TVC: Ambuja Cementfeat. The Great Khali
By: Publicis Ambuja Cement last week unveiled its latest spot featuring wrestler and WWE personality The Great Khali. Narrated by him talking to the camera and with his perspective, it is about the difficulties he faces being a 7-foot-something man in his own house. The film shows him falling repeatedly, bumping into things and damaging material, especially walls. He later says his aunt advised him to rebuild the home using the brand, after which he’s shown bumping into a wall and not going through. The ad has gone viral over social networks immediately after launch. Do we Like? Absolutelyyes. And because everyone of you and their uncles have already watched and shared it, here are some FAQs: Who’s behind this? The one-minute film has much production detail and a budget equaling the cost of a small home in north Mumbai. The credit reel lists Publicis, the MNC which is part of the ‘big 4’ of the ad world. Early Man Films have produced it but I suspect the man behind the freshness is Bobby Pawar, who in July was made MD and looks over the agency’s top management. Why has it gone viral? Nobody expects a cement ad to have a sense of humour, especially Ambuja, which is associated with Amitabh’s serious tone. The biggest coup here is the casting of Dalip Singh aka Khali, India’s first World Heavyweight Champion, now a US citizen and a popular WWE name among youngsters. The film depicts him in an unusual manner, doing mundane things, highlighting his size and evoking laughter. What makes it so funny? The film has a terrific mix of understated, straight-faced humour and slapstick comedy. The viewer understands the travails of a giant man through his comic falls, while him talking to the camera makes the tone pseudo-serious, and the ‘teleshopping’ style of ‘..and then, I tried X’ makes it funnier. Is it out-of-the-box? No. The film follows a pattern–introducing the main character’s premise and moving the story forward using his voiceover and different shots (the single vox pop of his father is misplaced though). Even the last shot of them dancing to random music is a popular ad trope. What will it do for the brand? It has already done much– boosted its visibility through social networks. Every mention of Khali would make viewers think of this brand, for a while. Where can I see more? German Company Epuron made a genius film on a character called ‘Wind’ on these lines. Milind Soman’s recent films for Old Spice and a 2012 film called ‘Cat Toast’ for the energy drink Flying Horse are also worth watching for this brand of humour. (To watch this film, enter this link in your browser - bit.ly/October_19) Social Newsfeed Your regular dose on the shifts in the social media universe Song-shong apps heat up I knew this was serious space when Airtel entered the fray of digital music streaming, and now the market has entered a new level of competition. One of the biggest players, Gaana.com, which claims to have over 10 million songs, has attracted investment from Micromax, which will basically mean all its phone users will get trials of the usually paid Gaana+ service. Meanwhile, Eros Digital, of whom I have reported many times now, have expanded their shelf by acquiring the UK based song sharing app ‘PingTune’, which is a platform that allows users to choose specific bits of songs from Soundcloud or YouTube. Increasing smartphone penetration + constant supply of Bollywood music = good market to be in. Saawn likes this Zuckerberg talks at IIT Delhi on October 28 If you did not believe what I had said when Mark Zuckerberg met PM Modi at the ‘Townhall Q/A’ last month, that Zuck needs our ‘digital India’ plan to drive his Internet.org venture, here’s big news. The Facebook co-founder is coming to India and will be hosting the next edition of the Townhall Q/A at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi on October 28. The pattern remains the same – ask questions to the man on his FB post by commenting and upvote the Qs you like. The hurried timing, the location and the overall plan seems to confirm us cynics’ view that Zuck needs India to do more business. Haryanvi farmer likes this Exploring ‘Twitter Moments’during Navratri So after calling it a newspapers-have-changed phenomenon in the last column, I had to explore Twitter’s newest offering, ‘Moments’ more. The feature has expectedly been yet another boon to the sports industry – teams, players, franchisees, fitness brands at al. American Leagues such as MLB and NHL are currently dominating the conversations and I predict Twitter India will be proactive come IPL. I also see interesting stuff on travel, so industry practitioners can explore hundreds of opportunities. And closer home, there is a story on ‘Hindus celebrate’ Navratri, a comical compilation of trending videos and pictures sourced from popular and common desi Tweeters. Falguni likes this
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