Advertisement is a field wherein you have to be immensely creative in keeping the viewer interested and selling a product at the same time. It can be achieved by various means, like usage of humour, emotions, music, graphics etc. All this should send a message of goodwill about the featured product. Imagine putting all this together only for a few seconds. That?s a tough job.
Taking these factors into consideration, selecting 10 best television commercials of all times is a difficult job too. It requires you to ponder over the scores of ads that have been aired so far. More so, in my case since I was an avid commercials? fan ever since we got our first TV way back in 1984. That?s 20 years; most of them were my own formation years too.
Anyways, noting the commercials down as they come to mind seems to be the right thing to do. I will try to edit and keep changing this review in the near future.
CADBURY?S: Undoubtedly leads the pack with its immensely creative ad campaigns. This ranking applies to the contemporary as well as the archive ads that were aired on the idiot box. Worth mentioning are the ads which were aired during the Cricket World Cup with the background score going like this: ?Humko yeh kisne chhuaa hai?. It evoked a sense of patriotism and portrayed a common euphoria that is shared by the billion strong legion of cricket fans. Another ad that comes to my mind is the one in which people from all ages are shown enjoying their choc bite. Be it kids, pregnant women, older folks or even an executive picking up his piece of chocolate from the road(blowing the dirt away) and eating it. There are many more other ads that have come from the Cadbury?s stable and have impacted the small screen viewer. Shall discuss them at a later point in time.
FEVICOL: Fevicol has been churning out a great deal of creativity in its ads for a long time now. The commercial which carried the message that no one can tear away Kashmir from India, since it was a ?Fevicol kaa majboot jod? takes the cake. The other ads e.g. the unbreakable egg, the overloaded bus in Rajasthan and the train ad in which the husband dreams of getting along with the pretty girl sitting in front of him were worth a dekko.
VIP luggage: ?Kal bhi, aaj bhi, Kal bhi? and the very recent?Bye bye Bye bye?(esp. the one in which a little girl dances to her mother?s steps). Exploiting family sentiments seem to be the USP for VIP luggage. Be it an elderly gentleman receiving his son at the railway station or a kid daughter seeing off her mother for a journey, these guys capture it all.
M-Seal: ?Sirf ek tapakti boond aapki kismat badal sakti hai?. It takes a small amount of M-Seal to avoid becoming a pauper from a millionaire. The commercial has been presented well and is interesting enough to invoke a smile every time one watches it.
Tata Indica? The Tatas have a winner in their passenger car Indica. To make it more successful they have come up with a new slogan, ?Its only human to want more?. Carrying a sleepless baby all night in an Indica was an original. So also was the ad in which two young kids are playing with their toy cars and the one with the smaller car switches over to the toy Indica.
Coca Cola? Amir Khan?s portrayal of a Bihari contractor like guy in the Coke commercials was a rave hit. His acting skills(the required accent, composure, look) were put to test in this advt where he takes on a coke vendor who is trying to sell a bottle of the drink to two village girls for six Rupees. This ?Paanch? commercial drew thunderous laughter in the Indian homes.
Tata Group: The old Tata Group advt was an eye-catching commercial. A lot many activities that go on in the premises? of the Tata Empire were on display in this ad. Many products ranging from automobiles to your morning cup of tea coming from this group had their share in the commercial. In the end, they declare almost as an afterthought, ?We also make steel?.
Pepsi: It was still?early days? for the cola giant in India. What better than roping in the then Bollywood heartthrob - Amir Khan? It shows Amir catering his two new neighbours of the fairer sex. He is seen risking the rain apart from jumping onto the street from his apartment in order to provide the PYTs(Mahima Chaudhary, Aishwarya Rai) with a Pepsi.
Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilli Sauce: This campaign featuring Pankaj Kapoor and Javed Jaffrey vehemently endorsing the latest offering from Maggi was a treat. Apart from the ?This saas is different baas? advt., the other two that come to mind are the Tennis court and the Jailbirds advertisements.?Its different?? is all I can say about these commercials.
Hutch? This ad showing a kid being followed by a pup all over the place should come in the top ten only for its melodious jingle, ?You and I?. Add the resplendent view of Goa in the rains with this jingle and you have a winning ad.
Note:
While listing these commercials it gave me immense satisfaction and assurance that creativity exists in abundance in our advertisement industry. Of course barring a few moronic displays of lack of aptitude/viewer maturity realisation, where mothers of cricket stars call up on cell phones and influence a six off the last ball.
Wonder which cell service provider did Javed Miandad subscribe to while playing in Sharjah.