MAM
The Muthoot Group goes bullish on OOH for ‘Gold Loan is Good’ campaign
NEW DELHI: The economy has been hit by Covid2019 due to which not only has spending declined but the loan market also took a hit. Banking on this, The Muthoot Group’s recent campaign ‘Gold Loan is Good’, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, looks at chasing away apprehensions associated with gold loans and encouraging more people to make use of the gold stored in their homes. Surprisingly, it is one of the few brands that chose to focus on OOH.
The Muthoot Group’s general manager- marketing and strategy, Abhinav Iyer says that the primary objective of launching this campaign was to increase the overall gold loan category. “There is over 26,000 tons of gold with Indian households and less than two to three per cent of this is monetised. Hence, there is a huge market opportunity that remains untapped. Secondly, the objective is to dispel the various misplaced apprehensions associated with gold loans that often come to the minds of first-time gold loan takers and finally, but most significantly, to project gold loans as a 'Good Smart Option, as against being the Last Option' for seeking financial credit.”
It is live on television, digital, print, OOH, transit media and select forms of BTL promotions. However, Muthoot Finance went big on OOH though people are mostly still indoors. Executed by Brandscope throughout India, the hoardings are visible across 50 cities on more than 200 sites.
“If you look at it in silos, outdoor may come across as an outlier. It is important to see our OOH investment in conjunction with our overall media mix. Our OOH investment is part of our larger integrated marketing campaign for Gold Loan is Good. It is one of the five to six mediums handpicked to launch our new advocacy-based communication. In actual terms, the investment is substantial considering current times, but from a percentage share to overall media investment perspective; it is modest. Having said that, our digital investments, too, have grown notably post-Covid2019 to cater to the rising digital media consumption trends,” says Iyer.
“Besides traditional OOH, we have also included a few DOOH sites and some interesting innovations. Outdoor is a great recall medium and with phased unlocking measures, people have started stepping out and since we received some great deals, we chose to leverage this medium as well, to the maximum possible extent,” he adds.
The company has also launched a mega radio campaign called ‘Muthoot Finance Sunheri Soch’ exclusively on Red FM. Sunheri Soch is a series of inspiring, real-life stories of courage, hope and positivity. Narrated by Bachchan, these are stories of common men and women who took a gold loan from Muthoot to achieve their dreams and progressed in life. An especially made Sunheri Soch anthem has also been launched with Bachchan and RedFM’s top RJs saluting the courage of successful people who have achieved their dreams in highly challenging circumstances.
Iyer claims that since the time of the pandemic a number of financial services players have shifted their focus to gold loans. “Overall, the media landscape is certainly under stress but we have great partners who stitched some good deals thereby helping us get maximum value for our investments,” he shares.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
