Pondicherry Tourism Print Campaign- Investor Promotion-1

Headline: Gain plenty from nothing!

Body Copy: Consider a cultural cauldron of people, religion, art and spiritualism. Consider the increasing number of people seeking its silence, solitude and privacy.Consider its wealth of untouched natural resources and rich heritage. Consider the concessions and benefits it offers investors who add to its infrastructure, without doing in its promise of peace. And suddenly you see, as an investment opportunity, nothing's better than Pondicherry!

Tag: Pondicherry, Nothing's better!

Pondicherry Tourism Print Campaign - Yoga Festival.Shunyata

Headline: Nirvana is to feel nothing.

Body:Pondicherry hosts Shunyata- the first World Yoga Conference. Aptly named 'Shunyata'(nothingness), this conference seeks to converge Bhakta,Hatha, Tantra and Kundalini Yoga. For a month, study interact, imbibe and assimilate with the great yogis of our time. In a spiritual effort to achieve the point of total surrender and total salvation. Aptly in a land better known as the culture cauldron of the world- Pondicherry.

Tag: Pondicherry. Nothing's better!

Pondicherry Tourism Print Campaign - Beach

Headline: Beach. Rocking party in progress.
Body Copy: Pondicherry, a place where the main activity is inactivity.Allowing for moments of quiet contemplation or a purging of negativity into nothingness.Facilitating insightful one on ones with your soul.And the absence of a 'must do and 'must see' lists making for a 'must come to' state of mind.
Tagline: Pondicherry Nothing's better.

Pondicherry Tourism Print Campaign-Streets

Headline: Busy Street. Peak Hour Traffic.
Body Copy: Pondicherry, a place where the main activity is inactivity.Allowing for moments of quiet contemplation or a purging of negativity into nothingness.Facilitating insightful one on ones with your soul.And the absence of a 'must do and 'must see' lists making for a 'must come to' state of mind.
Tagline: Pondicherry Nothing's better.

Pondicherry Tourism Print Campaign-Main Promenade

Headline: Main Street . Tourist Season.
Body Copy: Pondicherry, a place where the main activity is inactivity.Allowing for moments of quiet contemplation or a purging of negativity into nothingness.Facilitating insightful one on ones with your soul.And the absence of a 'must do and 'must see' lists making for a 'must come to' state of mind.
Tagline: Pondicherry Nothing's better.

Pondicherry Strategic Brief

Target Profile:
•This will largely mirror the Indian international tourist profile as Pondicherry is a sub-brand. Tamil Nadu tourist profile is also relevant
–Within this we have to target the up-market consumers who are looking for a quiet holiday.
–Age wise its skewed to the mature group. Best to target the 35yrs to 50 years old group.
–Group travel is the norm now. People with common interests. Religion and Yoga could be propositions.

Consumer Insight:
•Most vacations which are meant for relaxation end up being more strenuous, taxing and hectic than normal everyday life with “things to do “ and “must see” lists. There are many who need a “genuine” vacation when they can catch their breath, pause and ponder on life and come to terms with it.

Proposition:
Pondicherry offers the tourist rest both mental and physical in its pristine sense. There is no “to do list” or “must see” destination. Life moves along as in a Zen prayer …you and the universe. It’s the place where you make peace with life and yourself.

Support to Proposition:
Pondicherry has few tourists and the places are relatively deserted. The landmark is an Ashram where people come to meditate. There is a Yoga festival which again is about inner peace and harmony and quiet contemplation. Beaches, are also quiet and without crowds and suited for quiet contemplation and to find the rhythm with nature. The proposed investments in Pondicherry also push for ecological balance and tourism that does not spoil the landscape and Nature’s balance.

•Creative Button:
“Nothingness”. As in the consummate form of meditation as when you let your mind really rest without thoughts. It’s an ideal way to relax both body and mind.

