LAVA has launched a new campaign for the Virat Curve 5G that takes a story-led approach to smartphone advertising, with Bollywood actors Rohit Saraf and Pratibha Ranta at the centre of a romantic film.
Conceptualised by SW Network, the film begins with a chance encounter between Saraf and Ranta before imagining a relationship that takes the characters through romance, adventure, conflict and connection. Set to the Bollywood song Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re, the film uses the visual treatment of a music video while integrating the LAVA Virat Curve 5G into the narrative.
“People are consuming more content than ever, so brands need to create something people actually want to watch. Smartphone advertising has largely been feature-led. We wanted to change that with LAVA and create a piece of entertainment where the product becomes part of the story, rather than the story becoming about the product,” said Raghav Bagai, Co-founder, SW Network.
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The campaign builds on LAVA’s “Go With The Curve” proposition, with the Virat Curve 5G appearing as part of the characters’ journey rather than through a conventional product demonstration.
“With Virat Curve, we wanted to move beyond the usual feature-first communication. ‘Go With The Curve’ gave us an opportunity to tell a story that feels entertaining and distinctive, while still bringing the product naturally into the experience,” said Puravansh Maitreya, Head Marketing, LAVA Mobiles.
The film also leans on the chemistry between Saraf and Ranta, who play the couple at the centre of the imagined relationship.
“What I liked about the film was that it didn’t feel like a typical phone commercial. There’s a real story, a lot of chemistry and this whole imagined journey between two people. The way the Virat Curve fits into that world makes the film feel quite different from the usual product-led films,” said Rohit Saraf.
“I really enjoyed the playfulness of the story. It starts with such a simple interaction and then takes you through this entire relationship in a very unexpected way. The music, the chemistry and the visual treatment make it feel more like a little film than a conventional advertisement,” said Pratibha Ranta.
The campaign also draws on the existing audience interest around Saraf and Ranta as a pairing, with their chemistry forming part of the talent strategy.
“Rohit and Pratibha are already creating a lot of buzz together, and that made them an exciting pairing for this campaign. From a talent perspective, the idea was to tap into that existing chemistry and audience interest, while giving them a completely different world to play in. The result is a film that feels natural to them, but still unexpected for the audience,” said Shubham Chawla, Business Head, Youthbeat.
