Havells promises idlis 'as soft as flowers' in new campaign for mixer grinder

Havells has launched a range of mixer grinders, expanding its ambit in home appliances. Lowe Lintas has conceived a campaign to illustrate that the batter created by a Havells mixer grinder results in idlis that are 'as soft as flowers', implying that the smoother the batter, the softer the idli.

The film, shot in a large house in Chennai, shows a South Indian family gathered to celebrate a 'Shashtiabdapoorthi' - the act of getting a couple remarried when the man turns 60. Family members  are busy with preparations. And instead of flowers, idlis are used to adorn the house, car and even make the garlands. As the bride and groom exchange garlands made of idlis, a voice-over surmises that idlis made using Havells mixer grinder are soft as flowers.

Shriram V Iyer, creative head - Delhi, Lowe Lintas, who wrote the ad, said, "Idli is what we call as the Rajinikanth of all the South Indian dishes, it has travelled everywhere. We wanted to assert that the smoother the batter, the softer is the idli. And Havells mixer grinder enables just that. The idea of replacing flowers with idlis came from a famous phrase in Tamil, 'Poo pola idli', which means the idli is soft as a flower. In the past, Havells has always been known for doing something deliberately out of the ordinary and over the top and this campaign is no exception to that rule."

The campaign was first released in the South two weeks ago, followed by English and Hindi versions for the rest of India on 2 July. The campaign involves this TVC and point-of-sale marketing.

Unplugged moments:
Iyer recalled that shooting with P C Sreeram, the cinematographer, was an absolute delight. He added that since the film required a funky track to go with it, the director of the ad, Nikhil Rao, got Vivek Rajagopalan to create what Rao calls 'Carnatic funk' style of music. Interestingly, the myriad idlis that one spots in the ad aren't really edible idlis. Iyer explains, "Since the shoot required multiple idlis, the art director made most of them out of thermocol, especially the ones seen in wide shots."

Credits:

Client: Havells
Agency: Lowe Lintas
Creative: Amer Jaleel, Shriram Iyer, Udayashankar Rao, Arko Bose
Business: Syed Amjad Ali, Sonia Upadhyaya, Aayushi Agarwal
Planning: Anurag Prasad
Producer:  Jamic Films
Director: Nikhil Rao
Music: Vivek Rajagopalan