Cadbury takes to the cricket field, again - with animated, ‘umarless’ Gems

Cadbury India’s latest campaign for its brand Gems attempts to refresh the brand’s proposition ‘Raho umarless’ (Remain ageless) against the backdrop of cricket. The series of seven films see the brand taking to the cricket field using animated Gems in different colours, representing people and objects. The TVCs have been created by Ogilvy & Mather.

The films went on air in phases, starting with the sixth season of the Indian Premier League. A 30-second film establishes the template of Gems as characters in a cricketing context, and each of the subsequent 15-seconders represents a situation on a cricket field with a humourous twist.

The film ‘Kaun bhaya jeetega?’ (Who will win this season?) raises the question with a song and dance, depicting different teams with Gems in different colours. It ends saying: ‘Jeetega bhai jeetega, koi na koi jeetega’ (Someone or the other will win), and the sign off: ‘No umar for favourite colour’ (Age no bar for your favourite colour). All the films ends with the brand’s tagline ‘Raho umarless’.

The shorter films depict different situations on a cricket field. View the films here:

Greedy batsmen who keep running between the wickets  - No umar for lalach – age no bar for greed

Fielders colliding and pushing the ball over the boundary for a six (No umar for silly mistakes)

A fielding team appealing aggressively (No umar for chillum chilli – age no bar for shouting)

Sledging leading to a batsman-bowler tiff (No umar for dishum dishum - age no bar for fighting)

A fielder focused on a cheerleader failing to stop a boundary (No umar for sachcha pyar – age no bar for true love)

A naked fan running on to the field (No umar for shame shame puppy shame)

Plight of team supporters outnumbered by fans of the opponents (No umar for favourite colour).

Manoj Shetty, group creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, explained the brief: the brand wanted to be on IPL with its trademark properties of fun and colour, and a bit of madness. 

He said, “Advertising in IPL has become somewhat like advertising on Superbowl. There is always a pressure to be big and loved. Of course we wanted to be loved, but we overcame the pressure of going big. We actually went the other way - we went small.”

On the use of animation, he said, “The treatment, stop motion, the commentary and the child-like set up to the series of plots is meant to reflect the clild-like nature of the aspects of the brand and the sport. Also, the sheer simplicity made the Gems commercials stand out more than most big budget 'blockbusters’.”

Credits
Client: Cadbury India (Gems)
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather

Executive Creative Director: Abhijit Avasthi
Group creative head (Mumbai): Manoj Shetty

Creative Director: Manoj Shetty, Vijay Sawant 

Copywriter: Nikhil George, Devika Srivastava

Art Director: Vipul Indulkar

Agency Producer: Manoj Joshi, Porus Kharegat

Account Management: Sonali Sehgal, Bhavna Thakur, Mallika Raina, Sunayana Gopal

Planner: Kawal Shoor, Ganapathy Balagopalan, Roma Singhal

Production House: Eeksaurus

Director: E Suresh

Producer: Nilima Eriyat