Crash the Pepsi IPL - 2

I guess it is fair enough to say that life has its shares of ups and downs. We usually end up seeing the downs outweigh the ups, even though it may not necessarily be true. And there is always an opportunity in negative things too.

The second of those Pepsi IPl ads that I quite liked was this one:

A simple concept where a guy is both dumped by his girlfriend and fired by his company at the same time. And instantly, without being bogged down, he is able to convert a simple conversation in another table into something that is favorable for him and the ad ends on a happy note.

While things may not be that simple in reality, I quite liked the ad for the simple, subtle yet important message that ups and downs are part and parcel of life and that one just needs to keep going.

Another interesting ad was this one:

With just a bottle of Pepsi and showing how the bottle gets empty as the match progresses towards a victory for the side one if supporting, this ad had it all. Minimal props, no actors, and a compelling message. I am sure I will be seeing this on TV sometime soon.

After all ad making is trying to be able to strike a chord with the audience and ensure that they buy the product you are offering. A lot of things are usually taken for granted by the makers of the ad. And it is not that all ads have to make you laugh or smile. There are ads that can be touching and drive the message at the same time. The fact that there are too many ads these days and they usually end up being a rehash of what the ads for the products were 10 years ago is indeed a thing to be bothered about. However, there is art in ad making and the ads in India, for me, rank among the better ones (considering the way the ads are in the US).

Another thing that’s critical for ad makers is that more than trying to sell the product, they should rather work towards making the buyer want the product and buy the product. For instance, a major manufacturer of phones, tablets and personl computers is able to make the ad experience so personal that the effort that the creative head makes towards showcasing each of the products as a product that the customers has an utmost need for it, is something remarkable.

Check out the #CrashThePepsiIPL videos & participate in the activity at BlogAdda

Crash the Pepsi IPL - 1

Ad making is not an easy thing. I recall that I took part in the student competition called ‘Mad Ads’ many a time while in school and upon looking back I realize how lame I was and how my ideas were. The concept of Mad Ads was to take be able to advertise a product with some amount of humor and ensure that the audience laughs. The creative instinct that one needed to be able to combine the selling with laughing is something that I lacked. A lot of people would take assistance of an already popular ad and using some wordplay they would make it funny and entertaining (both not necessarily at the same time).

I saw this Pepsi IPL video activity that Blogadda had and I noticed that there were many many videos (all of 30 seconds) that people had submitted and I went through a few of them. A few of them were extremely creative and brilliant. And one of those ads is what I am going to pick to write about in this post.

The ad’s concept is pretty simple. This is something all of us have experienced when we played gully cricket. The batsman hits the ball for a six and it goes into someone’s house. Just like any other grumpy neighbor, that aunty takes the bat and ball away from the kids and the kids are left with nothing to play. That’s when they spot the cap of a Pepsi bottle and an idea strikes. They use the empty bottle as a bat and the cap as the ball.

The ad touches many things at once. One, how presence of mind can be useful in situations like this. Rather than sobbing and heading back home to work on nothing for the rest of the day, the kids have a make-do arrangement and derive happiness from it. Two, it instantly strikes a cord with the 90s kids (and perhaps the millenials) who’d use any flat or long object as a bat (including the examination writing pad) and any rollable object as a ball (including the question paper for the exam that they just finished writing). While we waited for our parents to come pick us up or for the school van to arrive, we would end up doing a similar thing. Three, on a advertising front, this is sure to become a hit with kids who will perhaps start playing this way to entertain themselves when they do not have access to a bat and ball.

Overall a great thing to see so many videos that were submitted by people like you and me. Time for me to make on of those videos, I guess!

Check out the #CrashThePepsiIPL videos & participate in the activity at BlogAdda