30 Second Thrillers

Bus

The 30 Second Connection

From thought to thrill

My love for conversations is undying; it only grows with every passing one. I love conversing because with it comes the opportunity to observe and meet an insight. For fifty eight years of my life and close to four decades of my career, I have been laden with conversations, each of which have had something interesting to offer. Through all these million conversations, the most common question has been, ‘So what do you do?’ a question that has become more of a human reflex. I have been asked this question on train journeys, at social dos and even at weddings. I am sure it holds true for you too.

Before the 1980’s, whenever I was asked, ‘So what do you do?’ I used to be in a fix, because with this question, came the tough task of explaining what a Creative Director does in advertising, alongside explaining what advertising is. But in the early 1980’s, the magic box - the television set made my job easy. As television became popular and color Television a rage, advertisements also began to get entertaining. Elements like music, stories and fun were woven in some seconds and presented to the audience. With these little doses of entertainment, people started connecting with the products. The face of ads had changed. No longer were they propaganda; simply pushing the product down the audience’s throat. Now, they were emotionally sliced moments of life that resonated with people.

So what changed with this? People and their perception of ads did. Love began to foster between the viewers and the ads. Soon, people started finding favorites. Every time they were aired, people savored them with the same enthusiasm over and over again. The jingles soon started getting hummable and the wisecracks increasingly quotable. The music soon became a subconscious tune in people’s heads. The actors in the ads became their friends. This is why ‘Lalitaji’s’ advice was valued, why people bonded over ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’, why friendships were formed over ‘Hamara Bajaj’. Because ads were now a reflection of life!

And this emotional connect made my life easy. For now, whenever I was asked, ‘So what do you do?’, all I had to do, was to refer to one of my popular ads, from ‘Wah Taj’ in those days to ‘Thums Up’ today. As soon as I said, ‘Have you seen the Wah Taj ad with Zakir Hussain in it?’ or ‘Have you seen the Thums Up ad with Salman?’ The answer is usually an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’ Faces light up or a spark flickers in the listener’s eyes, as soon as I simply state that I have been a part of them. Then, a sudden inquisitiveness is what takes over. A series of questions are asked, each of them with the intent of knowing what happens behind the scenes.

‘Zakir Hussain is amazing, have you spoken to him?’ ‘How is Salman during the shoot?’ ‘Are those stunts for real?’ For them, I become a key to a magical world. They want me to tell them anecdotes, instances and challenges. They want me to share, as to how something they so much love is made.

The love hasn’t worn off with time, it has only grown. Even today, we see the insane love for Zoo-Zoos, and have adapted Cadbury Dairy Milk as a way of shubh aarambh in our lives and we still celebrate friendship with the ‘Har ek friend zaroori hota hai’ Airtel Song. The love has transcended through the ages, through genres, through ads. The thirty seconds that we, the world of advertising creatives create with great complexity, is viewed and perceived as a simple dose of entertainment by the viewers and the relationship equation is simply that of love.

People’s fascination for ads has always excited me; I thoroughly enjoy sharing my community’s experiences with random strangers, who watch what we have created with great vigor. While I will continue conversing at every available opportunity, I am bound by the human limitation of time, opportunity and presence. And thus, I give my passion for conversations a new shape - a book. This book is like a pacifier to my passion and an ode to the love that people have for ads. It is my attempt to converse with every random stranger out there, who has cherished those thirty seconds.

A book that takes the reader to a world where magic is made!

To the world, where the creative oompa-loompas of the advertising scenario work tirelessly to create thirty seconds - those which become a part of their lives. A book that tells the story behind the story - how was it made, when did the idea spark like a bulb, who thought of it and when, the anecdotes, the efforts all of it captured in words. Interlaced with inputs and insights from the makers themselves; a book that covers great ad-men/women, their ads, and its stories. I handpicked the ads that have been loved, cherished and watched and talked about always.

The ads are a mixed bag of nostalgia and new age, we traverse from then to now. My community and I talk of music, celebs, humour, women, youth, emotions, children and how they have been embedded in advertising. We share with you, the interesting pieces of our lives while making ads; we attempt to satiate your inquisitiveness by sharing the stories behind the scenes.

