Officer’s Choice Blue asks men to raise their voice, for women

Allied Blenders and Distillers has launched two ad films to promote eponymous music CDs under its premium whisky brand Officer’s Choice Blue. Metaphor Communications has conceived the campaign, which will be on air till mid-November.

One of the films is set in a restaurant. The protagonist is seated at a table with a lady, and among guests are another man and woman a few tables away. That man draws the attention of other guests to himself and his partner, as he is shouting at her for some reason. While the rest of them look on, the protagonist is shown getting angry with the lady being mistreated. When the man grabs her hand and begins to physically attack her, he raises his voice, making the man leave the restaurant. A voice over says, “Raise your voice, Officer’s Choice Blue.”

The second film is set in an office wherein the male boss misbehaves with a female colleague - initially through phone calls and then later in person. When the protagonist raises his voice, and the boss leaves the woman alone. The brand message completes the film.

Ahmed Rahimtoola, senior vice president, marketing, Allied Blenders and Distillers, said, “Our research revealed that righteousness is a timeless value that is central to our lives irrespective of the strata of society that we come from, the profession that we pursue or our societal status. The positioning of Officer’s Choice Blue is centered on this timeless value of righteousness and it resonates even with the core of our young, increasingly progressive, highly discerning and aspiring target audience.”

He added, “This value gave birth to the seed of the campaign and our brand owns an extremely strong positioning platform which is a clutter-breaker in the universe of style, achievement and feel-good communication. The protagonist in the TVC is young, progressive and aspirational individual who exhibits the value of righteousness in situations that call for any noble citizen to stand up and raise his voice.”

Pankaj Arora, national planning director, Metaphor Communications, said, “As the communication partner of ABD, we at Metaphor have built a strong equity for the flagship brand OC Whiskey on the value of ‘righteousness’ that encourages and recognises the consumer’s right choices and deeds in the society. OC Blue is the premium variant of OC. It connects with the young and progressive consumers who have refined tastes and high aspirations in life and stands out as a superior product in the semi-premium whiskey segment.”

Arora spoke about the idea behind the campaign, and said, “For the brand campaign we explored the core value of the mother brand and built the campaign thought based on the insight that ‘righteousness’ holds an extremely strong ground in an individual’s life, across social segments and age groups. Today the atrocities against women in the society are on the rise. In this scenario we made the brand stand for a cause and asked the consumer to raise his voice against different faces of such atrocities. The TV commercials brought forth certain situations and instances in today’s society and created a strong, emotive appeal that is sure to win hearts of the brand’s TG."

The campaign will use TV, OOH, POS and digital media, besides on-ground activations.

Credits

Creative agency: Metaphor Communications

Production house: Caramel Pictures Mumbai

Director (film): Will Van Der Vlugt

Producer: Rakesh Soni and Neeraj Vasudeva

Music director: Indrajeet Sharma