Airtel highlights value of entertainment in testing times, to promote ‘56789’

Telecom brand Airtel has launched a campaign for its newly created ‘value added service’ portal. The campaign aims to create awareness for the value added services (Bollywood, music, sports, astrology etc.) that consumers can access by dialing ‘56789’

The three-film campaign created by Cartwheel Creative Consultancy went on air on 14 November and will run for eight weeks.

A film titled ‘scaffolding’ opens with a young boy taking pictures on the terrace of a building surrounded by scaffoldings. Lost in his photography, he moves behind towards the ledge, accidentally pushing his bag and cell phone over. His phone lands on the parapet below. Shocked and wanting to lay his hands on the phone, he climbs down the scaffolding, and manages to reach the parapet. Right then, the scaffolding crashes, leaving him stranded. He dials ‘56789’ on his phone and hears a joke in Punjabi that leaves the boy in splits. The voice over explains “Jab zindagi sataye tab manoranjan hi bachaye. 56789 lagao – comedy, music, cricket, astro aur bahut kuch pao” (When life troubles you, only entertainment can save you. Call 56789 and get comedy, music, cricket, astro and lots more).

D Ramakrishna, CEO, Cartwheel Creative Consultancy, said, “The brief was pretty simple. Find a memorable and insightful way of making subscribers with modest mobile phones use the rich content available on Airtel through their 56789 IVR service. The genres of this content are broadly music, comedy, astrology, cricket, devotional etc. It can be accessed by simply calling up 56789.The insight we used was that 'when things go wrong in life, entertainment can uplift ones mood'.”

A film titled ‘Shortcut’ shows a man in his car stuck in traffic. He spots a narrow lane and turns into it. But on reaching the end, he realises large concrete pipes are in the way. Upset at the road being blocked, he decides to reverse the car but is shocked to see a truck emptying huge stones behind him, blocking that exit too. Aware that he can’t do anything now, he takes his mobile and dials ‘56789.’ The song ’Lungi dance‘ starts playing on the mobile and he starts to relax.

A film titled ‘magician’ opens with a magician rehearsing the moves for his show and giving instructions to a young girl for an act. She follows his directions. While speaking with her, the magician trips from the stage leaving the girl trapped in the equipment. Upset, she calls out to him but to no avail. Like the other films, she dials ‘56789’. She chooses to hear her daily forecast.

The campaign will also straddle print and radio.

Credits

Client: Airtel
Chief brand officer: Mohit Beotra
Creative agency: Cartwheel Creative Consultancy
Creative lead: D. Ramakrishna
Agency team: Prem Nath, Kiran Waval, Nadeem Contractor, Shumon Bhattacharya, Labony Kaushal, Ajay Dhondi, Shaun Pereira, Ashish Shah.
Production: Corcoise Films
Director (film): Prasoon Pandey
Media agency: Madison