Tata Sky's classroom with a difference

To promote the educational services available on Tata Sky, the recent set of commercials talks about the new age classrooms of India, where anybody can learn at his/her convenience

Learning in an environment specially tailored to suit your needs sure must be fun, especially in a classroom where you call the shots. Tata Sky is promoting its interactive educational services with a similar thought in its 'Badalte India ke badalte classrooms' campaign.

Popularising interactive services on television, Tata Sky has covered a gamut of areas, with special focus on educational services through applications such as Actve Wizkids, Actve Stories, Actve Learning and Actve English.

Wizkids is designed for preschoolers with learning games and stories which let children enjoy their favourite stories on television. Learning lets the viewer take daily quizzes covering Math, Science and General Knowledge; while Actve English helps the viewers improve their English speaking skills.

While these applications have been told about individually to people, the campaign attempts to push the entire proposition.

A set of two television commercials by Ogilvy India talks of how television can become a medium of learning while staying right at home - and education can be more fun.

The first TVC has brand ambassador actor Aamir Khan in a monologue - talking of how classrooms are changing in India, putting forward the central proposition of the brand. The other commercial shows women and children talking excitedly about the fun associated with their 'new classrooms'.

The films have been directed by Prasoon Pandey of Corcoise Films. The creative team at the agency includes Anup Chitnis, executive creative director; Mangesh Someshwar, creative director; and Akshat Trivedi, senior writer.

"People already know about the quality of entertainment on Tata Sky. Herein, we are attempting to say how the brand is trying to do something more in addition for the consumers. When such added services talk for the overall brand, it is a positive push for it," Chitnis tells afaqs!.

The mood in the communication has definitely taken a more serious turn compared to the previous campaigns. Chitnis says that this is because of the subject in question.

"As a brand, Tata Sky is fun and light hearted. However, education is a serious matter. People will not believe or be convinced if we are not serious about it," he says.

The campaign is aimed at television households in India which aspire for better TV viewing experience by upgrading to DTH services. The television campaign is being supported by extensive outdoor promotions.

Different views

The campaign has met with mixed responses at both extremes, with some liking the effort and others dismissing it.

Deepesh Jha, executive creative director, Lowe Delhi notes how the films are a departure from the usual tongue in cheek tone that one associates with Tata Sky.

"The messaging is clear so I am sure these will work. They are slightly harder working commercials than the benchmark set by the brand in its earlier work. One can't flaw anything in the commercial. Aamir's performance is, without doubt, helping the film keep its head above water," he says.

"It always helps to advertise the pluses on your base services as these come at extra cost to the consumer," adds Jha.

On the other hand, Rahul Sengupta, national creative director, TBWA India is not impressed. He finds the idea clichéd and does not appreciate the execution, either.

"Basically boring. Basically clichéd. Basically using a celebrity as a coy salesman and children as half-wit cute coating. Basically, you do not need an agency if you want to write the ads yourself. The execution is too obviously blue for branding," he says.