An opportunity gone waste
An opportunity gone waste
Agency: Bates 141 India
Reviewer: Brijesh Jacob, managing partner, White Canvas Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Spot: A kid stops at every shop window admiring the displays. The father keeps pulling him away till he himself stops outside a particular window on seeing the new Fiat Linea. The kid now has to pull away the father.
Why I don’t like it:
• For not making it clear who will be admired. The car or the person owning it?
• For wasting an opportunity to relaunch a brand such as Fiat with a new car such as the Linea.
• For not interpreting “admiration guaranteed" in a competent manner.
• For coming up with the world’s most overused and unimaginative idea—“good-looking".
• For writing a story around this which is neither memorable nor differentiating.
• For not having watched enough Indian ads. There have been enough and more ads where people stop in their tracks, bat eyelids and do much more on seeing a good-looking vehicle or sunglasses.
• For not looking around and seeing other “better-looking" cars on the streets.
• For being lazy.
How I would have done it: Keeping the current idea—the film could have kids walking alone at traffic signals, along the footpath, among others, and realizing a little later that they are alone. A kid could be left holding the glove his father was
Show all the features that would make the brand manager glow like a fairness cream model. The car enters the busy city streets, still cruising. It then screeches to a halt right in front of a doll in the middle of the road.
People nearby start admiring the driver, his compassion, control, among others. As soon as he steps out, the scene changes and they accuse him of being callous and inconsiderate. He is taken aback with this sudden change in mood and goes back to his car. Just as he is about to close the door, he hears the “waah, waah" (adulations) once again. Sign off with Fiat Linea. Admiration guaranteed.
As told to Gouri Shah
gouri.s@livemint.com
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