Flipkart has been running a series of ads where it shows rather young children acting as older people with grown-up voices. The idea is hardly new, but by consistently dealing one ad after the other Flipkart has quite successfully taken ownership of the “young-acting-like-old” space. The two new TVCs created by Happy Creative Services are in the same genre. One of them is a parody of a popular news channel format where the opinionated anchor asks leading questions, cuts away for some live footage, interrupts the panellists frequently and then delivers the final conclusion himself. Boy, Arnab must be the first anchor to inspire a TVC! Anyway, it’s an interesting take on everyday life and a sign of our times. The second one shows this little anchor interviewing a ubiquitous Subbu who replies in a typical “Madrasi” accent. Here again, a sign of our times. Look around you. There’s this South Indian guy talking about his air conditioner. A Subbu telling you where to bank and how to maximise your investments.

Wake up call

I’ve always loved the Tata Tea Jago Re campaign. It’s strong and refreshing. Probably like the tea. As I am not a regular tea drinker I cannot comment on the cup that cheers, but I can certainly appreciate the advertising. Created by Lowe Lintas and partners this new one seeks to re-launch the Tata Gold Tea with this TVC. A young wife is seen talking to her minister husband, telling him, in short that with elections round the corner, he might not have time for his wife, but he should certainly not ignore women as a group. After all, they constitute 49 per cent of the electorate and can make or mar any election. Yes, they really could. If they voted. And along with telling us about the tea and how the leaves open in the boiling water, the film seeks to convey two very powerful messages. One, that the ballot power of women is pretty awesome. And the other, more important one, that women should realise this latent strength and use it by going out and voting. How can I not like this TVC? It brings out the power of women. It exhorts people to vote and it cleverly sells Tata Gold Tea. If it can do all this, I’m a fan. I certainly hope they run this frequently as polling day draws nearer. It’s really the need of the hour. The need to vote, I mean. And maybe even the need to have a hot cup of tea. And if you wanted to add any more feathers to this crowded cap, I can add that Dr A. L. Sharada of the wonderful NGO Laadli commented that this was a really gender-sensitive ad. Why can’t we have more purposeful advertising like this?

Hairy tale

So all these years you poor men have been using your mother’s shampoo or your wife’s, or your girl friend’s? No wonder many of you don’t need to use shampoo any more! Well, all that could be a thing of the past. J. K. Helene Curtis now presents Park Avenue Beer shampoo and Publicis has created a TVC to promote it. To begin with they have this very macho-looking guy as their hero. He screams a lot, has hairy underarms and keeps telling you that man hair is different because, well, it’s man hair. When you begin to understand that he is not referring to his fuzzy underarms or his droopy moustache, but to his long hair, he tells you that this shampoo has an ingredient that all men love. And just in case you think he is referring to the two lovely damsels who appear as his arm candy, he bellows in your ear that he is referring to beer. And then just in case you think you can down it and have hair all over like him, he bellows that you should not swallow it, but use it on your head like, well, woman shampoo, I guess. And then this big, loud macho man who looks like some hillbilly who ran away from his job as a circus hailer bellows once again, this time with bubbles flowing out of his mouth (he doesn’t follow his own advice about not drinking it), that it would do a world of good for your hair. Good? Well, different, is what I would say. I like the packaging for the shampoo bottle. It really looks like a pint bottle of beer, crown cap and all. Do I like the ad? Well, I said it was different, didn’t I? And would I use it? I think the product is a little too late in the day for me. But yes, if I had more hair, I think I would.

There’s a Chennai Express running to packed houses and a Madras Café raking in rave reviews. Wow, what a time to be a South Indian! Anyway, back to Flipkart. I like the way it is plugging away the cash-on-delivery promise and the exchange promise. These, I guess are the major concerns of potential customers and these are being addressed in a creative way. Romba fine, Saar!

Vox Pop: Reader Madhulik Rawal finds the “awesome” Nano TVC very confusing and high on steroids. She writes that Idea’s ads bring a smile to her face. She likes the new one and feels the “Haryanvi cop” has a great accent and is really funny when he shoos away the men on a bicycle at the end of the TVC. She hopes the bandhan between the public and police improves. Keep smiling Madhulik, and yes, we love optimists like you.

Digi and Design Yatra: And since this column is read by people who love advertising, may I add that I attended half a session of the IAA Kyoorius Digi Yatra at Goa recently. Even though I am a self-confessed conference junkie, I was impressed with this one.

A filled-to-capacity hall of 1,400 delegates, great ambience and organising, a sterling speaker line-up.

A real winner. And I loved the fact that 1,400 young people, OK, OK, 1,399 young people were really devoted to listening to what was being said. Rajesh Kejriwal, take a bow!

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant.Addendum is a fortnightly 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. >addendum.brandline@gmail.com

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