It was a heart-stopper alright. I could not see the semi-finals fully (could only catch up on the match mid-way through the 2nd half) and missed out on both the match & telecast action.
It was encouraging to see brands that were never on TV, experimenting with the finals. Given the pre-match hype on guaranteed eyeballs, the high ad rates may not have been a deterrent. In fact, brands like Tulip IT seem to be clear that the monies are going to be blown up in airing and made-do with minimal production (the TV going on the blink ad).
It was interesting to see player behaviour during the match. The big occasion got the better of a few. After Parthiv Patel fumbled and gave an extra run in the last over, he obviously felt lousy and that showed. He quickly gave a furtive glance to his Boss and tried to gauge his reaction. It was a classic sports telecast moment.
Another heartening thing was Dhoni’s interaction with his team after the defeat. It was great to see them get into a huddle instead of simply dispersing with drooped shoulders, as is customary. In our business too we go through ‘defeats’ small & big every day. Script bombed y client, bad meeting, losing a pitch are all moments equivalent to Chennai’s defeat. Does the agency team leader take time off to chat & encourage the team even in these moments of defeat? Sochnewaali baat hai. Yusuf Pathan was great. Poor fellow was stumped by Ravi Shastri (usually good with knowing who is to be spoken to in Hindi) and thankfully, chose to reply in Hindi. Wouldn’t be surprised if Yusuf gets all glib in English like his brother – all within the next 3 months.
[ad#ad-5]On the new ads front, frankly not many stick out as outstanding in my mind right now. Except of course, the Vodafone ‘chota credit’ ad. When I saw an ad from ICICI Direct, I wanted to write about it. It was about this guy at a 5-star hotel and his ‘soul’ comes out and asks him to invest (since it is end of the month) instead of splurging. Not a great ad but interesting concept – the poor ’80s style’ advertising makes it less compelling. Another ad attempting to change your habit is Nutralite. Hinged on the insight that we have the dilemma of giving in to butter vs. going great lengths to avoid it, it relies on the actors to pull it off. Not a hugely great creative leap – almost Creative Brief-as-TVC kind of approach) but gets the brand into consideration set for ‘butter alternatives’.
Any ad that was outstanding for you? Any turkeys? Do comment.
2 Comments
The vodafone chhota credit ad is simply great. Good to see Vodafone at last is trying to get away from the pug. It seems the “Happy to help” campaign was just put in an infinite loop during IPL and thankfully they pulled it out eventually.
I find Parle Monaco and Sahara Life Insurance ads funny. Whats your take ?
Agree with you. The Vodafone classroom ad is brilliant – great insight about the category and brilliant execution. Yes, the Aamir Khan ‘coach’ ad was funny.