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.
Did you know that over 30 crore Indians live without access to power in any form? I didn’t know the latest figure but having been directly associated with the IAA-TERI Lighting a Billion Lives campaign and indirectly with NGO Chirag, I had some idea of the magnitude of the problem. McCann has created this TVC for Western Union that urges the Indian diaspora to use its service to remit money to India between October 15 and November 30, and Western Union would contribute ₹100 for every transaction made towards lighting up 10 (dark) villages. What a wonderful scheme! Link it with the festival of lights and it acquires a life of its own. A nice film which would no doubt be played in the digital medium with good music, a nice script and, most importantly, based on a gem of an idea. I guess the village would be lit up with solar lamps (I wish the film told me that). The scheme has made me view Western Union in an all new light. Pun intended. McCann has a great entry for the Olive Crown awards.
Varun Dhawan is biting into something that could be a shish kebab. He seems to be late to board the tour bus (spoiling the good name of Indians) and the driver refuses to open the door as he pulls away. Varun is galvanised into action. From the next scene onwards in the fast-paced TVC from Law & Kenneth for VIP Skybags, you get a wonderful bird’s eye view of Istanbul as Varun swallows or throws away the shish kebab (you don’t see it anymore) and proceeds in hot pursuit of the bus. Obviously he has a built-in GPS that helps him run over bridges and walkways, thumb a ride on a scooter, take the shortcut through the kitchen of a restaurant and stand firm, squarely blocking the way of the bus. The driver grudgingly opens the door but Varun decides to explore Turkey on his own. He raced through Istanbul, just to prove a point. Don’t ask me what the point was. Don’t ask me what the lyrics of the song mean either. Since the singer said “shish kebab” at least four times in the song, this is either a direct lift of an ad for shish kebabs, or the singer was reminding Varun about the shish kebab that got him into all this trouble. So in between all the shish kebabs and the Istanbul tour, let me just say the Skybag strolly held up pretty well. Think the shish kebab was thrown inside it?
Family matters
How do you convey, in a ‘different” way that the range of Bajaj Electricals gadgets are part of the family? OnAds has a TVC which uses miniature human-models who speak for the respective gadget. The story line itself has a dad and the two kids getting up and doing all the housework, aided by the Bajaj gadgets to help mom who has taken a break from work, and is now going back to it. It breaks stereotypes, pushes the gender envelope and brings out the role of Bajaj electrical gadgets powerfully. Thumbs up!
Hakuhodo Percept for Suzuki Baleno: Hi-tech effects, nice music and interesting highlights of various features of the new car. I’m told that apart from the name the car has nothing to do with the old Baleno. Wonder why they kept the name then. Great emphasis on the Nexa dealer outlets. Wonder why. I’ve been precisely once, if that, to any showroom.
Publicis for Nerolac exteriors: The postman irks the good doctor who feels he deserves more respect. The point being made is whatever you think you are, the world looks at the exterior of your home and decides for itself. So, freshen up the exterior and watch the neighbours, postmen and everyone else raise their eyebrows, even their arms, in salute. Sad, but true. Nicely made, Bobby!
Mullen Lintas for Standard Electricals: Alia Bhat exuding the confidence and energy of youth as she singlehandedly takes the interior designers through her new bare house deciding what goes where. And the final decision, Standard Wires and MCBs. Why should men take all the decisions?
Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in