OLD is GOLD

Retro is back. Yes, at least in advertisement commercials. Be it the latest Coke ad where one finds the current heart throb Imran Khan lusting for a bottle of Coke with the music Aaj Ki Raat inspired by a yesteryear favourite playing in the background, or the slightly older one Hum Jab Honge Saath Saal Ke of a life insurance company. Yes, these jingles are indeed captivating millions.
Now the question that arises is, do the remixes indeed impress? Says Saumya Chattopadhyay, Head, Strat-egic Planning, Rediffusion Y&R, “One is seeing many of these remixed Hindi numbers. Some of them make people in the older generation nostalgic. But the younger generation often cannot relate to these songs.” Chattopadhyay further elaborates that advertisements should be able to cut through the clutter. “And remixed numbers are often able to do that since they enforce a greater brand recall.”
The trick is, however, not to overdo it; otherwise the magic is lost. Says Shayan Chatterjee, a senior copywriter, “To be very frank, I feel that Hindi numbers sometimes get lost on you. It is always better to create an ad that becomes embedded in a consumer’s mind.” There are many examples to prove this point. Take for instance, an ad of the telecom major, Vodaphone. You and I in this beautiful world, is a really simple song that has touched hearts. The song was never inspired by any Hindi tune, yet it was an instant hit. The youth still hum it even though the ad hit the market several years ago. Another example is Kuch Khas Hai of Dairy Milk. Talk of the ad jingle and the thought that immediately comes to mind is that of a lissome young girl dancing across the cricket field when her boyfriend hits a six.
There are a few like Subhojit Roy Chowdhury, a copywriter, who feels that a song must be able to create its own magic. For instance, the Aaj Ki Raat number was a very popular tune of yesteryears that simply ass-umed the status of higher brand recall when used in the Coke ad. “People simply love the way Imran Khan longs for that bottle of Coke on a dark night,” says Roy Chowdhury.
The most important thing is to keep the song relevant to the ad that you are trying to create. Remember the song Pehli Tareekh used in the campaign for Dairy Milk?
The song celebrated the first day of every month. The day you get your salary and was very relevant to every working individual; hence it created a higher brand recall than any other ad in the same genre. But the moment you use a song that has no relevance, the ad tends to fall flat.
An important point to remember is that people have become more exposed to Hindi songs than before. There are so many music channels and FM stations that play Hindi film songs that it is not difficult for people to remember them. And when people associate these songs with an ad that they see on a TV channel, the brand recall immediately becomes higher. And talking about value, as long as the songs create the right magic and the ad message is conveyed then it will warm hearts. Just in the way the old numbers did!
The writer is a well-known industry watcher

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