If you’ve been on the internet in the past week, the chances are the words “Nahi Milega” have been ringing in your head. Thanks to Sharma ji (@sharmaji.237) aka Uncle Ji, who has been showing up across our social media feeds and pretty much all over our everyday digital existence- the memes, the reels, the gifs, the stickers, and our emotional damage.

Turns out, this old man is the face of Zepto’s new brand campaign highlighting the brand’s promise with the message that while not all things in life are attainable, unlimited free deliveries on Zepto are.

10-min grocery delivery service Zepto took an edgy route when they roped in an uncle from Delhi to build the trending character of Uncle ji weeks before landing their brand campaign. What were they thinking? Not much. Just shatter some (lots of!) hopes on social media with uncle’s sassy personality, blatant realities, and the catchphrase Nahi milega. How did it fair? Right from some of the most popular meme and reel pages hyping uncle to many influencers and audiences creating their own versions that were max relatable, Uncle Ji became India’s favorite reality check. The character garnered solid organic traction with 10 Million impressions with 10% engagement across all social media platforms; trending at #6 on Twitter, and shared by popular Twitter celebs (CricCrazyJohns, dudeitsokay, shreemiverma) and Instagram Meme pages (Trolls Official, Emo Bois of India, Log Kya Sochenge, Ghantaa, Adult Society).

Saksham Jadon and Parul Agarwal from Youngun said, “Since life isn't perfect, we are all well versed with the emotion of 'Nahi Milega' and the crushing feeling it leaves behind, whether we are 5 or 50 years old. In this campaign we decided to convert this hard-hitting feeling into a brand theme "___ mile na mile, Zepto pe free delivery pakka milega". To establish it, we needed someone who has experienced all ups and downs of life (i.e an old Uncle Ji) and position him as an internet guru dropping truth bombs about life with a 'Nahi Milega' twist as a build up to the brand films”.

Cut to a week after Uncle Ji becomes the vibe-setter of social media conversations, Zepto lands its first brand film today. Set in a quintessential bus commute scenario, the brand film opens to the visuals of a crammed bus, people latched on to handles in lethargy, standing uncomfortably close and resting heads over sweaty patches. As two friends are seen discussing their hopes of finding a seat today on account of leaving early from work, the internet's new favorite Uncle Ji pops out from between them to crash those very hopes with “Nahi Milega”. Cut to Zepto owning the narrative with “Bus mein seat mile ya na mile, Zepto pe unlimited free delivery pakka milega”. The brand is set to launch two more films in the same essence lined up for the next few days.

Boman Irani, too, boarded the bus, taking the first film live on his Twitter.

Anant Rastogi, Associate Director - Brand Marketing at Zepto, said, “Creating this campaign has been an exciting experience for all of us at Zepto. We wanted to bring to life our ethos of making things possible – like unlimited free deliveries – for all our customers. With Uncle Ji's internet-first personality, we were able to strike a chord with our young audience and drive home the brand message. We are certain Uncle Ji will win hearts, and mostly break some, too.”

On bringing the internet vibe to digital films, Sapna Singh, Director, EarlyMan Film, added, “It was as unexpected as it was interesting to integrate a regular seeming Uncle Ji into the films as a strong recurrent character in various whacky forms. Going further with his appearance and demeanour while keeping his trademark simplicity helped add the quirk these films needed conceptually.”

In addition to social assets and brand films, the campaign will grab eyeballs on outdoor media across all major cities of presence and Zepto’s app, with a special grocery recommendation list by the Uncle himself.

Writer, director, ad-filmmaker and founder of Apocalypso Filmsworks Pradeep Sarkar is no more. He was 68.

As per reports, Sarkar was on dialysis and was rushed to a hospital on Friday where he breathed his last.

Sarkar started his career as a creative supervisor at Tulika Advertising Agency and shifted to ad filmmaking after spending almost two decades in mainstream advertising.

