Centuryply 'withstands anything' - even a King Kong-inspired angry gorilla

Centuryply is out with a new TVC to reiterate its brand tag line ‘Sab Sahe Mast Rahe’. The new campaign aims at redefining the brand image and is targeted at the upwardly mobile urban male in the age group of 35 to 45 years, who is a homeowner and digital-savvy.

The TVC has been conceptualised and created by Bates Kolkata. The film opens with a huge angry gorilla throwing away cars and scaring a young boy eating chips. The gorilla then bangs on the door of a house which refuses to budge. It then bangs the roof and breaks in. Once in, the gorilla shrinks to a smaller size and chases a man sitting at the dining table. The dining table doesn't break despite the gorilla's banging, while several things around the house do. The man rushes into the bedroom and locks himself inside a cupboard. The gorilla follows and starts banging the door of the cupboard, which again holds firm. In a mirror reflection, the man's wife is shown banging the cupboard (in place of the gorilla). She is extremely angry with her husband for having forgotten their anniversary.

The TVC highlights the strength and durability of Centuryply's products, such as the door, the table and the cupboard. The ad ends with the couple seated at the dining table to celebrate their anniversary and the man asks, “So how many years has it been?” To his horror, his wife turns into the gorilla again and starts banging the table furiously.

Talking about the TVC, Abhra Banerjee, executive business head, Century Plyboards, said, “We wanted to create a brand campaign that reinforces our bond with our consumer and has the power to touch an emotional chord. The campaign drives home the core functional benefits of using Centuryply in a format that appeals to our upwardly mobile consumer.”

Explaining how the brief was developed, Arjun Mukherjee, executive chief director, Bates Kolkata, said, “The pressure was on, tension ran high and everyone was looking for that killer idea. And then it happened. Anger got the better of the team and turned them into growling monsters. It was total mayhem! Everyone started taking it out on the tables, chairs, doors, windows and other furniture. Many kicks and punches later, an idea was born! A basic human emotion was used to demonstrate the immense strength of Centuryply. Finally the dust settled, the anger evaporated quickly and we had our campaign.” 

Commenting on the inspiration for the gorilla, he said, "When we speak of anger, we normally associate it with monsters and that's when the idea of 'King Kong' came about.  We took off from there to create a realistic-looking gorilla."

The campaign was launched recently on news, general entertainment, infotainment and some select sports channels in the primetime slot. Besides TV, the campaign will also be released on OOH, radio, multiplex and digital platforms. The campaign will be on until March 2013.

Credits:

Client: Centuryply

Creative agency: Bates Kolkata

Executive creative director: Arjun Mukherjee, Souvik Misra

Group business director: Soumya Chowdhury

Group brand manager: Sreeparna Gupta

Creative team: Arjun Mukherjee, Diptanshu Roy, Anurag Acharya, Kamalika Baral

Production house: Lemon Yellow Sun Films

Director: Vinod P Vijay

Animation: No Label, Poland

Media agency: Mindshare