Thursday, 17 October 2013 00:00
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BBDO Lanka conceives ‘Where Have You Been Lately?’
From humble beginnings of brainstorming under a mango tree to white water rafting, trekking across mountain ranges to scale heights and discover unchartered clearings in the forest and camping under the stars, CEAT Sri Lanka’s epic adventure TV ad-film, as conceived and executed by BBDO Lanka, is a truly off the beaten path exploration of Sri Lanka.
The TV ad-film was directed by Cannes Lion nominated ad-director Sanjay Shetty who has over 600 films to his credit, whilst the director of photography was Mark Lapwood, ACS, hailing from New Zealand and who has worked for a wide range of brands across the Asian region.
The 90 second advertisement also features music directed by leading Indian musician Chandresh Kudwa and was even adapted by Chitral Somapala (who voiced the Sinhala language version) for his track Miringuwa Parada. It also features the first commercial shot skydiving, filmed at a height of 10,000 feet above sea level, in Sri Lanka. The commercial is available for viewing at http://youtu.be/dLupSvrVfAg.
“We are so excited to have conceived and created this epic 360 degree campaign, all about travelling, discovering and experiencing Sri Lanka for CEAT,” said BBDO Lanka MD Santosh Menon. He added: “This was a huge production, involving the latest in filming technology from Red Epics to GoPro technology, and professional sportsmen and stuntmen from both Sri Lanka and overseas.” The advertisement depicts such adventure sports as white water rafting, surfing, mountain climbing, trekking and of course skydiving.
He continued: “We are also truly delighted to have gotten an interesting brief which on presentation got the fullest support from CEAT. Special thanks to Ravi Dadlani, from CEAT, for valuable inputs though the entire process.”
Speaking of the experience shooting the commercial, Associate Creative Director Shamir Hussain described it as “a non-stop week long adrenaline rush”.
“It took us one week of strenuous travelling where we hardly slept as we travelled from location to location, crossing streams and hiking up mountains heavy equipment in tow, and waiting for just the right weather conditions, as we tried to get the perfect shot. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tyres.”
The advertisement was consistently shot on location, spanning from Koggala to Kithulgala, to Arugam Bay, Maskeliya and Makandawa, and required a lot of preparation, from location scouting to applying for authorisation to film.
Associate Creative Director Nikhila Dissanayake said: “The authenticity of the location was very important to us and we travelled across the country scouting for the perfect locations in keeping with our vision to shoot at for both video and photography. Sri Lanka is a geographically and climatically diverse country and we wanted to showcase the beauty and uniqueness of our country that we experienced in this advertisement.”
Having beaten out other top creative agencies and won the pitch to create a new corporate image, one more exuberant and youthful, for CEAT Sri Lanka, BBDO Lanka’s creative team came up with ‘Where Have You Been Lately?’
Commenting on the conception of their idea, Associate Creative Director Theja Kalubowila said: “The idea behind our campaign sprung out of the insight that ever since the end of the war and lifting of travel restrictions as well as the new sense of freedom prevailing, people began to travel, exploring the many popular as well as not so well known parts of the island, spawning the Monday morning water cooler question; where have you been, lately?” And thus brainstorming sessions under a relatively young mango tree, over tea and vadei, would entail an off road adventure cutting across a wide swathe of the country.”
Sky Club, Sri Lanka’s premier skydiving and paramotoring club, coordinated the skydiving stunts, whilst Video Image, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest production companies, was responsible for the aerial filming.
Commenting, SkyClub and Video Image MD/CEO Suren de Silva said: “I feel great about this, the first time filming a commercial at 10,000 ft, in Sri Lanka. This just goes to show that anything is possible in Sri Lanka if we put our minds to it.”
He added that the biggest challenge was the weather, with the team encountering high winds and rain clouds on the day of the shoot. It was the jumpers’ experience that carried it through, he explained.
CEAT Vice President of Sales and Marketing Ravi Dadlani added: “After a rigorous pitch process with several agencies competing, we chose BBDO Lanka to lead our radial campaign to build a new, more youthful, energetic and international image in line with our brand values. Not only did the team at BBDO Lanka create an advertisement that reached new heights, but also gave it an effective 360 degree look and feel, as is evident to us already within the first few weeks of its launch. The decision we have taken on the creative route has been validated with reviews that have been shared with us. We are delighted at the way it has worked out.”
A truly Sri Lankan commercial with an international flavour for a Sri Lankan market leader, ‘Where Have You Been Lately?’ was a result of “as always a team effort”, stated BBDO Lanka Creative Head Ranil Nalawansa.” He added: “We are quite proud of our work, but this could not have become a reality without our client CEAT Sri Lanka, who were not only receptive to our great idea, but placed their faith and trust in us and extended their full support to us throughout the entire process. We were fortunate to have got a client who understood a great idea and we think we did them justice.”