It is you, your obsession and love for ads and the world behind it, which inspires me to unravel these stories. It is with you I speak and share about our world, my world, the advertising world. We tell you how a thought transcends into thrill and how the thirty second connect takes place, between the brands and the people.

So dear reader, dear world, turn the leaf and connect with the thrill of thirty seconds.

The Black and White Connection

If I have to communicate the power of advertising through an anecdote from life, an interesting picture surfaces in my memory – that of a mother feeding her child during the commercial break. I have seen and heard, many mothers narrating the act of feeding their kids. In their maternal experience, the only time when their little ones ate quietly, without any protest was when a thirty second thriller unfolded on their Television sets. Mothers then and mothers now, have used ads as a tool to accomplish their toughest tasks. Such is the magic of advertising - it captivates and it entertains.

The magic has blended into our lives, for the last four decades and has even become a reflection of it. In the last forty years, advertising has touched each one of us, with no one really escaping its magic. Each of us has some memory about our favorite ad. The magic of advertising finds its roots in the most rudimentary start – Slogans. It began with catchy rhymes and slogans. ‘GoldSpot – The Zing Thing’, ‘Whenever you see colour think of us – Jenson & Nicholson’ and many others were the first face of advertising in India. Pictures paired with catchy slogans, printed in the newspaper was the format it all began with. This went on till the potential of moving pictures was discovered.

In the middle of the 1970’s, around 1976-1977, audio and visual (moving pictures) were recognized as elements of advertising and were blended together to create commercial ad films. The first pedestal for commercial ad films was the 70 mm screen - Cinema. In 1976-1977, cinema advertising took off. The silver screen has witnessed Suresh Oberoi, driving down the ghats of Ooty and saying, ‘Relax have a Charminar’. Food, Friends & Thums Up, and the entire colour coded orange of GoldSpot were some of the most popular Cinema ads of the time. Cinema became the playing ground for many advertisers and the creative community understood how to use moving pictures and sound.

Slogans gave way to jingles while the use of music too, became prevalent and with this, radio as a medium was conceived. It was an exciting phase, the power of cinema was discovered, and advertisers were exploring it. There were people like Alyque Padamsee of Lintas who learnt the art of tapping this medium.

Lintas and Hindustan Unilever were the first movers and gave shape to the medium. Hindustan Unilever used to make fifty-one ad films per year. Alyque was involved in all, I asked him if he could recollect an incident from the days of cinema commercials, to which he laughed and narrated a story related to one of the cinema ads for Lux soap. ‘We were making a commercial for Lux which featured the South Indian actress Priyadarshani. The film required her to dance in the center of a circle made of fireworks, "the anaars’ and while the camera was rolling, she stepped on one of them and burnt her feet a bit. Her mother created a ruckus over it and the shooting came to a standstill. I then talked to her mother, convinced her and finally, it took us five days to complete the shoot of that commercial. I remember, we had installed large smoke repelling machines to keep the environment free of smog’.

Cinema as a medium came in vogue and soon, it paved the way for the next big thing - the screen that resided in each home. Unlike the digital generation of today that is born with television by their side, most of us have a special sense of nostalgia attached to our first television experience with Doordarshan. I vividly remember how its circular logo was formed in slow, deliberate animation, the words ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ as the footer and Indian classical music piece as its signature tune.

It started with a very ancient and basic approach, both; in terms of technology and in terms of content. Low power transmitters were used to air the content. These low power transmitters were installed only in the metros and some small towns. As for the content, it was more educational. Television then was used as a tool to educate people and create awareness. Programs like ‘Krishi Darshan’ dominated the content, coupled with news. In the name of entertainment, a handful of soaps and a bit of drama was weaved in, which was mostly regional, conceived at a very small scale.

