Campaign name: Clear Hai
Brand: Sprite
Company: Coca-Cola India
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
The Campaign
The film opens on a rickety old Fiat car driving up the driveway of a hotel with an old lady at the wheel accompanied by another elderly lady. They look for an empty spot to park the car but can?t find any. Suddenly they spy a spot and the old lady tries to reverse the car to park it in the empty spot. Just then a swanky car sweeps in to take the empty spot. The old lady applies the brakes to avoid being hit by the car. All this is seen by three young men standing nearby. A liveried chauffeur emerges from the swanky car, places his cap on the roof of the car and nonchalantly looks around as if nothing untoward has happened. The background score goes ?Oh oh dear duniya lagati ulte gear inko kuch to dikhana hoga…? as one of the young men takes a sip of Sprite and gets a bright idea. He goes to the announcer at the porch calling out the car numbers and asks him to call out for car number 5277?the number of the swanky car. Hearing car number 5277 being summoned to the porch, the pompous driver rushes to drive off. The old lady is happily surprised to see him drive away. But as the car reaches the porch and the young man casually tells the driver ?nice car?, the driver smiles and then realises that something is amiss. Even as he realises that he has been literally taken for a ride, the background score goes ?Hai woh wahan, aur hum here, oh oh oh…? The next shot is of the Sprite bottle with the tagline ?Clear hai!?.
Our Take
It?s irreverent, it?s unconventional ?an edgy brand that has a clear view of the world and lays it out straight and clear ?that? s what Sprite has all along stood for. Over the years, Sprite?s ad campaigns have all worked on that premis?a sip of Sprite is all you need to stimulate some out-of-the-box thinking, creativity and ingenuity. The latest campaign too works on that model. So we have the Sprite protagonist use his clarity of mind and wit to outsmart a rude, arrogant driver who wrongfully takes up the parking spot of two helpless elderly ladies. But what is different this time is that the youngster is not doing it to be first off the block or get out of a sticky spot?his is an altruistic act. Hey, he is a jolly good fellow, who not just helps himself, but also helps others! Is that a hangover of the times we live in when the media and the man on the street is talking of the youth who cares enough to fight not just for his rights but for others too? According to Ogilvy & Mather which has created the ad, the objective was to take the concept of ?clear thinking? a step further. So the thoughtfulness shows a softer side of today?s youth. Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather, even says that this particular story has an extremely personal angle to it.
Well, it certainly is an enjoyable ad? the storyline is something that almost every Indian has witnessed, if not been subjected to, the two old ladies are adorable in their vulnerability, and the background score sums it all up pretty clearly. But somehow, this Sprite campaign falls short of the fresh thinking we saw in its much appreciated ?University of Freshology? campaign. Perhaps because the brand?s signature cheekiness is missing..
