The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn`t said.
Peter F. Drucker 1909-, American management guru
This is true indeed. The world is changing and so are its people. When the thinking of people change, the biggest impact is on media. They have to be on their toes to make an impact on the people. Advertising media has come up a long way, from advertisements like ''Bhabhi Zara Koyla Dena.....'' to modern day advertisements like ''Feel Like God.....''.
In the earlier days, the advertisements didnot carry a proper theme, a story in them. They simply informed the people about the pros of a particular product. It was mandatory to have a background music and a proper song for the advertisement.
Now as I said earlier, the world is changing. The advertising media has to be innovative to create the same impact today, which was created by very simple advertisements yesterday.
The approaches which they have followed are many like use a big starcast for your advertisement, give a retro feeling to your advertisement or try to do something unique.
The advertisement about which I am about to write follows the third approach.
There are many ads from SBI's camp on the same theme, but I will take only one ad, my favourite - Chimanlal Charlie.
The ad believes in Gandhiji's thinking. Simplicity is the best policy. It does not have any big starcast, catchy background music, flashy locations. It may be called as the simplest ad on the television today.
When you start watching the ad for the first time, you feel confused about the campaign. By no means you can make a guess that it is a banking campaign.
It starts with a common office scene. A person is trying to tell people that his name is not Mohan, his name has been changed to Chimanlal Charlie. Now his irritation is worth watching. Very natural and happenns in everyday life with most of us.
If you are a male, and are really a male, you must have done the same with many of your friends and colleagues. Teasing comes naturally and that is shown through this ad.
Let me put the whole ad in front of you :
A young guy walks in and sits at his desk. As he settles his colleague greets him by his name, “Hi Mohan!” Irritatingly he explains his new name, “Mohan nahin, Chimanlal Charlie.”
The same happenns with the canteen boy, his other colleagues and even his boss. Irritated to maximum extent, he stands up and says ''Sab log sun lo! State Bank of India ke is desh mein maximum ATMs hain... SBI. Yakin nahin hua mujhe. Shart lagai. Haar gaya. Isi liye naam badalna pada.---- Chimanlal Charlie!”
Now isn't that a marvellous approach. I am not sure why this simple concept did not strike any other ad maker in the past. Indians are famous for their betting (no finger pointing on cricketers), and this ad captures the same in style.
The best and the funniest moment in the ad is the end of the ad. A sound of Mohan comes somewhere from background and people start laughing. This is exactly the same we used to do in college. I hope most of you must have done same kind of things in your time.
Going to the technical side, the camera effects of this ad are too good. The office looks realistic and the camera positioning is very good. It has been placed at an angle and a height from which all of us are used to seeing other people in the office.
Without any jingle in the song, everything was upto the models used. They have done an excellent job especially Chimanlal Charlie. He looked natural and has proved to be the perfect choice for the same.
As per the strategic side, this advertisement has done what we call as Ek teer se do shikaar. Firstly, it has informed the people that it has the largest network of ATMs in India which is direct marketing. The second thing which it has achieved is the inclination of younger crowd. With the office in the ad looking trendy and modern, with young crowd as models, it has shown that it is indeed changing its approach from the old babuwala approach to modernized approach.
I believe this ad is the best in current times.
If you have a different opinion, please answer this question of mine -
Which Advertisement of today is the best one??
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