If the content is not touchy enough, nobody will remember it: Mayuri Saikia

What was the insight behind the ‘back to school’ campaign?

 

For Dell India, the youth, school and college students make up the core audience. We recognise the strength and aim to meet the evolving demands of the education industry by leveraging its tech innovations. The ‘Back to School’ campaign embodies Dell's commitment to education and providing technology that can positively impact a student's life. It emphasises the significance of a PC in facilitating high-quality learning. This doesn’t comprise just the regular school studies, but many other passion projects that students today have made their profession. This is a different generation which knows what it’s doing.

 

The campaign celebrates the learning spirit of students as they embrace success, as well as failures, by using their abilities to create a meaningful impact on society. 

 

What is the relevance that Dell as a brand sees itself holding, for a property like the IPL?  

 

With IPL, the visibility does go higher since it is a time when you can connect with the younger audience. However, in both films, the core message still revolves around what students are doing, their passions and new learnings and their application to society. 

 

So, although advertising during the IPL is more about reaching the right audience, from a campaign perspective, it still focuses on what the kids are doing today. 

 

Dell has been positioning itself as a ‘force for good’ in the context of technology. Even then, how does a brand in the white goods space justify this role? 

 

Dell Technologies has collected over 2.6 plus billion Lbs (pounds) of used electronics for the use of recycling since 2007. The objective for our 2030 goal is that the more we take back to reuse or recycle, the less waste there is on our planet.

 

Our group engineers have been working on reducing resource use over the last several years to further refine the whole modular design of the concept. 

 

How do you plan to break through the IPL clutter?

 

For us, anything we work on is always done with a consumer-first approach. Our content will have to be something that gets people hooked on it. We have been working on this campaign with our creative agency VMLY&R for quite some time now. The campaigns sure showcase emotions, but at the same time, it’s tied to how technology remains the core focus for what students are achieving today. 

 

This will make the content stand out. Media does play an important role in reaching the right audience, but after reaching them, if the content is not touchy enough, nobody will actually remember it. A brand needs to be close to the heart. Our audience is very close to us and that’s how we plan on breaking the clutter. 

 

What is the media-mix for this campaign? 

 

We will be present across digital platforms, including YouTube. Our prime focus is going to be on connected TV, with print ads too. We will be present on JioCinema via connected TV. However, we are not going to be present on linear TV. 

 

Do you see the IPL getting a different profile of audience on each medium this year?

 

We are not trying to target the whole set of audiences. We are going to be there on connected TV and high on digital. IPL is only one part of it. The audience is present in different mediums throughout, so we’re not going to look at only IPL for that.

 

Does it make sense to roll out a campaign before the IPL or during the IPL with so many brands competing for mind space? 

 

Even if the IPL wasn’t happening, we would still have rolled out the ‘back to school’ campaign, since this is a time when kids are buying and looking for products, especially laptops. However, the IPL helps us connect with them better and it just happened to be around the same time. Apart from that, one of our films showcasing cricket gloves is relevant and will connect better. 

 

What are your expectations from this campaign?

 

Any campaign we do usually reflects its commitment to utilising technology to create a positive social impact, promote sustainability and drive economic growth, while ensuring that technology remains a force for good. 

 

It's not just about rolling out a campaign, but how you extend it on-ground and involve everybody. We have got this series called the ‘doing good’ series for which we have tied up with Radio Mirchi and Smile Foundation. This is an extension of the campaign which will involve around 88 schools across the country. radio merchants and Dell’s partners.