Thump or Rock?
Sony banks on Roshan’s litheness

(column by Surbhi Chawla)

It was in end March that Sony Ericsson roped in Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador. Since then market watchers have been waiting with bated breath for Hrithik to make his first performance for Sony. Even before the ad hit TV screens, the comparisons began. Rival Motorola has Abhishek Bachchan on his side whose performance has been (so far) quite good. The deal became not just about Sony Ericsson and Hrithik; but pegged the latest Bollywood heart-throbs against one another viz, Abhishek and Hritik, in the endorsement arena too.

Taking forward the ‘I Love...’ theme of past commercials of Sony, the latest commercial of Sony Ericsson’s W200i with Hrithik Roshan says, ‘I Love the Thump’. The commercial starts with Hrithik in his bedroom and the first thing he does after waking up is put on the earplugs and switch on the music on his phone. The sound of music gets him into the dance mode. The next few scenes show people all over dancing atop buses, in office, cafes, et al. Finally, a troupe led by Hrithik is shown dancing, as non-stop music plays on their headsets. Suddenly, Hrithik gets a call and the momentum is broken. A voice is heard asking ‘What’s up’ to which he replies, ‘Nothing much, just letting the world free’ (English version). The ad ends with Hrithik declaring “The Thump is here.”

After the great success of its walkman series (remember ‘I love missing the last bus home’ ad?) the W200i is the latest addition to Sony Ericsson’s portfolio.

Talking about how the idea came up, Nandu Narshiman, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi says, “The W200i Walkman phone has MegaBass with Bass Reflex Headphones and also offers a longer battery life. The concept of ‘Non-stop Thump Music’ came from these features of the phone.” The fit could not have been better. The phone is being peddled as a music machine and Bollywood’s dancing sensation – Hrithik Roshan with his Greek God looks is making the world dance in the ad. The ad tries to leverage maximum mileage out of this fact (gelling it with the theme of music and dance).

Without discounting his great looks, the ad focuses on his superior dancing skills, something that the whole Bollywood salutes. Riding high on his recent box office hits like Krrish and Dhoom-2, Hrithik has regained his status as the superstar of the country, which had slipped from his hands after his initial successes. “The key challenge was to get dates from a busy star and ensure that deadlines for launch were met, despite time pressures,” says Narshiman. Sudhin Mathur, GM-Mobile Communications, Sony Ericsson says that the brand has been moving up the recall ladder, of late, as a most persuasive brand. “We’ve always enjoyed a preference amongst youth and superstars, like Hrithik represent today’s youth,” he says. But despite the enthusiasm within the company for the thump, the ad has received a mixed response. While some are ‘thumping’ with it, others continue to rock... Here we’re talking of the clash between Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Remember Motorola’s ROKR ads, also positioned as a music device, which had Bachchan grooving? With both handset majors peddling phones with similar USPs, both with Bollywood superstars dancing to their tunes, let’s see who rings into most ears in the end. We love this game...

(End of Surbhi Chawla column)

Crafted for Controversies
The debate for censorship rages on...

(column by Surabhi Agarwal)

Ever wondered why some ads, that rubbed you the wrong way, suddenly disappeared from the scene (much to your relief though!)? Well, it was ASCI (Advertising Council of India) which was at work! One of the recent most complaints that reached this self-regulatory body is of the Amul Macho TVC (also featured in our ‘Bakwaas ads’ section last issue). While ASCI has now given a clean chit to this ad, yet the meaningless vulgarity hurts viewer sentiments. The ad shows a young woman washing her husband’s underwear with very suggestive actions and an irritatingly persistent (yeh toh bada toing hai) jingle. The commercial continues to invite the ire of many who feel it’s unfit for general viewing.

It maybe a general perception that only a small, relatively unknown brand will indulge in indecent advertising to grab attention, but one look at the list of complaints that ASCI has received in the past is enough to break it. Ads of giants like P&G, Coke, Hero Honda, Garnier, et al, have been objected against for several reasons and after ASCI’s intervention they had to pull out their campaigns in several cases and modify them in others. But when it comes to indecent advertising in the recent past, there have been complaints against XXX contraceptives (there was a huge controversy with Sharmila Tagore objecting vehemently to it), the GenX premium briefs from Lux Industries (something similar to Amul Macho), Hidesign leather products (for exposure of woman) and Lux Body Wash’s Desktop Calendar (now every girl can be a **x symbol, **x in the morning and night makes your skin glo...). All these resulted in withdrawal.

