#indiantvc

CHOCOLATEY WARS!

One of the funniest and yummiest fights recently witnessed on Indian television or YouTube. I’m talking about the tug-of-war between two giants Cadbury, India and Nestlé, India. Earlier Cadbury had released a quirky ad for its wafer-chocolate Perk. In an entertaining retro-filmy way (aka Bollywood style) they pretty much attacked their unnamed but quite obvious arch rival. Ogilvy Mumbai’s ad wonderfully highlighted the new perks that Perk chocolate has to offer; i.e. it was heavier with extra layer of wafer et al via a character named Monu. Eventually the advert ends by announcing its newly launched twin-bar Cadbury Perk Glucose with its “extra wafer, extra chocolate, extra pyaar”.

However, this was quite hard to digest by the competition. In fact, to everyone’s surprise and my delight, within a short span of time Nestlé came back with a hard-hitting punch, #MunchKaPunch that is. It was a spoof on the earlier released Perk ad, which was widely promoted as well as appreciated via Social Media (mainly due to its quirky & unique approach to advertising chocolate). This was quite a risk as the retort could have fallen flat. However, content is the king here. Content matters and how it is executed is the key. JWT, Delhi decided to take up ‘Sonu’ in order to address the ‘real-deal’ with chocolates. What mattered most? The full and final verdict was its taste! Frankly speaking, when it comes to chocolate the least of my concerns is about the grams/weight of the treat. Rather enjoy the damn good taste. The creative team seemed to hit the nail and picked up on its targets’ desires really well with pretty heavy dosage of cheeky humour. In my opinion this retort by Nestlé is a sure hit.

Not to say that Perk wasn’t good. It was a well-done ad that caught the attention and highlighted the facts about its product in an entertaining manner too. But what earned additional pats on the back was the reply by the competition, Munch. It took its somewhat negative take on the situation and turned its ‘supposed’ weakness into its strength.  “Crunchiest ever. Tastiest ever. Nestlé Munch, the choice is clear.” Brownie points for the portrayal of ‘Sonu’ – he was the icing (oops) chocolate coating on the wafer. His comic timing, dialogue delivery and (no offense) but his overall look was just hilarious.

To sum it up, the point to be made is that both the ads were successful in their own respective manners and timings. Being an epic foodie with a sweet tooth, I’ll go for both the brands. The thing to celebrate here is the fantastic union of the creative teams, the overall content and clear executions. Facts and points were stated clearly but it didn’t bore the viewer/consumer. Goes to show ads don’t have to be bland or blah in order to get its message across. The consumer doesn’t need to be bored or feel like they’ve wasted their time. These ads (TVC) entertain. We were laughing and enjoying. We didn’t feel like the brands were taking away or asking for anything from us, in fact they were fighting for our love (also, our money haha) but in return we got entertained. In fact, it ends up grabbing more attention and spreads the word without trying too hard.