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.

Guess who’s planning a not-so-quiet comeback? Your favorite 2-minute snack. Yes, Maggi Noodles has served notice on its audience with a three-TVC digital communication initiative that would no doubt become an all-out campaign, no sooner than the product is ready to hit the market shelves. The TVCs created by McCann for Nestle show a monologue each where a young man talks rather wistfully, as if to a very dear friend, about how things have changed. One has had to order food for home-delivery, look out for the largesse of neighbours and things like that. Each film ends with a very endearing appeal to “come back, we’re missing you”, or words to that effect. No reference is made to what they are talking about. No brand name is mentioned. The last scene just has the Maggi logo with a line that says, “We miss you too”. Very intelligent approach. Nothing about the improvements made, if any. No reassurances of quality. No talk about strict testing and checks, no celebrity, all of which Cadbury’s did in its comeback effort after the worms-in the-chocolate incident. None of all this … as yet. Maggi has kept it purely emotional so far. What I would describe as a passively aggressive strategy. Nothing defensive about it. Very well thought-through. Maybe there are more films slated to come yet, but why are all the films focused on young men? Or is this just the first instalment in a long line of films yet to come? I seem to recall Maggi’s advertising all these years aimed at the family as a unit. Never at single young men.

What’s different?

The luxury vehicle market is looking up. What with a newly aggressive Mercedes Benz launching a slew of models and BMW promoting its X series along with its flagship sedan range, Audi couldn’t be far behind. Their advertising for the new A6 is on television screens now. It is classic luxe-car advertising, showing all the features this car has, including the powerful lights and the media system inside. When I say classic luxe-car advertising, I don’t mean it as a compliment. I mean, there’s not much to differentiate it from the pack. Most people know these cars (like the Audi) are exceptionally good driving machines. One expects the quiet luxury inside, the gadgets and gizmos and, of course, the badge value one gets while driving in such a car. I long to see other differentiators. Brighter lights? It is a very important feature but show me someone who will run out and buy an Audi because of its brighter lights. Sure, its running lights are a great feature and add a very distinctive touch to its look, but now everyone has played catch-up with that feature. I long for an ad from a company like Audi that talks about after-sales service or something where they build a relationship with a customer. Someone who pays so much deserves to be cultivated. He might buy another Audi sometime in the future. This is one area where it is really weak.

Nice one, this

Asian Paints has this new TVC for its Royale range of paints. Featuring Saif Ali Khan, it starts off with Saif declaring that when something is just “OK” he says it is “nice”. Then there are a series of situations where Saif declares that a pastry, a champagne flute, a flower arrangement and so on, are “nice”. What makes this part of the film really interesting are his expressions, each time he says “nice”. It clearly shows that nice is a very inadequate word.

And then while he is hosting a party at his house, he asks a guest what he thinks of the house and is shattered when the reply is “nice”. Enter Royale from Asian Paints and the walls get really dressed up, leading to a far more gushing compliment from the lady on his arm.

So what do I think of the ad? . The ad is more than nice. It brings out, in a very compelling manner, the fact that Royale is something exceptional. Saif is very good in this role and brings out the brand values of Royale very well.

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

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