Ever seen a radio spot being created? Abbott shows us how it's done...

Abbott's latest radio spots have been created while rafting, paragliding and running in the Himalayas. The footage serves as a digital campaign.

If you think pharma advertising is not cool, Abbott India's new campaign will surely make you rethink. The brand, in collaboration with BBH India, has come up with a 'first-of-its-kind radio-video recording'.

What this basically means is that it's a radio ad that has been video-recorded live, and not in a studio. And, that's not all. The radio ad has no annoying jingle or an insipid sales pitch. It's the live video recording of people taking part in adventure sports such as river rafting, paragliding, and running a marathon in the Himalayas.

Yet another element of surprise in the campaign is that the recording has been done by Oscar-winning sound designer and mixer Resul Pookutty of Slumdog Millionaire fame, and the adventure sports are being undertaken by people who have, in one way or the other, benefitted from Abbott's services.

This includes 40-year-old diabetic Gerald D'Souza, 54-year-old Sameer Chowdhry who recently overcame a heart attack, and 64-year-old Harish Verma.

The intent of the campaign is to demonstrate how the pharma company's range of nutritional supplements for adults, and diabetic and heart care products are helping people live 'life to the fullest' (also the brand's tagline).

Considering the mostly dull advertising that pharmaceutical brands come up with, this campaign by Abbott India is not only ingenious in thought and execution, it also serves a dual purpose - that of being a radio, as well as a digital ad.

While the experts we spoke to have their own take on whether or not the ad is suited for the radio medium, for which it is intended, you can find out if it works for you by listening to the recording sans the visuals...

High-impact

Rohit Upadhyay, managing director and CEO, Ibroad7, a full-service radio advertising agency, quite likes the idea of recording a radio ad, live, in this manner. "One can clearly see that a lot of hard work and creativity has gone into making it," he says appreciating the effort.

Upadhyay thinks that the AV has the elements of a good radio spot, but not in its current form. "With an average of around 90 seconds, the videos are too long. A good radio advert shouldn't go beyond 45 seconds. Also, it needs to be edited as per the sensibility of radio. Right now, it's too visual in nature. Radio, they say, is the theatre of the mind. When you listen to this ad with your eyes closed, you will realise that in spite of a great recording you cannot make sense of it," he rues.

However, according to Upadhyay, it makes for very good digital content.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Manish Bhatt, founder director at Scarecrow Communications, says that although the effort is commendable, the entire exercise lacks the elements of a good radio ad. "In order to appreciate it, people must know the backstory. So far, the videos released on social media do not seem to have reached a large number of audience," he points out.

While Bhatt agrees that given the kind of advertising that one gets to see in the pharma category, Abbott's campaign is quite disruptive, but it lacks authenticity.

"If you look at the 'make-up tutorial by Reshma', and the more recent 'adidas Odds' campaign, they tell stories of real heroes and there the empathy factor is high. In the case of Abbott, people will be unable to identify anyone except Resul Pookutty. Not only will this fail to generate empathy, it may also lead to the ad coming across as a gimmick, especially on radio," he states.