Bran for moms

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 at addendum.brandline@gmail.com

It's that time of the day. You are hustling the little one off to school, the husband is getting ready to leave for work and there are a zillion things that need to be coordinated to make sure that people are bathed, dressed, fed and kissed goodbye. And they thought air traffic controllers had a tough time. Moms go through this “take-off-congestion” every single day of their lives and they don't demand increments and bonuses. But then, if Mom's stomach is not is peak condition, all these things which she multi-tasks with such ease that no one really appreciates suddenly become mighty peaks she must scale every morning. And of course, we all expect moms to be smiling epitomes of perfection, don't we?

Well, Kellogg's All Bran sympathises. And presents this well-made TVC from JWT that shows Mom (Tisca Chopra) on a not-so-good-stomach day wondering why this fully-grown male professional who is supposed to be a great problem-solver at work, needs to bellow down at her for his black socks which he somehow never seems to be able to find. And since she cannot teach this overgrown baby to find his own socks every day, she enjoys the nourishing goodness of a breakfast cereal made of wheat flakes which has all the dietary fibre she needs to keep her stomach moving smoothly and ensure she is in a wonderful mood to deal with all the little things others should be doing but are not. And if you wonder what all those demanding fathers have for breakfast, well, the secret of their great mood is probably the fact that they have devoted wives. As for me, I am married, and have Kellogg's All Bran too. A doubly wide smile…

Stop@nothing!

With the A Star, Maruti Suzuki not just entered a new segment aimed at the upwardly mobile young audience, it must have decided internally to truly stop @ nothing. The company has morphed from being a manufacturer of just reliable little cars to a manufacturer of lifestyle products. And nothing defines that better than the styling, and then the advertising for the zany A Star. The car has a distinctive personality, and though I haven't driven it, having owned three Maruti Suzuki cars in the past I am sure it would have a perky pick-up and would give trouble-free performance. And now, its ‘Wacky-pedia' campaign chooses commonplace words and then re-defines them in the context of their youthful audience. Very interesting. I saw four TVCs (Censored, Test Drive, Stepney and Automatic). I am told there are seven. I loved the Censored, Stepney and Test Drive” TVCs. They really took everyday words and gave them a whole new meaning in under 30 seconds. The films are well made and the music is just appropriate to the mood that is being set. Most importantly, I think their targeted audience will absolutely love them. This set of TVCs would be the Delhi Belly of advertising. If you are the audience, you relate to it. If not, hey, you don't matter! “New definitions for a new generation”, says the audio. Spot on, bro!

Much to digest

The RPG faction headed by Sanjiv Goenka has acquired a new corporate identity. We are very impressed. The logo unit now has the words “RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group”, a graphic and the tag line “Growing legacies”. I beg someone to do market research one year down the line and see how many people see in this unit “the legacy of the parent company”. Also if they find the rather attractive graphic which consists of six arrows with tinges of yellow, purple and orange pointing towards the centre “reflective of a company that is friendly, warm dynamic and has a futuristic approach”. And if they see “the values of dynamism, progressiveness and humanness that are imbibed in the logo”. Oh, please don't think I am seeing all this. This is what the client and the agency wants us to see in it. Wow! They must really think we are very bright. Or maybe I'm just plain dumb.

Greenlam laminates

McCann Ericsson pushes the envelope real hard this time. A jolly old man loves the laminate so much he could, well, die for it. And does. In the TVC. Well, if you like morbid humour, you'll love this one. How far would you go to stay with the laminate? How far would you go with your script? Let's see what you think about this one. Write in.

The writer is a communications consultant.

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