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

What happens when a prestigious jewellery brand from the house of Tatas forges a link with Bollywood's first couple, the Bachchans, and then gets a good agency and film maker to put all this together on celluloid (or the digital equivalent of celluloid these days)? You get an ad film that works.

Obviously Tanishq feels the need to educate the customer on how to assess and purchase diamonds. Probably, by doing this they could also focus on the shortcomings of the traditional diamond “dealer” who does not usually talk about cut, clarity, carat and such things in such detail, preferring to deal with the nuances of the other “c” (cash) instead. Yet, educating customers could be as boring and tedious as it is noble. Here is where someone has come up with an interesting script idea where the Big B, who is contemplating buying a diamond necklace for his wife (Jaya Bachchan in the film too), shudders at the thought of being quizzed as to how he deemed himself an expert in buying diamonds. A quick drive down to the Tanishq showroom (please don't miss the Tata-owned Jaguar he drives) and a productive meeting with the knowledgeable Tanishq salesperson helps him to present the necklace to his wife with not just panache but also the knowing air of an expert. Amitabh, with the little gestures that make him so engaging and charming, is the sheet anchor of the film. The script certainly helps. Here again is a great example of how a celebrity (or in this case two celebrities) along with a good idea aided by wonderful direction and editing can bring out the true value of celebrity endorsements. And the true value of good diamonds too, of course.

… and then not so much

Let's stay with celebrities for a little while. There's this TVC for Kelloggs Chocos with whole grain which shows an extra-smart kid quizzing his young mom about random things. The mom (Karisma Kapoor) dazzles him with her reply about the goodness of whole grain in Chocos and her insights into his mischief all day. The youngster is awestruck by his all-knowing mom. Well, we are happy to note that Chocos now have some healthy ingredient in them, thank you. We also note that moms know everything. Now tell us why you wasted the lovely Karisma on this TVC, and spent all that effort and maybe money to animate that tiger on the box of cornflakes? I could ask you two more questions but I am afraid I might be already sounding like that little kid, asking silly questions. And I don't even have the incentive of getting Karisma to reply to me. I'll stick with quick-cooking oats.

Herd that?

With exams behind us and the prospects of making informed choices regarding education before us, the timing of the TVC from Shiksha.com couldn't be better.

The commercial shows different students blindly following one student who claims to know what he wants to do. As each student exercises her right to herd instinct, they appear to bleat and then follow the herd. The audio device of a plaintive “meh”, or bleat, is really quite effective. Otherwise, the plot remains simple and true to its core idea. Interesting, well thought-out, and imaginatively made for Info Edge India by Bang Bang films. The film ends with one bright youngster pulling up the Shiksha.com page and explaining that this is really a one-stop shop for information on education. As the tagline says, “Stop following, start exploring”. Incidentally, I just realised that Shiksha.com is from the owners of 99Acres.com and Naukri.com. The mere mention of 99Acres.com makes me recollect the “Shah Jahan” TVC and never ceases to bring a smile to my face. Obviously, someone at Info Edge has a knack of delivering good advertising. Or at least the good sense to recognise good advertising created by their agency.

Vox Pop: Jaya from Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, writes in about the TVS Wego TVC. From the safety point of view she is appalled that TVS even accepted this commercial. And she feels the public display of love by the couple is more of a traffic hazard for others road users too.

(The writer is a communications consultant.)

Related Topics