From: Ogilvy, Hawas WW
In the latest spot of Sony Max’s ‘Sirf Dekhneka Nahi’ campaign, hosts of its IPL show Extraaa Innings are shown in studio settings and virtual backgrounds, dancing to the its theme song. We also look at two spots from PepsiCo and IPL’s campaign about a Hindi feed on ‘Sony Six’ – one with a police constable live-commentating a custody thrashing in Hindi, another with a Sardar kid reporting on his parents fighting in dramatic Hindi. Finally, we also look at PepsiCo’s flagship film, ‘Koi nahi bachega’ showing ordinary folks playing Holi in IPL team jersey colours.
Do we like
For all the talk of the last IPL being called lackluster and disappointing for many stakeholders, there was one element of it which we remember vividly and you would too – the Makrand Deshpande ad featuring two kids in a carnival. So high did it set expectations that it takes three-four spots this time round to (not) relive its glory.
The two big stakeholders here have a huge reason to advertise – telecaster Sony is boasting of a Hindi feed, a step toward attaining new consumers in a post-digitisation Indian market. And there’s PepsiCo, which has paid a steep amount to get the world to prefix its name before IPL. While its ‘Oh Yes Abhi’ campaign featuring Ranbir, Dhoni and Priyanka last month (dissed here elaborately) was the beginning of a new season, we expect some signature work this week itself.
Our pick of the lot so far is definitely the ‘Koi Nahin Bachega’ film by Ogilvy, which reaches the ‘Incredible India’ standard and packs in charming locations and loads of ultra-slow-mo visuals of paint being splattered all over.
While the ‘colour’ is the metaphor here – most of us watch the tournament for the drama it offers, its literal meaning also is well-timed with Holi occurring days before IPL begins. The odes to teams through colour-washed jerseys is cool, Ehsaan Loy’s earthy beats are better and the ‘nobody will be spared’ connotation is unfortunately true. Who can escape IPL’s noise? We just wish the film-makers had built up half the ad with the colours ‘about to burst’ and let them all splatter in a fast-paced rush in the other half.
Farah Khan’s terrible screen presence and dance steps in the ‘Sirf Dekhneka Nahi’ spots aren’t being digested by this writer, also because Kapil Dev and Jadeja doing bad lip-sync isn’t good ad material. The theme song is catchy in a ‘so bad it might be good’ way, and the ‘Naching Nation’ film is loop material. That’s it.
Finally, Sony Six delivers a simple, well-written surprise package with Hindi being used as commentary in situations of daily peculiarity. The spots are fresh and their verse have a rhythm to them. That said, the games are about to begin and we’re dying to know what Aamir Khan has done for Godrej’s season-long campaigns.. and if Coke has any aces up its sleeve. Expect some clever integrated stuff from gadget sellers too. After all in these two months, ‘Har koi six lagayega.’
For the Sony Six campaign, hit ‘YouTube.com/SonySix’