In the early days, the presence of television was restricted to a few cities like Mumbai, Delhi and the smaller villages were connected with the Low Power Transmitters (LPT’s). The LPT’s started expanding to more states and this gave way to two kinds of networks, regional and national. But 1982-1983, were the years that heralded a sea change; in these years, two major events happened. The Asian Games in New Delhi and the launch of colour television in India. I played an active role in launching the advertising campaign for the first colour television in India - Apsara TV for the Government-owned Electronic Corporation of India (ECIL).

As the reach of television increased, development of content also picked up. Television now became a national phenomenon. No longer was it restricted to community squares, it started entering homes and became a family member. Further, as reach increased, even programming began to change and as the 1980’s approached, the entertainment quotient kept increasing. Soaps, musical shows, stories all started coming alive on the technicolour screen. Even today, I miss the vintage shows it aired, the epics - Mahabharata and Ramayan, Chayya Geet, the mysterious Byomkesh Bakshi, the innocent Malgudi Days, Buniyaad, Nukkad, Rajni and the regular news intervals.

With the advent of such content, was ushered in a new revolution, wherein brands began to advertise themselves on television. Lintas-HUL and FCB Ulka-Godrej were the pioneers in this space. The Government of India was clueless about how to commercialize the medium. That was when experts like Sam Balsara stepped in and introduced the thirty-minute slot-system. thirty minute time-slots were sold to brands, wherein they were required to create content and also use the same time to air their commercials. This is how sponsored programs came into being. Two legendary advertising individuals - AG Krishnamurthy aka AGK and Alyque Padamsee share some tales of yore. And as they talk about the world of channels and advertising in general, we are compelled to bring forth the many popular, and much- loved ads of that time. The conversation is truly a walk down memory lane.

The Nostalgia Lane

One very important name from the Doordarshan days that introduced a sense of commercialization and supported the national channel, in transcending the information space into programming, was Mudra Videotec. Somewhere back in 1984, Mudra Videotec was created and for the next ten to fifteen years, it heralded entertainment on national Television. AG Krishnamurthy was at the forefront of setting up Mudra Videotec.

AGK tell us how did it all start?

‘Back then, India as a country barely had any facilities that enabled it to produce quality television software. The gap troubled us and thus, I got in touch with a veteran television technologist. We travelled to London together and availed some latest television studio equipment. It took some days for the equipment to be imported, whilst we identified the right people to set up a team and also we set up the most advanced studio of those times at Dhobi Talao, Mumbai. It all started when West Indies came to India for a cricket series and Doordarshan decided to telecast it LIVE. And with this, came the opportunity to commercialize.

We approached Doordarshan with the idea, that since, you are heading towards commercialization, let us sponsor. We had several meetings with them and finally they let Vimal sponsor, so we began airing the technology commercial of Vimal, where the factory and machinery were portrayed. It became the first commercial on Doordarshan. And with this, started a whole new television revolution.

Popular family serials, music shows, international events, women’s programme all were brought to the Indian television by Mudra Videotec. Rajani, Buniyaad, Udaan, Paramvir Chakra were some of the legendary shows telecasted. We also created a show called, Hot Tracks which was a weekend program that showcased the latest chart busters from the western music genre it ushered in a whole new cult."

Any unforgettable incidents that happened back then during the Mudra Videotec days?

‘Oh! Yes … one incident is like a legendary story for me. We had produced India’s first telefilm, Janam, which was directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The movie was brilliant. It was being aired but in between the movie, Doordarshan would break for the News Bulletin, which was telecasted daily at 9:00 PM. It so happened that the then Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi, watched the film and when the 9:00 PM news was about to interrupt the film, which was culminating into its climax, she made a call to Doordarshan to check about the duration for the film to get over. She was informed it was about 8-10 minutes, so she requested Doordarshan to delay the news-telecast and instead continue to air the film to its end. And for the first time in the history of Doordarshan, the news bulletin was delayed by 8-10 minutes. Those were the days that television shows enjoyed 90 – 92 per cent viewership’.

