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Nothing Phone (2a) ad: A different phone with a routine ad?
MAR 16, 2024
NimishAndAkriti
Whatever you can accuse Carl Pei's venture Nothing (yes, he called it that) of, being predictable is not one of them. The former OnePlus co-founder has charted a rather different with his new enterprise, with radically differently designed and packaged products. So when Nothing signed up the rather unorthodox Ranveer Singh (although he had endorsed other brands in the past), we expected a rather unusual ad campaign for its new phone, the Phone (2a). Well...
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The Phone (2a) is Nothing's most affordable phone (we will be writing about it shortly too, rest assured) at Rs 23,999. And it brings the transparent back with LEDs that made the Phone (1) and Phone (2) so different. Ranveer Singh seems to be the perfect person to market it, given his penchant for being different (sometimes to the point of being eccentric) and over the top energetic. It seems like a match made in ad heaven, right? Er...not quite....
The ad is basically one minute of Ranveer Singh...well, walking and talking, in a surprisingly sober monotone (with some eerie echo effects). "I bet you're a lot like me. Always want to be different. To change the World, But all around you everything is a copy of a copy. We need to begin again with fresh eyes...."
It is rather flat copy, and Ranveer's treatment of it is surprisingly flat as well. The overall effect is of a dry, corporate presentation.
There are some neat touches like the eyes of a girl morphing into the dual cameras on the back of the phone, but it all seems incredibly...well, bland. "It's a world of possibilities with you at it Center with greater tools and the power to do it all," says Ranveer with a straight face right out of a boardroom. And let's face it (pun intended), Ranveer can do sober about as well as Nothing Phone (2a) can do normal!
By the time the ad ended with Ranveer declaring with profoundly solemnity "Stand apart and be powerfully unique," we were wondering if this was the same hyper active, ten expressions-a-second chirpaholic actor we know talking about a phone that is nothing like anything in its segment. It was not bad. But it did no justice to the product or its presenter! It was SO generic the you could use the copy on just about any product and it would work just fine.
We do not really know the "big" idea behind the ad. Perhaps it was to deliberate sober up the generally hyper-energetic Ranveer. But why would one want to do when the man is actually superb at it and famous for it? The treatment of the Phone (2a) itself is odd. We have seen the phone and it seems funky and fun. It might be incredibly powerful and efficient but what makes it stand out is ironically what Ranveer refers to in the beginning - it is different!
Alas, none of this difference is really showcased, apart from some glimpses of the design and a blink or two of the LEDs on the back. You could replace the Phone (2a) with the Pixel 7a and it would fit right in! Yes, we know what we are saying - the most different phone in its segment has a generic ad, in spite of featuring a celebrity known to be different. Get Carl in the next one, we say! (See it here: https://youtu.be/YzrCypaVZVI?sā¦)
Do you like the Nothing Phone (2a) ad featuring Ranveer Singh?
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him
Wow, this is one blah ad!
Nothing works about this ad, literally š¢
Not script, not personality, not even the frames or choice of visuals. Everything from the narrative to the concept is not just blah, it's possibly at its lowest execution mode.
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