New Delhi, 16th Aug 2024: As one of the biggest gifting occasions of the year, the festival of Raksha Bandhan is a great harvest time for brands across a wide range of categories, especially those with a substantial percentage of women as their consumers. No wonder the festival ushers in a lot of new communication content in the digital medium every year.
While most of the brands rely either on mush or women empowerment/gender equality – one campaign that talks of a powerful consumer insight relevant to Rakshabandhan in a singular way is from Hawkins. As a brand that has been a household name in pressure cookers and cookware for decades, Hawkins talks of a behavioral trait of men, rooted in cultural nuances.
Created by RK Swamy and produced by Films Rajendraa, the digital film of Hawkins is the lead piece of creative for its Rakshabandhan campaign, Cash vs Gift. The most unique aspect of this campaign is that while women are the main consumers of the brand, the message has been delivered to men – brothers, in this case – in quite a hard-hitting manner.
Speaking on behalf of Films Rajendraa, Producers Neeraj Suji and Parvinder Kaur said, “As filmmakers, the uniqueness of the idea and its unconventional storytelling, minus the predictable overdose of sentiments, drew us into this film immediately. There were no references available for such a film, and that made it even more exciting.”
Scripted by RK Swamy’s Ankur Suman, Partner & ECD, and Ankush Sharma, Sr Creative Director, the film explains how sisters make efforts to choose different Rakhis for each of their brothers as well as cousins. They choose Rakhis according to the distinct personalities of their brothers and spend time as well as energy in doing so. However, when it comes to giving sisters their Rakhi gifts, brothers often take the shortcut of handing over cash.
“Brothers often hide their laziness by telling sisters that they are giving cash so that they can buy whatever they want,” says Ankur Suman, who has also given voice to the narrative. “The message has been delivered in a poetic and non-abrasive manner, maintaining the warmth and affability of brand Hawkins,” adds Rajesh Nambiar, Sr Partner, RK Swamy.
The campaign urges men to make some efforts for their sisters and listen to their unspoken wishes. “We were clear that we did not want to make a typical ad under the garb of a film with a social message. No hard selling. The execution has delivered more than we could have asked for, a beautiful, emotional script, more of a poem, and solid execution under near-impossible deadlines. The results are there for all to see,” says Neil Vasudeva, Executive Director – Marketing, at Hawkins Cookers Limited.
The film is directed by Vibhav Ameta and has been released across various digital platforms.