When Burger King advertised for its open late programme with the above ad.. (credits given below) It was looked as one good piece of creative symbolizing the idea to be sold..
SRK has never disappointed me like this, or may be never after this much after the infamous bath tub where he sat among rose petals selling Lux. He has become so very boring and predictable and his once lovable, yummy and cute mannerisms now evoke certain kind of disdain among people. I am not talking about me as the sample, but yes I am in the search phase of my buying process for a suitable dish TV and hence totally and really qualify to be opining as a TG.
The idea remains the same… WE SAW it again and again as goals and balls that come out of the screen and on to the viewer during the world cup last. The viewer getting the FEEL of the character in the Ad sitting in the gallery and cheering and the last shot which zooms out will tell us that he is in his couch munching peanuts/chips/pop corn and the match is in this LCD TV/ 3D TV/ Dish TV. We have even seen the referee and his red card extended again to SRK (ZZZZZZZZ!) again for the same Dish tv….
Every one has the same thing to sell, pretty understandable but can you not tell it differently … Even the LG Infinia ads that seem to be full of creative differentiation elsewhere (see it here), get into a truism and formula mode here in our country where talent galore in Advertising…. (See it here)
When everyone says the same thing in a group, it just adds on to the noise, it is like a novice walking into a Friday night pub.. The lights, the colours, the characters and all the noise…. nothing more, nothing less!
Or is it that our beloved industry is ( to quote Harold MacMillan) forever poised between the cliché and the indiscretion?
The doctor said, "Joe, the good news is I can cure your headaches. The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition which causes your testicles to press on your spine, and the pressure creates one heck of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles."
Joe was shocked and depressed.
He wondered if he had anything to live for. He had no choice but to go under the knife. When he left the hospital he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself.
As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life.
He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need - a new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit."
The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long."
Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years!"
Joe tried on the suit. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?"
Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure."
The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see, 34 sleeve and 16-1/2 neck."
Joe was surprised, "That's right, how did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years!"
Joe tried on the shirt, and it fit perfectly.
As Joe adjusted the collar in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about new shoes?"
Joe was on a roll and said, "Sure."
The salesman eyed Joe's feet and said, "Let's see...9-1/2 E."
Joe was astonished, "That's right, how did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years!"
Joe tried on the shoes and they fit perfectly.
Joe walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?"
Joe thought for a second and said, "Sure."
The salesman stepped back, eyed Joe's waist and said, "Let's see...size 36."
Joe laughed "Ah ha! I got you! I've worn size 34 since I was 18 years old."
The salesman shook his head and said.........................................................
"You can't wear a size 34. A 34 underwear would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one heck of a headache."
The creative guys in my story ,which I left half last day were as adamant as any other creative in any other agency.... but this time as there think tanks had gone dry, relented to hear the Junior executive .......
He said.... The client just want one message to be delivered... "Expect the unexpected"
The scene is an office.. a tough boss into his late 50's...tall.... fiery ..fiercesome... everyone is afraid of the guy...
The secretary to the boss... hot ..sizzling...sexy..tantalisingly exposing and exposedly tantalising......
The only weakness for the boss is this chik..the secretary...she is crawling in his blood and veins.... as a desire...as a forbidden fruit...
Wow... chuckled the young guys.... mmmm ...gruntled the old guys...
The man couldnt lay his mind open before the girl, for he doesnt know how she will react,,, if it happens to be on the negative side, then his good will may go down the drains....
One day the girl walks in ,as sexy as ever, and tells him... please come home sir, today evening , for a party... and she walks offff...
She turns around half way through and says invitingly... I am going to be alone at home...
THUD... our hero falls flat....He HAS heard what he wanted to hear...finally ( he thought) he has won her over..." tonight I would be rocking that dame..."
He goes over to her place... she is more sizzling , as she opens the door.. and invites him to the large sofa at the hall....
Pls bear with me for a moment .......she says, as she went inside.... im just back....
Our hero gets impatient.... he cant wait... he takes off his clothes and sits ready expecting the heroine to come for him to " rock"...
Trrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Opens the large curtain of the hall and hero looks back from his sofa in expectaion... but gets a shock of a life time......
There is his whole family....His wife..sons..daughters..son in laws..daughter in laws..grand kids.. the whole brigade...
Happy birthday to you...they sing and sing as they advance into the hall.....
And then they see him naked.....
Close up of the hero.. and a punch on his nose...
The caption appears..... XYZchocolates... "expect the unexpected".......
Oh God.... it is simply amazing.... the crowd seemed to be agreeing unanimously......
foot note : Idea..... it can come on anyone ..but not every one can accept it....
A man gets home early from work and hears strange noises coming from the bedroom. He rushes upstairs to find his wife naked on the bed, sweating and panting.
"What's up?" he says.
"I'm having a heart attack," cries the woman.
He rushes downstairs to grab the phone for ambulance, but just as he's dialing, his 4-year-old son comes up and says, "Daddy! Daddy! Uncle Ram is hiding in your closet and he's got no clothes on!"
The man slams the phone down and storms upstairs into the bedroom, past his screaming wife, and rips open the wardrobe door. Sure enough, there is his brother, totally naked, covering on the closet floor. "You b*stard," the man says," my wife is having a heart attack and you're running around naked scaring the kids!"
Now that is for the week .. lets meet Monday and till then have fun !!!
That was the original and now a latest Airtel ad by Rediffusion that is going on the air as of now.. Creativity is no doubt an art of inspiration and this guys here has done it so well.. I am for a change not being sarcastic since I love the way the idea is adapted... Its better than no idea at all.... !
Yeah the parent Idea belongs to some one else but the adaption here is creative... Someone who said the word "Hello" on the phone first time would have never thought he’d be so creative that the whole world to come after him would be copying him... now that is the parent idea that is being so blatantly used over and over again.... We accept it and yet we all to an extent hate copying isnt it?
Do we hate the people who copy ideas? We all do it...... This is in spite of the knowledge that kids learn their language by copying parents, their play by copying what they see in life ad TV, their moves in sports and fun by copying other kids. We learn to write better by copying writing we like..... we all do... Adapt as we call it but we do it... We learn to get along with people by copying people.
'Do your own thing as much posible' is what I think creatives should be doing.....Original stuff has its own value and don’t just copy any thing.....