In an interview to e4m in October 2021, Sarkar said he felt that the ‘woke culture’ has helped the advertising industry to grow but it has also harmed it by going way out of control.

https://www.exchange4media.com/advertising-news/highly-mechanised-society-ai-challenging-modern-advertising-the-most-pradeep-sarkar-116601.html

Sarkar had worked on more than 3000 ad films, including iconic campaigns like Cadbury’s “Pappu Paas Ho Gaya”, Eveready’s “Give Me Red” and Catch Masala’s “Chinese Whisper”. He also did a series of ads for Aaj Tak that aimed at promoting credibility over sensationalism.

Rohit Ohri, Chairman & CEO FCB Group India, reacted to the news: “Shocked to learn about dada's demise. He was such a wonderful human being. When Munch signed on Rani Mukherji, dada made many of TVCs at that time. Had the good fortune of working with him very closely in that period. I really loved his cool, unflappable demeanour. Dada will be missed by the industry.”

Advertising legend Prahlad Kakkar remembered Sarkar, "He was film chief of an agency from Delhi, and he had started making films. What I liked about him was like us he trained a lot of young people under him and his legacy will always remain, even if he is no more, it doesn't matter. Because the people he trained will carry his name forward. Amit Sharma from Chrome Pictures who made 'Badhaai Ho' is one of his trainees. Like him he has trained many others, including Vidya Balan. He always celebrated talent and was very open about training people and setting them up and launching new faces or talent."

"Many of the advertising gurus must have done their first film with Pradeep Da. 'Dada' as we all called him always, also directed first ad film of my career. It was for Himsagar Thanda Tel. Almost two decades back. I was a kid in advertising, Dada was a veteran. But he never made me feel like one. He treated me like an equal. Always laughing, cracking jokes. And his smile was the sweetest. Always eager like a kid to make films, till I last worked with him recently. Will miss you Dada. You are and will always remain 'Dada' for all of us," said Azazul Haque, CCO, Media.Monks India. 

“Pradeep ‘dada’ has been a great inspiration to me and to the industry. I think a lot of us who have had the good fortune to work with him have learnt immensely from him. This is a big loss for the industry and we will miss him a lot,” said Rajdeepak Das, CEO & Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett – South Asia.

Ramanuj Shastry, Creative Chairman and Managing Partner, Infectious, says: "There were a couple of years at McCann when every other film I wrote was shot by Dada. That’s a lot of films. He was a maniac on the set - bouncing off the walls with his boundless energy while yelling choicest Bengali swear words at his crew who he loved to bits, by the way. His wicked sense of humour, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and his easy laughter are the things that remain with me long after the ads are forgotten. Goodbye, Dada! You shall be missed."

"Apart from being a wonderful director, he was a wonderful person as well, willing to work with the agency teams and bring in fresh talent. He was a great presence to be around, he was a very caring person. He had this Sofa, he used to take to all the shoots. It's the end of an era," said Ajay Gehlaut, Ex-Dentsu, Group Chief Creative Officer.

Known for movies like ‘Parineeta’, ‘Mardaani’ and ‘Helicopter Eela’, the director will leave a mark in the film industry too.

The film industry remembered the renowned filmmaker on social media.

Terrible news to wake up to. Rest in peace Dada. Thank you for the love and for making me a small part of your life. Will miss you. #PradeepSarkar pic.twitter.com/bFxwm8iNqI

— Abhishek ???????? (@juniorbachchan) March 24, 2023

The news of Pradeep Sarkar’s demise, ‘Dada’ to some of us is still hard to digest.
My deepest condolences ?. My prayers are with the departed and his family. RIP Dada ?

— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) March 24, 2023

The news of Pradeep Sarkar’s demise, ‘Dada’ to some of us is still hard to digest.
My deepest condolences ?. My prayers are with the departed and his family. RIP Dada ?

— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) March 24, 2023

Pradeep Sarkar. Dada. RIP. pic.twitter.com/htxK4PiTLN

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) March 24, 2023

Pradeep Sarkar gave me some of my early significant breaks as a photographer when he worked as an art director at Contract Advtg, New Delhi

For taking big chances on a newcomer I will be eternally grateful.

