addendum

Addendum is a weekly column that takes a sometimes hard, sometimes casual, sometimes irreverent, yet never malicious look at some of the new or recent advertisements and comments on them.

Two-minute wonder

The Maggi brand has been carefully nurtured over the years. It has completely owned the “two-minute food” space. And with its little masala sachet and the option of adding some fresh vegetables and other ingredients to create your own special recipe with Maggi at the heart, the freshness of the product and the brand have been preserved. While the rich baritone of the Big B still lingers in our ears, Bobby Pawar and his team at Publicis have come up with two little gems that not just focus on the special bond between a mother and a daughter but also somehow manages to bring out the two-minute recipes and the fact that here is an all-time favourite in many households. There’s one that shows a 21-year-old girl (young lady?) getting ready to set up her own home and the anxieties that the mother has in this situation. The girl cooks up one of the “mother’s recipes” and sweetly invites mom to her home if she is hungry. The other shows a school girl being teased in her new school for having a name like Rajkumari. The visibly upset girl come home upset with her mother for sticking a name like that on her, and then, overtaken by hunger pangs asks for the plate of “special” Maggi noodles. The girl explains that since it is actually special she calls it special. That lets the mother explain to her that since she is the princess in her mind her name is Rajkumari. Good performances and a set of well- made film makes what could easily become corny into a very good viewing experience.

Now this is pester power!

I remember the internet baby commercial released for MTS last year. To put it mildly, I didn’t think too much of it. But evidently its audience did. And now MTS is back with a cracker of a film created by Creativeland Asia. The hugely expectant mother in the maternity hospital suddenly loses her bulge. Cut to a scene in heaven where a rebellious little infant is arguing with “God” and refusing to be born into a family that owns three smartphones but no WiFi connection. Finally God announces the MTS Homespot Instant WiFi stick that provides plug-and-play access to multiple internet users simultaneously. The little baby now agrees to be born. The last scene shows the baby in a crib asking for the WiFi password. Honestly, the basic idea of a generation that demands Wifi is very sound. Add to that some superb execution in the form of production values and a zany script, and the film made me smile widely. Great repeat value adds to the cachet of the film.

Make love, not war

I am sure every agency has its favourite clients. Clients who have inspired them and challenged them and gotten some memorable work out of them. Somehow the chemistry between such clients and agencies shows clearly in the work they end up creating. Pidilite and O&M and a “ Jodi ” like that. A recent commercial for Feviquick is another gem from the combination. Set at the Wagah border where goose-stepping Indian and Pakistani soldiers do a fierce high-stepping aggressive routine every evening, this commercial shows the human side of this exchange. The Pakistani soldier’s shoe has split a sole and the Indian counterpart discreetly points it out. The Pakistani soldier is mortified and then suddenly he sees the Indian doing some swift arm movement and his sole is stuck back again. For the benefit of the audience the arm movement is repeated in slow motion and you see the Indian whipping out a little tube of Feviquick, applying it on the Pakistani soldier’s sole and putting the tube back in one seamless eye-blurring movement. The Pakistani salutes his counterpart, remembers that this is not a part of the routine and they go their different ways. The super reads “ Thodo nahi, jodo ”. A communication that does well for the brand and even offers a meaningful message. What more could one ask for?

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in