MxMIndia

Tag: Havells Wires

  • Havells, which usually does funny or caring ads, has decided to jump onto the public service bandwagon for their new wires commercial. And they have failed to generate any electricity

    Debrief: Havells Wires: Creative spark missing

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Okay, so Havells, which usually does funny or caring ads, has decided to jump onto the public service bandwagon for their new wires commercial. And they have failed to generate any electricity.

     

    The TVC features a living room, with a dad and his little kid watching a Hindi news channel. A neta is seen ranting about the various burning problems facing the nation. Hatred, corruption, unemployment, etc. The same garbage that’s dished out to us during TV dinners. The maha bored kid gets a brainwave. He wraps the national flag around a ‘fire-proof’ Havells wire and proudly presents it to his impressed daddy. The nation is saved from ‘fire’!

     

    Now, I am quite aware what the Havells team is trying to do out here, and their intention is noble. Which is to ensure that a low-involvement product gets quickly noticed through smart alec advertising. However, this particular treatment lacks fire. For one, the association of the Indian flag wrapped around the wire with the efficacy of the wire is tenuous. It took me some exposures to comprehend what was going on. Then, using ‘burning’ national issues as a metaphor for fire protection is a bit childish, to say the least. I hate silly puns anyway. Puns are usually used by writers when an idea is missing. Lastly, I am quite tired of the precocious child thingy, it’s getting on my nerves.

     

    Yup, this commercial is basically burnt-out creative work.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcGcChbtXic[/youtube]

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 1. Stupid pun. Forced association.

     

  • Extremely disappointed with this effort. It’s a straightforward, boring, problem/solution ad, with none of the famous Havells magic

    Debrief: Havells Wires: Lacks spark

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Havells is back with a new commercial, this time for their wires. This brand usually does offbeat work and has set the benchmark for advertising on electrical products, so one looks out for their ads with great expectation.

     

    The commercial features Bollywood comedian Ranvir Shorey. Clad in a ganji and pyjama, he is seen meditating. He smells something fishy, and spends the rest of the commercial time sniffing around in his house. Till our man discovers that an ‘ordinary’ wire is burning because of excess load. Enter Havells. Problem solved.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXdzR_VEjFw[/youtube]

    Extremely disappointed with this effort. It’s a straightforward, boring, problem/solution ad, with none of the famous Havells magic. In fact, it’s so bad, even on the first exposure when you don’t really know what’s happening, you get busy yawning. I suspect the client and the agency knew they are putting out a weak creative, and therefore relied on Shorey to pep things up with his usual filmi antics. Well, poor Shorey, how much ever he might be brilliant at comedy, there’s nothing he can do when the script sucks.

     

    Poor show. The wires may or may not be burning, but I smell a creative burn-out here.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 1. Message delivered. By boring you to death.