"We avoided getting into the advertising space and looking artifical": Nitish Sharma on Abbott's new campaign

The healthcare company's new ads feature cast and crew members of the campaign's production including director Sharma himself.

Abbott, the global healthcare company, recently released its latest campaign, 'Limitless Possibilities, Unstoppable You' aimed at inspiring people to live their lives to the fullest despite the health challenges they may face.

The campaign has been conceptualised by BBH India and produced by Native Films. Interestingly, the film also features the director Nitish Sharma in it.

The 'Limitless Possibilities, Unstoppable You' TVC will be run on general entertainment channels like Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Channel. The campaign will also be seen on Hindi movie channels, English movie channels and English entertainment channels. The brand has also come up with long format films that have been released on YouTube. In total, there are eight films focusing on the stories of the cast and crew members.

Talking about the challenges, Joshua Grace, regional marketing officer, Abbott, says, "Everyone had a challenge of their own. Priya had a vertigo issue and even though she had recovered from it, for someone to come out and do the bungee jump was a huge challenge. The other thing we got lucky with was the gentleman who is an executive producer at Native. He himself had an issue with hyper acidity. Shalini who is the recorder... incidentally we used her last year for our
radio spot
which was also very effective. So some people we already knew about and with others it was a challenge to find these people and make sure they are genuine."

afaqs! spoke to Nitish Sharma of Native Films who has directed the campaign and asked him about the challenges he faced while directing the campaign.

Sharma says, "This campaign was very realistic so we had to make it interesting and at the same time to make sure that we don't get into the advertising space and it doesn't start looking artificial. So that was the biggest challenge."

He adds, "The other challenge we faced was that on the day of the shoot, we had a vertigo patient and she had to take that plunge so that in itself was a big challenge and we had to plan everything around it. Any normal person standing there would start getting dizzy and she anyway is a vertigo patient, so keeping all those things in mind, things were taken care of and the schedule was planned accordingly. We ended up shooting for two-three extra hours because of that only, but spending those hours was more sensible than realising that the girl can't jump because there is no law that can make her jump if she doesn't want to."

In the recent past, there have been brands that have not focused on product benefits through their ad campaigns, so we asked our ad expert if that is the way ahead for brands and if the ad is well executed.

Sagar Kapoor, executive director - creative, Lowe Lintas, says, "It might not be the way forward for most brands. But yes, the focus in recent times has been on content. If the content is powerful and arresting, even a brand mention in the end will land strongly."

He adds, "It is an interesting take on the idea to have the team instead of people at large. I found the execution quite slick and yet quite candid."