Madhya Pradesh Tourism is back with another earthy and rustic television commercial. Rolled out earlier this month, it’s called MP ajab hai, sabse gajab hai (MP is unique, it’s full of surprises) and is the third in a series of campaigns created in a similar tone. The first in 2006 was the hugely-popular bioscope commercial, titled Hindustan ka dil dekho (see the heart of India) which showcased the key attractions of the state through a bioscope. The second in 2009 conveyed the variety that the state offers through different expressions of the eyes of a traveller. The latest one uses the traditional art of hand shadowgraphy to tell what’s unique about many of the destinations. All the three campaigns have been conceptualised and created by Ogilvy India.
The new TVC begins with hand shadows taking the form of trees in a jungle with tigers and barasingha deer roaming around, while Mowgli of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book swings over the trees. The shadows then take the form of the palace of Mandu which resembles a ship, and then morphs into ten elephants depicting how they were used to test the strength of the roof of Jai Vilas palace in Gwalior. The hand shadows then go on to show the marble rock mountains and gorges of river Narmada near Jabalpur as well as the Buddhist Sanchi Stupa, a symbol of peace. A folksy jingle which accompanies the visuals captures the unique and surprising facts about these destinations.
Ogilvy Mumbai Senior Creative Director Mahesh Gharat says when the agency started working for Madhya Pradesh Tourism a few years ago, the biggest task it faced was to differentiate the state from other tourist destinations. “While tourism advertising typically shows visuals of tourist destinations, which, more often than not, end up looking homogenous, we decided to consciously focus on advertising which is ‘non-tourist’ in nature and kept the tone of voice completely different from other tourism ads. The result was two hugely loved ads which differentiated and defined the personality of the brand,” he says.
While the two ads with a similar narration style — rhyming lyrics and folksy music — gave a distinct identity to the brand, the brief for the new ad was to take the campaign forward by telling people unique and surprising facts about the destinations which leaves them amazed. At the same time, the ad should not disrupt the brand personality set in tune by the previous ads.
Says Pradyumna Chauhan, creative director, Ogilvy Mumbai, who wrote the song for the commercial: “Unlike previous efforts where we showcased a multitude of offerings, this time we focused on fewer destinations, but each one of them had amazing stories built around them. So, for instance, we had to craft the song around facts like the hanging of ten elephants from a hall roof to test its strength, communicate that there is a castle which with water bodies on either sides looks like a ship and many more. Definitely, these are awe-inspiring facts but equally daunting task was to turn them into short and simple song lines.”
The song for the ad has been sung by film and television actor Raghuvir Yadav, a native of Madhya Pradesh. As for why hand shadowgraphy was used for the visuals, Chauhan says: “We had written the song for the ad before deciding on the visual elements, and the first thing that came to our mind after completing the song was that it has to be something traditional and folk-like, something close to a nautanki, and shadow art appeared as the best fit.” The TVC is a part of a 360-degree campaign — the radio and print ads will be rolled out in a month or so, details of which the agency doesn’t want to share at the moment.
