WhatsApp has recently launched its first brand campaign in India that narrates real stories about how Indians communicate daily on WhatsApp with their closest relationships. The campaign called ‘It’s Between You’ gives a thrust on WhatsApp’s commitment to privacy, the company said in a statement. Through WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, they come closest to replicating real-life interactions and that’s when they can truly be themselves.
The conversations they have, the jokes they tell, and the memories they relive belong to them and deserve to stay between them, said Avinash Pant, Marketing Director at Facebook India. WhatsApp collaborated with Gauri Shinde, a celebrated Indian Bollywood director along with BBDO India to create two 60-seconds ads, each highlighting how WhatsApp’s features like texts, video calls, or even a voice message, help replicate in-person conversations and bring people closer.
One ad is based on a true story about an elderly woman and her caregiver, who are now separated from each other. “From how to bring together the cast and crew that were right for the part and happened to be living together, and directing over a WhatsApp video call, to doing all the post production work without being physically present, it’s been really rewarding,” said Shinde.
The second story is at the other end of the spectrum of emotion, which is a light and fun film about a younger sister giving joyful courage to her elder one through a WhatsApp video call when the latter feels vulnerable and hesitant to give her a haircut at home. WhatsApp is a platform for helping friends and family communicate as well as help users connect with a business that is important to them, added the company.
BBDO had been helping in developing and executing this campaign that can be seen on TV and digital across India from today onwards. Commenting on the process Josy Paul, CCO, and Chairman, BBDO India said, “WhatsApp was in look for a campaign that would talk to its 2 billion users globally. The task was like branding oxygen. It’s already there, we just had to give it greater meaning. The idea had to be truly global and yet connect locally. How do we define a place in people’s hearts for WhatsApp to live – the basis of an emotional connection that is ownable and sustainable. We began with the product. WhatsApp’s privacy can be quite liberating. It leads to greater intimacy and real human connections. The brand idea ‘It’s between you’ is a simple capture of that feeling. It’s what led us to real human stories where intimacy liberates you in so many ways. It was like drafting the constitution of a great nation called intimacy in just three words ‘It’s between you’.”
