"Who is India's most loved CEO?" Asks TimesJobs

The TVC has been conceptualised by Innocean Worldwide, a Delhi-based ad agency.

CEO is chief executive officer, right? But, it is not so, says TimesJobs, a job search portal by The Times Group. It is 'Career Enhancement Officer', according to its recently launched TV campaign 'India's Most Loved CEO'. The ad has been conceptualised by Innocean Worldwide, a Delhi-based ad agency.

The campaign was also promoted through digital, OOH, and the print medium.

Well, how many employees in a company would tell a frustrated colleague to take an opinion from the CEO while going for an interview to another company? In this ad, three employees advise their frustrated co-worker who is updating his resume, to take tips from the CEO about the company where he is going to attend the interview.

The frustrated man actually takes their words seriously and dares to enter the office of the chief executive officer to take his opinion, only to be abused and thrown out of his cabin. And, in the process, his colleagues have a good laugh.

He is then told that he went to the wrong CEO and is then shown what CEO stands for -- 'Career Enhancement Officer'.

Nilanjan Roy, head of strategy, Times Business Solutions, says in a press release, "The recruitment industry has been an undifferentiated, non-disruptive one, offering the same set of features, catering to the same audience, for the last 15 years. It has been addressing the needs of a very small fraction of working professionals, mainly active jobseekers. However, most career professionals aren't looking for a job change, yet are still eager to build their careers."

Talking about the job search portal's objective, he further adds, "Professionals, today, want to take decisions based on long-term growth, and not short-term gains. Company culture, work-life balance, career growth prospects, role adaptability, and role transitions all play a significant part in making career choices. TimesJobs has transformed to address their needs."

Saurabh Dasgupta, national creative director, Innocean Worldwide, says in a press release, "Our effort has been to bring alive the advantages that careerists can get by getting the CEO - 'Career Enhancement Officer' on their side. The users of the site are mature career builders who are looking at real world insights, and not some verbiage. Hence, we have stayed true to the product promise and strengths."

We asked our expert Rajiv Dingra, founder and chief executive officer, WATConsult, a digital arm of Dentsu Aegis Network, if the ad reminded him of Naukri.com's '
Hari Sadu
' ad, and this is what he had to say.

"Not really. Hari Sadu was a cult ad and this is pretty ordinary compared to that. Hari Sadu put a mischievous smile on your face while this ad tries too hard. It's just a prank ad which tries hard to make the connect between TimesJobs and the situation," says Dingra.

Could they have done something different?

Dingra says, "The concept of the ad is not that bad, but the execution is below average. The prank could have been more intelligent, elaborate, quirkier and fun."