•Tone Tenor and Feel:
Calm,still, soothing, tranquil. Far from the “madding crowd” . "Lost in an island of togetherness" for the honeymoon/couple segment.

Creative Units:

•Campaigns aimed at the up-market tourist.
•The tourist who is looking for peace and tranquility. Could be a harried professional who needs to take a break from a hectic work schedule, or a person coming to terms with a bereavement, a couple trying to save a marriage by spending time together, discovering each other….the myriad reasons for getting away from the “madding crowd”. Bit of a self- actualizer
–“Far from the madding crowd” series
–“Together in the silence” series
Creatives Follow

Pondicherry Campaign Strategic Brief- "Nothing Doing"

The challenge was to develop a campaign from "nothing"! There was 'nothing' to do in Pondy according to people who went there!! But for us we had to have a campaign otherwise it was as our Head Office told us "Nothing Doing"!!

After some desk research and drawing heavily on previous work done for Kerala Tourism and Tunisia Tourism I came up with this brief:


Consumer Profile (Who are we talking to and why are we targetting them?)

•This will largely mirror the 'Indian international tourist profile' as Pondicherry is a sub-brand. The 'Tamil Nadu tourist profile' is also relevant .
–Within this we have to target the up-market consumers who are looking for a quiet holiday.
–Age wise its skewed to the mature group. Best to target the 35yrs to 50 years old group.
–Group travel is the norm now. People with common interests. Religion and Yoga could be propositions.


Key Consumer Insight :

•Most vacations which are meant for relaxation end up being more strenuous, taxing and hectic than normal everyday life with “things to do “ and “must see” lists. There are many who need a “genuine” vacation when they can catch their breath, pause and ponder on life and come to terms with it.


Proposition:

Pondicherry offers the tourist rest both mental and physical in its pristine sense. There is no “to do list” or “must see” destination. Life moves along as in a Zen prayer …you and the universe. It’s the place where you make peace with life and yourself.


Support to Proposition:

Pondicherry has few tourists and the places are relatively deserted. The landmark is an Ashram where people come to meditate. There is a Yoga festival which again is about inner peace and harmony and quiet contemplation. Beaches, are also quiet and without crowds and suited for quiet contemplation and to find the rhythm with nature. The proposed investments in Pondicherry also push for ecological balance and tourism that does not spoil the landscape and Nature’s balance.

Creative Button:

“Nothingness”. As in the consummate form of meditation as when you let your mind really rest without thoughts. It’s an ideal way to relax both body and mind.

•Tone Tenor and Feel:

Calm,still, soothing, tranquil. Far from the “madding crowd”


THE CAMPAIGN WE CAME UP WITH WAS A WINNER. IT GOT US A SHORTLIST AND APPLAUSE!

Pondicherry Tourism Campaign

The deadline was 2 days. EICL had to pitch for the Pondicherry Tourism account alongwith Rediff, the big brother. Kiran Waval, the Creative Director (ART)on hire from Mumbai was game for it, so were Prakash Pillai the Creative Director(Copy) , Raghu Madhavan , the Account Director, Shanmughapriya the Acc Executive and Murthy the freelance art director who was assisting Kiran and finishing the layouts with a pal of his.

There was no time for a research and strategy planning session. Dip stick with people who had been to Pondy indicated that it was a relatively popular weekend destination. Why? There was "nothing to do in pondy" "cheap booze" "nobody around". Depressing scenario? You bet it was!

The challenge then was to come up with a campaign from literally 'nothing'. We converted adversity to advantage and came up with a winner. The 'nothings better' campaign. A breakthrough brief and an inspired creative.A brief that was exciting enough for Sangita who was the CD in rediff to gatecrash and do a campaign option for us.

The creatives and the strategic thought are in the next post. Sadly the EICL Office of Chennai was closed down before the agency was finalised and we were all in other places subsequently.
This post gave us all a lot to be proud of and some fond memories of the time we spent in Chennai. I was the VP for South India. I left to join Ras al Khaimah soon after.