Is your idea of the ad world tinted by the shenanigans of Don Draper & Co? Well, ad veteran Ambi Parameswaran (picture right by Rashbehari Das) will have you know that his industry is nothing like what is depicted on the American series, Mad Men. But listening to him speak, one is convinced that the Indian ad scene is populated by some mad, mad men and women!
Parameswaran, an IIM Calcutta and Harvard alumnus, was in town to launch his book, Nawabs, Nudes and Noodles, recently. Published by Pan Macmillan India (Rs 599), the objective of this book is to provide a window to the changing Indian consumer landscape for students of management, marketing, advertising, sociology and media studies. That apart, it is a jolly good read. Highlights from the launch at Starmark, South City, on June 23.
• The idea of masculinity has changed a lot over the years. Cinthol ads featuring Vinod Khanna or Charminar ads featuring Jackie Shroff gave way to Emami’s Fair And Handsome ads featuring Shah Rukh Khan in 2005.
• The same can be said about marriage, and the role of the woman. In the famous Prestige ad with the tagline, “Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise karey inkaar?” where a married couple buy a pressure cooker, the wife keeps shut throughout. Cut to 2014, an Airtel ad featuring the wife as the man’s boss made waves, though it also received flak.
• Before Maggi introduced noodles in 1982, they made soup cubes but it flopped.
Fair And Handsome, India’s
first fairness cream for men
• Amjad Khan aka Gabbar of Sholay was used in the the ad for Glucose-D, a biscuit by Britannia. For the first time, a villain was used for an ad but the brand never took off and Parle’s Parle G became much bigger. Britannia reinvented the brand and called it Tiger, which was much more successful.
• Dalda was a Dutch company called Dada & Co. After Unilever bought its rights, they added the “L” (for Lever) to make it sound Indian.
• The 1993 “Nude Models Wanted” ad by Trikaya Grey won the best print ad of the decade title at the Abby Awards in 2000. Shocking? Hardly. Beneath the three words, the ad read: “Figure: Chubby, Hair: Preferably, Chin: Double, Eyes: Brown, Skin: Peachy, Age: 8-12 months”. It was an ad asking for baby models. Oh baby!
