ACC takes emotional route to cement its relationship with progress

ACC Cement has released a new television campaign underlining its role in improving Indian infrastructure.

The 100-second film opens with a conversation between an old man and his grandson. The grandfather gives directions to a friend’s village, to bring mangoes. He describes the railway station where the young man must get down as a ‘small station in a small village’, adding that he wouldn’t find taxis and would have to take a rickety bus from there. The accompanying visuals tell the opposite story, with a large railway station with taxis lined up outside. The narrative continues with the grandfather’s voice saying that the road from the station to the village would be ‘kachha’ (rough) and would only take him up to the river. The visuals again paint a different picture, with the taxi taking the grandson across a modern bridge. A ‘small ground’ described by the grandfather as a place for cricket and cows, is shown playing host to young cricketers in whites and an umpire in uniform, signalling a modern cricket facility. At the spot where a ‘big tree’ under which the village kids had their classes according to the grandfather is ‘Saraswathi High School’. The grandson meets his grandfather’s friend and returns with a box full of mangoes, much to the delight of his grandfather. Asked by the old man about how the village is now, the grandson laughs, even as a voice over says, “Badal raha hain har gaon, har sheher” (Every village and every city is changing). The voice over goes on to add that ACC has been a part of this progress for over 75 years. The film signs off with the message: ‘ACC Cement. Cementing Relationships.’

On the TVC, Akshay Kapnadak, executive creative director, McCann, said, “Although it is the landmarks that are the most visible signs of progress, the real story is a human one. The one about people and how life has changed for them. Progress becomes very apparent when two people or even two generations talk about the same place as they have known it. It is very common for someone to say things like ‘Oh, when I lived there, there was nothing…' or '…things have changed so much. I could hardly recognise the place…' We felt that there was a simple, yet powerful story there. That is what the commercial is about. A story about a village as the grandfather remembers it and seen through the eyes of his grandson, who sees the change."

The film has been created by Ram Madhwani of Equinox Films.

Credit List
Brand: ACC
Agency: McCann
Creative team: Prasoon Joshi, Akshay Kapnadak, Rahul Mathew, Talha
Mohsin, Mahesh Parab, Ajay Ram and Rushil Nadkarni
Planning team: Dhiren Amin and Nikita Shah
Client servicing team: Namrata Nandan and Janhavi Devrukhkar
Agency producer: Sandesh Shirke