BTS of Cristos' 'Mexican Chilling' campaign with Scarecrow M&C Saatchi

Delve into the creative process behind the innovative campaign.

Gopal Wafers, a Rajkot-based snacking brand, is set to double down on its potato wafer business. In 2022, the brand launched a sub-brand, Cristos, to appeal to the youth market. While Gopal is well-known and loved for its namkeen, the brand realised that its identity might not resonate as strongly with the young, urban demographic it targets. Recognising the universal love for chips, the brand knew it needed a fresh approach to make Cristos a success.

Now, the brand has launched a total of six films pushing one of its most popular flavours, Mexican Chilli, to consumers. Scarecrow M&C Saatchi has crafted the campaign.

Speaking about the creative process behind the campaign, Manish Bhatt, founder and director of Scarecrow M&C Saatchi states that until recently, Cristos had yet to receive any organised communication, despite offering four distinct flavours: African Barbeque, Korean Barbeque, Salt Crisps, and Mexican Chilli. Among these, the Mexican Chilli flavour emerged as a clear favourite, both in terms of sales and consumer preference. This insight became the cornerstone of their marketing strategy.

"We picked up on the fact that Mexican Chilli is one of the most loved and most sold flavours, and we made an entire universe for Cristos Mexican Chilli," stated Bhatt. The idea was simple yet powerful: by focusing on the most popular flavour, the brand could create a halo effect that would boost the popularity of the other flavours as well.

The teams then delved deep into the product attributes of Mexican Chilli, aiming to capture the consumer's mindscape. Drawing parallels to iconic brands like Coca-Cola, which stands for happiness, or Volvo, synonymous with safety, they sought to position Cristos Mexican Chilli in a similar vein. The key was to associate the flavour with a specific occasion or mindset. "Our insights revealed that a lot of young people want to ‘chill’. We married the occasion of ‘chill’ with the Mexican chilli flavour and came up with Mexican Chilling and even created an anthem for it," he shared.

Understanding the need for a strong brand identity, the teams also introduced a new brand mascot, something that could stand the test of time and become synonymous with Cristos. "We thought that now that we are creating a universe, it needs to have its hero, which is not a celebrity, something that will stay with the brand for the long term," the team stated, drawing inspiration from iconic mascots like the Onida devil from the 80s.

“At a time when a disproportionate amount of brand budget is being spent on celebrities and influencers, we decided to create our own influencer—a human brand mascot. Cristopher is arguably the second-ever human brand mascot in Indian advertising after Onida’s Devil," Bhatt explained​.

To bring this vision to life, they studied various Mexican characters from movies, Disney, and Pixar shows. The result was a character named Christopher. After an exhaustive search, involving around 200-250 auditions, they chose Pratik Motvani, known for being the Indian voice of Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire and an acting coach in New York, to embody Christopher.

The campaign also benefited from meticulous attention to detail, especially regarding the mascot's style, which was crafted with insights from Meghna Arora, who researched Mexican culture extensively. The character's universe, described as a mix of quirk and stupidity, was inspired by MTV’s Lukka Brothers.

With a robust content strategy and an array of social media assets, the campaign is currently live, focusing on markets where Cristos is available, primarily through OTT platforms and social media, says Bhatt.