Ads & IPL

A few of them really inspired me to have a go at them.

1. JK Super Cement. The ultimate one. The fact that one remembers it makes it a stud one. I am sure what I wont build my house with (JK cement too dont seem to be bothered much, going by the 'stuff' they want to show off in the ad).

2. Ibibo - social games, worst phrase ever. What does it mean? either totally pervert or too dumb.

3. IPL: A bit of digression from the ads as such, but I needed to vent this out..

IPL gotta be the worst package ever put around a money rich and widely followed sport. Somehow IPL became successful in being the easiest thing to hate, no matter how much of one's browsing is occupied by cricinfo/buzz. More than relishing the mind-blowing innings, match changing bowling spells, heart pumping chases/defences...I dread the Citi moments of success, DLF maximums, strategic breaks...and the dumbness of the commentators. Ravi Shastri just evokes chills in my spine, for ruining one of the most cherished moments in Indian cricket by saying "India - world TT champions!". Danny Morrisons, LSRKs trying hard doesnt make it better. And the endless flashing of that Modi guy sipping booze with some bollywood dumbos around. SRK is too filmy to get close to cricket.

Anyone remembers the last years final ceremony? Akon dood lipsyncing and letching at Katrina? What a way to follow up after a match that has stud moments like Kumble getting Gilly out after opening, Harmeet Singh getting Dravid out and silencing the crowd.

And the ads only complement the whole thing. Girl shouting six, arbit people referring to IPL tickets in even arbiter circumstances....give me a break or rather give me another sport.

Btw, I am still waiting for the Sena to crib against the team name "Mumbai Indians". God only knows how they missed it so far.

Now, coming back to the ads, the actually good ones,

1. HDFC life insurance, I must say good ad. The kind that does its job, no matter how uncomfortable it makes the viewer, it does make him/her think. The business being morbid in nature, cant blame them for marketing it that way. The effect on a couple watching this ad together is immense (neglect the sar uthana/jhukana business, everybody must have thought about his/her insurance situation after that ad).

Comparing this to ICICI ad (featuring a dad, a mom and a kid and some thing about jeete raho) which I think reflects the other side of marketing that tries to put positive spin on these unpleasant but important things, to me it does not work, too much of sugar coating.

2. Fevicol, girl with mush. 'Strong' ad. Not a surprise given the chuckles Fevicol provided with the previous ones.

Nevertheless I am sure we Indians are blessed with much more entertainment through ads compared to the US guys. The bland (no background jingle music) and endorsement based ads, dont just make it a fun viewing.