Saturday, August 1, 2009

Aaj Pehli Taareekh hai - कुछ ज्यादा ही मीठा हो गया

I loved it when Cadbury's Dairy Milk came up with the "Aaj Pehli Tareekh hai" ad campaign.

The jingle was catchy, खुश है ज़माना आज पहली तारीख है! Whether we received our salaries on the 1st or on the 7th, the date still made an instant connect with the working class. Not that I actually bought a Cadbury's chocolate after seeing this ad (despite being a choco-holic), but the brand sure was reinforced as among the top recalls. Taking the great composition of the original Kishore Kumar song ensured Cadbury's also made a connect with the young-at-heart Silver Citizens.

For the first time, I did not flip out on receiving a spam sms on the 1st of July. The 360 degree campaign was all so naturally nostalgic, yet creative, that even the SMS created a positive nuisance value!

However, when Hindi news channel , IBN7, today said that, आज हम खुश हैं की पहली तारिख है और हमारे साथ हैं राखी सावंत की माँ, and went on to promote Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, यह कुछ ज्यादा ही मीठा हो गया!

Ad-Wise advises Cadbury's to keep the promo natural rather than budging into PR pressure to associate anything and everything with पहली तारिख.