Mahendra Singh Dhoni Figures in LAVA New Brand Campaign

Lava International Limited, one of the leading players in the Indian mobile handset industry, launched its latest multi-channel marketing campaign featuring its brand ambassador and India’s most successful national ODI Cricket team captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. With this campaign, Lava aims to strengthen its brand identity as the most trusted and reliable mobile handset brand in the mobile handset industry. The integrated 12-week long, 360 degree marketing campaign comprises three different television commercials along with out-of-home, retail and digital marketing initiatives.

Thrilled with the launch of Lava’s new brand campaign, Solomon Wheeler, Vice President and Head – Marketing and Communications, Lava International Limited, said, “We are very excited to launch this campaign with Mahendra Singh Dhoni on board as our brand ambassador. We, at LAVA, believe that to build a truly endearing brand one cannot rely on just tactical differentiators; it has to be based on core values which in our case are – Integrity, passion for excellence and adaptability. Put together these values create a culture that ensures we deliver reliable products and services to our customers every time. Also, various industry reports bear testimony to our excellent product quality and after sales service which are unmatched amongst Indian mobile handset brands.”

Lava recently brought on board Soho Square, part of the WPP group, to take on Lava’s creative mandate. This is their first campaign for the brand.

The three TV commercials, each 30 seconds in duration, were shot in different settings – in locker room, steam room and a table tennis room. During each sequence the brand ambassador can be seen in conversation with a Lava representative, played by Prateik Babbar, who is trying to convince MS Dhoni to endorse Lava and vouch for the reliability of Lava’s products. While the protagonist, MS Dhoni, tries to test the Lava phones in different situations, the confident Lava representative mentions how each Lava phone undergoes thousands of tests to ensure its reliability. The commercials conclude with the brand’s new tagline - ‘Never lets you down’.

On conceptualizing the campaign for Lava, Dip Sengupta, Senior Vice President and Head of Advertising at Soho Square said, “The story of Lava is the story of reliability. It is something that is hardwired in the DNA of the organization and the great products that come out of its R&D facilities and manufacturing centers. When we delved deep into the products, we realized that the rigor and the drive for excellence that goes into each Lava phone was a story waiting to be told. The campaign with MS  Dhoni was therefore a natural next step. We wanted the code of reliability to come across in an endearing manner and MS Dhoni's interactions with the Lava representative does that effortlessly."