As AG Krishnamurthy shared nuances and incidences pertaining to Mudra Videotec, we also had Alyque narrating some anecdotes of the days, when Television was more like a family member. ‘The first sponsored commercial we did on television was for Surf, called "Surf ki mashoor mahek’. It was a quiz show. This started somewhere in late 70’s and early 80’s. I remember, we had added a little twist to the show, where we used to call guests on the show and the audience would ask questions to them. We had Niharika the astrologer and for painting and art, we had invited MF Hussain.

A very interesting incident happened post his episode was aired. MF Hussain called and told me that it was because of me and the show, that he was now recognized as painterwallah. Intrigued, I asked what was he trying to say. It was then, that he narrated what had transpired. He was walking on the streets of Bangalore, when a school bus passed by him and the kids in the bus recognized him from the show. Evidently excited, they began to squeal, t ‘Arey! Painterwallah – Painterwallah’.

Similarly, we had also created the show called ‘Karamchand Jasoos’ with the help of the students of Pune Film Institute. It was a raving hit and it made Pankaj Kapoor and Kitty the ruling stars. The act of his chewing a carrot was a rage, so much so that restaurants in Delhi and Mumbai started serving a special ‘Karamachand Carrot Soup’. We had fought with the Doordarshan authorities to get an extension for the show.

As the sponsored programs flourished, the impact of television became evident. Daily soaps, social drama and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata were the real anchors of the medium then. Soon, the brands too, began experimenting with television. Procter & Gamble came into India and went big on television. Needless to conclude, television had become the new face of FMCG brands in India.

In fact, my romance with television started on an auspicious note - with the blessings of Ramayana’s Sita, by Ramanand Sagar. I was fortunate to do my first commercial with Deepika Chikhalia, who played the role of Sita. This happened in the early 1980’s, for a brand called Happy Home – ready-to-eat food. As I remember, my first commercials that were aired on DD, filling in more memories are Alyque Padamsee, AG Krishnamurthy, Kailash Surendranath and Shantanu Sheorey, who share some brilliant stories behind some vintage ads.

Alyque started the journey with a Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish ad, which gave way to the iconic Cherry Charlie, a mascot that has stayed with the brand ever since. An ad that seemed like a scene right out of a Charlie Chaplin film, created a whole new affinity for Cherry Blossom. ‘I have always been a great fan of Charlie Chaplin and back then, we had got the mandate of making an ad for Cherry Blossom. In our research, we found out that the sale of Cherry Blossom was stagnant because the shoe polish had already captured 90 per cent of the branded shoe-polish market and the youngsters had a weird perception about polishing shoes. They felt ki yeh to naukaron ka kaam hai(this is a servant’s job).

I felt, that the way to break this perception would be to provide the act of polishing shoes a certain status along with the dose of entertainment. That is when the idea of using Charlie Chaplin as a character came about. I had noticed that almost every Charlie Chaplin movie had at least one shoe polishing scene, thus I used it as a leverage and weaved a Cherry Blossom story around it. The ad truly amused the audiences! We had Rajesh Puri play the Cherry Charlie role. Back in those days models were treated like stars. This is how the famous Cherry Charlie came into being".

As we talked about Alyque’s most successful campaigns of yore, a slew of public service campaigns came up in the conversation. Some were so effective that they led to protests. He shared how a campaign against roadside sugarcane juice caused quite a stir. ‘The then Municipal Commissioner Jamshed Kanga called me and said, Alyque, you have created many successful public service campaigns … why not make one for me too? I said Okay and enquired about the cause. He briefed me about the issue of the increasing instances of diseases like Typhoid, Cholera, Dysentery, and Jaundice and he attributed this to the roadside sugarcane juice stalls. Understanding the issue we made a very simple documentary style ad where we shot a real Ganna walla who is winding the sugarcane in his roller machine.

The machine is rusted, so is the galvanized aluminum sheet on which it is falling and the background is just filled with the noise of flies buzzing. The constant, zzzz…zzz buzz of flies gives out a sense of discomfort, finally the vendor pours the glass of juice and hands it over to the customer. When the customer is about to drink, we see a fly on the glass, and freezes with a sense of disgust. This is followed by the tagline, Only for Rs. 5 a glass you can buy Jaundice, Cholera, Typhoid and Dysentery. This is what we made of the brief’.