Lovely man, immense talent

RIP boss
The movies will miss u ?? pic.twitter.com/2EHiJeuctn

— atul kasbekar (@atulkasbekar) March 24, 2023

Once upon a time, all that an advertiser would want is a creative ad campaign that resonates with the masses and creates recall and value for the brand. Today, it's a different story. Agencies have been putting creativity in the backseat to cater to client demands for "viral" campaigns instead.

With technological advancements like improved tools to scale up campaigns and efficient media to reach audience digitally, demands for virality has gotten more and more strident in recent years from the advertisers, much to agencies' chagrin.

In the race to chase numbers and eyeballs with a viral campaign, agencies are being tasked with finding a fool-proof course to make the campaign go viral. But is there a way to predict virality?

Not too long ago, the Zomato-Blinkit billboard campaign became a gold standard in viral campaigns where brands across categories hitched their wagons to it. The sharability and humour contributed to the immense virality of the campaign. Was Zomato privy to an arcane algorithm to ensure that the campaign went viral? Not likely. Can any agency worth its salt make an ad go viral with just enough creativity? e4m asked experts.

Russell Burrett, Chief Experience Officer at TBWA\India, answered, “First off, let’s be very clear that creativity is a tool, a weapon, a solution. Whereas virality is an outcome. No one can deliver truly viral content on demand. But sure there are a few ingredients that can go into the mix to help an idea go viral."

He explained further: "Go to where the people are. That really means talking about things that are culturally relevant, using people who will have a cultural cache. Try and figure out why people will share this content and dial that bit up. It may still not go viral, because it’s still an outcome, but these ingredients can definitely help.”

Ajay Gehlaut, Ex-Dentsu, Group Chief Creative Officer, pointed out the absurdity of clients making such demands. “It's been going on ever since the word viral came up, ‘make a viral video.' You cannot make a viral video; you can make a video and hope it goes viral. You cannot hope for virality, you can make a good piece of communication. Usually what goes viral is the lowest denominator.”

Similarly, Shivil Gupta, Creative and Strategy Consultant, added, “Today everybody wants to be in the news at any cost. But when it comes to a brand we need to understand that consumer always associates themselves with the goodness of the brand. Asking creative people to think of an idea while keeping the virality factor in mind is a dangerous path. Remember there is a thin line between famous and notorious.”

Azazul Haque, Chief Content Officer at Media.Monks believes that demands for virality can often work to the brands' detriment. “In Advertising, creativity has a purpose, it is purposeful communication for the brand to awareness or increase sales. When brands say virality, everything takes a backseat. It doesn’t hamper the creative as much but it hampers the objective. Many times clients say - forget the objective, and then they want any random thing to happen," he rues.

“I think it loses the marketing communication objective more than it loses the creativity because then you’ll have to be contextual, and topical so that it goes viral. I think that brands that have nothing to say, end up saying they want to make something viral. I think the push for virality makes the brand lose perspective.”

It is an important factor for campaigns to reach the target audience and become a part of dining table conversations, brands should not pressure creatives to come up with a viral campaign because as spoken above by the experts, virality is the byproduct of creativity, strategy, medium and many other factors. Experts advise brands to go after creativity than being part of the rat race.

Aalap Desai, CCO Dentsu Creative West and Dentsu Creative Experience, India, said, “The word 'viral' is highly ambiguous. I feel people use that as a crutch to compensate for parts of the brief they can't answer questions for. It cannot be planned or figured out completely. You can only hope that what you create goes viral. You cannot guarantee that it will every time.”

“One thing that is guaranteed is that if we create something that has craft in it, it will be shared and appreciated. Craft might be the idea or the way it's made. But if the idea is made well, people appreciate it. It's a lot like Bollywood. We are not supportive of movies like Shehzada but we are super appreciative of movies like Kantara. Did the filmmakers of Shehzada plan it to be a flop? No. But did they create a flop? Yes. The same applies to advertising. Let craft and creativity breathe and the viral requirement will be fulfilled as an after-effect. You can't start with it.”

