MakeMyTrip talks to wanderers at heart

The online travel service provider speaks to new and existing travellers in its new campaign 'Dil Toh Roaming Hai'.

Look at your social media page. Chances are there will be at least one person around who describes himself as a 'traveller'. Even if most of us do not travel as much as we would wish to, the desire remains in all our hearts. And giving shape to these desires in its campaign is MakeMyTrip.com.

The online travel services provider has introduced a new advertising campaign this week. This also marks a shift in its brand positioning. The new tagline 'Dil Toh Roaming Hai' signals the inherent wishes of everyone who likes to travel - with family or by oneself.

"Our new TVC, 'Dil Toh Roaming Hai', showcases how each one of us has a wandering heart with many latent travel desires. MakeMyTrip as the co-conspirator seeks to inspire consumers to give wings to their growing travel ambition. This will not only expand the travel category, but also catalyse the offline-to-online shift," says Saujanya Shrivastava, CMO, MakeMyTrip.

The TVC is a collage of different slice-of-life stories. In the first instance, one can see a couple riding a boat down a river, flanked on two sides by hills. The second shows a family which has taken the old grandmother for a holiday to the hills. The third one tells the story of a woman who sheds off her inhibitions and jumps into the pool to join her family. The video then explains how MakeMyTrip is letting people go on dream holidays.

The objective behind the campaign was to speak to both existing and new users. Shrivastava says, "With the widespread adoption of online travel, it was imperative for us as the category leader to unearth a deep-rooted customer motivation and strengthen our association with customers. Leisure travel today is part of lifestyle discourse, and there is a strong customer need to come across as "interesting". Like financial or career ambition, people today have a travel ambition. The brand repositioning campaign seeks to partner the emergent customers in their growing travel ambition."

The media plan for the campaign includes GECs, news and movie channels where it will be played for five weeks. Other than that, it will have a strong presence during IPL and will be supported by digital and on-ground innovations.

Talking about the brief for the campaign, Joy Mohanty, national creative director, Publicis Capital, says, "There was a time when it mattered if you were well-read. Today, it is of great importance to people to be well-travelled, and to have a repository of experiences to draw from. It is this that creates the ambition or a 'khwaish' that every person wants to fulfill. MakeMyTrip is the catalyst that helps fulfill varied travel ambitions that are fast-growing in every corner of the country; and what better time to do this than the holiday season."

MakeMyTrip recently launched a series of commercials promoting its 'uncancel' feature. Created by FCB Ulka, the TVCs focussed on trips which are more than just a 'trip', rather an emotional journey for every traveller. But, while the films touched a lot of hearts, does the recent one have the same affect on people?

Ananda Ray, NCD, Rediffusion Y&R, has mixed feelings after watching the film. While the thought that we are in-built wanderers is a very nice insight and suggests both scale as well as small heart-warming moments, to him the film seems to be caught between the two and doesn't really do justice to either.

"Of the three sequences, the grandmother's one, in my mind, works best. The other two sequences somehow felt cold and, although perhaps ticking the boxes, didn't move me. I also wish they had spent more time establishing the locations the travellers were marvelling at. The narration was beautiful and, somehow, had more depth than the film itself. However, the brand-speak at the end of the film ruined the charm. MakeMyTrip forced itself into those moments. I'd have preferred if they simply demonstrated that they were partners and left it at that, instead of making a statement of it," Ray says.

According to Sarvesh Raikar, ECD, Scarecrow Communications, slice-of-life is the latest epidemic that's hit advertising. He feels that it's a genre that is destroying brands rather than building them. Everything looks, sounds and feels the same.

"Everyone is rushing to make TVCs armed with a planner's TG-mapping slide and a sitar player. But, amidst this scourge, this one stands out, mainly because of some great writing and the clutter-breaking voice of Naseeruddin Shah. The three situations, centered on three different audience segments, are not only insightful, but the writing gives it a subtle creative spin too. It's a pithy film that connects to a wide range of travellers, in quick time. Yet, like most slice-of-life TVCs, even if people like and remember the film, I don't know how many will recall the brand name," Raikar wonders.