I hear that Reliance Industries is all set to put the hallowed textile brand, Vimal, on the block. Cold business decisions aside, the softer emotional impact of a brand is what tugs at the heart.
In a way, Vimal with its memorable ?Only Vimal? tagline became iconic in more than one aspect. It was one of the first television commercials for textiles. It was the first to use cricketers, both national and international, as brand ambassadors, the first to introduce double spread colour ads in Indian print advertising, and to deliver a jingle that resonated through the country, and became a household name. Amusingly, the jingle was composed of two words that emerged from a product briefing that Dhirubhai Ambani gave to late ad guru Frank Simoes!
?Only Vimal? did to textiles what Lalitaji in the Surf ad did to detergents. Build brand equity. Sad that a brand that once advocated the ?looks of a winner?, is now fighting a losing battle. My entire generation grew up on the burst of creative excellence and sensuousness of ?Only Vimal?. Starting with sarees in the ?70s, the brand graduated to suitings and shirtings in the ?80s.
The Vimal commercials were a sensory treat in every way:
Visual: Deepak Malhotra, the face of Vimal, was followed by Kabir Bedi, Mehr Jesiah, Viv Richards (doing the calypso beats in swimming trunks), Alan Border, Sridevi, Jaya Prada, Michael Ferreira and Blitz editor R K Karanjia. The arresting visuals added a new level sophistication to advertising.
Auditory: The jingle that resonated through the country, Only Vimal, Only Vimal?
Kinaesthetic: The vibrant hues of flowing polyester sarees, the fine cut of suitings and shirtings.
I fondly recall the tagline of the Vimal saree ads on TV, as ravishing models pirouetted in soft drapes: ?A woman expresses herself in many languages, Vimal is one of them?.
While the heart mourns the slow but sure demise of Vimal, I raise a toast to some of those TV commercials that have left an indelible impression on my heart and on the hearts of many Indian TV viewers.
Who can forget the racy tune of ?Gold Spot ? The zing thing?? One of the three brands introduced by Parle along with Thums Up and Limca, the brand had top-of-mind-recall among carbonated drinks on TV. There was this girl and boy on roller skates doing the zing thing! Gold Spot was sold to Coca-Cola which later withdrew it from the market to make way for Fanta.
Talking of sodas, I can still hum to Remo?s ?Yehi hai right choice baby, aha!?. This Pepsi number grabbed eyeballs for the gig-like feel it offered, as Remo and a young girl practised the catchy tune.
At a time when many ads have a bevy of bikin-clad nobodies clinging to an equally lacklustre man, the one ad that still stands out amongst the clutter in the hippopotamus is the Liril ad. Labelled the hottest ad in the early ?80s, the commercial had everything in it to drive home the message of freshness ? a crashing waterfall, the colour green, the freshness of lime, and Karen Lunel, in a green bikini, splashing about in the water rolling her tongue to ?la?la, la la laaa?? That?s all there was to the jingle?no lyrics! And the entire nation ?la, la?.ed? with her!
And then, there was Vinod Khanna riding a horse on the beach, the wind in his face. The tagline simply said: Vinod?s body confidence soap. Cinthol?s macho man image has stood the test of time, from then to today?s Hrithik Roshan.
Many scooter ads have come and scooted away just as soon from memory. But ?Buland Bharat ki buland tasveer, hamara Bajaj? rode into our hearts and has parked itself firmly there. This ad was the epitome of simplicity ? a crystal clear message with a very strong emotional connect. The ad showed people from different walks of life as proud owners of a Bajaj scooter. They were shown bringing home the scooter amidst celebrations, cleaning it, and making it an integral part of their everyday living. It became the scooter for every Indian to own and cherish.
When one talks of Bajaj, how can the legacy of the Bajaj bulb be far behind? The coming-down-the-generation feel of the ad brought on a smile each time it was aired. It encapsulated the enduring life of the bulb in a catchy jingle: ?Jab mein chota ladka tha?ab mein bilkul budha hoon…and the refrain? jab roshni deta Bajaj?.
I love ads that tell a story. Here?s one memorable ad from Cadbury Dairy Milk. The cricket match, the nail-biting finish short of a boundary?the girlfriend tense in the pavilion, the boyfriend at the crease?He swings the bat, the ball soars high above the fielder, pin-drop silence? and it flies over the boundary line! The girl jumps up, dodges the security guard and dances her way into the ground with gay abandon to the tune of ?Asli swad zindagi ka?. Wow, what a build-up!
The author is a behavioural trainer at Human Impact Training and Consulting
