IndusInd Bank ad- just spilt milk !!!

Indus Ind bank and its three ads (one each for Mobile Alerts, Online Payments and Ready2Use Savings Account kit) that is on air for a week plus now has amused me for three reasons…

1. It was surprising to see this from a bank which was a non advertiser as compared to the big wigs of the category.

2. It has Omi Vaidya (Chatur of 3 Idiots fame) and Shruti Seth (TV actress of Comedy Circus & Ristey.com fame), the ads are visualized and made by the big brains (PS Mann, Creative Director, RK Swamy and the script has been put to light by Ankur Suman, Creative Group Head of the agency) and directed by Imtiaz Ali, (the same director who took 'Jab We Met' to a success)

3. The media spend is awesome (about 50 million) and that explains to me why I get to see these ads now and then, in any channel I watch or flip through.



This is just one of the ads and the rest of the three you can see here….

Now having said and seen it, I must also confess that in spite of all this factors that seem to favour the brand and its 'could have been path breaking advertising', nothing much has happened with the reaction that such an ad would have generated. I know its easy to review but when it is done, it has to be done in all perfection…so let me take it in the same 1, 2 and 3 order…

1.It could have been different considering the fact that the bank in question is a minor player in its market, no matter what ever the claim other wise is.. (2 million customers and has a network of 209 branches and 427 ATM's spread over 168 geographical locations in 28 states and union territories across the country) .. vis-à-vis and ICICI and SBI and HDFC, Indus Ind bank is still small which but could have been used as an opportunity .. Remember the Avis care rentals ad which said “we are number two but we try harder”.. some thing of that angle would have been perfect for this.. but then obviously the Indus ind bank guys are no Robert Townsend and the RK Swamy guys aren’t of the Bill Bern Bach genre… I don’t mean that only the biggies should go brouhaha but the small ones should do it differently if they expect to be noticed..

2.The choice of casting & humor should have definitely helped then to break the clutter and create some disruptive communication… they seemed to have hoped it-both the brand and its agency….. but then getting Omi to speak like Chatur isn’t humour , at least talking in that accent but no great joke delivered will not make people laugh and laugh and run all the way to the nearest Indusind bank and open an account.,,,, Or else they could have continued with Chatur and not make him Mr Chowgle who speaks like Omi.... No doubt the mobile alert ad has a bit of humour in it but was it the maximum?

How does the other two ad look so plain ,naive and lacks creatives in it? Indusind Bank as a brand will for sure get some recall but then after that? Can Chatur-Imtiaz magic convert the recall into action…?

3.With slight modification to the famous Bernbach quote…'Nobody counts the number of ads you run; or the number of channels you run, they just remember the impression you make…'. Frankly, in terms of creating an impression I guess Chatur (thanks to three idiots) remain in the minds of the TG but not connected with this brand in question, nor in any relevance to this brand in question, nor again for any humour that he delivered here but in his film- the clasic three idiots... ! this is not forgetting the fact that from a marketing communication angle Indusind bank has done a lot last one year… As part of a new and vigorous brand building exercise, the bank has taken many initiatives which has helped the brand connect up with the customers & enhance the visibility quotient…. But does this series of ads contribute? Have they thought of the idea that opportunities dance only with those who already are on the dance floor?At least justify the kind of spend that it seems to have incurred?

Mr & Mrs Chowgle could have been used with more sense and with more fun , so that the desired clutter break would have happened like a cake walk. Lost opportunities but are like spilt milk.. now the question is what next?


" Opportunities come; we do not perceive them, or we tarry or hesitate, and they pass away. Often it happens, too, that a lost opportunity is a last opportunity!"