Gajodhar: New viral campaign

Got a mailer from Makemytrip with subject – Worldwide premier of Gajodhar…before time! The first look itself gave a very clear impression that it is some spoof on much-awaited movie Ghajini. Watched the film and found it to be funny! It’s a viral campaign of www.oktatabyebye.com (travel community of Makemytrip) and as most of the other virals of Makemytrip, this also is done by Webchutney.

 

The film shows a character Gajodhar who is out on a holiday and has a very different rather weird way of noting down all his experiences. Whatever he experiences like “room achcha hai”, “food is good” etc. he gets those tattooed on his body in a nearby tattoo shop. At the end of his holiday, he comes back and copies all those experiences on www.oktatabyebye.com. I liked it but honestly speaking didn’t like it as much as other viral campaigns of Webchutney. Well, maybe my expectation bar has been raised a lot as far as funny viral films from Webchutney are concerned. No, it’s not bad but found it to be bit dragging and elements to be repetitive.  But what is good about this viral is the timing (well what you can call as chance pe dance karna J) – currently everybody is caught with this Ghajini fever and hence this whole Ghajini look and feel and spoof on tattoo will definitely raise some curiosity and garb attention of viewers. Secondly it’s a holiday season and considering Oktatabybye is not that popular till now, I think it’s really good to be reminded of such site during this holiday season. Anyways many people write about their travel experiences in blogs, travelogues etc., and if told about a dedicated travel community portal in an interesting way along with a review writing contest announcement wherein one can win vouchers, cameras etc, I’m sure people would like to explore the portal further. I think this viral will work for the portal in getting some more eyeballs.

 

In case you have not seen it till now, you can click on the following image to have a look:

 

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Aaj Ka Arjun: Sulekha.com

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UPtfEkl_o]

I got this link from one of my professional acquaintances. The mail said it’s a new viral campaign from Sulekha.com. Hmmm, new viral and I immediately clicked the link. First reaction – I liked it! Looked interesting and easy to understand at the first glance itself. Presentation also was different, very unlike from the normal illustrations, cartoons and caricatures used in most of the virals these days. And the message gets communicated quite clearly. They have used a form of art to present the characters. This film titled “Aaj Ka Arjun” is showing today’s generation Arjun who is hassled but manages to get everything done at one click of arrow. Till end they don’t show the source where his arrows are targeted and from where he is managing to get everything done. The film ends with Arjun and his whole family targeting the same source and the source is Sulkeha. Quite a catchy way of showing everything happening at a click J.

But then came the surprise when I got to read it in one of the official releases that this is not a viral rather it’s a television commercial for Sulekha which will be aired soon on channels. They have released the commercial in digital medium first to see the reaction of users before airing it fully on television. Well, I’m not sure if the same creative can work for television medium as well. I have seen a 2 min version of this viral film which by any standard is a long duration for television commercial and I’m not sure if they are going to air the full or edited version of the same. If they are going to edit the film and show it in parts then I don’t think the impact will be same. To me this looks more like a digital film than a television commercial but then you never know what can work in Indian market considering the diversity of taste and preferences of Indian consumers. I for sure would be keen to observe how this film takes its course further. Overall the film surely grabbed my attention and I forwarded it to some of my friends too J