The Hindu Business Line : Potter grounded

Remember the commercial where a `desi' version of Harry Potter (Hari Puttar?) riding a broomstick challenged a Bajaj Discover rider to a race and finally the broomstick crashed into a bridge but the Bajaj hero jumped up and caught Hari Puttar?

Well, Bajaj Discover has very logically come out with a sequel to that TVC. Without his broomstick (remember, it disintegrated in the crash), Hari is now grounded. So he sits atop a stationary Bajaj Discover and acts like he is zooming around. The easy rider walks up to him and asks if he has a licence to ride (a two-wheeler. We know he is licensed to fly a broomstick). Then he shifts the magic boy to the pillion seat and rides off into the sunset.

We are Discovering something new everyday. If only we knew what it was!

If there is a third part to this story (who knows, the creative team might be inspired to do a Rowling on us), please let us know. We will plan our comfort breaks around it.

Goodbye Goodman

John Goodman is moving along. For those who came in late and missed his cameo performance, John Goodman was named as one of the triumvirate that would rule over the fortunes of O&M after Ranjan Kapur laid down office.

Not-so-old-timers recall a farewell party at the Taj Land's End where Ranjan seemed to make a point that he was glad that after him O&M would be safe in three pairs of hands (the other two pairs were Piyush Pandey and S.N. Rane). One could almost hear Prasoon Joshi saying "Voh teen ke barabar the."

But then, as time raced by, Piyush was called Chairman and the pecking order seemed to be attaining some clarity. Goodman, on the other hand seemed content with a low profile (it is tough to match the quivering moustache and loud laughter of Pandeyji) and a focus on some "interesting" aspects of the business. And now he is moving on.

Next stop Tokyo

No guesses where John Goodman is heading to. Tokyo seems to be the next stop for all good men. From HLL big boss Arun Adhikari to advertising agency boss, Mumbai to Tokyo seems to be a favoured route.

Sure, the market is huge and the challenge is bigger, but we simple folks are totally mystified by this globalisation. We grew up hearing stories about the complexities of the Japanese market. The language and culture issues and the need to have a strong local influence. Now we have a procession of India hands going there to run operations.

Well, I guess the Japs got used to Douglas MacArthur. Now whether it is Goodman or Adhikari, it feels good to know that an Indian experience can make you a Japanese head honcho. I guess we should just be saying `Arigato' (thank you). Of course, we will miss good men.

Concerned communicators

Rajastan Patrika seems to be on overdrive in its golden jubilee year.

Barely are we digesting their sponsorship of the `Provocations' show where Padamsee interrogated Piyush on March 3, we are told they are organising a big bash to present their Concerned Communicator award. This is a public service award, and they have roped in a rather impressive group of associations to `support' them. The list includes the International Advertising Association, Unicef, International Newspaper Marketing Association, Advertising Association of India ...

We will tell you how the show was next time.

Pretty Lite

We always seemed to associate Pidilite with O&M. After all, who thought you needed mass communication to sell industrial adhesives? We recall people persistently enquiring whether we, who enjoyed the Fevicol advertising so much, even once told an interior decorator that the carpenters must use Fevicol when they glued the sheets of plywood together. We might not have been able to answer that question satisfactorily, but we certainly are aware that Pidilite felt its sales and market share were being positively affected by the outstanding advertising that was being consistently created for it.

With that background we were in awe of a design shop called Umbrella that was reported to have got a whole lot of design work from Pidilite. And don't you tell us that O&M is not interested in design and corporate identity work. We remember it (or rather its Singapore outfit) was responsible for the "contemporary" new corporate identity that Asian Paints acquired. And it was also responsible for burying poor Gattu, the lovable mascot Asian Paints had.

Well, Umbrella certainly seems to have pulled off a coup this time!

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