The Surf Excel Children’s festival has featured in the Bangalore TOI prominently for a week now. It is meant to be festival where children learn crafts, art and take part in interactive worksops. My daughter went for the festival, stood in line for a good one hour to get in, toyed around with clay figures, soiled her shirt and created a clay pot. She was visibly excited with the effort and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She even got an activity book and a T-shirt as other souveniers.
What was a mere advertising idea has slowly transformed into a powerful brand idea. The subliminal connotations of ‘letting your children be’ and explore the world as it were, is huge. The Surf Excel webiste claims that every time your kids go out and get stains, they experience life and get ready for the world outside. The activity, organized by Street Blimps, is an example of walking the talk on bringing brands closer to the consumer.
The Surf Excel website though does not carry forward the same experience online. It seems more like a corporate effort. There seems to confusion on who it meant for – kids or parents? If its kids, do they really care about ‘latest offer’s and ‘product rangee’? Don’t think so. There is a Children’s Club on offer but that’s pretty bare. Overall, the design lacks the classiness of the brand communication. Another example of a disjointed online effort – the focus is all on getting the TVC and events right. Here is an idea for free – how about presenting an image on the site which the kids can then ‘stain’ by adding things? Check out the BBC CBeebies website for great ideas on interactive games (which blend well with the programme idea).
But overall, a great effort from Surf to bring the brand alive to the consumer.
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