It was lovely reading a feature in The Free Press Journal's BrandSutra dated 2nd October, titled, ‘The Man Who Made Advertising Indian’. Without doubt a wonderful piece about The Piyush Pandey – a legend who has brought lots and lots of recognition and glory to the advertising profession. The man who has also created a crack team that will keep the Ogilvy flag flying into eternity. He has countless accomplishments, both over here in India, as well as all over the world. The entire space in a single newspaper edition of FPJ would not be enough to fit all the work created. Most people are familiar with the campaigns, so no need to repeat them here.
But. Big But. With all due respect, credit for pioneering and making advertising Indian should rightfully go to Alyque Padamsee. He was convinced that advertising should be conceived in Indian languages and not be a mere translation of English copy. Alyque proved to MNC and Indian businessmen alike that focusing on Indian cultural values paid rich dividends through mindshare and market success. At Lintas, he created an atmosphere for his team to create some of the most memorable Indian advertisements. Let me share some marvellous examples which are now part of Indian folklore.
Surf ki kharidari mein hi samajhdari hai.
Lalitaji. One of the most iconic characters of Indian advertising. A homemaker who would bargain for everything, but not on the price of Surf. Alyque Padamsee had the conviction to make a representation to Unilever’s international team about not using the global template of ‘Mothers who care use Surf’. This was in the face of a competitive challenge that claimed to offer a similar product at a far lower price. Many brands would have gone into a price war. The campaign hit back by converting Surf’s higher price into a benefit instead of a weakness. Encapsulated in the line, ‘Surf ki kharidari mein hi samajhdari hai’. And reinstated the brand’s position in the detergents market.
Hamara Bajaj
Bajaj Auto was the king of two wheelers. A case when the market leader had an image problem in the face of competition with foreign collaborators. The brand came across as solid but old fashioned. Moving from functionality to creating an emotional appeal – addressing a larger aspect of India – termed as ‘Indianness’. Alyque Padamsee pushing a hand-written note to Rahul daCunha, mid-way through his presentation to Rahul Bajaj, which read – “Speak up, my boy, you are meant to be in the theatre. If I can’t hear you, how will Mr Bajaj! Come on! PROJECT your voice”. Creating an anthem and a commercial with a pan-India representation – Hamara Kal, Hamara Aaj, Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasveer… Hamara Bajaj.
Balbir Pasha
A campaign that was built around a fictional character. How Balbir Pasha got India to talk about AIDS. The programme that aimed to reduce unsafe sex by motivating people to use condoms, seek voluntary counselling and treatment. India saw a three-fold increase in condom usage among sex workers and people visiting sex workers.
Chhoone se AIDS nahi hota. Chhoone se sirf pyaar phailta hai.
Getting Shabana Azmi to dispel one of the biggest misconceptions about AIDS. To prove her point, she sat next to a little girl, an AIDS patient, and put her arms around her and said, ‘Chhoone se AIDS nahi hota. Chhoone se sirf pyaar phailta hai’. Azmi also tweeted lines from this ad saying it had the highest recall among ads.
Iodex maliye kaam pe chaliye
Don’t let minor aches and sprains let you down. Just rub a little Iodex and get back to work.
Safedi ki chamkar, baar baar lagataar – Rin se
In the detergents ‘Looks Good’ category the analogy of ‘Whitening’ with ‘Lightning’ worked well. Whitening strikes with Rin. Making your clothes look whiter. Alyque also had the sensitivity to make the white sari-clad protagonist wear a mangal sutra so she didn’t look like a widow.
Tandurusti ki raksha karta hai Lifebuoy. Lifebuoy hai jahaan tandurusti hai wahaan
Wherever there’s Lifebuoy there’s health. Using the health appeal for a carbolic soap that washes away dirt and leaves you with the healthy feeling of freshness.
Chalte chalte kismat chamke, jab Cherry Blossom se joota damke
From no angle can this be considered a translation of the English version – ‘Something special Is coming your way. Did you Cherry Blossom your shoes today?’
Without doubt, Alyque Padamsee started the thinking in this direction. That is pioneering. After coming back to Ogilvy Mumbai from Singapore, Ranjan Kapur had a presentation about ‘How to Light A Firecracker Under Creatives’ Backside’ (Ranjan used a derogatory term starting with the letter ‘A’ for backside). He created this atmosphere of fearlessness at Ogilvy. Piyush took the ball and played it forward; building off that foundation and making the work fly to the high heavens. And the world is a better place.
Here’s wishing Piyush the very best in his advisory capacity and everything else that life has to give.
(The author is Founder and Managing Partner at Shift Axis. Views are personal.)
