The right insights

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

Yet another TVC for yet another financial services company! You really can't blame people for thinking that way, can you? After all, financial services companies really offer “me-too” products these days. Which is why you need some insights to make a TVC that could stand out amidst the clutter. And that's what Metal has done for Shriram Insights. A well made TVC highlights the frustration of Rameshwar Sharma, an apparently famous astrologer who suddenly finds out to his acute chagrin that his customers are forging ahead with financial decisions without consulting him. A marriage is finalised, a son is sent abroad for higher studies, and a truck is purchased. And he isn't in the picture. Finally the astrologer realises that a company like Shriram Insights could help provide the stability of well-planned finances that could do away with any possible uncertainty in one's life. And that could also do away with the need to consult an astrologer to peer into the shifting mists of an uncertain future. The TVC has imaginative photography, an interesting story line, a good script and very good acting. All the right ingredients needed to translate good insights into a good piece of communication.

Be counted

The Great Indian Census is on, and as we go through the mammoth exercise of counting and classifying our huge population, we are being egged on by a slew of motivational films created by the Mudra group. Celebrities such as Priyanka Chopra and Sachin Tendulkar tell us that they have been counted, and request us to welcome the enumerator into our homes. The enumerator, who is naturally the hero of this entire exercise and is normally a teacher, has been represented by a mascot which is present in all the films. There are separate films aimed at working women and at physically challenged people. The message is the same and is crystal clear. Contribute to the progress of the nation. Stand up and be counted.

Winning toss

The World Cup is on, and Parle has bowled a full toss at its customers. A series of TVCs use Ugesh Sarcar, a magician (what is it about magic and the name Sarcar) to delight the audience. Candid moments are shot where the young and articulate Ugesh uses Parle Full Toss in various situations that evoke that right amount of awe and delight in his audiences. Each TVC ends with Ugesh holding up the packet of Full Toss (it comes in flavours such as Chatni, Masala Munch and Jhalmuri) and saying, “ Asli Magic To Isme Hai ” (the real magic is in this). Very topical and very effective. Now let's hope the audience crunches into the full toss as they lap up the cricket feast.

Play a guessing game

With the summer holidays almost on us, wanderlust is in the air and travel arrangements should be at their peak. Airlines probably do a major part of their business in these “vacation” months with parents dutifully scheduling their holidays around the school and college vacations of their children. Emirates airlines has launched a multi-media interactive advertising campaign which shows you gorgeously shot photographs of some of their destinations, and challenges you to guess which location they have shown. Lucky winners will get to fly there courtesy Emirates. Quite a novel promotion, I must say. If the beauty of the destination as shown in the picture doesn't get you, the contest will. Any which way, it should be a winning campaign for Emirates. The pictures tell a rather revealing tale, and the idea is obviously to get mass participation. For those who want to know, the first destination is … no, I guess I'll enter the contest myself!

Vox Pop: Remember Sachin Tendulkar in a TVC saying “I wish we could bring the World Cup back home this time”? Well, an alert Ajit Wadhwani from Mumbai wishes to know from where the master blaster wants to bring the Cup “back home” from. It will be in India for the presentation ceremony anyway, and it's not that we lost it the last time around. The year 1983 was a long time ago and as Sachin himself says earlier in the same TVC, he was just 10 years old then!

(The writer is a communications consultant.)

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