Vijay and Cocacola Deal

Pushkar Chaudhary - Area Marketing Manager and Mohammed Akeel - Area General Manager, Coca Cola India, spoke to Chennaibest.com about Vijay, the new brand ambassador of Coca Cola, about Coke's marketing strategy, which is, “Think local and Act Local” and about the soft drinks market in Tamil Nadu.

Could you elaborate on your brand endorsement deal with Vijay?

In Tamil Nadu, we have always believed that movies and music have a large following. The trend is similar, throughout the country, but accentuated more in Tamil Nadu. Teenagers seem to follow movies, music and of course the movie stars. The obvious indicators being the kind of fan clubs most movie stars have. If you take the case of Vijay, when we finished the ad, many of his fan clubs came and took his 'Coke posters' to be displayed at vantage places in and around theatres screening his recent movie ‘Badri’.

We wanted to capitalise on this, and use it as part of our marketing strategy. We have done this successfully. For example, we tried it last year with a Vijay starrer ‘Priyamanavale’ and we did a set of activities centred on ‘Priyamanavale’, which were received very well. We have also used stars nationally Hrithik, Aamir and Aishwarya and it worked well for us and we thought why not Vijay, who is one of the top stars in Tamil Nadu, to endorse our brand. That is why we tied up with him. It did not happen immediately. He took some time to think it over since this was the first time he was going to endorse a product.

To my mind we will do well as the first commercial has already come and the ‘gaana’ song seems to be on every youngster’s lips within just a few days itself.

How different is your strategy for Tamil Nadu from the national strategy?

It is very different. There is nothing, which is national, which we roll out in Tamil Nadu or Kerala. For example there is a promotion going on in the North which will start soon, it will not be implemented in Tamil Nadu or Kerala where we will have our own promotions. In fact the Coca Cola promotion has already started in Tamil Nadu with the Vijay starrer Badri.

http://www.chennaibest.com/cityresources/Food_and_Dining/cokeinterview.asp

For Coca-Cola, life tastes good in Tamil

Harsha Subramaniam

CHENNAI, Nov. 28

AFTER the Manam pol dinam jamai (freak out as you wish everyday) campaign, Coca-Cola has now taken the Kushiana Vazhkai (Enjoyable life) plank.

In fact, this subtle shift in positioning is in sync with Coca-Colas global Life tastes good brand message.

Kushiana vazhkai is about celebrating innocent moments that bring cheer to our lives, says Mr Vikas Kochchar, Regional Manager, Corporate Affairs, Coca-Cola India.

The new campaign once again features film-star Vijay, reiterating the companys belief in using local celebrities. We use regional celebrities to build a local connect, says Mr Kochchar.

He explains that to keep the essence of the brand and its advertising in tune with the national strategy, the company has used local metaphors to communicate the brands message.

Even in the earlier campaign, a similar strategy was adopted. Vijay, the well-known film star, was used to establish immediate connect with the audience. Added to this was the use of gaana, a popular form of music with the youth in Tamil Nadu.

The commercial apparently boosted the brands preference score by 10 per cent, in a short time.

This has, perhaps, prompted the company to use gaana music and imagery once again in the new commercial.

The response to our previous campaign reaffirmed our belief in using Gaana as the creative route in Tamil Nadu,

says Mr Kochchar.

The new ad film produced by Rajiv Menon, has been on air since Diwali.

The company hopes that this commercial will make a greater impact on Tamil audience.

Coca-Colas campaign in Hindi featuring Hrithik Roshan with the Life ho to aisi punchline, has been on air for over a month now.

`Chennai Dreams' by Coke

Hindu BusinessLine

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Nov. 19

AFTER A.R.Rahman's Bombay Dreams, it is now Chennai which is dreaming. As a part of its regional language communication strategy, Coca-Cola India is launching a new advertising campaign for Tamil Nadu called Chennai Dreams.

Conceptualised by Orchard Advertising, a Bangalore-based agency, the advertisement is a blend of gaana style of music and ballet. Targeted at the youth, the ad features actor Vijay, a youth icon in Tamil Nadu, and Katrina Kaif, a model. The ad, directed by Rajiv Menon, will be aired on leading TV channels in the State.

