Long lasting impact of Finolex

Scene: a sweet shop. A customer is on the point of biting into a delicious-looking motichur laddu. A hand grips his to prevent it from reaching his mouth. “So many branded foods come and go, but this one has no rival – don’t you agree?” former cricketer Virender Sehwag asks. “Yes,” the man replies and tries to pull his hand away. His tormentor is stronger; “But do you know who invented it?” he asks. As the man looks blank, he turns to the camera and says: “When something lasts a long time, we simply forget about it!” 

One of four 26-second television commercial (TVC), it ends with Sehwag sitting in a throne made of pipes, saying: “Finolex long-lasting pipes. Fit them once and forget about them!” The other three TVCs in the Ek baar lagwaiyye aur humara naam bhool jaiyye campaign are about a priest who officiated at the wedding of a couple who have been happily married for 17 years; the cricket ball; and the rivets in the Eiffel tower.

Gayatri Prakash Chhabria, strategy and marketing manager, Finolex Industries, decided to entrust the campaign to global advertising major Ogilvy, where none less than Piyush Pandey, chief creative officer, worldwide & executive chairman, India, conceptualised it himself. 

“The inspiration to launch a campaign simply stemmed from the joy of celebrating the legacy of the brand that is made in India, for India, while reinforcing its compelling proposition to customers,” she explains. “Needless to say, Finolex Pipes has a rich legacy of providing quality, reliable and long-lasting pipes. The brand is synonymous with the agricultural segment and is now focusing on penetrating urban markets in the housing and sanitation segments.”

Adds company chairman Prakash Chhabria: “We wanted to celebrate the 40-year milestone of Finolex Industries with a campaign that reflects our brand values of trust, of always providing superior quality, long-lasting pipes that our customers can forget about once installed. Virender Sehwag lends his simplicity and charisma to highlight our brand’s rich and enduring legacy.”

Funny and charming

Pandey himself explains that he took on the creation of the TVCs personally because he likes working with “sensitive people who understand creative needs, the beauty of memorable ideas”. He found that the client does not believe in repeated interference – unlike some others. “They share the objective, place faith. This gives creative people like me great joy,” he says, adding: “Long-lasting Finolex Pipes are market leaders. They walk like a leader and talk like a leader. That is the essence of the new campaign.” 

Why Sehwag? “He is subtly funny and charming, Pandey says. “He doesn’t have to try and act,” the adman adds.

Prasoon Pandey, director, Corcoise Films, which shot the films, says the fact that the campaign brings together ‘two similar personalities’ is what makes it so endearing. Agreeing with his brother that Sehwag is special, he points out that the cricketer has managed to keep things ‘unbelievably simple and light-hearted’, while letting his bat do the talking throughout his career.“That has been the same approach of Finolex Pipes – make great quality pipes and let them do the talking. It was super fun working on this campaign, because it is also as tongue-in-cheek as Viru himself,” he adds.

With the Pandeys, Sehwag and locations, the exercise involved an investment upward of Rs25 crore, admits Gayatri Chhabria. However, this was a competitive cost and “in the true spirit of partnership and creating a clutter-breaking, relevant communication piece,” she adds.

The company obviously feels it was worth the money. "When you have a sound experience with a product, you don’t mull over its existence because it performs its function silently,” Gayatri Chhabria says. “Finolex Pipes’ four decades of superior quality, reliable and long-lasting products led to the campaign; this simple thought is a perfect reflection of one of India’s most reliable cricketers, Virender Sehwag.”