Parle uses sleight of hand to promote Parle Full Toss

Parle has released a new multimedia campaign to promote its snack brand 'Full Toss' using the street magic skills of Ugesh Sircar. Grey has come up with the campaign, which includes four TVCs featuring shots from the live footage of the street magician performing tricks in front of unsuspecting audiences.

Sircar was commissioned to create a bunch of tricks using the Full Toss pack and sticks. Random and unsuspecting people watched Ugesh’s tricks as he filled empty packs with Full Toss once again, pulled packs out of a closed vending machine, made a pack levitate, etc. The aim was to get real consumers to engage with the brand without retakes and models. At the end of each trick, Sircar was caught on camera saying, "Asli magic toh isme hain" as he dug into a pack of Full Toss. A camera crew captured the stunt/tricks and the footage was used to create viral films and clips that were then uploaded on YouTube. Four of these films were then made into TVCs, which are now on air. Also, after each trick, models distributed samples of the product, converting the stunt into a sampling exercise in malls, parks, schools and streets. Plans are on the anvil to recreate the exercise for activation, PR and the launch activity.

On the thought behind the campaign, Shalin Desai, group product manager, Parle Products, said, “The snacking category has some big spenders. We had to stand out from the clutter and not do run of the mill advertising. When the agency shared this concept we knew instantly that it would create some magic.”

Commenting on the films, Rohit Malkani, executive creative director and creative head, Grey Mumbai, said, “It’s almost fashionable to use the term consumer engagement today. I think the time has come to do work that genuinely engages the consumer. The Full Toss films are a step in that direction. While it was exciting and new for us, it was also scary because we never knew how the tricks would turn out till we shot them. Every trick was unrehearsed and the people were chosen randomly off the streets so the reactions are genuine.”

Amit Akali, national creative director, Grey India, added, “While the brief was to create TVCs, we presented TV commercials that were a result of live stunts and a sampling exercise. The client liked it the moment they heard it and backed us throughout even though it wasn’t a conventional exercise; no fixed scripts, no pre approved casting, no models and actors, no fixed locations and no clear idea of how the final films would turn out. All we’d promised were four finished commercials. We eventually presented 8.”

Credits:

Client: Parle Products

Agency: Grey

The Team

Creative

National creative director - Malvika Mehra and Amit Akali

Executive creative director - Rohit Malkani and Karan Rawat

Senior writer - Chitra Bhanu

Servicing

Vice president and branch head - Hari Krishnan

Client services director and associate VP - Vineet Singh

Account director - Ajey Shetty

Account Manager - Poulami Dutta

Films

Vice president and director – films - Samir Chadha

Films executive - Manjula Moses

Production House - Footcandles

Director - Aiyappa