Titan’s Shukriya, Karigar puts artisans before the gold

Brand: Titan Company. Agency: Ogilvy. Film: ‘Shukriya, Karigar’. Released as a Diwali campaign, it honours the more than 16,000 artisans in Titan’s jewellery-making ecosystem.

The film is told from the makers’ perspective. It follows four karigars as they craft a child’s first pair of earrings, a necklace for a bride’s mother, a ring to express love and a kada to celebrate a new beginning. Titan positions each piece as a memory in the making, not just an ornament.

01 · What works

The maker is the message. In a category that usually leads with bridal glamour, Titan puts the karigar’s intent and experience on screen. Sharad, chief manufacturing officer, jewellery, Titan Company, ties that to livelihoods, saying support means creating conditions in which craft and livelihoods can thrive. It is a corporate value made visible.

The creative logic is tighter than a standard festival greeting. Sirish Chandrashekar, head – corporate brand, Titan Company, notes that jewellery becomes personal through the memories it holds. The film makes that literal: each crafted object is attached to a consumer’s first or once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Maitri Ramkumar, group creative director, Ogilvy Bangalore, describes the parallel between an artisan’s repeated precision and a consumer’s first. That contrast gives the film an insight beyond ‘thank you’ — repetition in the workshop becomes singularity in someone’s life. The film also chooses karigars over celebrities, which gives Titan a different texture in festive advertising.

02 · What misses

The commercial next step is faint. The source names no product line, collection or festive offer. The film may leave audiences moved but without a shopping list.

The gratitude also carries a small risk of corporate self-regard. Without visible proof of how Titan supports those 16,000 artisans, the campaign can feel like an internal culture statement dressed as consumer advertising.

03 · The verdict

7/10. ‘Shukriya, Karigar’ is a distinct Diwali ad because it swaps the usual montage of celebration for the hands that make it wearable. It works as brand-building and employer pride; it works less as a prompt to buy.

04 · The lesson

When you put the people behind the product on screen, gratitude stops being a greeting and starts being brand evidence. The next job is to give the audience something to do with that feeling.

Watch the original: Titan on YouTube. Shown for review; the rights stay with the brand.

Source: ETBrandEquity.com

Mad About Marketing Desk The strategists and writers at Mad About Marketing, writing up what we see in the work every week.