How Akartha creates a TV Commercial During the lockdown


How Akartha creates a TV Commercial During the lockdown

Last week Zee Kannada aired a TVC of Sparsh Masala, a 15 sec film that brought together an emotion that is so engaging and a relief to watch in a panicked and stressed situation of a pandemic like coronavirus outbreak.

The film created by Akartha, a creative agency based in Bangalore, had the mixture of love, care and the ground reality we are all going through during the present lockdown. Through the video call between a caring mother and a lonely stressed daughter stuck in a different city away from home, Akartha has established a good connection between the brand and the current situation. They took a very simple scenario as a plot that is most relatable now. The ad shows a girl discussing with her mother about the dilemma that she is facing during the lockdown and how the mother comes to her rescue. They also captured the essence of how adding Sparsh Masala is equal to home cooked food during the pandemic with a mother's recipe. Through the ad, they also showed the importance of staying at home, stay safe and eat healthy. Thus, through the TVC, Akartha not only stuck to the element of relevance, but also brought the emotional touch of the Sparsh Masala’s tagline, ‘The Touch of Purity’.

And the most important part is no one went out to produce this ad. Every ad consists of three stages - pre-production, production and post production. Starting from building the concept to coordinating with the actors to editing and music, everything was done maintaining the rules of lockdown. But even with all these restrictions, Akartha did not compromise on the quality. It’s not only a TVC with a good concept, but it is also well produced.

“Advertising isn’t a Disneyland of assumptions. So bringing relevance and connection in the concept is important especially now when brand philosophies are changing around the world. We are all aware of the market shift and evolving accordingly.”, said Santhosh Jetty, the Creative Director at Akartha, whose concept for this TVC for Sparsh Masala was like a breath of fresh air amidst all the ads of awareness and hope during this pandemic. When asked how tough it was to work out a TVC during the lockdown when shoots and production around the world has been cancelled, he added, “Yes, it's tough to work that remotely when in each stage you need your team. It’s tough to have a creative team working together by not being together for discussions, brainstorming and feedback. But we made sure not to compromise the work for this. We extended our 'at home' working hours, only possible with a team of talented and dedicated minds. We also had the advantage of the ad being directed by the experienced Salmin Sheriff, our Head of Films.

To make this evident, Akartha already has a campaign running on their social media saying ‘Lets Not Compromise’.  Through this TVC, they proved they have stuck to their promise of not compromising at all during this lockdown and have been actively providing solutions and creatives to their clients.

And not only that, Akartha is always into experimentative work with a free-to-suggest working culture. They are also not afraid of taking new projects from their clients. In fact working parallely for clients like Sparsh Masala and Khatabook, they are also concentrating on strategy and digital partnership for the new initiative for Covid 19 to assist the Government of Karnataka – Covid Consultative Group (CCG). Says Santhosh Jetty, 'What better time than now to be of service, think without a box, and be more creative.'

Source: Press Release