At the launch, Mr Rajesh Mani, Region Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola India, said that the new campaign based on gaana music is in tune with the brand's strategy of "building a connect using the relevant local idioms." This is the third of a series of the brand's campaigns in Tamil, which has used gaana music. Mr Mani said that the previous two campaigns on similar lines had worked wonders for the brand and increased sales by about 50 per cent.

"We won the Effi award from Advertising Club, Mumbai for this campaign," he added.

Mr Mani also explained that though the brand value of Coca-Cola remains the same globally, it is continuously searching for local insights for effective communication.

For instance, the company used an exhaustive process to zero-in on gaana as an effective mode of expression among the youth in Tamil Nadu. As Thomas Xavier, Executive Creative Director of Orchard explains, "We were clear that the need of the hour was not for an ad film but for a Tamil feature film in 60 secs."

Shahjahan, Nov 14th, 2001

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2001/11/23/stories/2001112300970202.htm

THE TITLE says it all- the hero lives for love. He is a do-gooder and a virtual god for lovers - because his mission is to surmount all odds and unite every loving pair.

Youth, romance and vibrant music seem to sell at a premium these days. Super Good Films' ``Shahjahan'', written and directed by Ravi, has all these in ample measure. Ashok (Vijay) is the youngster whom lovers rush to whenever they face opposition at home. And Ashok, who is still on the look out for a job, pledges or sells his chain every time he has to unite a pair.

Ashok falls in love with Mahe (Richa Palot) and bides his time (he has a reason for it) to pour his heart out. Soon it is too late. Unwittingly he helps his friend Raja (Krishna) win the heart of Mahe. The lovers come together but there is a lot of unbelievable bloodshed in the bargain.
The climax reaches ridiculous levels, when in broad daylight, at Chennai's Central Station, there is an intense, dangerous fight between the henchmen and the hero, but till the end no one intervenes and there is not one policeman in sight.

Going by the incidents one gets the feeling that all daddies are abominably bad - they slap the wife when the daughter strays and have a bunch of hooligans with them always to stop the marriage. Actresses like Janaki Sabesh donning such insipid roles only adds to the irritation.
New face Richa has little to do but look good. Vijay sparkles in the role of Ashok and Krishna fills the bill of a perfect non-action hero.

Vivek's comedy borders on lewdness and if there is message (!) it could have been better handled.

The percussion in ``Minnalai Pidithu...'' scintillatingly sung by Unni Menon is a foot tapping piece. ``Shahjahan'' could do for Manisharma what ``Narasimha'' did not - as far as Tamil cinema is concerned.

Of course, one cannot but be mesmerised by the lyrical prowess of Vairamuthu, in five out of the six songs.

Badri, Apr 16th, 2001

http://www.tamilstar.com/reviews/bhadri/

Director: Arun Prasad
Cast: Vijay, Bhumika, Monal, Riyaz Khan, Bhupender, Husseini, Vivek, Kitty.

It has a predictable storyline and one knows how exactly the narration is going to move, for we've had such films released in recent times. It is about childhood-buddies-turned-lovers. While one realises 'love' fast enough, the other strays to seemingly greener pastures, realises that they are not so green after all, and returns to the arms of his childhood-friend-turned-lover. 'Piriyadha Varam Vendum' also had a similar theme.

'Bhadri' (a remake of a Telugu Film) centres round Bhadri and Jaanu (Vijay - Bhumika) who are best of buddies and friends since childhood. While Jaanu discovers the stirrings of love for Bhadri much earlier, Bhadri takes her for granted enjoying all the affection she showers on him. He goes to her for moral support when his father ticks him off for his irresponsible behavior.

And when he falls for Mamati (Monal) the new girl on the block, it is to Jaanu that Bhadri goes, and emotionally blackmails her into giving him money and a car to take Mamati out. But Mamati loses no time in transferring her affections to Rohit, wealthy and more suave than the 'middle-class' Bhadri.

Meanwhile Bhadri's brother Vettri (Riyaz Khan) an aspiring boxing champ is bashed up by the reigning champ Rohit and his gang. As the championship nears, Bhadri who had by then learnt a few lessons in life, takes on his brother's mantle, trains himself for the championship, and finally wins, redeeming himself in the eyes of his father.

