Tav...washing powder Nirma....washing powder Nirma
Probably the most enduring image of my childhood. The little girl in a frock twirling to the tune of the name which was penned to be a household name for the next decade or so. I was so fascinated that everytime there was a commercial break I waited with bated breath for the little girl. And everytime, the tune started there was a smirk on my lips.
It's not the product that sells, it's the marketing that does. Ignorant, as I was at that time, I thought this was played by the television studio to give a break to the performing actors. After all, it takes time to come all the way from Switzerland (where they just went for a duet) to the shanties of Hyderabad (My initial pick was Mumbai but I was afraid of the legal tangles I would get into if I portray the Mumbai slums)
So, what's there in an ad? Almost everything in close to nothing! You get 20 sec to claim your pie of the fortune. Bet to better that! I remember my dad asking me to explain the importance of a HSBC ad where the kid gets a sprawling caterpillar and puts in a bowl much to the dismay of his mom. Only later did I realise the jargons of the ad world...target customer, message, top-of-the-mind.
Ads are the best thing to happen to the world of television. In addition to saving us from the tears of the saases and bahus, it also brings the diversity of the world within minutes. How else can you explain a frentic 5 minute ad break with ads that range from Fair-and-handsome to Pepsi to Whisper to Nike. It's very rare to find two successive ads of the same segment (err..I don't remember viewing a Nike right after Adidas or a Dil maanging more right after Tasting the thunder)
I long thought that I need to grow my hair and beard and buy a test-cricket hat to be an ad-man. Little did I realise that you need a brain for that hat that thinks sharp! The colors that we see on the screen are the result of some creativity behind for some unmistakabaly longer period. And yeah, last but not the least, thanks to all those models who made the ads what they are...entertaining and informative (Yes boss, the very reason why gals in long skirts come to explain the features of your refrigerator before inducing you to buy)....
Teacher shows an underwear advertisement where a guy runs in his undies when his girl's father turns up.
Teacher: What do you infer from the ad?
Guy: You need to be smart and keep your bike parked in an adjacent lane
Girl: You need to hide the gun before you embark on the exotic mission
Teacher(muttering to himself): And I thought that the father should have come an hour before!!!
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