By Malay Desai
By: O&M, Bangalore
An elderly man is seen negotiating at a middle-aged man’s home about a ‘Doctor Panda.’ He complains of landing a rough deal and even calls it criminal, to which the other man gives unflinching retorts such as going and buying the Doctor Panda or collecting ‘tazos’ instead. Eventually, the elderly man gives in and exchanges five regular ‘panda’ toys and gets his desired toy from the man’s collection. The spot ends with an animated product window showing the toy variants.
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It’s the penultimate column of what’s been an action-packed year for the global advertising scene, no less for that back home. And though a round-up would’ve been the editorial norm, we thought we’d talk about a TVC that shows adults behaving like kids, as an ode to our behaviours in the first few days of 2013.
This year, our magazine spoke much about how Flipkart’s ads cleverly reversed the roles kids usually play in our ads and delivered effectively. We also saw the endearing tots playing parents in Oreo’s spots. This new film, the latest in Cadbury Gems’ ‘Raho Umarless’ campaign,turnsthat concept on its head. With the focus ona free toy one gets inside a ‘Gems Surprise’ pack, it shows adults getting serious about their collection.At the same time, the spot hits nail indirectly on its target audience’s – under 14s – head.
Giving free toys with edible productsis that old trick that’s boosted Chinese assembly lines and sustained McDonalds’ top-selling meal across the globe. This may be worth the embarrassing confession, but relevant too, that this writer was once an obsessive ‘tazo’ (colourful plastic discs, per se) collector, and bought dozens of ‘Lays’ chips in ‘that’ phase. There’s an ode to tazos in this spot too, and kids of the 90s will definitely enjoy it.
The setting and script of this film make its end pretty funny. The mention of ‘Doctor Panda’ is curious and the ‘tough’ negotiations make the spot a multiple watch. To see the toy-seeker suddenly switch to acting like a child is endearing, even though it might not be as ‘cute’ as the Flipkart kids. Moreover, this spot consolidates the ‘umarless’ (smart coinage, that) approach that began with a silly ad.
There is a post-product window tail of the film showing the uncle jumping in slow motion, and that’s entirely unnecessary. Many of you advertisers will spend most of this year too selling directly to children or featuring children to sell to adults. Make a resolution to try something afresh, reverse roles, think like a 11-year-old or better, talk to a bunch for research. Be umarless yourself to create a timeless campaign.
Happy New Year!
Watch the video on Goo.gl/I82SY
