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As India warms up for Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test match, which begins in Mumbai on Thursday, it’s not just the batting maestro who will be feeling the pressure. A three-member creative team at Mumbai-based advertising agency da Cunha Communications is also feeling the stress.
The team is currently working on an ad dedicated to Tendulkar for its long-time client, Amul Butter. The ad will be unveiled on Wednesday through hoardings, digital media and 40 publications.
Rahul da Cunha, Creative Director, says half-jokingly that he is feeling “much more pressure” than the cricketing icon.
That’s because the brand has chronicled India’s modern history for nearly five decades through its humorous ads, all of which promote Amul butter. As a result, Indian consumers have gotten into the habit of expecting a lot from Amul’s advertising.
In the past, the ads have not always waxed eloquent — applied maska in Amul’s lingo — on Tendulkar. Amul sometimes took contrarian positions on the master blaster.
For instance, when most advertisers and brands are lavish in their praise of the cricketing icon — after all, many of them pay Tendulkar to endorse their products — Amul has time and again poked fun at the star at the risk of isolating the brand from millions of his fans.
But on most occasions the brand came out unscathed. For example, Amul did not spare Tendulkar when he requested for a Customs duty waiver on his Ferrari, which was gifted to him by auto major Fiat, or when he made a request to the Maharashtra Government to grant him extra Floor Space Index to set up a gymnasium at his plush house.
The only time Amul saw a backlash of sorts from fans was when it poked fun at the star’s ability on the cricket field. For instance, when Tendulkar got bowled through the gate during the India-England Test series in 2012, Amul ran an ad with the caption: “Move your feet to eat” butter that “bowls you over”. It left fans with a bitter aftertaste.
That is unlikely to happen this time. da Cunha gave some indication of the tone of the ad: “In his cricketing years, Tendulkar has captured the imagination of billions. Let us doff our hats to that.”
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