Idea urges consumers to stay fit while talking

Idea Cellular has unveiled its latest communication ‘Walk n Talk’, featuring brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan. Developed by Lowe, the new campaign urges Idea’s consumers to become health conscious, by simply walking around when they are talking on the phone.

Speaking about the brief given to the agency, Pradeep Shrivastava, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular said, “Idea Cellular and its campaigns have been evolving all along. We are constantly on the lookout for change, whether it is for the better in the lives of our consumers or in society. Hence, we try and come up with champion ideas that are related to education, the caste war. The idea for the ‘Walk n Talk’ campaign was such, that it resonated with the masses as well as with telecom. All consumers have to do, is to simply walk while they talk on their cell phones, instead of sitting.” However, Shrivastava assumes that consumers will be careful enough while crossing roads and going about other activities that need complete attention.

He says the campaign was a result of the creative and brand team’s brainstorming sessions.

Sharing his thoughts about the campaign, R Balki, chairman and chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas said,” This is just one of the telephony ideas. We have always created almost possible ideas for Idea and this is one of them. The thought behind the campaign is that walking makes you lose weight and keeps you fit. We spend about one and a half hour during the whole day talking on the phone and it would be great if we walk all the time we are talking.”

 

Watch the TVC here:

 

 

The commercial opens with a journalist trying to work on a story about technology making people unfit and unhealthy. She tries getting a doctor’s (Abhishek Bachchan) opinion on this, who gives her an idea of walking while speaking on the phone. What follows next is a montage of situations where people are walking and talking at the same time, while others are happy to realize that this habit is actually helping them lose weight and stay fit. At the end, the commercial takes a humourous twist that shows Abhishek Bachchan killing flies with a swatter, since all his patients are already healthy and don’t need his advice.

Shrivastava underlines the campaign’s objective for Campaign India. He said, “Telecom is a highly commoditized sector, with aggressive players in the fray. However, the top players offer similar services like good network coverage and value added services which cannot be the differentiators for one particular brand. Thus, we focus on creating champion ideas that are differentiators and humane. This is one such idea.”

The campaign will be exposed to 360 degree media like TV, print, digital and radio. For digital, Idea Cellular will create a microsite, that features a ‘Walkmeter’. This Walkmeter will calculate a person’s calorie loss and will be rolled out in about a week’s time.