Between the Briefs

Shahrukh Khan has never been one of my favourite brand endorsers. He’s never been much of my favourite anything, actually. And with the new set of ads for Dish TV, I have two more reasons for it. Watch:

It’s strange for something to promise something as big as bringing home life and for the creative to be completely devoid of the sentiment. For all the PR and drama that ensued regarding Khan’s turning old, you’d think they could’ve brought in some of that drama into the ads as well.

But somehow an adopted kid finally being convinced over Tom & Jerry and an extremely unconvincing Khan as an old man didn’t bring in the same kind of charm Aamir and Gul managed to bring in for Tata Sky Plus or even the convoluted emotional hook the Airtel DTH ad thrived on. It’s got someone who’s supposed to be a force to reckon with and it’s still got nothing. Almost tragic like.

Bingo chips brought slapstick humour to advertising with an undeniable fervour when it launched. Undeniable and addictive. So much so that it actually keeps you waiting (or… erm… “waiyting”) for the next batch to be doled out with all its inanity. Much like the latest commercial, which is nothing short of entertaining. If there was some place where it did fall short, it was the accent that wavered ever so slightly. Because really, the mark of the authentic Mallu accent is one that’s accentuated by its “crenginess” and never (I say, NEVER!) by its crunchiness.

My personal favourite, of course, remains the “Flip It” commercial but only because it reminds me of my ever-so-flippant clients, who never tire of asking for “more options”. Here’s to them and the ability to laugh at the situation, if only at a later time and date.

I begin Saturday morning with a healthy dose of advertisements; today started with Episode 58 of the Best Ads on TV podcast.

It was then that I saw the “Crowd Rider” commercial for Subaru by Leo Burnett, Sydney. It goes like this:

Now, the commercial is not what you would call exceptionally brilliant (we’ve all seen so many of these ads where million of people come together to form something of some sorts or just to add that larger-than-life feel to it (remember, “It’s a Big Ad” or “Man-made Machine“?)), but that’s just the advertiser talking – the “Been There, Seen That” jaded nonsense that doesn’t mean squat to the regular guy. So it may not be exceptionally brilliant, but it is exceptional in its own little way. Because Subaru went out there to say that when you or you or you or you go out for drive, there’s a whole company at work for you, and the “All for the Driver” pay-off ties in well with this, without trying too hard.

By contrast, I’d like to mention what India witnessed for another automotive brand on the fateful day of November 11, 2oo9. This was the day when Volkswagen was launched commercially in India. And it was no secret.

For starters, the first thing you saw when you woke up that Wednesday morning was the front page of the TOI screaming at you about how innovation at Volkswagen always makes the headlines. Nice thought, I’d say, if what were to follow were actually backed up by the statement.

But what followed instead was a roadblock, that did everything to tell India that Volkswagen had launched (including telling them how to pronounce it in so many languages)…  did everything, that is, except make it something truly memorable. Notice I stress on “truly” because, although it got everyone to sit up and notice, it did nothing to be remembered past 10:00 a.m. that day. Not for the regular Joe who probably wasn’t thinking of buying a car that morning at least.  Because this is what all the ads looked like.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

This goes on for another 10 pages. 13 ads in one newspaper on one day and not one that makes you even say “Ah”. If you missed them, let me know and I’ll mail across a folder of the ads to you. But I really don’t see the point in doing that either.

And that’s precisely the problem I have with these roadblocks. Because, as someone I know said to me at work the other day, “It’s a full page, front page ad in the Times of India. You could put anything there and people will notice it.” Yes, well… then why wouldn’t you put just anything over there?! There’ve been so many painful occasions when we’ve all had to hear “It’s too creative, no one will get it” or “We don’t have enough space to say what we want, so forget all the brilliance you had planned and just lay down the facts as is” or “We’re a small brand, no one know us… we don’t want to take these risks just yet” and here’s a brand that’s a force to reckon with, that’s laid out enough money on day one of its communication campaign to buy at least two of its cars and there wasn’t scope for one, tiny “Ah” moment? I’m not even asking for an “Ah-ha!” moment. I mean, you’ve got to give me something. Just not this.