Similarly, Barrett said, “We are in the business of creativity. We aren’t in the service industry or the consultation business. Service and advice are very important parts of our business, but it isn’t the core. Creativity isn’t an indulgence, it’s our very reason for existence. Though I want to call out the difference between creativity and the creative department. Every department is in service of creativity. You can’t be In advertising and not be creative.”

Gehlaut wants brands to understand where they stand and act accordingly. He said, “Make sure to be consistent, virality is something to talk about at parties. It builds only conversations, I don't know how it helps. First, know your brand, then build it in every touch point, and put it in every piece of communication.”

Haque says that if the brief starts with ‘let's do something viral’ then the brand has to rethink its purpose. He said, “Virality is a fluke, and one should never run after flukes. Running after such short-term fame won't help a brand in the long run. If ‘Let's do something viral’ becomes your brief, the brand has lost its purpose. There have to be reasons to go after it.”

Gupta rounded it up by saying that if the brand communication is genuine that it will surely have the potential to go viral. He said, “Better we should try to come up with genuine ideas which complement the brand. We are in a business where a real challenge is our talk of the town concept should also be discussed at the dining table among the family members. Idea achcha hoga toh charcha zarur hogi.”

In older times, when data technology wasn’t handy, brands used tactics to measure the success of their campaign through various touch points, and an increase in sales was one of them. Virality may help to create awareness among consumers, but does it really help to spike sales, which is the end goal of any business, is still a conversation out there.

Home is considered the epitome of love and care, it is this “Khayaal’’ by our loved ones that makes us feel cared for, loved, and pampered at home. Building on to this strong emotion, Lloyd has launched new campaign starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. The newly launched campaign promotes Lloyd Grande heavy duty air conditioner range and position it as an enabler of the care and love at home.

Conceptualised and created by McCann, the Lloyd campaign film is focussed on driving differentiation and deliver on its newly introduced brand promise of ‘Khayaal jo ghar ko ghar banaye’.  The storyline of the ad film takes a creative, fun route and tries to build on the ultimate symbol of “Khayaal (care)” and “Khushi (happiness)” – the home. It beautifully depicts Deepika’s gesture for Ranveer when he crashes on the sofa the cool gush of air hits his sweaty face. He looks at the Deepika lovingly and Deepika highlights the core thought of the brand through her gesture ‘Jaan ho meri, khayaal toh rakhna padega na’.  The campaign storyline cements the brand promise by showcasing the superior features of Lloyd Grande heavy duty air conditioner with powerful cooling (even at 60 degrees) and indoor air purification to create a stronger brand connect.

Alok Tickoo, Executive Vice President, Lloyd, said, “We are delighted to launch our summer campaign to further deepen consumer connect and strengthen our presence in the Northern region. Our campaign showcase that the Lloyd Grande heavy duty range offers most convenient and comfortable environment at home even at a temperature 60 degrees outside with plasma protective shield.”

Commenting on the campaign, Rohit Kapoor, EVP – Brand Marcom, Havells India Ltd said, “Our attempt with the launch of summer campaign is to integrate Lloyd air conditioner performance and the emotion of a home with the brand.  The home provides a natural setting for all consumer durables to be used and showcased. Therefore, our brand promise ‘Khayaal jo ghar ko ghar banaye’ resonates with our vision to build greater trust and affinity for air conditioner portfolio.

The mega campaign will be supported with extensive media push. The 360-degree campaign is live and promoted across all mediums – Television, Digital, Print, Outdoor and BTL and retail visibility. It will be aired on Cricket, GEC, movie, news, and regional channels.

Magicbricks has launched a multi-city, omnichannel marketing campaign #OurCityOurHome to celebrate the growth engines for real estate in India and reiterate its commitment to partnering home seekers to find their dream homes in these cities.

The campaign’s cornerstone is a trilogy of long-format videos that tug at the heart, offering home seekers a view into the evolution of each city and showcasing a melange of cultural nuances, heritage, hotbeds of growth, culinary delights, and contemporary lifestyle of Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru as real estate growth engines. The campaign is timely, with residential demand growing throughout the country. According to Magicbricks Research, in 2022, 80% of potential home buyers searched for apartments, up from 67% in 2021, and Bengaluru was the most searched city in India for purchasing properties.

