I wish I had made these

Vipin Dhyani?s current favourite is Havells’ fan campaign done by R Balakrishnan and his team at Lowe. ?The unexpectedness embedded in simple plots gripped me like an octopus. It is simply stark and humorous. I think it has got all the necessary ingredients that make a commercial look interesting: A fantastic insight, superb characterisation and great direction. It is a great example where the product is getting placed so meaningfully and impressively without a product window. It is absolutely entertaining, amusingly informative and highly watchable,? he says. The other ad which he likes is the Center Fresh ?Bank Robbery? TV ad. ?With a humorous twist in the tale, it is able to make people laugh. Probably the casting for the cashier could have been better, since the agency (Ogilvy) has always been really good at choosing new talents for their commercials. Overall, it is a fresh take on ‘Zubaan pe lagaam!’?

Thank god it isn?t me

He says, ?Even the rejected scripts from the Axe deodorant portfolio are better than this recent TV ad for Denver ?Rodeo?. If you even compare it with a no-brainer ad for Addiction deodorant (featuring Neil Nitin Mukesh), that scores higher than Denver because it is not pretending to be creative just for the sake of it. Seems like a by-product of a lazy creative mind.?

The other ad that he dislikes is for the kids apparel brand Lilliput. He says, ?The derogatory ad for Lilliput is bound to put people off. Pun is the lowest form of wit. And imagine it coming from kids’ mouths. I would like to say: Guys, (to the writer and the client) you have got a beautiful category to work on. Please handle it carefully and responsibly. Learn a lesson or two from Surf Excel advertising, how endearingly they show kids in their ads.?

My first ad

Dhyani’s first TV ad was a promo for Lifebuoy soap in 2000. ?I was in Lowe at that time. I was really fortunate to start with that since it was an offer with a ?tangible? benefit (buy 2, get 1 free). And as we know, one can be funny for a promo inspite of dealing with serious thematic positioning,? he says.

Talking about the film, he adds, ?I thought of a non-linear film where a shopkeeper has gone mad. He is sitting in a mental asylum and talking to an imaginary customer. He keeps on repeating the offer: ‘Ye rahe aapke do aur ye teesra free!’ , until one nurse offers him two tablets and one big injection, citing the same line. Though it was a bit cheesy it did justice to the sales.?

After a post graduation in advertising from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Vipin Dhyani kicked off his career as a copy trainee in an agency called Maadhyam (now Publicis). He then worked with Rediffusion DY & R (now Rediffusion Y&R), New Delhi in 1999. After this, he moved to Lowe Lintas in Mumbai in 2000 and worked there for three years as a senior copywriter.

The next move was to Grey Worldwide, Mumbai as a creative controller. After spending a year at Grey, he joined DDB Mudra, Ahmedabad in 2005 as a group head and was promoted to branch creative head in a short span of time. He quit Mudra in 2007 and then joined Everest Brand Solutions, Mumbai for a year.

In 2009, Dhyani became an entrepreneur when he started his own advertising agency called Thoughtshop. Some of the brands he works on at Thoughtshop include Parle, Nirma and Bayer. His overall portfolio includes brands like Monaco, Hide ‘n’ Seek, Parle Musst Bites, Recova, Itch Guard, Krack Cream and Dermi Cool.