Vijay is one actor who does not rest on his laurels. He has taken risks in the action scenes where cars are run over his fingers, as he lies flat on the road. Bhumika (first film in Tamil) plays her role with understanding. Riyaz Khan, from the small screen, is an actor to watch out for. Monal seems to be going the Mumtaz-Radhika Choudhry way. Vivek's comedy at times borders on the obscene.

'Bhadri' moves at a fairly neat pace in the earlier part, lags a little later, and then picks up speed towards the end.

Friends, Jan 14th, 2001

Cast: Vijay, Surya, Devayani , Vijayalakshmi, Abinayasri , Ramesh Khanna , Vadivelu , Radharavi
Music: Ilaiyaraja
Direction: Siddique

This seems to be year of the Malayalam directors in Tamil cinema. First came Shaji Kailas, who was the man behind Vijayakanth's latest supercop movie Vanchinathan. Another Malayalam director Kamal has just released the Prashanth-Shalini starrer Piriyaadha Varam Vendum, a remake of his own Malayalam movie Niram. In the middle comes Friends, director Siddique's remake of his Malayalam movie of the same name. As the name suggests, the movie attempts to eulogise friendship through some lighthearted comedy in the first half and an exhaustingly convoluted storyline thereafter.

The threesome who lend reason to the title are Aravindan(Vijay), Chandru(Surya) and Krishnamurthy(Ramesh Khanna). They value friendship over everything else, even family, and for this reason, Chandru resists the advances of Aravindan's sister Amutha(Vijayalakshmi). When the trio take up a painter's job at a mansion, Aravindan falls in love with Padmini(Devayani), who lives there and Padmini's jealous cousin(Abinayasri) makes him believe that his overtures are reciprocated. When the truth is revealed and Padmini rejects him outright, Chandru stands up for his friend and speaks ill of her. This makes her swear to separate the friends.

The movie follows the now-familiar trajectory of a first half where comedy is predominant, and a sentimental second half. While the idea is right and the premise is strong, the movie is not completely effective due to the less-than-hilarious comedy in the first half and the overdose of sentiments in the second half. While there are some funny scenes in the beginning, there are also periods of comic drought which are tough to sit through. And once the story takes a serious turn, we are overwhelmed by the twists and turns the story takes and the convoluted logic the characters base their acts on. So, first there is a dearth of consistent laughs and then an overkill with sentiments. And it is all capped off by a silly, cinematic climax.

First Vijay and then Vadivelu contribute to the laughs at the start. Vijay's character is likeable and his advances to the women are cute. Vadivelu is loud as usual but instead of being the centerpiece of a separate comedy track, he is the target of many of the jokes here and so ends up being quite funny. The scene where Vijay rains blows on him and his helplessness at the hands of his assistants in the mansion are enjoyable. On the other hand, the scene where Vijay, Surya, Vadivelu and Charlie go round in circles when chasing each other ends up being way too long.

No one can blame Siddique of selecting a lightweight story. The movie rivals Vaanavil for the heaviness of the story in the second half. While that in itself can probably be considered a good thing, the proceedings are not handled in a smooth manner here. The logic behind the actions of the characters is confusing and sometimes, unrealistic. Things do seem to settle down during one particular portion when problems are settled but new ones crop up soon after. The secret in Vijay's past is surprising and provides a nice twist.

The whole movie is Surya's flashback and though I have not seen the Malayalam original, I can say with some assurance that it would have ended with the conclusion of the flashback. The rest of the movie feels unnecessarily tacked on keeping Vijay's current popularity in mind. It doesn't gel with the happenings before, is completely cinematic and cliched and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Vijay surprisingly plays a subdued role that can almost be termed a supporting role to Surya. But he is cute initially and displays maturity in the emotional scenes in the second half. As expected, he has a few occasions to showcase his dancing and stunt talents and makes good use of them. Surya fits into the serious, silent role in the beginning but struggles to emote in the sentimental scenes. Devayani doesn't have much to do. Vijayalakshmi seems like a good find.

Though Ilaiyaraja comes of a strong year in 2000 he doesn't impress a lot in his first movie of 2001. The songs are quite ordinary and none make much of an impression the first time.