Oh and the TVC, not very inspiring either. “German Engineering. Made for India.” they say. I’m sorry, but it said nothing about its either being German or being Indian.

Perhaps I’m asking for too much and perhaps the ads did what they had to. But I’m just not convinced.

It’s not everyday that you get to see good advertising for juice. Nothing beyond the “100% natural. All fruit.” kind of messaging. Which is why when I saw the TVC for the new brand of Saint Juice, an uninterested “Ho-hum” was all I could manage. This, despite the fact that the execution was quite neat.

Directed by Prakash Varma, Nirvana Films, Bangalore

However, a chance discussion at work about the TVC got someone to share Saint’s print ads. I haven’t actually seen them in print, but I have to say it’s been long since I saw copy-based advertising that made me feel like there’s still hope for us copywriters.

I particularly like this last one. And just for that, Mr. Raj Kurup and team at Creativeland Asia, thank you.

Before I say anything about this, please watch the four TVCs I’ve added here.

Creative Agency: Tribal DDB

Creative Agency: Contract

Creative Agency: Rediffusion – Y&R

Now, I have three questions. One: Why do all these commercials come with a VO that speaks as if it’s the voice of the future? I mean, we’re talking about broadband connections and laptops here; with the tone these ads adopt, you’d think we were talking about some super cool phenomenon which deserves to be part of some sci-fi film of sorts. Two: Is it my imagination or are these ads beginning to look extremely “templatised” in thought and execution? And three: Which agency handles the Dell account?

I love dysfunctional families. Makes me feel like mine is one of the many. Which is why I like this ad for the Vodafone Diwali offer. I especially liked grandpa who sits in the corner and delivers his “Meri raye se”s with such panache (including saying “bleyu” with that typical North Indian twang). See:

And there’s this other one with Irfan Khan talking about the whole wedding situation.

They’re not ha-ha types but they are the “Bring a smile to your face” types. So I’m not complaining.

For quite sometime now, everyone’s been talking about reality television and how it’s taken over our lives. But the new set of campaigns for Dove got me thinking about reality advertising and how it’s so much more effective at getting people to listen and, well, be a part of it.

I suppose if we are speaking of Dove, the whole aspect of “reality advertising” is not exactly new. Dove has, for almost always now, harped on its “real beauty, real women” aspect in all of its communication. Its “Campaign for Beauty” has known its share of success by just making women feel good about themselves.

So sometime early in 2009, Dove in India brought in its classic “Half Face” challenge, asking women to share their experience in switching from soap to “one-quarter cleansing cream”.

A billboard asking women for half their face

Of course “real” women participated and got to feature on the TVCs, with a few teasers prior to the actual revelation showing the women fumbling as they delivered their shots. I don’t have the set of these commercials, so you’ll just have to make do with these:

Then there’s the Damage Care Expert set of commercials, also adapted from the US. Although the TVCs don’t offer much to write home about, I did like the copy on the print and outdoor advertising. Here’s one of them:

A Dove print ad

Following suit in the same category, Pears is asking for mom’s to send in photos of themselves with their kids to indicate the innocence & purity of the soap is like the mother-child relationship. Not half as effective in my opinion, at least from where I’m standing.

A Pears print ad

And I just haven’t been able to make any sense of the TVC that talks about Humayan and Babar and whatnot. Please let me know if you can:

At the other end of the spectrum is reality advertising that has tried to become a movement of sorts, while pushing the actual product somewhere in the background. After the whole noise Jaago Re raked up around the elections, it’s now back with the”Khilana bandh, pilana shuru” campaign. Even thought I really like the commercial, I don’t see it creating as much of a stir. Perhaps it’s because there’s only so much of it that people can take, these causes, or perhaps it hasn’t gone as all out as the previous campaign. Whatever the reason, I do hope it evolves further. ‘Cause I just don’t think taking a pledge online is going to be enough to do this.

But I suppose looking at the certain campaigns that have done well while adopting this “real” approach, you can only wait for more advertising that will do the same. Because it’s really just a win-win situation for everyone. The people forget that advertising is advertising as they finally want to believe what they hear, and for the advertiser, it quells the existential brouhaha that arises ever so often about why we do what we do and what good will come off of it.

