ITC Classmate sings a ‘signature’ tune to celebrate individuality

Stationery  brand ITC Classmate has launched a campaign themed around signatures for its writing instruments business. An ad film created by Rediffusion Y&R will go on air on 2 July. The TVC will air on general entertainment channels across the country and will also be dubbed into Tamil.

The film features a school girl (Tara) who is shown writing something in a book at different points in time and in different settings, while keeping what she’s writing a secret. While witnessing a street performance, she draws inspiration from a performer’s twirling ribbon and makes another entry in her book, before showing it to her grandfather. As he opens the book, it is revealed that Tara has been attempting to create her signature all along and finally has. Her voice signs off saying the secret was between her and the pen she used to write with: ITC Classmate.

Sam Ahmed, chief creative officer and vice-chairman, Rediffusion Y&R, said, "A child discovering her own unique signature is perhaps one of the most important and earliest expressions of her self. The idea is simple and at the same time universal in its appeal. It has great adaptability across languages and cultures.”

Komal Bedi Sohal, national creative director, Rediffusion Y&R, added, “In a digital world where we are all mostly communicating via SMSes and e-mails, it is only our signature that uniquely requires the use of a pen. And we linked this insight to the beauty of a child finding her first expression of identity through her signature. We felt that this is a step away from the typical pen ads that feature kids writing in a classroom and as an apt expression of the ITC Classmate brand positioning.”

The television campaign will be supported by digital and social media marketing, consumer activations, print ads and school contact programmes.

Credits
Client: ITC Limited
Brand: Classmate (Pens)
Chief executive: CS Das
Head of sales and marketing: Nripendranath Thakur
Marketing manager: Karan Kumar
Brand managers: Himavan Singh Dahiya ,Varun Goel
Creative agency: Rediffusion Y&R
Chief creative officer and vice chairman: Sam Ahmed National
National creative director: Komal Bedi Sohal
Creative head: Sneh Nihalani
Creative partner: Khalid Khatri
Planning
Chief strategy officer: Gautam Talwar
Planning head: Kavita Kailas
Account management
Branch head: Shuvadeep Nag
AVP and chief of staff: Kalyani Srivastava
Brand partner: Shruti Chadha
Production house: Finger Print Films
Director: Rajesh Mapuskar
Director of photography: Jason West
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music director: Dhruv Ghanekar
Producers: Madhukar Kotian, Allan D'souza, Geeta Laxman

Also read: ‘Every child who goes to school and writes with a pen is our target audience’: Karan Kumar