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V. Gangadhar

Real situations, the language of the masses... these are the USPs of ad director, Prasson Joshi's award-winning commercials.

Thanda matlab Coca Cola!'That single line which revolutionised beverage advertising and won the 2002 ABBY Awards for the Best Copywriter and the Best Ad Campaign for the year is the brainchild of Prasoon Joshi, National Creative Director, McCann Erickson Ad agency, Mumbai. At the recent ABBY Awards, where Erickson stood second to O&M, Prasoon observed, "I already got my award from the masses, but getting it from the jury feels good." The advertisement like, most of Prasoon's award winning creations, carries a simple message: Coke is the `Cold' drink.

Real situations, the language of the masses... it's easy to see the USP of Prasoon's Coke commercials. He explains, "We are a talking people, I understand our oral tradition and it pays to make use of the regional dialects." For instance in the `paanch rupaiya' ad featuring Aamir Khan, he sat down with his Bihari friends, learnt some mild `gaalis' (abuses) which is what we see in the final product.

However, Prasoon refuses to take all the credit and, as he will tell you, much of the success of the ads is due to teamwork. The members, apart from Prasoon, are Aamir, director Ashutosh Gowarikar (of Lagaan fame) and Coke's Sripat Nadkarni. "Aamir is amazing. He works as hard in the ads as he does in his films, does his home work and is deeply involved with every aspect of the shoot," says Prasoon. Besides Coca Cola, as a major international product, always had an impact on people. "It is a warm brand, close to the people and naturally we focussed on the thanda aspect and the pricing."

The Coke campaign is not all that there is to Prasoon and one finds a lot more to this unconventional personage who defies that white-collared IIM (Indian Institute of Management) ad person image. A native of Uttaranchal and son of an Education department bureaucrat, Prasoon studied in several most ordinary schools in UP before getting an MBA from IMT, Ghaziabad. From his parents, he inherited a deep love for poetry and classical music and published his first collection of poems at the age of 17.

The passion for music has continued. Prasoon has made four albums, three of them chart busters, wrote the title song for the film, Lajja and the Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Aankhen besides writing songs for the noted classical singer, Shubha Mudgal and these included one on the girl child. He also writes jingles and sings them.

Prasoon's views on advertising, an avenue into which he just `strayed', are refreshing. "I did not know much about advertising, but the idea of making a living out of writing copy excited me. I always had a knack with words and language." He spent nearly ten years at the O&M agency, where he was the favourite of stalwarts like Piyush Pandey and Suresh Mullick who created the Mile Sur mera tum hara ad on national integration.

Did he find advertising creative? Explains Prasoon, "It depends on the individual. In the past, poets wrote songs eulogising the monarch. We follow the same tradition, eulogising our clients' products. Within our own discipline, we can be creative as the poets of those days. That is how I view advertising."

He finds satisfaction in public service advertising and is associated with creating ads on sensitive themes like child molestation and incest. These are print ads, representing the voices of children who cannot speak out. "Don't underestimate print ads," he says. "A good print ad is more personal, it makes people think more than a TV commercial. And in this nation of the spoken word, radio ads are still relevant."

Prasoon has nothing against spoof advertising provided they are just for fun and did not hit the competition below the belt. "The cola ad wars are just media hype," he laughs. "I had no problems with our rivals. We have not lost out on cricket ads as we have our own distinct personality in the market."

Prasoon does not believe in the concept of western and Indian ads. The key to success is to focus on the strengths of the product and highlight them. "Expensive locales are not important," he points out. "What matters is the IDEA. The success of an ad depends 50 per cent on the idea and 50 per cent on the craft."

Picture by Shashi Ashiwal

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