Mast & Meh: Swiggy, Shopsy, JSW Paints, Vadilal, Cleartrip, ResMed, Paytm, Country Delight

MAST

MuscleBlaze - Ladies Who Lift

Agency: In-house

Surprisingly even a two minute spot can be fun if made well. This new campaign titled Ladies Who Lift (#LWL), by MuscleBlaze is an interesting one. Conceptualized and executed by an all women in-house crew, the ad shows women from all walks of life who don’t live by conventional expectations. The campaign creates a progressive narrative around the spirit of ‘Zidd’ portraying women at their stubborn best when it comes to choosing the kind of life they want for themselves. The catchy number ‘Ni Aar Di’ is the cherry on the cake. This one blazes all the way to the top.

MAST

Paytm First Games

To promote the game of Rummy, Paytm First Games brought Fukrey famed actors Richa Chadha and Varun Sharma in its latest ad. The 30-seconders feature the actors indulging in a fun shayari (a form of poetry) to communicate how First Games is akin to having the best rummy gaming experience, comparing the experience to combinations such as Butter-Chicken combo or No Ball-Free Hit. The campaign is relatable and is likely to engage viewers.

MEH

Vadilal Ice Cream

Agency: Mullen Lintas

Vadilal’s new ad featuring Ranveer Singh follows the tropes of a typical celebrity campaign. Singh, true to his personality, appears in a brightly coloured attire mimicking the shades of a cassata ice-cream at a party. Calling himself a slice of cassata he starts gyrating to the – ‘lick it, bite it, right it!’ jingle while distributing the brand’s ice-cream variants to the party guests. It’s a clear case of the celebrity overshadowing the brand in the spot, viewers are likely to remember Singh’s bizarre fuzzy outfit and crazy moves, not the ice-cream unfortunately.

MEH

Country Delight - Oil is Well.

A traffic jam - petrol in a well - curious cat - Country Delight. A roundabout way to drive a straight message. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth.’ Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened in this case. Country Delight has a value driven product, a coconut that guarantees two full glasses of water. However, this core message gets lost amidst all the din and commotion. The traffic jam and the loud sound of cars honking, followed by a loud conversation between the two main characters, constant pumping sound of the well and background music that is very unpleasant to the ears, left us eagerly searching for some harmony in all the chaos. Adding to all this was an unclear product shot. The best part about this ad was its short duration. All of the above points, if it isn’t clear already, resulted in us awarding this spot a big, huge MEH.

MAST

Cleartrip - #MeantForMore

Online travel aggregator Cleartrip’s latest ad film is high on reliability. Stand-up comedian, Biswa, narrates the brand’s insight which is, passports are meant for more than just being an identification proof document, in a cheeky way. Biswa is seen submitting his passport as identification proof for a home loan to a bank officer. The passport then personifies itself and calls out that its job is to travel and not be an ID proof. It talks about the dreams that it has, from adding autographs of immigration officers to scuba diving in the Maldives. Cute writing. The passport demands respect and recognition of its purpose, that is to explore the world. And then we get the sell - Cleartrip’s offers for international flights. The brand hits the spot by converting a sharp insight into smart advertising with a layer of humour.

MEH

Swiggy - Big Birthday Bash

Agency – In House

This is the third Khali ad that we are calling out in the last two months. Before you send us angry emojis, hear us out. Everyone enjoys a bite of Swiggy’s topical advertising. However, this one was bland. The food delivery platform collaborated with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star The Great Khali to celebrate their respective birthdays. The Great Khali and Swiggy will be turning 50 and eight, respectively, this year. Is that insightful enough to drive a big campaign? We aren’t sure. Talking about the ads in the campaign, it lacks that “Swiggyness” we’ve come to expect from the brand. It’s forcefully quirky. Also, this might be a good time to find more creative ways to deploy the Great Khali in advertising.

MAST

Shopsy - Aaj Shopsy Kiya Kya? Har Din Aisa Sale Jaisa

Agency: Tilt Brand Solutions

This commercial is in some ways the holy grail of advertising - relatable, informative and entertaining. It is a known fact that most wait for the sale season to drop so they can splurge. Shopsy’s ‘Aaj Shopsy Kiya Kya? Har Din Aisa Sale Jaisa’ captures that sentiment in an entertaining manner. The brand got the casting spot on, with the three characters in the film portrayed by talented actors. This spot is an early antidote to what we expect will be a season of ads that read and feel like a dull catalog of offers.

MEH

JSW Paints - Think Beautiful

Agency: TBWA India

If people have watched the critically acclaimed movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai, they will be able to relate it with JSW Paints’ ‘Think Beautiful’ commercial. A paan chewing biker repeatedly spits on a wall where it's clearly mentioned that one should not spit. A paint shop owner quietly goes about painting over the paan stains. This quiet act of resistance has no effect on the actions of the person spitting. The paint shop owner paints the colors of the Indian flag on the wall. This stops the man in his tracks as he’s just about to smear the wall with paan juice again.

The ad garnered lots of attention in a sea of I-day ads. Most were positive and some were critical of the theme. The big question was around the moral of the story in the ad. Do we need to paint symbols all over the country for Indians to develop a civic sense?

MAST

ResMed - Awaken Your Best Film | Baba Sehgal x ResMed India

Agency: Bang In The Middle

Are musical ads back? Porter's delivery song and dance from last week, and ResMed's sleep song by India's OG rapper Baba Sehgal, makes us believe they are. This is such a smart use of a celebrity in an ad. The song has ear-worm-like qualities, the writing is top notch and every scene has something interesting going on, like the guy asleep at the coffee machine of all places. You certainly won’t snooze or skip this one.

MEH

HDFC Bank - Vigil Aunty

Agency: Kinnect

In a bizarre twist, this big HDFC Bank campaign that talks about fraud detection and prevention is being accused of plagiarism. It's accused of lifting ‘Vigil Aunty’ from author and artist Appupen's character that was created in 2016 for the Indie satire comic called Halahala. But, keeping that aside for the sake of this review, the campaign is still not hitting the right chords for us. While the story of Vigil Aunty’s origin has a good flow and is fun to watch, what’s missing, especially in this film, is an explanation of her existence. Is this an attempt to make a public service campaign or does this open a window to a larger brand purpose? We are still scratching our heads. What is also off the mark is how the narrative is weaved around stereotypes. The usage of veshti and vibuthi because the character from a Southern town made us facepalm.

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