This post is long over-due but theses TVCs were made available on YouTube only recently.

This is with reference to the new television campaign for Hindustan Times, which I found quite refreshing. Perhaps few campaigns for a media house managed to be as much an advertising landmark as the “Lead India ” campaign in recent years. This campaign, however,  is not on par with the “Lead India” campaign. You won’t find it all over the front page, third page, seventh page and back page of your newspaper, positioning itself as more important than the news itself (even though it probably was). And no… it won’t tug at your heart-strings 0r send you on a guilt-trip either. But what calls for a little humble appreciation is how it is quite simply to-the-point. Not surprising considering each spot is barely 20 seconds long.

Here are two of the TVCs:

There are a bunch of others, including one swine flu and one on cynicism. I have often been accused of being a little cynical myself but the ad still made perfect sense to me, without pissing me off. Which is quite honestly very difficult to do when you do venture into the space of public interest advertising with socio-political messaging.

But I guess Lowe Lintas has had enough practice in this sphere with its more-than-successful run with “Jaago Re” for Tata Tea and and also successful (though, not as much) “What an idea, Sir ji” campaign for Idea Cellular. Which is why I wasn’t surprised to know that they were the agency behind this campaign. Also appreciated its attempt at being “young” without stereotyping our kind with arbit, “cool” sounding messaging like, “It’s in my DNA” or whatever.

If there was something I had to change about the campaign, though, it would be the pay-off. Perhaps it’s just the cynic in me who’s talking, but somehow saying “It is time” in my mind always conjures the image of Rajnikanth saying it after blowing the smoke off his revolver. Or worse still, being said by one of those horrid rip-offs of him, as in “Quick Gun Murugun”.

But all in all, a very likeable campaign. I just hope it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Here’s another example of advertising that’s making me lose my faith.

A few days back (Wednesday, to be specific) I stumbled across an “article” in the Bangalore Times which was apparently written by Saif Ali Khan himself. Something about how he was looking for a mystery woman… someone he’d lost touch with since his childhood. Now, we’ve seen enough of these fake news-advertising things in the recent past to take them too seriously. And when they appear in the Bangalore Times, they don’t fool you for a minute. So I just supposed it was for some new movie or show of his and thought I’d wait and watch.

The following day, I read story No. 2. A distraught Saif has still not found her. Ah, well…

Day 3 is already close to revelation. Yes… just a 2-day teaser. This one asks… no, tells me to watch television to know more about the mystery girl.

So, like any good, naive member of the audience, I obeyed and watched. And this is what I got.

Now, I don’t think I need to explain myself anymore. But then again, the advertisement’s got people raving, so maybe I do. This whole advertising gimmick thing was for the Airtel DTH service. The promise? Crystal-clear display quality so that you don’t miss any details. In this case, the detail was a butterfly pendant a young Saif gives to a young Sarah which then becomes the identifying, reuniting symbol. Somehow, we never seem to outgrow the old, Amitabh Bachchany, Bollywood narrative.

The whole thought process is just so convoluted and all-over-the-place that I forget what the ad’s about before I realise what it’s for. And then it ends with the whole Saif-Kareena turn of events. Which is wrong for two big reasons. One, if there’s anything people like about this ad, it’s probaly the sickly-sweet, nostalgia inducing love story. So people expect a happy ending… boy looks for girl, boy suffers, boy misses girl in crowd, boy finds girl through the magic land of television, boy meets girl again, boy & girl walk into sunset, the end. No Kareena. Two, everyone is sick of advertsiers commercialising their relationship so much. Head & Shoulders did it, some Lays ad did it, Airtel’s already done it… we get it! They’re together… now move on already.

I’m really trying to find something good to say about this ad, but I don’t have the strength for that kind of work right now. You’re free to give it a shot.

A nation went throught panic when Vodafone had released its much talked of Zoozoo campaign. Vodofone had painted itself into a pretty little corner. How would O&M ever outdo its brillaince of putting kids and women into egg-shelled suits and making them go “Kaaaaaaay!”?

And then they did this. No alien creatures trying to pass off as cute. Just ugly people singing horribly, trying to add a little soul to advertising. Just the way we like it.