Creative agency: JWT

Produced by: Ramesh Deo Productions

Location: ND Studios, Karjat

Expectations were naturally high when Big FM`s first TVC hit the air, timed perfectly during the Twenty20 semi-finals. 1 2

With brand ambassador Abhishek Bachchan starring in the commercial, and an estimated Rs 10 million budget, the TVC should have been a sizzler.

Instead, the 35 second long TVC is a lukewarm product, with a concept that`s not terribly original and a background music score that doesn`t really set your pulse racing.

Sure, there`s Abhishek with his endearing smile and rocking moves in the airport where the story is set. Bored passengers, waiting for their delayed flight to take off, are galvanised into action by the music that Abhishek plays on his portable FM set and sets up near the PA system.When the music stops accidentally, everyone`s jolted back to reality, but set off again when the

set is replaced. The idea was probably to get the message across that the station`s music can infuse life into a dreary situation. But similar railway station and airport scenes have been used earlier in TVCs and are no longer novel. Interestingly, it isn`t a mobile phone that Abhishek is playing the station on, but a handset that isn`t often portrayed as a vehicle of choice by radio stations. Not even by Reliance, which has been cross promoting its sibling Big FM through its FM enabled phone ads.

While rivals Mirchi and City have been targeting the middle classes with their TVCs set on city roads and barber

shops, Big has gone for an airport setting, normally frequented by the cream of society. Is this another way of strategic positioning by the station?

The Big brand is already entrenched well in people`s minds, and may work well in the 13 towns that the station intends to launch in the coming one month. The stress here isn`t so much on the content the station offers but on the music played on air (Abhishek`s Where`s the party tonight? plays when the station is switched on). More than the station attitude, it`s Abhishek who stays with you long after the TVC is over.