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Brands bathe in tricolour to celebrate India's 68th Republic Day

It’s India’s 68th Republic Day, and while the ceremonial Parade takes place at Rajpath in New Delhi in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this year’s chief guest, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, some brands are in tow with the celebrations.

In the run up to the 68th Republic Day, Nissan India and Vodafone India released campaigns ‘saluting India’ while General Motors released a new ad film.

Nissan India’s #LegendarySalute

Nissan India decided to set a record to enter the Limca Book of Records, by creating “the world’s largest-ever outline of a country map” in its #LegendarySalute to India, with the iconic GT-R.

“Nissan Motor India is celebrating the 68th year of the Republic with a record-breaking tribute to India and its people starring the legendary Nissan GT-R sports car. The company is set to enter the Limca Book of Records for the world’s largest-ever outline of a country map,” the carmaker said in a press release shared recently.

Nissan India launched the GT-R sportscar in India at Rs 1.99 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi) in December 2016. The 2017 GT-R, powered by a 3.8-litre handbuilt twin-turbo V6 engine producing a company claimed 565bhp of power, was piloted by professional rally driver Rahul Kanthraj to create the record.

The feat was achieved and shot “on the dry surface of Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan,” Nissan India said. The location was chosen for its level and dry lakebed surface, stunning vistas and soil “which is soft enough to leave a deep impression to be captured by camera drones high above,” the carmaker said.

The map of India carved out by the Nissan GT-R was approximately 3 sq km. “The dimensions of the map were about 3km in length and 2.8km in width with a total outline periphery of 14.7km,” Nissan said.

How did the rally driver create the seemingly flawless Indian map, you ask? Nissan says it was created by plotting the co-ordinates on a GPS device and multiple laps were done to approximate the actual map. The results were captured on video with drones and onboard cameras.

“As a mark of respect and appreciation for India and Nissan customers on Republic Day, the company has issued a video that showcases the legendary GT-R as it sets the new record,” Nissan said.

Watch the video here:

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Vodafone India

Vodafone India decided to be a part of the celebrations by dedicating a musical tribute to the Indian farmers through its #SaluteOurFarmers campaign which “captures unique sounds of the soil,” the telco said.

The song is a collaboration of five popular folk artistes, Padmashri Prahlad Tipaniya (Madhya Pradesh), Mooralala Marwada (Gujarat), Mohini Devi (Rajasthan), Balwinder Mast (Punjab), and Hayat Kahan (Rajasthan).

It was composed by Maati Bani, a musical duo comprising of Nirali Kartik (singer/composer) and Kartik Shah (composer/music producer), while it was written by Manoj Yadav of Coke Studio’s ‘Madari Madari’ fame.

Vodafone said the video was shot over 12 days in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

“The team travelled to remote villages meeting farmers and also recording the sounds of their daily lives. The film features real farmers doing their daily chores,” Vodafone India said.

The campaign was conceptualised by Geometry and Ogilvy. Vodafone said that the agency was “briefed to design a tribute to Indian farmers, the true heroes of the soil, which would also build an emotional connect with Vodafone customers.”

Commenting on the campaign, Siddharth Banerjee, SVP-Marketing, Vodafone India, said, “With Kisaan-Mitr (initiative), we have been engaging and enabling more than 15 lakh farmers for the past year. While Vodafone Kisaan Mitr has empoweredthe lives of farmers across the country, #Saluteourfarmers is a humble endeavor from Vodafone to salute our farmers and their lives. Republic Day is an appropriate occasion to remind Indians across India of the immense contribution by the farming community to our daily lives.”

Watch the music video here:

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General Motors

A heartfelt Republic Day ad film released by General Motors urges the viewers to “Change the way you think” this Republic Day.

The 1.07 minute ad film shows a street urchin going over to different people, with a bunch of Indian flags and wishing them ‘Happy Republic Day’.

The ad strikes a cord as the people in the ad film are shown treating the boy how most of us usually do. A girl reading a book, a man in a taxi, a couple, or passerbys all ignore or shoo the boy away, who’s seemingly trying to sell the Indian flag to them.

In the end, an old man by the bench decides to take the flag from him and while the boy runs off without accepting money. The boy tells the old man, he wasn’t selling the flags, he only wanted to wish people on Republic Day.

Watch the ad film here:

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Source: dnaindia.com