Elaborating on the campaign, Devarshy R. Ganguly, Head of Marketing, Magicbricks shared, "For more than 15 years, we at Magicbricks have been serving customers throughout the country in their quest for a home. As the cities have evolved, so have we, and have grown and gained deep insights into the evolving needs of our customers. Consequently, we are ideally placed to partner with home seekers in making this important decision. This campaign is a reflection of our deep understanding of these cities and how we are best placed to serve as the gateway for customers to find their dream homes.”

A unique element of the campaign is the massive outdoor strategy with bespoke communication for each city. The messaging is tailored to popular neighborhoods, city landmarks, and crafted with local language nuances, featuring more than 40 unique creatives across 355 sites in eight cities (Noida, Gurugram, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai).

To further amplify reach and engagement, Magicbricks has collaborated with over 200 content creators and micro influencers across these cities. The campaign is also active across 10+ digital platforms and high affinity TV channels to reach out to core audiences.

Navyasa By Liva launched their new campaign, #freetobe with ladies from the Delhi Capitals team of the Women’s Premier League. The ad film portrays and salutes today’s bold, self-reliant women who dares to dream. navyasa by liva is the official principal partner of Team Delhi Capitals for the Women’s Premier League.

The campaign recognizes the many roles that every woman plays making them unique. It celebrates their courage, passion, and, spirit that is letting them #freetobe. The video showcases the players in a new light as they look stylish and fashionable in sarees.  They work hard, but play hard too, and give style goals as they flaunt their glamorous sides.

The campaign film is live on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, and grabbing a lot of eyeballs already.

As a part of the campaign, Indian all-rounder player Jemimah Rodrigues, South African all-rounder player Marizanne Kapp, and Titas Sadhu also visited to the navyasa by liva store in Palladium Mall for an interaction with their fans. The event was hosted by sports presenter and lifestyle influencer Tanvi Shah.

ManMohan Singh – Chief Marketing Officer – Grasim Industries Ltd | Pulp & Fibre said, "We are proud to associate with the Delhi Capitals team of  Women’s IPL 2023. The brand essence of Navyasa by Liva is to cater to the woman of today who can do anything, be anything and achieve everything. This film is a way to honour and celebrate the WPL players who are breaking prejudices and bringing in a new era of cricket in India.”

Pepsi has rolled out yet another summer campaign with actor Yash.

The campaign aims to empower the youth of India that own who they are without seeking validation through society.

Building on this very philosophy, this allegorical TVC showcases how as individuals we are constantly surrounded by a sea of voices. The sea of voices is constantly telling us what to do, what to like and whom to swipe and if we listen to them to the societal voices too much, they will Judge us, control us, and soon enough drown us. Embodying the persona of the irrepressible Pepsi guy, Yash encourages everyone around him to challenge this noise, follow their hearts and just Rise up Baby.

Commenting on the association, Saumya Rathor, Category Lead, Pepsi Cola, PepsiCo India, said, “The response we have received since we joined hands with the Yash has been nothing short of phenomenal as the country has truly appreciated this epic partnership. As promised, we are back with a blockbuster film featuring Yash, embodying our all-new campaign. He narrates the new positioning in his extraordinary style, empowering the youth with self-expression, self-confidence, and self -belief. The TVC echoes the irrefutable truth that this generation truly is Unstoppable and Gravity has absolutely nothing on them!”
Sharing his excitement on the new campaign, Pepsi®️’s ambassador, rocking star Yash said, “This film is very personal to me as it encourages one to be confident, expressive and a go-getter, despite all odds. It reflects the voice and purpose of the younger generation today. I had a great time shooting for this film and I hope the audience will enjoy and relate to it, the way I did.”

The campaign film was unveiled by Yash as he posted the video reverberating the ‘Rise up Baby!’ attitude with millions of fans over Instagram. The film will be amplified over traditional and digital platforms across the country.