A chronicle in itself, Indian Railways manage to trigger the reminiscences of childhood, where they illuminate those days of travel to our grandparents' homes. Paper Boat, the brand that leverages on drinks and memories, pinches on those good old summer days this time, through a story - My First Train Ride.

My First Train Ride

Whistling through the tunnels, along the country-side, ushered with the human clutter and yet so calm, the film introduces this train journey, the chaos within the coach, running along the pastoral nature.

Narrated by an adult voice, the film illustrates the tale of a little boy in the train , sharing with the world his first train ride that is taking him to his maternal grandmother's house. Capturing the entire essence of a typical journey, the film speaks about the sluggish passengers resting their feet across the seats, benevolent smiles of the wrinkled sitting besides people leisurely playing cards or indulging in a tête-à-tête - everything through the little boy’s curious eyes.

The three minute long film captures the curiosity of the boy with elements around that leave him full of emotions.

Parvesh Debuka, Marketing Head, Hector Beverages, said, This time, we are paying a unique tribute to one such institution that carried us wherever we wanted to go – the Indian Railways. The very mention of a train journey evokes a thousand memories. The hoot of a train, the shudder of the engine, the song of the tracks, the lull of the rhythm and the games played in compartments. At Paper Boat, we are happy to celebrate the legacy of unsung heroes who first stirred the ache of wanderlust in most of us and with whom we have our fondest vacation memories, The Indian Railways.”

Basically, encapsulating all the aspects involved in a train journey, the film taps on to our memories, bringing back the old days right on our screens, leaving us with nostalgia.

 The digital essence of Paper Boat

Following the traditions, the film maintained a poetic tone, a subtle filter for the visuals and a blend of everything sweet and nice in the right proportion, tugging at heartstrings, yet again.

On Facebook this film garnered 505, 435 views, 64.k reactions and was shared over 3k times within just a day, clearly showing Paper Boat's strong hold on their audience of 283,248 followers and 171,070 views on YouTube.

Driving their ideas around rooted Indian traditions and bouncing around the sentiment of nostalgia, Paper Boat has sugarcoated their brand with a theme as light-hearted and a content marketing strategy as precise, every time.

Rajesh Ramaswamy, Executive Creative Director , Lowe Lintas, said, ““Every project on Paper Boat always starts with a thought that comes straight from the heart. So train journeys and the memories associated with them connected us all. And it's so universal. So we made a tribute to the trains for giving us such beautiful memories. And yes we got a director on board who had the same love for it!”

Wanting their audience to taste memories, the brand has carved a niche for itself at bay from the contemporary ideas or social issues but based on minimalism and gorgeous story-telling. Staying topical in its own way or rather bringing in topical Indian fruity flavors, this time the brand banks on the notion of summer holidays and the blurred tradition of visiting grandparents. Paper Boat continues to use the glorious soundtrack from Malgudi Days in yet another rendition that is guaranteed to mesmerize.

This isn’t the first time that the brand has given a tribute to the Indian Railways, last year in June, hued comical sketches by Anirudh Kakkar, the brand triggered these memories.

Coming across as a brand that expresses and revives childhood and not just another beverage product to market, Paper Boat has positioned itself as someone that could resonate with the feelings of a majority of the Indian audience and a wider social strata and not merely sell their product but engage, creating a recall.  Basically, Paper Boat has succeeded in converting a utilitarian product into an indulgent good through their digital endeavors.

Neeraj Kakkar, co-founder, Hector Beverage in conversation with Social Samosa had once shared the social media strategies of the brand, where talking about the theme he shared, “We wanted to drive brand awareness by positioning our drinks as perfect mock tail mixers for men and women. The challenge was to speak the same our viewers in a language that is synonymous to our brand.”

The brand has not pondered upon the typical elements of social media features like majority of brands choose to do, but simply follows a format of powerful story-telling which takes the cake at all times and gives a fresh break from the common cluster of topical, festive or preachy content around.

Paper Boat has created a thematic approach of reaching out to their audience, but always manages to take them by surprise with their content. In this evolutionary digital medium, crowded with content will a themed approach work in favor of the brand in the long run?