Nescafe | The Dead Hour | 2017
No One's Listening, So You Can Say Anything / Nescafe "The Dead Hour"
Nobody listens to the radio at half past five in the morning. Nescafe in India zeroed in on exactly that "empty" hour.
The problem
Young people in India were caught between work stress and rigid politeness, bottling up what they really felt. There was nowhere they could be honest without getting judged for it.
The insight
If no one's listening, you can say whatever you want. And that early hour also happens to be exactly when you want to sip a hot cup of coffee.
The idea
Nescafe teamed up with Red FM to launch "Nescafe Mornings," a call-in radio show airing at half past five in the morning. In the case film, DJ Rishi, getting no calls from anyone, takes a sip of Nescafe and has an idea: "Since nobody's listening anyway, let's just say what we want to say."
What happened
The show pulled in an average of five times more calls than prime-time programs. It won a Grande, a Gold, and a Silver at ADFEST 2017, making it the only Grande that McCann took home from India that year. It also won a FAB Award.
Afterthought
Waking young people up at half past five in the morning and getting them to call in sounds like an impossible task on paper. Turning that around with the paradox of "no one's listening" is brilliant. This is a great example of how to put a strong insight to work.
