This is about the commercials made for Flipkart by Dentsu Webchutney. They are classic, for different reasons. First, it’s a déjà vu classic. Ask any agency person. We’ve all gone through the pains of brainstorming, creating and then presenting to a client who says, “It’s good, but it lacks something!” And have smiled understandingly — actually wanting to demand what that “something” is – at that smug client who can’t even express himself properly. It’s a classic because Dentsu Webchutney deserves an award for just parodying a client presentation and claiming this is a creative endeavour. Whomsoever presented this set of ads to the client, I bow long and deep before you. Very few people can pull off something like this. You show a presentation for a sale, have it rubbished by the quintessential client and then just announce the sale in a very simple way. I wonder why you couldn’t have just announced the sale in that simple way instead of taking us through those presentations by the over-enthusiastic girl with a “Hairfie” and the Hindi-belt creative-type. I get it. That’s what is called a smart agency and a, well, a client.

Appealing to the boss in you

Remember the time you published a dull, straightforward advertisement in a local newspaper if you wanted to recruit staff? And remember the queues outside your office immediately? Well, times have changed and if you want to recruit the right kind of people you need more than an “appointments page” advertisement. That’s why insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has this TVC created by RKSwamy BBDO. There are several situations showing young men and women tied down, sometimes literally, to dreary jobs. And then you have the LIC lady – yes, it’s a lady and we like that – telling you that life is full of choices. And then there is a pitch for recruiting you as an LIC agent. The proposition is that this is much more that a job, it’s career insurance and a little chart lets you know that you could have unlimited income, flexi-hours and such things. The rather well-made film ends on the note that you can be your own boss. Now if that won’t work …

Perk up

Perk from Mondelez (Cadbury’s) is really one of those brands that evokes a lot of memories. And I’m sure this is not just for me. When I think of Perk I think of a petite young girl with a charmingly impish smile and dimples you could drown in. Nothing very classic. Nothing grandiose or stunning. Just the kind of “girl-next-door looks” with that something very special. Of course, every young man would die to have that kind of a girl next door. I am referring to the young Preity Zinta. And it was that very friendly yet irreverent charm that catapulted her into Bollywood. That was, of course, an era where you had “models” such as Preity and “actresses” from Bollywood. Now you just have Bollywood actors who double up as product models as well. And so you have Alia Bhat in the commercial for Perk. I’m glad to report that O&M has stuck to the look, feel and qualities you always associate with the brand. That’s what makes for good brand-building. And so a young girl and her friend (Alia and a friend) are shown pulling a little prank on the besotted snacks vendor, to the dismay of a rich dude, played by actor, ad-man and friend Bharat Dabholkar. Let me not delve into the script. That is really not relevant. The characterisation of Alia as the Perk girl is spot on. Okay, she doesn’t need Perk to get her film roles but the casting, acting and the steadfast way of sticking to the values of the brand make this a memorable ad film.

Vox Pop: Reader D Mahesh from Visakhapatnam writes in to say he is very happy with Vodafone’s advertising over the last two months. He feels it (the agency is Ogilvy) is at its creative best and is particularly touched by the “wailing kid” TVC. We agree, Mahesh, we agree.

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.

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

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