Cornetto Luv Reels films go on air

Mindshare, a division of Group M, has conceptualised ‘Cornetto Luv Reels’ - a series of short films based on user-generated content.  Through a contest, the brand invited entries from young aspiring actors, music directors and scriptwriters to be a part of the initiative. The first film titled ‘Like I Love You’ was produced by MTV and Red Chillies Idiot Box and went on air on July 3 on MTVPlex. The story is a boy-meets-girl-in-the-UK romance and features some of the winners and, of course, Cornetto.

The idea of creating films completely “for the viewer, by the viewer” stemmed from an insight regarding the mindset of the modern youngster. Sudipto Roy, principal partner - client leadership at Mindshare, explained, “If you look at the youth today, they know they can make it big, and they interact with so many communication channels to unleash their creativity. We thought Cornetto would be the best brand to harness this phenomenon.”

According to Punit Misra, category head of ice-creams at Hindustan Unilever, it’s now imperative to think out of the box all the time as far as media is concerned. “We have seen with this activity, which is dominantly internet and mobile driven, that you can reach out to the TG in a sharper, more engaging way. It allows for a two-way communication between the brand and its consumers, and also becomes a way of building a community of brand ambassadors in the virtual world. So getting out of the ‘idiot box’ and getting into the lives of consumers is the way forward.” The films also seem to speak of a trend where the line defining the mandates of a creative agency and a media one has started to blur (Leo Burnett India won a Media Lion this year).  Roy agreed, “We’ve handled the brand for a while now and know how it works. We created a music video last year with user-generated content and thought it was time to take the brand to the next level.”

The second film ‘Luv Ho Jaane De’ will air on MTV on July 10 at 7pm. See the first film ‘Like I Love You’ here.