ICICI ad: We wanted to do something impactful for women rather than just talk: Harsh Bhatt

The ad campaign #BajaoTaaliSehatWali showcases women at the Kumbh festival who sit for hours together while participating in prayers. These rural women often prioritise household chores over their health. Keeping these facts in mind, insurance brand ICICI Lombard

launched an ad campaign #BajaoTaaliSehatWali this International Women’s Day. The campaign has been conceptualised by ad agency Ogilvy.

Speaking about the project, Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India (West), said, “ICICI Lombard takes a keen interest in promoting wellness. They have done several pieces of communication to highlight the importance of this. The ‘clapping gloves’ takes this effort ahead. It not only highlights the issue but also solves it. Women often neglect their health and don’t spare time to look after themselves. This is truer in small towns and villages of India.”

“So Ogilvy along with ICICI designed special ‘clapping gloves’ and distributed them to women at Kumbh Mela, the biggest religious gathering in India. These unique gloves are fitted with studs that work as acupressure enablers when women clap while praying. On average, a woman claps 20-30 minutes every day during praying. If she does this, while wearing our acupressure gloves, she will be activating the vital pressure points in her palms, leading to better health,” the two added.  

exchange4media caught up with Harsh Bhatt, Senior Vice President, Ogilvy, to talk about the #BajaoTaaliSehatVaali campaign and find out how the agency ideated and produced the ad film.

Edited excerpts below:

What was the insight or brief behind the making of the campaign?

A lot of brands try and use Women's Day as an opportunity to give a message or do something. ICICI Lombard, with its focus on wellness, wanted to focus on women's health this year. The insight we worked on was that women often ignored their own health as they were far too busy catering to the health of their loved ones. The brief was to convey a relevant and insightful message during this Women's Day that urges them to take care of their health. We wanted to do something impactful rather than just saying we will.

The message you wanted the consumers to take away…

The message we wanted to convey was that little implementable things could make a world of difference in enhancing women's health. And yes, clapping as a means to better health.

How do you plan to integration the ad campaign

We took the Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious gathering, to seed in this message. With the response we got, we're planning to take this forward to various states of India.

What were the challenges that you faced while making the ad film?

Figuring out the acupuncture points on the gloves and actually producing them in consultation with certified doctors was the first priority. Then, of course, In Kumbh, we had to shoot at a place women frequented. We had to source and select numerous prayer sites where women spent time singing and listening to religious songs.

How does this ad campaign stand out from rest of the Kumbh Mela ad campaigns?

The different twist was making women do little things that can make them take health in their own hands. A large part of Indian women might not have the luxury of time to focus on their own health. The clapping gloves were an easy enough solution that helped rid them of many ailments, without taking up too much of their time.