I wish I had made these

Anindya Banerjee’s favourite ads include the Lead India campaign and The Times of India’s ‘Government office’ film. He says, ?I wish I had thought of Lead India. More than the individual ads, more than Amitabh Bachchan?s baritone, it was the idea itself that captured imagination. It is one of the few times when advertising has actually sought to bring upon a change in society. More importantly, they kept the consumer engaged over a period of time. The TV show, and outdoors dovetailed into each other beautifully.?

He adds, ?I love the ads done earlier for The Times of India as well. I wish I had done all three, but the one that I would really pick is the one in which traces the story of a file in a government office. It is overlaid with the track of hockey. It?s brilliant because it is based on an everyday story. And yet it takes a humorous view of the entire situation. And because God is in the details, Prasoon Pandey made sure that the voice-over was like a commentary of our national game hockey.?

Thank god, it isn?t me

Banerjee thinks that everybody has done ads that they?re embarrassed about. ?And then there are some that make you wish you had a handy bed to hide under. And bigger the brand, bigger the embarrassment,? he says.

The first ad that he doesn’t like is the JK Super Cement film. ?This one begs for complete suspension of disbelief. Girl in a bikini walks out of water, cut to JK Super Cement logo. What?s the connection? It?s an absurd ad and makes the industry look stupid. I am sure the writer and the filmmaker cringe every time it comes on air. Unless, of course, they were paid a fortune,? he said.

Another one is the Micromax launch ad. ?If you have money to burn, then I guess you can do just about anything. This one has Akshay Kumar laughing insanely throughout the film while all hell breaks loose. Its annoyan-ce quotient was pretty high. Its defenders, of course, insisted that it gave Micromax top of mind recall – but with the kind of money they spent, they could have got Akshay Kumar to hold a placard and the brand recall would have been equally high,? he says.

My first ad

Anindya Banerjee’s first ad was not a 30-second film but a 10-seconder for Business Standard. He says, ?Those were heady days in Contract, Delhi. Peep into a cubicle and you?d see Dibakar Banerjee deep in conversation with Jaideep Sahni, Shantanu Moitra and Pradeep Sarkar. Another cubicle would have Syeda Imam jamming with Vidur Vohra and Bhupesh Luther. The corridor used to be brimming with rockstars such as Raghu Bhat, Manish Bhatt and Emmanuel Upputuru. Understandably, I was as nervous as a bride during my first film shoot. The job was simple: Three 10-second commercials. All it had to say was, ?Business Standard. Now in Mumbai.? The visual involved a Business Standard newspaper falling next to a vada pav. And a red double decker bus. Back in those days, juniors never got a shot at doing films. So, it was a hugely prestigious opportunity.?

He adds, ?Pradeep Sarkar had quit from Contract and set up Apocalypso Filmworks with Jaideep Sahni and he kindly offered to do it. ? Of course, there were a few learnings, he remembers. ?From Pradeepda: Avoid a 10-seconder. It comes and goes before you know it. From Jaideep: Always try and eat whenever you can during a shoot. You never know when or where the next meal will come from. From self: Table top shoots can be excruciatingly boring,? he says.

Banerjee joined Scarecrow Communica-tions as ECD early last year. He joined from Law & Kenneth. He started his career in 1995 as a management trainee in Contract Advertising. After this, he joined Ogilvy in 2000 as a creative consultant. He rejoined Contract in 2006 as creative director. After this, he spent two years at Publicis India, before joining Law & Kenneth as executive creative director for its Delhi office.