Acer counts on human emotions to deliver touch experience

It is the most powerful human force, it is the first language and the last, it is the power of ‘touch’ that impacts all. Emphasising on the importance of delivering a touch experience through its new range of Windows 8 products, Acer has launched a new TVC beading technology and emotions into a common thread.

It is believed that consumers are entering an age where the quality of the tactile experience is of paramount importance and ‘touch’ can usher in a fundamental transformation in the way we work. The insight behind the ad is to beef up the emotional aspect of touch through daily-life situations.

Conceptualised by BBH India, the ad shows various instances such as a kid climbing onto his cycle to pluck a mango from a tree, a girl making an effort to ring a bell, and a boy and girl about to hold hands when they are separated by two children running between them. The film also shows a game of kabaddi where a player tries to touch the line, a lady doing yoga and trying to bring her hands together and a man touching a ‘do not touch’ painting on display. The soundtrack is done by Lucky Ali.

Commenting on the film, S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India said, “The genesis of the TVC was the core idea of the dramatic way the customer is interfacing with the world of technology today. It is all about ‘touch’. And instead of having a very tech-dense communication on the aspects of ‘touch’, we wanted to adopt the platform of ‘emotion’.”

He added, “The concept of ‘touch’ lends itself so beautifully to evoke a lot of warm feelings on this aspect. And the canvas to exploit this emotive thought is practically limitless. Again, the adoption of gadgets is fairly pervasive across various age and demographic groups. With that as the context, the teams at both Acer and BBH brainstormed to come up with everyday vignettes that amplify the emotional quotient of ‘touch’ in these situations. And to reinforce this, we had a very nice and easy-to-understand set of lyrics sung by Lucky Ali in his characteristic and distinctive style. In Hindi, it appears to have cut across diverse geographies and different cultures, thus allaying the apprehension of the potential danger of it not having universal appeal.”

Russell Barrett, Managing Partner, BBH said, “With the Acer Touch range of products, we had the opportunity to do something a little different for a technology brand. When you look at the market, you see so many ads that showcase shiny new devices changing people’s lives. Our challenge was to make a technology ad do more than that. We felt that ‘touch’ is not merely a technology; it is an undeniable instinct that our idea needed to capture. It takes a brave client to agree to a suggestion like that and hats off to the team at Acer for taking that bold decision.”

“What the CDs on the job (Kunal & Vinod) did beautifully was tell a story of the significance of touch in all our lives. We wanted to recreate that excruciating moment we’ve all had when you’re so close to touching something, but not quite there yet,” he added.

Real-life experiences over stardom
The earlier ad of Acer titled ‘Beyond the Obvious’ featured brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan baffled at the thought of the laptop substituting a camera. However, this ad does not use the celebrity.

Barrett said, “We wanted to tell a story of the significance of touch in our lives and we thought that the best way to do it would be to use real everyday examples of these moments.”

Lucky Ali’s ad debut
Barrett explained, “We decided that we needed a track that didn’t just support the story, but actually makes it come to life. When the director, Pratap Manohar suggested Lucky Ali, we were intrigued. This would be Lucky Ali’s first commercial and that in itself was quite exciting. When we heard the first cut, even more so, and at the final moment, the music and the lyrics seemed just perfect for the film.  We believe what we have as a final product does exactly what we set out to achieve.  We have done a film that has mass appeal and talks about technology, but through the use of a human, instinctive idea.”

Has the Acer’s technology-emotion combo clicked?
Expert take
Navin Theeng, Group Creative Director, Cheil India said, “The Acer film is beautifully shot and every situation is crafted with care. The nuanced handling of each situation ensures that you do not tire of watching it soon. The message it gets across is that Acer has touch-enabled devices. Nothing more, nothing less. In the absence of any clear technological superiority, Acer has decided that it will stand for touch. This almost generic benefit will not make it stand out from the competition, but it will enable it to be a part of the consideration set.”

“But the real beauty is in the way this piece of creative work has taken a table-stakes feature and managed to make it endearing,” he added.

According to him, Acer has definitely moved up the value ladder with this piece of work. “It is a clear indication that the brand intends to move from ‘massification’, as demonstrated earlier by the use of Hrithik Roshan, to a more premium positioning,” Theeng said.

Our take
Being the most powerful and superior emotion, a touch can transform destiny. Building on the ‘touch’ premise, Acer has beautifully crafted the TVC with a tinge of emotional connect. The insight behind the ad to magnify the emotional quotient through real-life examples strikes a chord with the audience.

It’s a shift from the regular technology ads showcasing the technical product features that are way beyond a common man’s understanding. The ad is universal in its appeal because of the simple yet powerful idea of touch not merely being a technology. The message of Acer’s touch-screen devices comes out very clearly through the film.

The shots of the kid climbing onto his cycle to pluck a mango, the girl making an effort to ring a bell, and a lady doing yoga and trying to bring her hands together are very relatable. The brand has used real-life characters, doing away with the brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan. This seems to be a clever move because the use of real-life actors adds to the flavour.

The sound-track has garnered maximum eye-balls for the ad because it is the first-ever performance of Lucky Ali in an ad. The jingle is smooth and lively. Hence, the ad is very engaging as compared to the previous ones.
 

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