'Infusing care in a campaign makes consumers open wallets and hearts'

Speaking during the e4m Do Good summit 2004, Swati Bhattacharya, former creative chair of FCB India spoke about why brands need to show they care. Through four case studies wherein she presented her past work, she demonstrated the use of "care" as a creative device. 

“Intimacy is the algorithm of creativity that makes a work of art more memorable,” she said. Brands, she added, must say more than ‘Buy Me!”; they must be able to convey what they stand for in a way that the audiences believe in their messaging. All the campaigns that she presented were speaking about the brand's, not about the company's CSR initiatives, she stressed. The stand-out feature for them all was that they stated clearly what the brand cared about. 

The first case study she presented was that of an ad for Horlicks, a brand that Swati has worked with for over two decades. The advert titled, ‘Fearless Kota’ was a stirring depiction of the strenuous life of kids studying in Kota preparing for one of the toughest exams in the world - the joint entrance exam for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). 

Pointing to the unfortunately high suicide rates among students who don't make the cut, it introduces the concept of emotional nutrition. In order to provide the real-life students in Kota this special nutrition, the company brought two buses full of mothers to provide them with just that.  

“We just had to create an exam-related ad. We ended up making something that spoke about the harsh realities of exams and the stress it creates among students,” said Swati. The brand managed to convey the need for this nutrition, which can not be made in a laboratory. 

The second ad was that of a B2B manufacturer called Dutch State Mines that provides nutraceuticals to food businesses. 

The brief was to create a campaign around anaemia awareness for the urban women who have largely sedentary lives.

She spoke about how her thought process was to bring to the fore the taboo topic of women's appetites and women shown eating is usually sexualised on screen. This campaign was released on Dhanteras, a day before Diwali when buying gold is believed to be auspicious. Making use of the festival, the ad featuring a lot of women eating and enjoying a whole range of food extorted the viewers to invest in iron on this Dhanteras. It also stated some facts about iron deficiency and anaemia among Indian women. 

“The campaign also included an on-ground activity wherein we had tied up with 500 jewellers. Any woman walking into their shops on Dhanteras was also given iron supplements in the form of edible jewellery. The activity continued for four years thereafter,” said Swati. Despite the dearth of resources, the ad went viral and was even shared by several celebrities, she added. 

She also said that the campaign’s success was also based on the fact that the message was not said in a cold and boring way. Neither was the message that iron is important for women as they are mothers. The campaign saw every woman as a whole person who deserves to be cared for, whose nutritional needs were important. 

The third campaign was for Times of India which despite being the most read newspaper in other parts of the country was not at the top spot in Bengal. They wanted to be seen as Bengal’s own as well. The result was a social change initiative which took very little money but a whole lot of care. 

The initiative was to upgrade a celebration that is synonymous with Bengal, the Sindoor Khela. Only women are allowed to participate in this event. Single women, widows and LGBTQ community are usually not a part of the traditional celebration. This is what the campaign tried to change. It resulted in a heated debates on prime time TV and on social media, but eventually gave way to change. Not only were the previously excluded groups accepted by the larger society, so was Times of India. It ended up gaining the number 1 spot here as well.  

The impact of the camaign was very personal for Swati as a Bengali. Her widowed mother and Swati who is divorced, both have been enjoying the Khela for several years now. This emotional revelation brought a very emotional and proud mother to the stage to speak about how proud she is of her daughter who changed a tradition.  

The last campaign which was for a school in Noida, she said, was evidence that budget constraints can't stop good and creative work. “An ad which was made on zero budget went on to win us a Cannes sustainability gold and a Clio,” she said.  

The ad about an initiative taken by The Millennium Schools to help raise the standard of education being provided to the children from disadvantaged communities. Interspersed with visuals of students from the school, the second batch of children coming into the school and people associated with the project explaining its impact on the communities living in the neighborhood slums. 

“My entire creative journey is enriched because I care for my consumers. My ideas do not intend to  only make them open their wallets but also their hearts to the brands I talk about,” she concluded.