Acer Laptops – Beyond the Obvious

The current ad campaign for Acer Laptops is a bit unusual; it began with a press ad saying that Hrithik Roshan, the brand ambassador almost walks off because he was not at all comfortable with the script of the TV commercial (TVC), the copy also says that he was very upset and had serious doubts whether the concept itself was possible. The press ad was made to look like a news item. This was followed by a TV campaign. Interestingly the TVC also shows that Hrithik Roshan is not comfortable with the fact that the TVC was to be shot using a number of Acer laptops; he is persuaded to stay back and he does the shoot rather reluctantly. 

 On seeing this ad for a few times I wondered as to what the core message is? And why this unusual script and what purpose does it serve? What does it have to offer to the prospective buyer? The proposition made to the prospective buyer is that the product is ‘ultra light, ultra fast, with Dolby
sound, basically powerful enough to create this film’. It is claimed that the product is powerful and the TV commercial was made using Acer laptops. 

 The claim that Acer laptops were used for making the TV commercial made me curious and I did some research. What I learnt was that twenty Acer laptops were used for shooting the ad, Acer laptops were used for creating the visual effects and even the music was composed and programmed using Acer laptops. I learnt that cameras were fitted to the laptops which I suppose served both as monitor screens and storage devices. I do not know if the product was used for editing the ad film; well, I do not think so because laptops are not very convenient for editing work when compared to the hardware that are normally used.

The impression that the TVC seeks to create in the minds of the target customers is that Acer laptops are powerful, convenient, reliable and best suited for various needs customers may have; this proposition is supported by the claim that even the TVC was made using Acer laptops. I doubt if this TVC has been entirely successful in creating the impression they wanted to. I find that the ad fails to communicate its message.  To my mind the campaign might have helped in maintaining the awareness of the brand but has done nothing more than that; the reason for this is that the claim that Acer laptops were used for making the TVC does not appear very convincing in both the long and short version of the TVC, in order to understand the ad I did my own research on the internet, but is the target customer doing the research I did? Secondly, too much attention is on Hrithik Roshan and not the proposition Acer wishes to make; it is all about Hrithik Roshan and Acer laptops play a secondary role. This reminds me of the current Gujarat Tourism TV campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan; each of the films are beautifully made and the message is very clear; the celebrity endorser does not ‘steal the show’ but actually guides the viewer to understand Gujarat better. In case of the Acer laptop TV campaign the celebrity seems to dominate while the brand and the benefits the ad seeks to convey to the prospective buyers play a subordinate role.

My argument is even if Acer laptops were actually used to make the TVC as claimed, how does it matter to the customer who is an executive or a businessman who uses a laptop for his official work? Or are they targeting filmmakers which highly unlikely. Even if the target customer gets the message that Acer laptops were used for making the TVC, it is not meaningful to him because his needs are different.

The TV campaign is backed by a press campaign, see below: