Creativity in Indian Advertisements – Idea, ZooZoos, Dairy Milk & Havells!

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While watching a reality show / sporting event / award function or any other media event, ever wondered who is actually entertaining you with those freely aired programs without being charged a penny?

No, not the small-screen Producers; it’s the corporate world out there, hungry to promote their offerings to their target customers, involved in sponsoring various events and funding every hour’s entertainment menu through their advertising revenue stream.

You can say the whole lot of media industry is thriving on this very concept – be it a print, broadcasting any other media form. What’s more? If a tournament of World Cup’s stature is being organized in the cricket-crazy country like India, the advertisers are expected to make a beeline to promote their products extensively on the global platform.

Needless to say, with India reclaiming the world champion’s title, the positive vibes and the incremental ad revenue flow has spilled over onto IPL’s swashbuckling T20 tournament as well. With recent launch of 3G services by the telcos, now-a-days we are frequently bombarded with 3G ads.

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Idea – Not so good though!

The latest 3G ad features two of the Abhishek Bachchan avatars – 1G and 2G – waiting for the bus to watch an IPL match, but in vain. Immediately, the model’s 3G avatar arrives with the next generation technology and shows them the match on mobile internet.

I am left wondering whether this is the best of the ideas! Gone are the days when Idea ads used to be creative. Some of the Idea’s good marketing taglines and brand communication strategies created sensations like,

An Idea can change your life”, “Walk when you talk” and “No Idea? Get idea”.

ZooZoos – Aliens living past expiry date!

Regarding popularity of Vodafone’s ZooZoo ads – What should I say: ‘Good’ about it or ‘Truth’ about it? Well, good things first – these aliens are quite popular amongst viewers of almost all age-groups for their cuteness. But, a fact remains that they’re an out-dated concept now.

Not even Big B’s Kaun Banega Crorepati notch favorable ratings after two edition stints. This was evident from limited episodes in subsequent editions of the quiz show hosted by a national icon. Similarly, Vodafone also need to call quits from its ZooZoo strategy; just like they did away with their Vodafone pug’s following.

Now, coming to Vodafone’s ZooZoo, rather JoJo, advertisements; JoJo – the cartoon creature mimicking Rajnikanth, tries to spread the message that once you access Vodafone 3G, you’re nothing short of a Superman, oops! Rajnikanth, and the ads are too predictable.

Already they’re resembling most of the Rajni jokes in their concept, like running faster than a bullet, splitting a ball and hitting two targets with a single ball, making the earth to spin, etc. All these ideas are already available online on searching for ‘Rajnikanth jokes’.

Dairy Milk – Something meetha about it!

Even Cadbury’s Dairy Milk has run through various TV ad campaigns from time to time. However, its latest commercial which depicts Dairy Milk chocolates as compensating for all those dicey vegetables (such as bottle gourd and bitter gourd) which invariably show up at dinner, is aimed to positioning the brand as a wonderful dessert in households that are too health conscious in terms of nutritional value of the food.

Havells – Fanning simple thoughts!

Ever watched Sprite or Mentos Ads – Aren’t they like dimaag ki batti gul ads? They’re a bit too complicated for everybody to understand at the very first screening of the ad itself. In fact, here we’ve a simple and single-minded commercial which connects with the consumers with its straightforward communication to use Havell’s fans.

In a series of commercials, Havell’s have portrayed different situations where the protagonist uses whatever they find to fan themselves out of the hot weather conditions. This act is immediately followed by protests saying a lot of efforts have gone in creating the object that is being used as a make-shift fan by the protagonist.

The Ad campaign ends with a tag-line: “Hawa Chahiye? Havells fan Lagaiye!

So, what do you think which is the most creative advertisement recently released in India ?

11 Comments
  1. […] Amul’s advertising strategy has also been unique for the most part. For years, Amul has relied on traditional hoarding ads but with a fresh twist. Amul continues to delight the masses with its hoarding ads which for the most part provide a humorous take on current affairs. It has recently diversified into TV advertising etc. for various products, but as far as I can remember hoarding ads is all the marketing that Amul has done for a long time and I would say it has gotten the maximum bang out of that […]

  2. Shristi Jain says

    Sir, can u pls tell me the ad agencies (the best ones) which are involved in these ad making(print and moving)..

  3. Onesmartclick.in says

    Great concept, excellent visualization, well direction and off course creative….

  4. Harendra says

    But if we look at the Airtel 3G advt. Then it has a very fresh look when they show a couple video chatting on their phone. This is quite different from others and it has a emotional link attached to it .giving it a sweet ending.

    I believe The Havells ads are quite unique, they have linked different incidents with FANs.
    Idea and Vodafone ads are now kinda monotonous … The Zoo is catching some attention with the new super week commercial but it is losing its charm.

  5. Altaf Rahman says

    Some new Idea ads which we can expect :

    1) A farmer to another-“Yaar, when it will rain?”. The second farmer will say “No idea”. Suddenly a third farmer appears from thin air and says “Get Idea ….3G” (indicating you can get weather data on Idea 3G).

    2) A theif to another theif-“Yaar, when these people will go out of the houses?”. The second theif says “No idea”. Suddenly a third theif passes by and says “Get Idea ….3G”. Indicating you can get the travel plans of people on Idea 3G.

    3) A beggar to another beggar-“Yaar, when worsippers will visit this place of worship?”. The second beggar says “No idea”. A third beggar appears and says “Get Idea ….3G”. (Indicating you can get all festival details and importance of various worship places on particular dates on Idea 3G)

    Any new ideas?? :)

    1. Viral says

      Altaf,

      The first presumptive idea, empowering farmers with the weather card, looks more apt and realistic in nature for the telecom company.

      What an idea, sir ji ! :-)

  6. Pradeep says

    Great Post Viral.
    Yes all of the above ads have lost it

    All of these brand have done some great ads in the past, but in their current ads, they ave just missed it or messed it

    And you did not mention the current ad of Amul Macho featuring Saif. I badly hate that one. Both look and concept is sorry

    1. Viral says

      Pradeep,

      I would not even like to talk about Saif-featuring Amul Macho ad. Its really pathetic (especially the look). In fact, there is one a ‘silly’ ad from DoCoMo too.

      So, the list just goes on. Anyways, the fact of the matter remains that people do take cognizance of ad’s creativty; and that directly affects the marketing scoreboard for a company’s product/service.

  7. Altaf Rahman says

    Specially Idea ads have become so monotonous and so predictable.

    Its all about “How many ways you can extract an answer-No idea from people”

    Such tasteless boring series !! I wonder where the creativity has gone which created such sensations like “Walk when you talk” and “What an idea sirji”

  8. all buzzy news says

    this one is wonderful article i have ever read

    1. Viral says

      Thanks buddy! Glad to know it was worthwhile to read for you it :)

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