Concept Communication bags creative mandate for Puducherry Tourism

After a multi-agency pitch, Concept Communication has bagged the creative duties for Puducherry Tourism. The account is pegged at Rs 5 crore for a period of one year.

Concept Communication has bagged the creative and media mandates for Puducherry Tourism for the period 2014-15. Twelve agencies were in the fray for the account after the tourism board invited a multi agency pitch. The account is pegged at Rs 5 crore for the period.

The agency recently released the first campaign for the tourism board with the catch line 'Delete Chaos. Discover Calm'. The month-long campaign aims to give a refreshing look to Puducherry's existing positioning of 'Give Time a Break'. The creative features a black and white photograph of the landmark lighthouse, with the lighthouse coloured in bright yellow. It also has a QR code for more information, as well as the URL of Puducherry Tourism.

Concept has been given the 360 degree mandate for this campaign and the Chennai team will handle its creative, media planning, buying, OOH as well as digital arms.

The agency says that it will release the second campaign after the elections since there is a moratorium on advertising campaigns during the election season.

Prakash Pillai, branch head and creative director, South, Concept Communication, says, "The focus of the campaign is simple. To develop and sustain a unique positioning for Pondicherry as far removed from normal and regulation holiday destinations. The creative idea emerged from the need to position a holiday in Pondicherry as markedly different from any regular holiday. And we needed to reinforce the fact that a holiday is essentially taken to escape the regular hustle bustle of everyday life, and not for a sojourn that leaves one as exhausted as when one started the holiday. Therefore the Delete-Discover platform was established as a device to explain the difference between a holiday elsewhere and a real holiday in Pondicherry."

Uma Shankar, senior art director, Concept Bengaluru, says, "When we met the client their brief to us was concise and simple - Be as real as Pondicherry - while capturing and depicting it visually. The 'Delete-Discover' platform was as real and simple as that. We kept the visuals in black and white simply to highlight the mood of Pondicherry and bring out the sunny yellow/orange colour palette of typical Pondicherry architecture."

Puducherry (formerly known as Pondicherry) is also known as The French Riviera of the East. It comprises of four coastal regions viz- Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. It is on the east coast about 162 kms south of Chennai (Madras) located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, English and French as the most spoken languages.