Coffee with Karan

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. Write in with either advertisements you wish reviewed or with your comments to >addendum.brandline@gmail.com

So the neighbours Deepika Padukone and Purab Kohli have finally met over a game of coffee, if not badminton. And you thought the trilogy was over. Think again. Nescafe has obviously been emboldened by the response to the rather brave story-line in the earlier TVCs and has gone for broke in this new TVC. There's coffee with … who else … Karan! Many TVCs resort to using celebrities in their scripts. Most of them do it for want of the big idea. However, this Nescafe TVC really shows what could happen if celebs are used to show off what they are good at. In this case, acting. The facial expressions of Purab, first as the star-struck fan, and then, post the dose of Nescafe latte, as a real cool dude, are a treat to watch. Even better is Karan Johar's performance. Well, the famous director and talk-show host did start off as an actor, even if it was a bit role, and his demeanour in the ad, first as the snooty celeb and then his sense of timing when Purab refers to him as “uncle” are quite superb. Karan Johar, you are definitely better off as an actor, rather than a talk-show host trying to brew trouble for your guests! Now that leaves Deepika. I am waiting for yet another TVC where she takes centre-stage. Nescafe, keep the coffee pot boiling. We are enjoying every moment of it.

Funding the dream

Every parent wants her child to grow up and be an engineer or a doctor or a top executive earning the kind of obscene bonuses one only reads of with morbid fascination in the newspapers. And many children have dreams of doing things that don't quite fall into the conventional straitjacket. A great parent is one who sensibly allows the child to follow her dream, and better still, has the wherewithal to fund those dreams. With education becoming long, complicated and expensive, insurance companies are plugging their child plans in a big way. Birla Sun Life has been one of the aggressive leaders. Their media agency even organised a “block” where the only ads you saw in a particular time slot on a particular channel were theirs. And so I was made to watch two TVCs and their variants over and over again. Honestly, if they weren't good, I would have screamed. The plot and situation are simple. The now-accomplished offspring sits with the indulgent parent and comments on how nice it turned out that the “child” had followed its dream. And the parent replies that it certainly gave him anxious moments while the “studying” period was on. And this was where the child plan insurance came in handy. Explained like this, it really looks like a boring DAVP script. Introduce this actor who superbly delivers a great script about wanting to become a chef, and suddenly the film comes alive. Here is a great example of a simple idea, executed simply, but well. It makes all the difference. No razzmatazz, no film actress and yet, I could watch the TVC five times at a stretch.

The hero pitch

It's cricket time, folks, and for the next couple of months you are going to be seeing and hearing about nothing else than cricket. First there's the World Cup with many important fixtures being played in India, then there's the IPL, but that's another story.

So who do you think will be the World Cup Hero? If Castrol and O&M have their way it could be you. In a whacky, zany promotion, O&M has signalled the start of cricket season with a TVC which shows Sachin Tendulkar pandering to the proclivities of a fan who has been nominated World Cup Ka Hero. The fan is shown asking the umpire to move back so he can have a better view of the pitch, and then Sachin, just about to complete a century, abruptly stops a couple of inches outside his crease to allow the “hero” to complete a call on his cell phone. And, of course, the Hero gets pride of place in the awards ceremony after the match. Well, there it is. If you are the Castrol Hero, you could have a live experience in the stadium with some VIP perks thrown in as well. No, Sachin will not wait for you to complete your call, though. And we wouldn't want him to either.

Vox Pop: Preeti from Thiruvananthapuram writes in to say she really likes all Abhishek's TVCs in the “Get Idea” number portability campaign (so do I, Preeti) except the one in the library where he leaves a young lady nonplussed after asking her what she was doing on January 20, 2011. Well Preeti, I am sure Abhishek is too much of a gentleman to do that in real life.

(The writer is a communications consultant.)

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