The controversy has again raised the question of censorship in advertising. In the case of self-regulation (ASCI), the procedure takes minimum 1-1.5 months, which is long enough for an advertisement to put its point accross. Gaulbert Pereira, General Secretary, ASCI told 4Ps B&M that “sure it takes time, but there is no other body which can put so much pressure on advertisers. Censorship will increase both time and cost.” He adds that they are working out a system where ads will be vetted before the telecast and advertisers will be free to take advice or reject it. Well, till then, no choice but to tolerate the ‘Yeh toh bada toing hai’ stuff!

(End of Surabhi Agarwal column)

People Movements

(column by Shweta Kapoor)

Swagat Ghosh, DG-News, Doordarshan has been moved to the post of Press Registrar at the Registrar of Newspapers (RNI), a unit of the I&B Ministry.
For its upcoming television channel, BAG Films and Media has appointed Gursheel Walia as its Programming Head, and Atul Gupta as Head of Distribution. Walia has earlier worked with Star and Sony, whereas Gupta was heading distribution for Channel 7 (IBN7).
At Zee Network, Bharat Ranga has been assigned to take over Zee Entertainment’s International Business. Prior to this, he was in-charge of Zee’s movie channels. Mohan Gopinath has been made Deputy Business Head of the movie channels. Also, Deepak Chandnani has been appointed as the CEO of Wire and Wireless India Ltd. (WWIL).
Sony Entertainment Television has promoted Rohit Gupta to the post of President, Network Sales-Licensing and Telephony. Prior to this, he was EVP-Sales and Revenue Management.
Satish K. Singh, Output Editor at NDTV has moved on to Zee News as Senior Executive Editor. He had earlier moved out of Zee to join NDTV.
Also, in the channel space, MH1 has roped in Alka Saxena as its CEO and Editor-in-Chief for its news channel. Prior to this, she was with Janmat.
In ad-land, after working with Dentsu Marcom for a short while, the creative duo of Vaybhav Singh and Swami Anand Tirth has now joined McCann Erickson. They have been working together as a team for five years and have also worked at M&C Saatchi and Grey Worldwide. Also, Pavita Puri has bid good-bye to Rediffusion DY&R and has moved on to Lowe as VP. She was with the agency for 12 long years.

All’s Lite and Diet!
With brands, ad-land goes green too...

(column by Rohan Sachdev)

It was a couple of years back that Pepsi came out with Diet Pepsi, and while the variant did make news, it did not become a rage overnight. But had the drink been launched in these times (read healthy, as everyone goes Diet and Lite, even airlines, for namesake!), the drink would have sold like hot cakes. But this isn’t about Pepsi’s timing, instead about the latest health obsession of corporates which is rubbing onto the advertising industry as well! Ad-frat is increasingly Tapping into the psyche of this new ‘Health Brigade’ coming out with innovative campaigns with an underlying health message. And there’s a new task at hand – to sell the health quotient. So we have a brand like Dabur coming out with energetic ads for its line of Real Activ fruit juices, Amul launching a low fat bread spread named ‘Amul Lite’ and even a chewing gum – Happydent White – promoting the ‘health’ advantage of chewing gums!

Among all food majors, Nestlé seems to be the healthiest of the lot, consistently unleashing new health-related ads. It started off with Maggi’s ‘Veg Atta Noodles’ with a tagline that said ‘Taste Bhi, Health Bhi’; and continued the trend with its 98% fat-free ‘Fresh n’ Natural Dahi’. More recently, they have launched the new ‘Kit Kat Lite’ – with 50% less sugar. Not just these, even 7Up’s mascot, Fido Dido, has switched onto the new 7Up Light.

However, the profitability of these health variants is still to be established. Ad guru, Prahlad Kakar, opines, “These health commercials indulge in ‘tokenism’ creating an impression that everyone benefits from it, whereas in reality, very few people actually do. So if a company says that their ACs kill bacteria and give out fresh air, it may benefit people who use it... but how about the environmental damage caused by these very ACs? Also, while packaged fruit juices may be nutritious, the fact is that they give just around 30% value of a fresh fruit. What we need is more responsible advertising on worthwhile causes.” We couldn’t agree less!

(End of Rohan Sachdev column)