Spot Light | Zipped all wrong
Spot Light | Zipped all wrong
REVIEWER: Prasoon Pandey
Award-winning ad film-maker Prasoon Pandey, of Corcoise Films Pvt. Ltd, is best known for his work for brands such as Fevicol, State Bank of India and Axis Bank. He was ranked among the Top 25 Advertising Film Directors in the World in 2001 by The Gunn Report.
CAMPAIGN
What did you think of the ad?
Well, nothing really. It does not provoke any thought nor do I think much thought went into its conception.
How does this ad compare with other celebrity-led campaigns? Does it do justice to the brand and the celebrity?
It does justice to nothing. It’s a worldwide campaign that’s sadly not even looking for a universal idea that may or may not work in most?countries.?Instead,?they’ve?chosen the easier?way out of?making something so inert it creates no dissonance anywhere. It may be convenient, may be safe and may even solve a huge communications inventory issue, but I think it’s a huge opportunity lost.
What must brands keep in mind while using animation or special effects in ads?
See, animation, great production values, celebrities, etc., can never be replacements for an idea. These all are tools that can, when used cleverly, help deliver the idea even better. But before one begins a discussion on the quality of the cutlery we need to check if the dish is exciting.
What is your favourite ad campaign in this category?
Locally there have been some stunning works in this category. These are campaigns that understood the local ethos, how deeply passionate we are about our cricket and what it really means to us. And that’s why these campaigns were able to get the viewers by their “Sporting Equipment".
First, there was the marvellous Adidas’ Sachin (Tendulkar) campaign, which was a fantastic study on an entire nation’s feeling in that fraction of a moment before Sachin’s bat meets the ball. Then there was the stunning Nike cricket-in-a-traffic-jam commercial, which captured how cricket for us is “a way of life—a celebration". And then there is the brilliantly written new Adidas black and white cricket campaign, which studies what’s happening inside the mind of a bowler in that fraction of a moment before he releases the ball, a batsman in that sliver of time before his bat meets the ball and a fielder in that suspended moment when the ball is flying towards him. It is a great study of their loneliness in that moment and the mental battle they need to win in order to succeed.
As told to Gouri Shah.
gouri.s@livemint.com
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