Here are the top 10 ads that come to mind. Stuff that brings a smile types.
1) Wills, Made for Each Other: This was a print ad and showed a man and a woman walking on a beach. To me this was the epitome of romance then, in the early 80s. So impressed was I that I actually cut the ad out and put it under my mattress where it lay for many years. The ad and the brand stayed alive since then.
2) Amul Ads: Almost all of them - the ones on the hoardings - made me wonder how they could think of such wonderfully creative lines so consistently. Sporting events, political events, everything was fodder to the Amul ads. Instant recall of ad, brand and product.
3) Murphy baby: Even before the 80s, in the old magazines of the late 70s one would see the Murphy baby ads, and well everyone loved the Murphy baby who is now immortalised with the movie 'Barfi'. Sweet and charming, it is a face that one cannot forget. Instant recall of brand, ad and product.
4) Liril: The Liril ads, bold for those days, of a vivacious girl bathing under a waterfall, dressed in a bikini, was as fresh as the ad maker must have imagined. Th girl was spontaneous and one could feel the freshness of lemons, the thrill of a waterfall. The jingle, the music 'laa,la,laa,la...' and the ad when seen in the movies was stuff that lasts forever. Also there was that rumour that the model died after she contracted pneumonia owing to her frolicking in the rain. The Liril ad was never the same though they got other models.
5) Nirma: The ad runs through your mind and on television even today - 'Rekha, Jaya and Sushma..' and company who are thrilled with using Nirma and the little girl who twirls into a photograph as the jingle plays on in the background. Cannot ever forget the brand, the product and the ad.
6) Vicco Turmeric: The visual of the girl who is getting ready for her marriage and how her skin is glowing after being treated with Vicco Turmeric and the jingle in the background about 'Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream..' is something one cannot forget.
7) Thums Up: Perhaps the line that was so apt and perfectly researched - especially for the 80s people. Thums Up never went down so well as it did with some food and friends for anyone of those days. That was a brilliant campaign which was later killed by Coke with its adventure series for Thums Up. No one understood Thums Up better than the original creator of 'Food, Friends and Thums Up' and the ad did send a thrill up the spine when we watched it in theatres.
8) Charms: For the first time a cigarette came with a denim kind of a colour in the ad and it was interesting. the line 'Spirit of Freedom' was equally apt. Charms, the college fag, and an improvement over Charminar had the irrepressible Charu Sharma diving off a board into the swimming pool (he was a national level swimming champ then and a good looking guy too).
9) Vodafone's Zoo Zoo's and the Hutch Dog: Both in one because Hutch became Vodaphone later but both brilliant for brand recall, product recall and ad recall. Zoo Zoo's were simply fantastic in educating us on the various features of Vodafone while the Hutch pug not only educated us about those cute, ugly dogs but also that Hutch follows you everywhere. Pity the service did not match the ad.
10) Fevicol: I am always fascinated by Fevicol's ads which always come with great creatives - that of an overloaded truck with Fevicol painted on it - yeh jod nahin tootega - and others (the one where the little kid keeps wandering off until his mother puts him on a Fevicol can, the Fevikwik ones about the fishing rod) were simply superb. Will always remember Fevicol in such circumstances.
Those that missed are certainly Surf's Lalitaji, a Cavenders ad of a guy shooting at clay pigeons that used to be played in the local theatres in the 80s, Idea's rather irritating Sirji ads and so on. Next, to do a series on unforgettable ad characters (Sirji, Lalitaji, Onida's devil and others).
1) Wills, Made for Each Other: This was a print ad and showed a man and a woman walking on a beach. To me this was the epitome of romance then, in the early 80s. So impressed was I that I actually cut the ad out and put it under my mattress where it lay for many years. The ad and the brand stayed alive since then.
2) Amul Ads: Almost all of them - the ones on the hoardings - made me wonder how they could think of such wonderfully creative lines so consistently. Sporting events, political events, everything was fodder to the Amul ads. Instant recall of ad, brand and product.
3) Murphy baby: Even before the 80s, in the old magazines of the late 70s one would see the Murphy baby ads, and well everyone loved the Murphy baby who is now immortalised with the movie 'Barfi'. Sweet and charming, it is a face that one cannot forget. Instant recall of brand, ad and product.
4) Liril: The Liril ads, bold for those days, of a vivacious girl bathing under a waterfall, dressed in a bikini, was as fresh as the ad maker must have imagined. Th girl was spontaneous and one could feel the freshness of lemons, the thrill of a waterfall. The jingle, the music 'laa,la,laa,la...' and the ad when seen in the movies was stuff that lasts forever. Also there was that rumour that the model died after she contracted pneumonia owing to her frolicking in the rain. The Liril ad was never the same though they got other models.
5) Nirma: The ad runs through your mind and on television even today - 'Rekha, Jaya and Sushma..' and company who are thrilled with using Nirma and the little girl who twirls into a photograph as the jingle plays on in the background. Cannot ever forget the brand, the product and the ad.
6) Vicco Turmeric: The visual of the girl who is getting ready for her marriage and how her skin is glowing after being treated with Vicco Turmeric and the jingle in the background about 'Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream..' is something one cannot forget.
7) Thums Up: Perhaps the line that was so apt and perfectly researched - especially for the 80s people. Thums Up never went down so well as it did with some food and friends for anyone of those days. That was a brilliant campaign which was later killed by Coke with its adventure series for Thums Up. No one understood Thums Up better than the original creator of 'Food, Friends and Thums Up' and the ad did send a thrill up the spine when we watched it in theatres.
8) Charms: For the first time a cigarette came with a denim kind of a colour in the ad and it was interesting. the line 'Spirit of Freedom' was equally apt. Charms, the college fag, and an improvement over Charminar had the irrepressible Charu Sharma diving off a board into the swimming pool (he was a national level swimming champ then and a good looking guy too).
9) Vodafone's Zoo Zoo's and the Hutch Dog: Both in one because Hutch became Vodaphone later but both brilliant for brand recall, product recall and ad recall. Zoo Zoo's were simply fantastic in educating us on the various features of Vodafone while the Hutch pug not only educated us about those cute, ugly dogs but also that Hutch follows you everywhere. Pity the service did not match the ad.
10) Fevicol: I am always fascinated by Fevicol's ads which always come with great creatives - that of an overloaded truck with Fevicol painted on it - yeh jod nahin tootega - and others (the one where the little kid keeps wandering off until his mother puts him on a Fevicol can, the Fevikwik ones about the fishing rod) were simply superb. Will always remember Fevicol in such circumstances.
Those that missed are certainly Surf's Lalitaji, a Cavenders ad of a guy shooting at clay pigeons that used to be played in the local theatres in the 80s, Idea's rather irritating Sirji ads and so on. Next, to do a series on unforgettable ad characters (Sirji, Lalitaji, Onida's devil and others).