What was Mr. Jamshed Kanga’s reaction?

‘His instant reaction was in the entire ad you haven’t once said, don’t eat street food, and don’t eat open food. I replied, I have very much done that. I felt that we as humans suffer from an urge to do something which we are told not to. So I decided to let the visuals speak for itself. In fact, when we were shooting, the shot where the fly is settled on the glass was a complete coincidence. On the editing table my editor said we have shots without the fly in the frame, should we use those? I said, No! Let us keep the fly as it is! The ad was only done for Mumbai and no other city’.

Was Jamshed Kanga convinced about the effectiveness of the ad after it was released?

‘Yes! He was and how. One day my secretary came running into my office all hassled and said, Mr. Padamsee there is a problem. We have a huge morcha (demonstration/protest) happening outside our office I was a bit baffled and asked, Who are they? and she replied, They are the Sugarcane Juice Vendors’ Association. I approached the group and they inquired, Sahab aapne woh gaane ka juice wala ad banaya hai? (Have you made the Sugarcane juice ad?), Haan maine banaya hai (yes, I have made it) I replied. Sahab usko bandh karo, humko pasand nahin hai (get it off air) they demanded. Taken aback I asked, Kyon (Why?), "Sahab iski vajah se humara business 50 per cent down ho gaya hai! Log abhi aata nahin aur bolta hai yeh peene se bimaari milegi! Toh isko bandh karo, varna aap aaj ghar nahin jaa sakte!’ (Due to this ad, our business has been dipped by 50 per cent. Customers have stopped coming because they believe they will fall ill. You stop the ad right now, else we won’t let you go home) they threatened.

I simply called up Jamshed Kanga and told him I am sending a group of people to your office as they have some work. I directed the crowd to take this issue up with Jamshed Kanga, the Municipal Commissioner, whose office is near the VT station and assured them that he is the right person to talk to, about this ad. In a few hours I got a call from Mr. Kanga. He was livid., Alyque what have you done! This group you sent has surrounded me and they are not letting me go home and demanding to get the ad off air. You are the boss Mr. Kanga, I will do as you say.

So he ordered me to get the ad off air, I called the distributor and followed suit. Initially he said we would do so for a few weeks but later, he never let it air. Such was the impact of the ad, for the first time a Public service campaign generated commendable effect in such a short time. As advertisers, we just don’t motivate people to buy products we also motivate them to buy ideas’.

Your public service campaign for helmets too was a great success …

‘What worked for the helmet was its sheer straight forward message, It’s your choice … after all, it is your head. But yet again, this creative relevance is out of authority’s comprehension. The Police commissioner after seeing the ad said, ‘Mr. Padamsee, but not once have you said wear helmet you have to use this. I simply asked him to let the ad air and see the effect. After much convincing he complied and the effect was obvious … even today people remember the ad’.

I agree, back then to manage every rigid perspective was a challenge, especially when our society was at a juncture where so many things were a taboo. In a space like this, you managed to create a spectacle like Kamasutra.

Tell me some stories about how you spun this one?

‘Pops! One day Gautam Singhania came to Lintas and told us that my father Vijaypath Singhania has given me an assignment, he wants us to foray into production of Condoms, and for marketing the same we need your help. We as a team started off from there - our first step being research.

We spoke to a small group of about 200 people, aiming at extracting qualitative feedback on condoms. The unanimous opinion was, Condoms! Sheeee! It’s a dirty rubber! Back then, the only condom available was Nirodh; it was the dirtiest product available in the country since the government made it. The product was actually a thick, dirty rubber which was highly unreliable and uncomfortable.

Using this insight as our basis we began brainstorming, the point of discussion was to come up with the apt strategy and approach to popularize condoms. And amidst this discussion a realization dawned onto me and I thought out loud to the team, Guys! I find one thing very strange. At the time when you are in the act of making love how can something with such a disgusting perception be encouraging? Why can’t we have a Sexy condo’? Laughter echoed onto this thought because no one believed that a condom could be sexy! And this reaction strengthened my conviction of the approach we will take, that of a sexy condom.’

