her own ecosystem. Secondly, parents want to use holidays to get away from the pressures of routine to spend more time with their kids. We offer a unique opportunity for people to get away from the hustle and bustle as all our resorts are in offbeat locations, each with an exclusivity to itself. And consumers are also asking for the same thing. How do I bring this to life? That was what led to this ad,” he says.

Club Mahindra prioritises catering to family needs. Seetharam says nearly 70-80 per cent of its customers are families with children in the age group of 0-18. The next category is elderly couples. “In our online communication we are completely focused on family bonding. But educating them about the products, services and options, are also equally important.” 

The company spreads awareness through the digital forum and its “Club Mahindra Holiday World” chain in cities. It also boasts nearly 200,000 members, who contribute up to two-thirds of the sales with the help of referrals, and hopes to leverage the membership base to drive growth and expansion in vacation ownership.