By Malay Desai
From: JWT India
Shot mostly in black-and-white, the film shows a Nazi military camp receiving a message about a planned attack on the Soviets. The leader and his team are then shown disappointed, and convey their reactions using phrases such as ‘Oh Em Gee!’ and ‘Shouldn’t we just like..say something?’ The spot cuts to two young girls watching this on their telly, with the copy: ‘Watch TV in your own language’, followed by the Nat Geo logo, and that the channel is now available in Hindi, Tamil and others.
Do we like
Toward of the end of the 90s, cable television in India saw the entry of unique programming about history, culture, wildlife and everything else erstwhile relegated only to school text books. Discovery, National Geographic and later the History channels (before it changed to ensure there’s nothing historical about it) delivered intriguing content in English and Hindi for over a decade but after the digitization last year, they must woo their audiences again, and here’s a fine attempt by Nat Geo.
Re-telling a story whose end everyone knows upfront isn’t the easiest of jobs, and anyone who’s followed Nat Geo’s shows would admit the channel does an impressive job at screenplay, writing and overall packaging to recreate a drab sounding event or subject (cases in point – Banged up Abroad and Mega Structures). But having interesting content is only half the job done; and unless you are History Channel who can afford a Salman Khan to lure audiences, you need an advertisement such as this.
The classic route taken here is of dual surprise. After inviting the viewer into a mono-chromed world of a Nazi camp and firang soldiers, one gets the first punch when the effeminate general-guy mouths ‘Oh Em Gee’ (or ‘Oh, My God’, in teenage parlance) and goes on to discuss a war like teens would discuss a coffee date. The picking of phrases here is spot on – ‘Totally crazy’ and ‘a gazillion’ and the over-usage of ‘like’ is something you’d find aplenty with 15 to 25-ers worldwide, and the spot defines its TA with good humour.
The other surprise is when one finds one is watching a telly within a telly, and is hit by the punch line – ‘watch TV in your own language’. Now that’s something we knew back in 2004 too, but it’s always good to re-learn this in a funny way, right? That said, we don’t know why the Nazi logo isn’t clearly defined, or why the girls on the couch don’t appear desi. Also, this would only be effective if it’s backed up with similar spots and a sustained campaign. Meanwhile, this writer is like totally not cancelling his subscription to Nat Geo.
To watch the spot, log on to Goo.gl/NPO1n
