Taproot's first Airtel TVC now on air

It's a song that's on everyone's lips and status messages on the social networks. But for those in adland, the new Airtel TVC 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai' heralds a new thought for the brand, and its first piece of communication created by indie agency Taproot, which won a slice of the business in July.

On the new campaign, the Airtel spokesperson said, "Released on the back of our country wide launch of 3G services and communication supporting that, the new campaign targets the youth with an evergreen theme of Friendship and its relevance. Friends remain a critical part of everyone's lives and more so for the youth. At their age, friends are actually family. And our new brand campaign captures this evolving trend among today’s youth in a fresh young ad with a powerful youth anthem - 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai'.

"Nearly 200 million Indians are between 15-25 years of age, and it is this segment of the population indeed, that is leading today’s India and will pave way for its future. Among other things, the youth are also the early adaptors of technology and use a range of high-end devices. They are the ones who, we believe, will be at the forefront of the data revolution in the country. Be it through Facebook posts,exchanging messages on BlackBerry and iPhone, video chatting with Skype or using facetime on their iPads - thanks to technology, staying in touch with friends could not have been simpler," added the spokesperson.

Talking about the communication task given by Airtel, Agnello Dias, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot, said, "It was to create an idea that retained the core of the Airtel brand and struck a chord across age groups even while the execution resonated with the youth."

Asked about how the idea was arrived at, he said, "The idea of larger life truths is something that has always sat comfortably with the brand for so many years. We thought it would be interesting to do it with a fresh, younger execution - a bit of modern day philosophy. The idea came after long exhaustive sessions with the Airtel team and meeting youth consumers in several cities with the airtel team. In fact, the actual creative platform was arrived at along with the client in a brainstorm."

On whether Airtel will be sticking with this new thought for a while, and the extension of the thought into other mediums, Dias' answer was a cryptic, "Wait and watch."

Credits:
Client: Airtel
Agency: Taproot
Agency team: Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi, Taproot creative team
Production house: Equinox Films
Director: Ram Madhvani
Music: Ram Sampath, Amitabh Bhattacharya (Omgrown Music)
Media agency: Madison