NEW DELHI: Procter & Gamble’s detergent brand Ariel has continuously sparked conversation around household chores in the past. Now, the brand has come up with a new season of its ‘share the load’ campaign. The advertisement is conceptualised by advertising agency BBDO. This time the brand has urged all family members to contribute and share the load in household chores. However, what distinguishes it from the earlier campaigns is, there is no exchange of dialogue between family members. The brand has followed the route of silence to depict the message powerfully with visual elements.

The film has already crossed 10 million views so far. P&G India and head CMO Sharat Verma says, “We believe there is something beautiful when a son, father or husband comes forward to #ShareTheLoad. Which is why Ariel has continued to raise pertinent conversations to encourage more and more men to participate in household chores."

The brand started bringing up these torchbearer conversations from 2015. The first ad which gained a lot of traction was, “Is laundry only a woman’s job”, while in 2016 it touched an important issue of doing household work from one generation to another with ‘Dads Share The Load’ movement. Last year, too, the brand focussed on an essential issue, “Are we teaching our sons what we are teaching our daughters” with Sons #ShareTheLoad. In the new campaign, ShareThe Load for Equal Sleep, it highlighted the impact of the unequal division of chores on housewives.

The concept of silent advertising is not new. The craze for such ads began in the 1990s but disappeared later in the 2000s as brands started getting more vocal. Nevertheless, with time we are seeing brands following the nuances of silent ads once again. Fevicol ads barely came with dialogues and it has always connected with consumers because of its simplicity and humorous execution. Right from Camlin permanent markers to Pidilite M-seal or the recent Haier TVC silent performers’ ad highlighting Haier’s long-standing relationship with the Indian consumers, brands have started experimenting with their advertising communication.

We have seen silent advertising being used globally as well. Last year, UK broadcaster ITV released a campaign on the rising issue of anxiety and depression in children. The ad ends with a message to "tune back in" to their family's story. European footwear brand Bianco came up with an interesting silent love story in the form of a short film The Lift, urging everyone to start a conversation.

India too has seen a resurgence of silent ads. One reason could be its differentiating factor that helps brands rise above the noise, increasing attention and recall.

Makani Creatives, co-founder and MD Sameer Makani believes, “For an ad to be effective it needs to grab the user’s attention in two to three seconds and audio is a crucial part of the experience."

However, consumption patterns have evolved and social media has become a key platform for communication and content viewing. Most of these platforms have muted audio as default for any ad until the user chooses to turn it on.

“Keeping this aspect in mind, brands are experimenting with no-audio crisp ads. The concept is different from a usual ad and one cannot draw parallels between the two. It’s a double-edged sword when a brand experiments with such content. The screenplay and plot need to be extremely strong to create impact. Otherwise, it may miss yielding any results for the brand," Makhani explains.

FCB Ulka group creative director Anusheela Saha says, “Silence, when applied judiciously and appropriately, can be a strong persuasive thought communication, and in Ariel's case, it works really well. They have made a montage of their previous ads and have thoughtfully edited and crafted the message to make it relevant for today. In today's time, when women are the silent bearers of additional home duties, a silent ode to them only resonates more beautifully.”

However, Taproot Dentsu executive creative director Pallavi Chakravarti raises a pertinent point. Is there evidence that silent ad will work better than one with spoken words? Says she: “I don’t think one can make a blanket statement about how silent ads work versus regular ads. Every ad works or doesn’t on its own merits. There’s no guarantee that just because you have dialogues in your ad, you’ll make an instant connection with your audience. By that logic, every commercial should be a runaway hit. Equally, there’s no proof that a silent ad will work better – it could just pass like a ship in the night.”

“Ariel’s ad works, to my mind, because it is consistent with the messaging that the brand has put out for many years now. The team has successfully built the share the load property from the day it was first launched, so we don’t need dialogues to understand the message, in this case," she elaborates.

Scarecrow M&C Saatchi founder Raghu Bhatt points out that if silent films can tell a story, silent ads can too. "In India, we have seen many successful zero-dialogue films for brands like Allout and Cherry Blossom. Coming to this ad, it's like a reminder film. There is no story but a collage of couples sharing the washing chores. Simple storyboards that don't require the expert supervision of an ace director- seem to be the norm, due to shooting restrictions."

That may be the case this time with the new Ariel TVC, however, silent ads can work well to make your brand be heard.