Olive Ridley turtles are taking over the shores of Odisha with arribada (a Spanish word for mass-nesting) at the Rushikulya river and now the Gahirmatha beach. The turtles are very picky with the places they choose to turn into their maternity wards. But this year, they’re flocking to the shores of Odisha in record numbers.
To commemorate the occasion, Tata Power along with their creative agency Rediffusion, put out three ad campaigns in Odisha dailies, thanking people for their conservation efforts—big and small. Adrian Mendonza led the creative effort with his poetic narration. “No one writes long body copy campaigns these days. But this is vintage Adrian Mendonza creative storytelling in advertising,” writes Dr Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director at Rediffusion, about the ads.
Both the Olive Ridley turtles and Mendonza can teach us a thing or two about finding spaces that are conducive to the things we want to do. Or creating them.
Here’s what Mendonza had to say…
What inspired the campaign?
Tata Power has a long-standing “Act for Mahseer” conservation program, focusing on conserving the endangered Mahseer fish. To mark 50 years of conservation of the Mahseer fish in Maharashtra, I had done a long copy campaign in 2021. Recently, Dr Goyal forwarded me an article on the turtle mass-nesting that’s happening in Odisha. While Tata Power is not actively conserving the Olive Ridley turtles, we decided to congratulate and thank people for making the coastlines of Odisha conducive for turtle nestings.
What are some keys to creating good long copy campaigns?
Long format advertising copy is different because you have to convince people to read it, in the first place. Most people hardly read anything these days, so you need a very strong headline to pull people into the copy. The layout also plays a big role—it should look like it’s easy to read and navigate. But then an important thing is to make sure it is not boring. It should sound like a story, involving the reader. And I always try to bring some tongue-in-cheek humour into it.
What is your favourite advertising format to work in?
It would be long copy ads. I’ve done quite a few of them over the years.
How would you calculate the success of a campaign like this?
The kind of feedback the client gets and the word-of-mouth it generates. These days, campaigns like this can even be shared on social media after its release. So the kind of responses it gets on social media is another factor.
Do you have a message for copywriters who wish to pursue this niche?
When it comes to a long copy ad, it doesn’t need to be about a topical subject; but it has to be relevant. People should want to read about it even three months down the line. This is an important thing to remember if anybody wants to pursue this kind of writing. I would also ask people in advertising and copywriters to not completely abandon this kind of format. Because there are a lot of takers for it, even today.