‘Sexy condom’ sounds quite interesting, what unfolded next?

‘The next task was to come up with a brand name for the Condom, which the Singhania’s would produce. The name we finalized was, Kamasutra because it is synonymous to not just sex, but it means sex with status. Kamasutra is equivalent to the intricate art of lovemaking it is exotic. Once the name was decided, we started referring to the book Kamasutra to find out all the ways in which a man arouses a woman. So the condom ‘Kamasutra’ now became an image of a caring man, a man who offers passionate sexual gratification.

We began with a print campaign in magazines, where we decided to conduct a photo shoot in Goa. The print ad with stills of a man and a woman in an intimate position was conceived with a sample condom stuck on the center on the page. We were to now decide on the models. Gautam suggested Pooja Bedi.

Back then, she was not yet a film star, just a gossip item and famous for her sexy looks. So we zeroed on to her. As for the male model, we found Mark Robinson perfect, although he wasn’t a known face but his looks fit the bill. And then, we went on to make an ad film which had sensuous shower scenes all of it communicating, Kamasutra condom as a tool of pleasure. We made the film and sent it to Doordarshan and they blatantly denied airing of the film. We can never show this film on our channel, it is disgusting. Fortunately, that was the time when satellite Television had just started and so they decided to air the ad.’

So Doordarshan took offence, any other such harsh feedbacks?

‘Yes! I was called by the advertising standard council, ASCI. I met them and the Chairman fumed, Mr. Padamsee, we are extremely upset with you. We believed that you are that rare person in advertising who has always supported what is correct in advertising! Now you have created this ad that communicates that condom is about pleasure in love making. I am ashamed that you used such words. I calmly replied, "Mr. Chairman, if condom is not for making love … then what is it for, blowing balloons?

You buy a condom when you want to make love, and for youngsters, pleasure is essential. The tagline simply states the truth, who in this room can deny the fact that we use condom for the act of making love! Through this ad, we are just saying that our condom has a certain appeal. It’s a good-looking condom; available in many varieties like dotted, extra thin and thus, it offers safety with pleasure. I believe, this will change the entire scenario of family planning and STD diseases in India." I simply delivered my belief and truth and left. And we all know the wonder Kamasutra as a brand and its ad has created.’

Taking the nostalgic vein, AG Krishnamurthy and Shantanu Sheorey doled out anecdotes of the revered ad Only Vimal. AGK tells us how the line Only Vimal was coined, while Shantanu tells us the crazy string of events that unfolded with Vivian Richards, Ravi Shastri and Allan Border during the shoot of the ad.

Fabric Tales

‘It changed the way Indians perceived fabric and Reliance as a company, a brand that sponsored the 1987 Cricket World-Cup.’ AGK started off by sharing the impact that Vimal, as a brand, had managed to create. The ads of Vimal and the line ‘Only Vimal’ gave Indian-made fabric an entirely new dimension, that of style and status. Conversing further we reached its roots.

The line ‘Only Vimal’ how did this legend happen?

‘Back in 1978, Vimal as a brand had started gaining some reputation. Back then, Raymond’s was a huge name and a tough competitor. To make way in the market, Vimal decided to launch a huge campaign. So the team made a big budget ad film, wherein they shot with helicopters to position Vimal as a larger than life brand. The process was - once they shoot the ad, before approaching Dhirubhai Ambani, they would run the ad through me, and if I approved it we would show it to him.

Frank Simoes was behind this entire campaign, the first ad was shown to me, and I simply told Frank that this ad has a beautiful body but it has no soul. I found it very plastic. Since a lot of money had been spent, Frank insisted we at least run it through Dhirubhai Ambani once, so I agreed. After he saw the ad he looked at everyone’s faces and then turned to me and asked, AGK what do you think? I said, It looks good but it lacks soul. He then turned to Frank and asked, What do you think?