MUMBAI: JBL, a brand belonging to the premium global audio and infotainment group, Harman, broke its new advertising campaign for the India market last week. The iconic brand has a legacy of more than 60 years of audio innovation to its credit and has significantly stepped up its marketing efforts in the country over the past one year. It is a 360 degree campaign featuring the supremely talented AR Rahman, in a stylish new avatar.
The TV ad is a visual delight. Your eyes are treated to the panoramic vista of a valley in Ladakh with a nomadic musician carrying his drums across the barren terrain which transitions to bamboo being cut to make flutes in a lush green forest in Thailand, a guitar being strung in a workshop bathed in the warm glow of flickering lamps and finally, you arrive at a pristine white living room where the maestro is sitting, strumming a guitar and surrounded by a range of JBL products.
“The message we wanted to give out through the ad was that the soul of the music, regardless of the instrument, is brought to the listener in the purest form by JBL. An artist pours their heart and soul into a composition and JBL helps carry that untainted sound to the ears of the listener so that they hear every note the way the artist intended,” explains Sameer Shah, Marketing Director, Harman (India), when asked about the concept behind the ad.
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Both Edward Anthony, Creative Director of Stirred Creative, the agency that conceived of the ad and Kabir Sadanand, Director of the production house Frog Unlimited, were in concurrence that the ad had to be a feast for the senses and that each frame had to be picture postcard perfect in order to reflect the purity of sound that is synonymous with the brand.
The aesthetics have been kept very earthy and organic and the music composed by Rahman complements it beautifully. It starts off with the sound of the elements (the wind and rain) and gradually, the music of each instrument that is shown coming to life, blends in seamlessly.
“The team has put in a lot of effort into the creation of this ad and the results are for everyone to see,” said Mr. Anand Ramamoorthy, Country Head and Managing Director, Harman (India). “People are going to see a lot more of the brand in the coming days, as we continuously step up our marketing efforts,” he added.
Rahman, who has been a user of JBL equipment from almost the inception of his career, was signed on as the brand ambassador for India in October last year. The ad is an extension of JBL’s global Hear the Truth campaign, which features a legendary assortment of musical icons revered across the world ranging from popular US rock band Maroon 5, China’s ‘King of Pop’ Liu Huan and multiple GRAMMY award winner, Paul McCartney.
