Love thou art bounteous. Review on Surf Excel 'Daag achche hain' commercial

Some of those lingering moments of remembrances come calling again, those carefree days and joyful times spent flash before my eyes again as if yesterday, nostalgia spreads its tentacles again and here I am falling again with a sense of yearning for that time gone by. I sometimes wonder why more often then not the best memories we all have had date back to our childhood days and why no matter how mature we get and how much we achieve in our lives we always want to go back to those days when we were kids and had a life unruffled by the vagaries of existence. Mischief, innocence, purity, cuteness, simplicity are some of the words which come instantly to mind the moment we talk childhood.

Having started on that note let me move on and explain to you the purport of extolling the virtues of childhood in context of my review. Children have often been used with imaginative and excellent ideas in adverts creating a lasting impact for the brands that they endorse. Today I am going to talk about one such ad, which is doing the rounds on television. The ad in question has been conceived by Lowe for the Hindustan Lever Limited flagship product Surf Excel and the catch line for the same goes as Daag Acche hai.

This new brand communication message for Surf Excel has been adopted worldwide by Unilever and has been positioned as Dirt is good.Lot of ignorant people have lambasted Lowe for having copied the idea for this ad from the ones made for Persil which is a UK based wholly owned subsidiary of UniLever. Little do they realize that both the companies belong to the UniLever flagship and the ads are in line with the worldwide positioning that is being done for the products of this lineage. Unilever rolls out a central idea or central strategy; and then the creative reins rests securely with the ad agencies of different countries to give them a local flavor and appeal.

Clutter free has always been the motto of surf excel ads, while other detergent brands talk about their spotlessly clean image and other benefits which come along with the usage of their product. Surf has always chartered a different approach to brand positioning, be it their innovative dabbling with Lalitaji or Jaise bhi daag ho surf excel hai na or for that matter the just concluded campaign do bucket paani ab rozana hai bachana. Surf has always come up with adverts, which are very different from its competitors, and hence they have always enjoyed a much better visibility and recall with its audiences. The latest ad is just a continuation of that same attempt by Surf, the ad does not focus on the product in action per se, as over the years Surf has built up enough brand equity to let the viewer decode the hidden message, rather the ads have taken a bold stand of extolling dirt by saying dirt is good.

Storyboard, the ad opens with two kids (brother and sister) walking back home from school, the little girl falls into a puddle, dirtying herself, as she starts howling the brother decides to seek revenge. He dives into the puddle and starts smashing it with a barrage of blows, only to emerge out of it totally dirtied with a triumphant smile on his face he proclaims Sorry bola. The sister is happy that she has been avenged, as they walk back elated with their victory, the brother warns the puddle not to do it again with a smiling sister in tow. This is when the pack shot comes into focus for the first time, and the female voiceover concludes, Surf Excel: Daag Achche Hain.

At first sight the thought of getting dirty like that might be repugnant to most of us and I must confess I also did not think much of this strategy to start with. It was only after a constant barrage of request from so many buddies here like megs.4u, main_chup, darethisdevil, mhl94, nishanu34, nitesh1104, ekta_unity, coolcritic007 and so many others I decided to revisit the ad and I must say the learning has been wonderful. Once you strip the layers of the ad, the learning experience is something that every parent will want for his child. Also if a person grows with an experience then the resultant dirt is good.

Ads like these add stature to the brand and helps break the paradigm and positions the product on a totally different pedestal compared to its competitors. In the ad the kid emulates adult behavior and the way he pacifies his little sister has been executed in a very endearing manner. More often then parents are guilty of not letting kids enjoy simple moments of life fearing something or the other, in this case the worry of stains. In that moment when the kid protects his sister he is growing up and acting like an adult and as parents we all want our kids to emulate that kind of behavior. The love and bonding between the kids has been shown quite charmingly leaving a lasting impact on the mind of the viewers.

If a kid gets dirty doing something as cute and mature as protecting his little sister then no parent would mind the dirt and in fact given this learning experience dirt is indeed good. Innocent love and bonding between kids is one of the most endearing communication which appeals to any target audience, because all of us have a kid somewhere inside us and when we see something like this we instantly lap it up. This is precisely the reason why this ad is making quite a splash and is being appreciated by one and all. Indeed a super concept and brilliant execution of an idea which will do wonders for the brand image of surf excel.

I hope I have been able to do justice to the ad and in case I have missed out anything please do point out the same to me.

My section of the review, Question time..!!

Apart from the surf ads which detergent ads do you remember? What about these ads appealed to you?

Why does this ad appeal to you, is it just because of the love between a brother and sister or is it something more?

What do you think about the concept of a central theme being used across the world with local flavor to promote a brand?

For the next review, it’s a toss up between the Innova ad featuring Aamir Khan and the latest Asian Paints ad, which one do you guys prefer?