Social Media Campaign Review: #RespectForWomen by Havells is Impactful but Lacks Enough Push

If you’ve been watching anything on television for the past couple of months, you’re sure to have caught a glimpse of one of the ads from the electrical equipment company, ‘Havells’.

The most impactful of the lot, and maybe even the most memorable one, would be the Havells ‘Respect for Women’ campaign. Let’s find out more about it and have a look at its digital execution.

Objective

‘Havells’ creatively tackles the common practice of treating women as ‘kitchen appliances’, as said in the ad. The deeper thought behind the campaign being: expecting a woman’s life to revolve around ‘taking care’ of all kitchen/household work is a demeaning gesture to say the least.

As a digital extension, ‘Havells’ tied up with Culture Machine, a Youtube-certified digital video company, to come up with a unique execution of the concept.

Execution

During a musical rehearsal, a woman corrects her room-mate’s tune and in return he humours her to go make him a sandwich.
What happens next… is better to be watched than read!

The female protagonist makes it clear that a woman’s talents are far beyond the stereotypical idea of  ‘cooking & cleaning’ through a musical marvel constructed through Havells appliances.

The guy realizes his folly, and is made to eat his words (rather than the sandwich he asked for.) Just like the marketing campaign, the female lead intelligently tackles this stereotype through the help of Havells kitchen appliances. The video has received almost 38,000 hits in a day and a half and has received mixed response in the comments section- which is fairly decent!

Positives

Fresh take on a classic

The talents featured in the video; Vasudha Sharma (from the pop band Aasma) and Sarthak Mudgal (a renowned percussionist), along with the creative brains at Culture Machine, execute an original approach to an A.R. Rahman classic.

They added a modern twist to the song ‘Humma Humma’, by using a jug band-like setup (playing music through household instruments), using the brand’s products as instruments.

In-line with the TV campaign

The series of ads on TV are minimal, witty, thought-provoking, and convey the social message whilst integrating the product-range beautifully.

The video manages to stand out, even by keeping all the bases aligned with the television campaign. Targets the younger generation on social media. Unlike the TVCs that show married or to-be-married women and their families, here they show a younger set of individuals rightfully targeting a younger audience.

Scope for improvement

There’s been very little promotion of the video on the Havells Facebook page or Twitter profile, so far. They should’ve aimed to make the most of it because they’ve been bang-on with the execution across most formats. Most of the legwork appears to have been done by Culture Machine, who have been sharing extensively through their accounts.

Closing thoughts

Havells seems to have found the Midas’ touch in their marketing endeavors: first, with Lowe Lintas, who have been developing these campaigns and now with this video by Culture Machine.

The brand has really done some impressive work in recent times. Be it the election-inspired ‘Hawa badlegi’ campaign, where their positive approach has been a breath of fresh air (pun intended), the ‘electrifying’ light-hearted ad of ‘Shock Laga’ or the villain-studded Havells wires ‘that don’t catch fire.’

Even then, they must find ways to improve their social media because good content can only get you so far and how you connect to your audience is also an important measure of marketing success.