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.

These days good service is taken for granted, and rightly so. But in an age where time is measured in nanoseconds and attention spans in smaller units of measurement, what about quick service? Well, the auto majors have caught on to the fact that car owners really don’t have the time to send or drop off a car for servicing and wait indefinitely for the dealer to get the job done. Toyota highlights its one-hour-service with a TVC that shows a young husband telling his wife that he would get the car serviced while she gets ready for the movie. And while the young lady goes though the routine of “getting ready”, his Etios is whisked through the one-hour service and emerges, all shiny and clean, ready to ferry them across for their movie engagement. Well, a little exaggeration never hurt anyone, except the young lady who stands accused (in a lighter vein) of taking a lot more than an hour to get ready and loses out in the “getting–ready” sweepstakes to the little Toyota and its one-hour service. Well, the offer sounds great, but Toyota has really put its service standards on the line now. Any excuses for a delayed service or some “conditions apply” fine print and this superb offer could prove rather counter- productive. Now I know why the newly launched Mahindra Web site has a “three-hour service” offer.

Warm and fuzzy

Now here’s a nice, warm, feel-good film from Titan and Lowe Lintas. A simple script. Close friends come to greet one of their own at a wedding reception. The banter between the young groom and his friends is the hero of the film. As the groom baits the guests for probably recycling the large bouquet of flowers, self-deprecatingly acknowledging that he too never gave a gift, just had a picture taken, indulged in a great meal and made good a clean exit, one of the group presents a “his-and-hers” Titan Sonata watch set to the flabbergasted groom. Very easy to relate to at that age.

Very realistic, and then it has a nice sentimental ending, made even more sentimental by the urging of one of the worthies not to get all sentimental. The wedding gift of the Titan watches, a nice, affordable gift by any standards, gets a good boost by a well-thought-through and well-produced film.

No skidding!

The annual monsoon brought hope for a sagging economy and then despair with its deadly fury. In the meanwhile MRF continued with its Rain Day prediction which is a property it has used rather effectively for more years than I can remember. Ceat joined the chorus with a well-made commercial by O&M for its new Monsoon Smart two-wheeler tyres. The use of “a regular tyre user” and then the Ceat Monsoon Smart tyre user brings out the “difference” one can experience. The cleverly made commercial shows a two-wheeler weaving through traffic on a rainy day with all the normal obstacles that pepper Indian roads. As the rider navigates through children playing, bad roads and waterlogged areas with effortless ease, thanks to his Ceat tyres, the importance of having a good grip on the road, more so in wet conditions, comes alive. Now, after the monsoon O&M should prevail upon Ceat to do a public service film where two-wheeler riders are educated that it is not cool to weave in between lanes, do wheelies on deserted roads or ride on footpaths. And helmets are really important for their own safety.

Slippery as soap

The goodness of aloe vera and white lily are sought to be highlighted as the winning combination in Godrej No. 1, apparently the third largest soap brand in India. And DDB Mudra has an interesting way of introducing this new variant. There is this young lady who dotes on her brother’s wife and shows it in the most cloying way possible. She actually says that there is something more beautiful than the breathtaking vistas of Shimla, and that is her sister-in-law. While you cringe at this unabashed and rather new approach to flattery, you are hustled through the rest of the commercial that tells you something about the soap and ends with some supers that are shown so fast that even if you don’t blink, you miss them. I wish they had hurried through the praise for the young lady and shown a little more of the soap and its qualities or those two supers which I very intrigued about.

Vox Populi: Reader Deepak Bhat is a “management thinker” and I think I’ll just say he agrees with what we wrote about the Congress Bharat Nirman campaign. Thanks Deepak for the kind words. I’m afraid we are too modest to publish your letter in its entirety.

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. addendum.brandline@gmail.com

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