“Each Shubh Aarambh ad tells a charming story”

“Cadbury Dairy Milk’s ‘Shubh Aarambh’ campaign created by Ogilvy is definitely one of the campaigns I wish I had done. The commercials are downright charming,” says Mahesh Parab, executive creative director, DDB Mudra, Delhi.

Capturing the quintessential emotions of a family, Cadbury has managed to present chocolate as a replacement for an Indian dessert in any Indian family, says Parab. “Right from the teenagers at the bus stop to the newly-weds in the more recent series, each ad tells a charming story. The music just underlines the emotion and the mood in a beautiful manner. Charming stories, excellent music, superb casting, everything made these commercials extremely memorable. And brings a smile to your face,” he says.

“Another campaign which I feel I should have done is the SBI Life Insurance campaign. Frankly speaking, at that time, the financial category was supposed to be most boring and serious. The agency did it differently by making the older people behave like young people and came up with very charming stories. These light-heartened ads successfully changed the tone of the category. The beauty of those commercials is the strong insights and the charming stories.”

Thank god, it isn’t me

“The commercial I hated on the first viewing itself was the JK Cement ad. A girl in a bikini comes out of the sea and the line said something about trust. That ad didn’t make any sense,” says Parab. “Another ad which comes to my mind is for the Lava mobile where the girl

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