The Hindu Business Line : Pure invitation

Restaurants in Mumbai, at least their prices (not to say this is unique), seem to reflect the buoyancy of the Indian economy and the height of the Bombay Sensex. Gone are the days when only a meal at the fabled Zodiac Grill would make your wallet lighter by Rs 5,000-6,000 per head. Now we are told that a dinner at Wasabi at the Taj where you can sample delightful Japanese fare you have only heard of and were dying to say you have eaten can cost as much as Rs 8,000-10,000 per head. Of course, if you are the type who loves her wine, many restaurants in Mumbai offer the Chateau Latour (no, it's not from grapes grown at Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's home town Latur) at upwards of Rs 30,000 a bottle.

Against the backdrop of all this fancy cuisine at fancier rates, we were pleasantly surprised to receive what would rate as the most innovative direct mailer we have seen in some time. The invitation was from a restaurant called Pure, which is at the Taj Land's End in Mumbai's Bandra.

It came in the form of a letter which explained that Pure was the new international restaurant that used only the freshest and purest organic ingredients. The letter that talked about a promotion called the Pure Tour which consists of a seven-course meal including desserts.

In case you misunderstand our usage of the word `invitation', we must stress that this meal, or `tour' as they call it, would cost you, and us, only Rs 3,000 per head. What we really loved were the last two lines, which we will reproduce faithfully: "To ensure that this invite doesn't fall into less deserving hands, we recommend you peel it off, bit by tasty bit, and eat it."

A legend in fine print reassured us that the letter was printed on 100 per cent food grade material and that it was pure vegetarian. Now that's what we call an invitation good enough to eat.

21 Gunn salute

The Gunn Report takes off where awards nights end. An enterprising entrepreneur who knows the worth of creative awards to advertising agencies compiles an annual report that tallies the number of awards agencies have received in the year gone by. This year's Gunn report is out, and evidently Colvyn Harris is thrilled to bits that JWT seems to be above O&M in the world rankings.

We congratulate India for staggering in at number 21 in the Gunn rankings. We also loved the way the industry positioned itself at coming "back" into the top 25, even though Malaysia and Thailand were ranked ahead of India.

We talk about sending our talent out to such countries to work and somehow they seem to beat us at the sweepstakes.

Yet, we are interested in knowing which Indian awards are counted in the Gunn Report. Anyone who knows may please enlighten us. We also want to know if this means we are not entering in enough awards that count.

An interesting observation is that BBDO Worldwide was ranked No.1. Funny its Indian affiliates don't rank too highly in the creative awards tally on home turf.

PR Snafu

Did you know that Edelman Worldwide helped write the Word of Mouth Marketing Associations' code of ethics and the same guys have been pulled up for being the face behind the `Wal-Marting across America' blog that was unmasked as a fake created and paid for by Edelman? Incidentally, the PR major publicly apologised. So we accept their apology gracefully and get on with life.

Anil Kapoor

Congratulations to Anil Kapoor of FCB Ulka for being `Drafted' as the head honcho for the region which includes India and South-East Asia. Mr Kapoor now has a more delicate task on hand. Finding an appropriate new name for the new entity in India that could be called Draft FCB Ulka. One wonders what the new brand would be called. Will we see the disappearance of the Indian part of the name (Ulka)? Well, Trikayaa disappeared from Grey and Sista from Saatchi and Chaitra from Leo Burnett ...

Vic's Pic

THEY'LL BE BACK

We love the new TVC from Pepsi that played out during the finals of the Champions Trophy cricket match. The "Hu Ha India! Aaya India" was turned into an emotional commercial where an elderly gent throws out the Indian jersey (don't ask what he was doing with it in the first place) and it is caught before hitting the ground by a young boy who looks up and says "Phir Ayega India".

This is one commercial they can be sure could never get dated. It can be played continuously over the next decade. After all, hope never dies.

Victoria

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