addendum

Addendum is a fortnightly 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 decades of burgers

Gosh, how time flies! It seems like just yesterday we were debating what McDonald’s would offer the Indian palate, and how it would source its Idaho potatoes. We were happily laughing at the way it branded the Maharaja Mac. We marvelled at the McAloo Tikki and the way the venerable brand was localising while still maintaining its essence and global core. We loved the standardisation of its famous French fries, thick shakes and the cleanliness of its toilets. The golden arches have been spreading their reach all over India and have reached the significant milestone of 20 years in our country. So Leo Burnett and Ram Madhvani have created this TVC which highlights this landmark in a very simple yet memorable way. It tracks the lives of a young couple who accidentally bump (pun intended) into each other at a McDonald’s outlet. They grow close sipping Cokes there, marry, have a child and McDonald’s remains a part of every interesting phase of their lives right down to their child’s birthday party. It’s a nice warm family feeling that one gets. And the McDonald’s part is blended into the tale with the velvety smoothness of their soft ice-creams. This is no force-fit. One relates to it naturally, and that is the charm of this advertisement. In fact, it reminded me of a true life incident involving my then little son Ishan and a McDonald’s outlet. But that’s another story. So let’s forget the calories and trans fats and stories about the ill effects of junk food and bite into a veggie burger or anything more adventurous you might prefer.

It’s all in the timing

I loved the full-page ad from Freecharge on the day following the demonetisation news that read “Cash is not feeling accepted anymore. We are.” The immediacy of the response really capitalised on a burning topic and brought to the fore the advantages of Freecharge. Topicality is very important. It makes for great relevance.

See the message?

A couple are in their car, the young man at the wheel, when he spots an advertisement for a big sale on ladies’ shoes. Wanting to avert an imminent shopping adventure from his lady partner, he hurriedly pulls out of the parking slot only to have her face another “standee” with the same message. And to add to his misery, a van with an identical message pulls up right beside her. Completely foxed at her lack of normally predictable behaviour he notices her pulling out her spectacles, casually cleaning them, putting them on and then looking at his bewildered face before asking him to keep driving. The voice-over exhorts the young lady not to wear spectacles and remain a mere spectator to what’s going on around her. And then we have the plug for Bausch & Lomb contact lenses. Nice casting, a novel way to communicate the advantage of contact lenses over conventional spectacles and we see a good job by FCB Ulka for Bausch & Lomb.

Emoji talk

It had to happen. A script communicated only through emojis. A film for Parle Kismi made by Thoughtshop Advertising. Novel approach and very relevant, more so to the young audience they are reaching out to. I realise I’m probably not in the TG but would someone mind telling me what a Parle Kismi with Elaichi flavour is?

Vox pop: Ad veteran Nagesh Alai writes in that “the Tiago and the Philips LED TVCs prove that celebrities can neither be the USPs of the ad films nor can they guarantee good communication about brand attributes.” Very true, Nagesh! And journalist Preeti Hoon says “the Ramesh/Suresh 5 star ad carries forward a story along with its characters, thereby has some stickiness”. Fully agree, Preeti.

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