Mktg - Viral called 'Aaj Ka Arjun'

Kapil Ohri

A two minute animation film called Arjuna the Archer: Ad 2008 is floating around on various social media websites such as Facebook.com and YouTube.com and on some blog sites.

JWT, the ad agency which created it, claims that it is not a viral campaign, but a new TV commercial for Sulekha.com, a yellow pages and classifieds advertising site. The TVC has been soft-launched first on the Internet before it goes live on TV channels in the next 10 days.

Speaking to afaqs!, B Sridhar, director, global brand and marketing, Sulekha.com, says, “The reason behind launching the film first on the Internet is to check people’s reactions to it before releasing it on television.”


Interestingly, the 2D animation film uses a 1,000 year old folk art tradition of Orissa called Patta Chitra Katha in an animated format to tell the story and convey the brand message. This art form uses hand printed illustrations on dried leaves and ancient Indian mythological characters to tell stories.

The film opens on a shot of Arjuna, dressed in typical mythological attire, standing helplessly in his chariot. He is on his way to meet his girlfriend and scared of the shouting she will give him if he is late, but his horses have fallen down and refuse to get up. He thinks a bit, then picks up his bow and shoots an arrow into the sky. A bicycle appears. He sets forth, but after a while, a tyre of the bicycle gets punctured. Again, he shoots an arrow into the sky and gets a motorcycle.

The story carries on thus, with Arjuna facing problem after problem and finding solutions by shooting arrows into the sky. He gets gifts for his girlfriend, and finally, when they decide to get married, a priest, car, house, furniture and even a camera for the mandatory photograph on the wall.

The source that is providing Arjuna with all these goodies is not revealed right till the end of the film. The ending frames show Arjuna, his wife and children, all shooting arrows into the sky. The arrows are going to Sulekha.com.

Sridhar explains: “The arrow represents the cursor of the mouse – as soon as you click on the mouse, you get an instant response. Thus, the arrow in the ad indicates that you are reaching the right target for a quick delivery or response when you click on Sulekha.com.”

He adds, “The message we want to convey to consumers is that they can get anything they want through Sulekha.com.”

The film was directed and produced by a team headed by E Suresh, creative director, Famous House of Animation. Suresh tells afaqs!, “Arjuna, the mythological character from the Mahabharata, is used in the film because he is considered proficient in archery, which is the main theme of the film.”

Speaking to afaqs!, Senthil Kumar, executive creative director, JWT Chennai, says, “The visual language of the Patta Chitra Katha art form will help the company to cut across all language barriers. Everybody in India can understand the message and story of the film. It will keep the viewers engaged because they will be curious about the source from which Arjuna procures the products and because it is only at the end that the secret is revealed.”

The film was developed over three months. Artists from Orissa guided the creative team in the use of Patta Chitra Katha and helped it to maintain the authenticity of the art in the animation format.

JWT explored other traditional art forms such as Madhubani, Worli and cave painting formats before homing in on Patta Chitra Katha. Suresh says, “The other art forms have been done to death, but there was a uniqueness and freshness about Patta Chitra Katha, which is a lost art form.”

The ad is targeted at an urban audience because 80 per cent of the traffic on Sulekha.com comes from the top five metros. It will be released first on youth-centric channels such as ESPN and MTV.

See it Here

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html?id=7625&media=Digital