Its pouring humour

Unconventional casting, humorous storyline and an underlining opportunity to create a consistent and strong positioning; conjointly with Asian Paints, Ogilvy and Mather has created a commix of fun and madness in this new advert

We recollect Asian Paints for its humorous elements in ad films. For instance, the Asian Smart Care film for waterproof solutions revolved around a real estate agent, who plans to earn some extra bucks but is failed by the brand’s no leakage warranty.

In its new film, Asian Paints has yet again tickled our funny bone, and this time it is Ranbir Kapoor on the screen, like an added auxiliary to the hilarious piece.

The ad film produced for Asian Paints’ Ultima Protek line of waterproof paints features Ranbir Kapoor, serenading the brand’s version of “Raag Malhaar”, in a classical musician avatar. Titled ‘Barkha’, the ad shows Kapoor interrupting the neighbour’s wedding proceedings by singing “Raag Malhaar”.

The bride’s father and family members are seen sporting raincoats as the wedding proceedings are carried out.The bride’s father urges everyone to quickly carry out all traditions of the wedding but finally gives up to Kapoor’s character, calls off the wedding, and permits the girl to go to Ranbir.

“Raag Malhaar” is believed to bring rains and the very idea of associating it with the waterproof paints line is brilliant. Also, the jingle is cleverly modified to suit the premise of the ad. In the ad, the word “Barsaat” is replaced with “Barkha” (which is the name of the bride, next door).

Conceptualised by Ogilvy and Mather, the ad was executed by Prasoon Pandey’s production house Corocoise Films. The campaign kicked off on YouTube on January 5, and in no time has become the fourth most trending video on YouTube.

While the ad did its job in rightly introducing the new brand ambassador and striking a humourous chord with the audience, it missed on highlighting the qualities of the paint. The ad undoubtedly will be in the talk for some time for its humour and Ranbir Kapoor’s interesting avatar, but might not be remembered as a great strategy.

The ad took no effort in explaining the benefits of the paint to the consumer. The typical target audience – independent house owners looking for a water-proof exterior paint – might have a good laugh after watching the ad, but that is not quite what they seek.

Clearly driving away from functionality, and leveraging the star ambassador, the ad has been unconventional in its narrative; and while being unconventional has been the D-Factor in most clever campaigns, we think a balance of functionality and the humorous narrative would have been a bonus.