MUMBAI: To tell a brand’s philosophy in just 30 seconds isn’t an easy task. But everyday creative minds oil their machines to do just the same. While some click with the viewers, others are muted by them or flipped through without a second glance.
While the year began with the political parties going all out to woo the voters - there were television commercials, digital films as well as hoardings pasted all across the country, Airtel’s Boss film led the charge with the Twitterati going crazy over it.
With the e-commerce sector war heating up, the companies too launched TVCs throughout the year to cash in the most, especially during the big sales offered by them. Digital as a medium to connect with the correct audience was optimised well. For instance, Honda for Mobilio released a 2.5-minute ad on YouTube featuring stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma as a salesman.
Promos of Indian Premium League (IPL), Pro Kabbadi League, Indian Super League (ISL) as well as Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) were able to catch people’s fantasy and created enough buzz before the game started. The right mix of sentiments and music made the films popular especially on the social media.
2014 saw many ads which were more than being just a promotional feature and as the year comes to an end, Indiantelevision.com lists down some of the best ads of 2014.
BJP election campaign
Creative agency: Soho Square
Purpose of the ad: After the Delhi gang rape case and many more that followed it, the campaign highlights the fact that the government has failed to provide safety to the women of the country and worse, hasn’t been able to punish the culprits.
Storyboard: The black and white advert highlights how even though the country has progressed and people have sent there girls for higher education and work in other cities, they are not at ease. The woman/mother in the ad, stresses on the fact that the country isn’t safe in current government’s hands as women aren’t safe.
Airtel Boss film
Creative agency: Taproot
Purpose of the ad: To strengthen Airtel’s legacy of identifying fresh and relevant insights around relationships.
Storyboard: Relationships often get strained due to professional demands. At such times, smartphones transcend their role of being a mere communicating device, and play cupid.
The TVC shows a woman boss ordering her subordinates to finish an assigned job no matter what. It turns out that the woman boss is the wife who goes back home to cook for her husband who happens to be the junior she had ordered.
Fortune oil, ‘Ghar Ka Khana’
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Purpose of the ad: Adani Wilmar’s campaign for its Fortune Oil brand, shifting from 'The joy of eating' to a more personal 'Ghar ka khana, ghar ka khana hota hai' (Home cooked food is home cooked food after all).
Storyboard: When you are away from the comfort of your space, braving the rigours of everyday life, all you need is two morsels of tasty home food cooked with a lot of love and affection. The gush of emotion that you feel when you have the first bite, only makes you thank your good 'Fortune'!
Idea, ‘No Ullu Banaoing’
Creative agency: Lowe Lintas and Partners
Purpose of the ad: To educate the masses about how some people cash on the other’s unawareness.
Storyboard: A common phenomenon in almost every part of India, is how some people in order to make money or gain benefits, tend to take advantage of the ill-informed by coloring the truth or concealing the facts.
In the TVC, a guide lies to tourists who then search on the web and the truth is exposed.
Nescafe stammering standup comedian
Creative agency: McCann Erickson
Purpose of the ad: While perfection is what people chase these days, this ad feeds on a different meaning.
Storyboard: The TVC shows a stammering stand-up comedian who faces rejection, but doesn’t give up and turns the same weakness into his strength.
Fevicol Crazy chairs
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Purpose of the ad: Takes a humorous take on the current election scenario.
Storyboard: A chai-wallah enters the shop of a carpenter who is making the next Prime Minister’s chair. He points out to three variations – one with BJP’s lotus, another with Congress’s hand, and a group of chairs joined unevenly symbolic of the Third Front.
OLX Kapil
Creative agency: Lowe Lintas and Partners
Purpose of the ad: To promote selling off 'unused or under-used' products.
Stoaryboard: Kapil Sharma stars in the film and plays a ‘juicer’. In the kitchen, he addresses the lady of the house urging her to use him (the juicer), or sell him. The lady notes that no one would buy him, telling him he’s useless. He corrects her, saying he has been ‘used less’. He proceeds to tell her how things are sold on Olx.in, and finds buyers in no time.
Imperial Blue Men will be men
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Purpose of the ad: To carry forward the 17-year-old catchy tagline and philosophy.
Storyboard: The campaign opens with a ghazal, "Pyar ki raah mein", playing in the background as a beautiful young woman is seen talking on a phone in a lift. The camera reveals the torso of two men standing with her. The minute the woman exits both the men heave a sigh of relief and exhale, letting their stomachs hang out again. The film ends with both of them sharing a friendly high-five.
Tata Docomo Bhalai ki Supply
Creative agency: Contract Advertising
Purpose of the ad: To encourage its subscribers to ‘Open Up’ and share happiness using their customised data offers.
Storyboard: The advertisement features a ‘social media queen’ who appears to have lost her loyal online following. She pouts and preens in order to post the perfect profile picture that could restore her lost glory, but is continually disappointed, till one virtual ‘Like’ makes her day.
Cadbury Snow Fight
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Purpose of the ad: To make the consumer aware of the fact that life lies in the ‘now’; that joy resides in the act of letting go, and that one should live like no one’s watching.
Storyboard: The TVC shows a couple walking on a snowy mountain. While the man is busy oh his phone, the woman decides to change the situation by throwing a snowball on the man. The man too throws a snowball at her. The fight continues as they enjoy it.
Titan Raga #HerLifeHerChoices
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Purpose of the ad: To tell that Raga is an evolved watch for the evolved woman of today - a woman who's self-respecting and confident.
Storyboard: The film begins with Nimrat Kaur sitting at an airport reading a book. She is interrupted by an ex-lover who asks her if he could join her. When Kaur asks him how he has been, he makes a reference to Kaur leaving him. As they talk and catch up, it is revealed that Kaur is still single. On being asked why it is so, Kaur tells the man that she never gets time from work. This being something he knew all too well, he makes a passing comment about how their relationship would have worked had Kaur stopped working. Kaur retorts by saying that he could have also quit. Offended, he tells her that he could not have quit, seeing how he is a man.
