Tata Sky DTH Ad wins the prestigious Bronze Lion award at Cannes

In the field of advertising, the most prestigious awards are the Cannes Lions. They are awarded at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival (IAF) held in Cannes each year. Advertising professionals from all over the world gather to compete to be recognized as the best in their field. Advertising entries from all over the world are evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges comprising of veritable who’s who of the international advertising world. And a select few are awarded the prestigious Cannes lions awards, recognizing their global excellence.

This year, at the Cannes Lions 2009, “20 Million Experiences” ad campaign for Tata Sky has won the Cannes Bronze Lion award. A proud day indeed for Tata Sky as well as for India! This “20 Million experiences” ad was conceptualized and executed by their media partner Maxus India.

Regarding the idea and the strategy behind “20 Million experiences” campaign, Tata Sky+ had introduced a technologically advanced feature that lets one pause live television. But, no one knew how it worked. As no other product offered this pause option in India before, believability of the feature was the core problem. Consumers needed to be convinced of the product. And as they say, Insight - Advertising informs you but experience convinces you. Conventionally, Tata Sky could have chosen to demonstrate this feature through kiosks in malls. But due to its limited reach, Tata Sky and their media agency Maxus had to come up with another solution. They decided to use the television instead, and in a manner that would deliver maximum impact to millions of Indians. They picked the most engrossing content, and attempted to do the impossible – pause it! ‘The pause’ became the content. The message being that live sporting moment could wait while you take the important phone call.

The whole campaign was executed superbly. In a crucial cricket match between India and England, when India’s star batsman was about to swing the ball, the match paused! Viewers were baffled. All they could see was a still batsman and a ‘pause icon’. This was immediately followed by a band at the bottom of the screen mentioning- ‘Even you can pause live television with Tata Sky+’ for 10 seconds. And the match resumed. This was a first in Indian television. This was replicated in three more National TV channels in three different genres. This effort reached over a massive 20mn Indians in one go. Message was simple and impactful because it disrupted live content and explained a helpful feature. The focus was on TV channels that had higher preference amongst the higher income group–Tata Sky+ prospects – like Neo Cricket, Sony, NewsX and MTV.

The results and effectiveness of this brilliantly executed campaign were for all to see. Brand awareness zoomed 23% ahead of Tata Sky’s nearest competitor. The brand sold 10,000 units within the launch phase. Synovate Research’s independent study ranked Tata Sky+ amongst the top 5 campaigns for the month. It has also generated a strong Buzz and made media rethink conventional ways to deliver product experience. And now as a crowing glory, they have won the prestigious Cannes Bronze Lions award! Another great milestone for Tata Sky!

To know more about the Tata Sky+ “20 Million Experiences” ad and the Cannes Lion awards, check out the following links:

http://www.advertolog.com/paedia/prints/2009/06/26/318181/

http://www.exchange4media.com/cannes/2009/fullstory2009.asp?news_id=35086