By Malay Desai
By : Boring Brands and BBDO India
Around Fathers’ Day last week, budget hotel chain OYO Rooms launched a web film starring veteran actor Piyush Mishra playing a middle aged father. One rainy afternoon when he finds his dead dad sitting in his drawing room with a pastry, he scarily walks up and begins a conversation. After the old man says he invited himself back to celebrate Fathers’ Day, Mishra’s character emotionally admits not having told him how much he loved him. The old man then removes his wig, revealing that he’s actually Mishra’s son, who just gifted him an OYO voucher. In Whisper’s new web film, 10 girls were asked questions about their dads, the last of which was if they shared period talks with him, putting them in awkward positions.
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Archies’ and Hallmark may no longer be in the business every May and June, but our digital agencies, yes all the small, big and in-between ones you have read about in this issue, ensure that the spirit of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days is kept alive in the noisiest ways possible.
Fathers’ Day, which went past last Sunday the 21st, created the annual ruckus of brands vying to forcefully fit in-between you and your dad, and I picked two films which were remarkable. OYO Rooms, Ritesh Agarwal’s start-up that raised over 100 crore of investment this year spent some of that in two fine actors, the maverick Piyush Mishra and a bright NSD-ite Zeeshan Ayub. The script was fine – get a dead father back to initially create comedy and then pull the viewer in with a teary emotional moment; the piano score was intact and the brand plug was waiting too. How did it not work for me then?
In one line – I may not recall OYO rooms the next time I’m booking a room online, simply because the brand plug in this film was disconnected. The son gifting his dad an OYO voucher was like an afterthought, something the lo-ong film could do without. Yes, when I speak of ‘good fathers day ads’ I will cite this on the top but what’s the use?
The film was backed by the #SayitWithOYO campaign which too is not only disconnected from the service offering, it’s also the same phrase that Archies Cards used in the 90s! Can do better, OYO, hope you get the Softbank guys’ dough and raise this bar.
Whisper India, meanwhile, has stuck to #LetsTalkPeriod, another brand that’s urging us to communicate. While fitting into the large story P&G started last year to urge Indians to discuss menstrual issues, this film seems to be a me-too effort in the women-centric ad trends. That said, it’s yet another poke in the uncomfortable mind space of us Indians, so no big complaints here.
Congrats P&G, by the way, for the Glass Grand Prix for the Touch The Pickle campaign. Aachaar may not have tasted as sweet!
(To watch the OYO film,feed this link in your browser - bit.ly/OYOrooms and to watch the Whisper film, look up @whisperindia on Twitter)
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YOUR REGULAR DOSE ON THE SHIFTS IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA UNIVERSE
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