Tata Sky: At your service

In its latest product-led, tactical ad campaign, Tata Sky furthers its position as a 'service brand'.

In its most recent bout of product-centric communication, DTH (direct to home) player Tata Sky has rolled out a three-film campaign. Whether it's the casting or the objective of the campaign, all three commercials are an evident extension of the brand's recent set of ads, also a three-film effort. Both sets of films attempt to position brand Tata Sky as an out and out service brand.

While the product benefits highlighted in the previous campaign include the brand's relocation services, its call centre services and punctuality, the current campaign emphasises offerings such as Tata Sky's package advisory service, payment reminder system and the three-day grace period after the bill payment date.

While the earlier campaign featured married couples, the current one features only the wives. Referring to the TVCs as ads comprising Tata Sky's 'service campaign', Sukesh Kumar Nayak, group creative director, Ogilvy India (the brand's creative agency of record), tells afaqs!, "These films are a continuation of the earlier set of films. The personality of each of the three female characters has been maintained across the two campaigns."Apparently, all six films draw inspiration from actual consumer behaviour.

Why are the husbands missing in this set of ads, anyway? Well, while featuring just the wives (who appear to be housewives) may appear misleading as far the brand's TG (target group) is concerned, Nayak assures afaqs! that featuring only the wives in the second leg of the brand's service communication has nothing to do with women being a special focus this time. According to him, they emerged as the protagonists to continue the story because in the previous campaign, it was these women who were having fun at the expense of their respective other halves.

Regarding the rather plain testimonial-like route adopted in this campaign, Nayak insists that this was a deliberate move on part of the agency and that it serves to break the monotony during commercial breaks on TV. "This simple look of the campaign stands out. It was an 'art direction call'," he explains.

In all, there are eight such films, all of which are being aired on Channel 100, the Tata Sky channel.

Still Jingalala?

According to Vivek Dutta, vice-president, planning, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, the strategy to use housewives as direct endorsers seems plausible in creating some credibility for the brand as a service brand. "But the execution could have been more hard-hitting. Currently, it seems to be forced and staged," he says.

He adds, "Also, jamming it up with too much information is a further put off."

He feels that considering how mandatory digitisation is a landmark event in this category, this could have been a great opportunity for the brand to address familiarity and convenience issues.

Sujit Das, executive creative director, Pickle Lintas finds the insight too generic. "It didn't appeal to me much, by putting myself in the consumer's shoes as well as from a creative perspective," he critiques.

After blatantly expressing his perplexity about why the films feature only women this time, Das goes on to add, "Talking heads or testimonials have been in vogue for some time now. A better execution could have lifted the film. This 'vox-pop' approach (also known as the 'voice of the people' method) is too plastic and artificial."