Frooti’s summer campaign for this year celebrates togetherness

Featuring Alia Bhatt and Ram Charan, the ad reminds consumers of the power of togetherness after two summers in lockdown.

After losing two consecutive summers to pandemic-induced lockdowns, Parle Agro is welcoming this fully-operational summer with its annual campaign for Frooti. The new TVC celebrates togetherness and community. After spending two years apart from family and friends, this film endeavours to remind consumers of the power of togetherness through its tagline ‘So Frooti Together’.

The TVC features its brand ambassadors Alia Bhatt for the national channels and Ram Charan for the southern market. Charan has replaced Allu Arjun, who has been the fruit drink’s ambassador for the last three years.

Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and CMO, Parle Agro said, “With offices, education institutes, OOH entertainment and tourism opening up to nearly 100%, the summer of 2022 emerges as the first summer in two years that promises to be the strongest and most robust for growth. This is a great time for the beverage industry and as a leading player in the category, we are thrilled to dive into an aggressive summer with a strong campaign for Frooti with brand ambassadors, Alia Bhatt and Ram Charan. Our marketing activities for this summer are one of our most aggressive and we look forward to strengthening our reach and connections with our consumers this year with no restrictions.”

Conceptualised by &Walsh, the TVC narrates a fictional story of the origin of Frooti. In the film, a town comes together to build a factory around a giant mango-meteor that crash lands in their village. This results in the creation of the mango drink, which the town folk share with the rest of the country.

Interestingly, Alia Bhatt and Ram Charan are co-stars in the just-released film RRR. The release of the ad has coincided with the film’s release.

The brand communication will also be promoted across mass pillars like entertainment and sports. The TVC will play during the IPL on television and Disney+Hotstar as well as during World Television Premieres of blockbuster movies through ad spots. With this, the brand aims to capitalise on the high reach and visibility that big-ticket events garner. It will be accompanied by a 360◦ marketing campaign across multiple mediums including TV, OTT, digital and outdoor.

With travel and public transport operating to full capacity, consumers’ on-the-go have gone up significantly, nearly touching pre-Covid levels. With the boost in opportunities for out-of-home consumption, Parle Agro has strategized a high impact and innovative OOH plan for Frooti with eye catchy hoardings at places of commute and points of purchase to capture consumers who are on the move.

In an interview to afaqs! in 2017, Chauhan said Frooti works with an international agency as she could not find any Indian agency that could break the convention.

“Our company has ambitious goals. We needed to work with someone who was as bold as us. We couldn't find anybody. We found enough 'client-pleasers', enough people willing to do anything to make a pitch happen... but not willing to go that extra mile. Also, most agencies in India have a very 'protective' system. They don't like collaborating with too much talent. It's all about 'It's my idea'. But I would want millions of brand custodians,” she said.

She also mentioned that they’re making a very conscious effort to build the brands with the power of design and visual language. “Design sensibilities play a big role in our TVCs and in our outdoor ads. Outdoor is a medium we have been investing heavily in since we started working with Sagmeister & Walsh. In conventional advertising the visual aspect just gets lost, somewhere.”

This approach is visible in all its campaigns since 2015 (when it roped in the international agency). The ads, featuring then brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan, used stop-motion technology to create a visually-rich imagery. Though the ambassador changed in 2018, they continued with the stop-motion format.

In another interview in 2018, Jessica Walsh, partner, Sagmeister & Walsh, the agency that makes ads for Parle Agro's Frooti, described the filming of these ads as tricky “as she (Bhatt) had to (enact) all the motions of interacting with the characters without seeing them; we filmed the stop-motion (part) separately. She had to time her expressions and movement perfectly to the animatic boards. She was able to accomplish this within a few tries; we were impressed.”

A behind the scenes video elaborately shows the challenges in creating these videos.

Credits:

Client: Frooti by Parle Agro

Agency: &Walsh

Creative Director: Jessica Walsh

Director: Lake Buckley, Mab & Becho

Production: 1st Ave Machine, Ransom Film

Post-Production: 1st Ave Machine

Sound Design: Interlude Sounds

Music: Salim Merchant