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At the end of the ad, the HCL employee thanks
the banker and takes off in a helicopter for an overseas life
sciences project. Speaking about the ad campaign, the company's
Corporate Vice-President - Strategy, Saurav Adhikari (Adhikari),
said, "As a technology company, we had a tendency to be nerdy
and it reflected in our past ad campaigns. But we wanted our ads
to connect with the public."5 He also said that the ad would go a
long way in attracting employees as well as in reaching out to
more customers. |
According to the company, the branding initiative,
especially the 'Technology that touches lives' campaign was quite
effective.
"On performing a brand track to measure the effectiveness of our earlier
campaign, the score was found to be high. From the survey carried out in
major cities with a sample size of 1,400 each, we discovered that
awareness of HCL has grown,"6 said M Sundararajan,
associate vice-president, marketing, HCL Technologies.
However, the ad
drew a lot of criticism from various quarters and was also ridiculed in
various blogs. Critics felt that the ad did not make much sense.7
, 8
For
instance, who was the company targeting - potential customers, potential
employees, or both? Why was the protagonist trying to upstage the banker
who had given him a lift? Since when had helicopters been allowed to fly
to overseas destinations?
Does an IT professional get a company
helicopter to travel in? If the company could arrange a helicopter for
its employee, why couldn't they arrange a cab for him as well? Moreover,
many IT professionals felt that the ads showed IT professionals in a bad
light.
They said that the 'conceited' young man portrayed in the ad was
in no way representative of IT professionals. Some analysts felt that
the theme of the campaign could have been shown in so many different
creative ways and criticized the company for opting for this lackluster
approach.
The sequel to the ad campaign launched in 2008, like the earlier
campaigns, used a 360 degree communication approach comprising
electronic, print, online, and outdoor media.
However, in the TV ad,
instead of the HCL employee talking about his company, there were people
from different facets of life acknowledging HCL as a leading global
technology enterprise. The campaign retained the two characters from the
earlier campaign.
"The creative challenge here was to package so many areas of HCL's
presence and show the same in a humorous and impactful manner retaining
the emotional connect. Through the new commercial we wanted to reinforce
the fact that HCL, via its innovative approach and creative edge has
always fashioned technology that improves the quality of people's
lives,"9 said Adhikari.
The ad opened with a scene in an airport where the investment banker
accidentally swaps his coat with that of the HCL employee.
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5] Archana Venkat, "HCL Wooing New Customers Thru Ad
Campaign," www.thehindubusinessline.com, May 16, 2007.
6] Rachit Vats, "HCL's Day Out," www.agencyfaqs.com,
April 14, 2008.
7] "Ad Review 2 - HCL (Technology that Touches
Lives)," http:/blog.emptyhead.in, February 1, 2008.
8] "HCL Makes Lame Efforts at Branding Itself,"
http://ideasmarkit.blogspot.com, September 2007.
9] "HCL Launches "Technology that Touches Lives" -
The sequel," www.hcl.in, April 12, 2008. |
