A lot has been said about the Indian Railways – be it good or bad. There have been problems galore – tragedies, accidents, ministerial issues, problems of poor stations, on-board food issues, poorly managed railway tracks across the nation and what not. But then, in the midst of all this, the railways built during the British era for their use (and not actually for ours – interestingly) has helped bind and link up the different parts of the country ala regional integration.
The Indian Railways like most PSUs doesn’t believe in advertising or marketing. And why should they? Carrying over 20 million passengers daily across the length and breadth of the nation is no mean task. So obviously you would think why would it need advertising right? Wrong.
The Indian Railways is one of the lead partners of the Commonwealth Games (it may be because they did not get private sponsors…but that’s a different story). But Indian railways seem to be utilizing that opportunity to full effect. Why not? It’s a great chance to remind the nation as well as the world (Read: Commonwealth Nations) as to what the railways has done for the country.
So what is the new ad campaign all about?
It includes a certain number of people who are playing a game “Chuk – Chuk – Gaadi” (Everyone must have played that in their childhood) and moving on streets, roads, rooftops etc. It features the old user popular Hindi song “Rail Gaadi”.
The campaign is an attempt to show the human side of the Indian railways. It’s an honest attempt to show how the Railways connects people, hearts and places together to play its own small part in regional integration. The tagline for the English TVC is “Magic of India – Indian Railways”. But the Hindi tagline is a much better reflection of what the Railways is trying to communicate to the audience “Desh Ka Mel – Bhartiya Rel”.
I personally feel that this is a fantastic idea the Railways has come up with. The most interesting thing about this commercial is that it is simple and subtle in its message about connecting the nation together.
Brilliant is what I can say! What do you think of this commercial?