Paint is No Magic

Ad By: Ogilvy & Mather

Asian Paints make Magicians sweat !

When we think of paints, we think about the kind of paint, the texture, the shades, the looks, and also we think how long lasting it would be. There are few paints in the market who use bollywood actors for endorsement, others who use kids and few others who use the family. Who so ever endorses the paint but the common element in all of them is "Ghar". Though paint is a need of every infrastructure around us but still almost every paint company shows their paint as an important element of making "home only". In India, paint is not only the timely necessity but also about bringing new life and light. For same reasons, majority of Indian families get into painting their homes during festival season of Diwali. The new look of house is a family affair wherein everyone gets together to decide on paint type and on colors. But at the same time, Indian families are hardly into painting their homes themselves rather they hire external people for doing this job and generally these people themselves suggest the type of paint or paint brand. Amidst this, it is not so necessary to show the paint brand as a "home" building thing and to show that how affectionately families paint their houses "themselves".

May be to take the paint to next step and to show that it is much bigger than just building home, Asian Paints got into advertising their Apex Ultima paint by showing a huge castle. The ad begins with an introduction of a great magician who comes in front of audience with a claim that he would make castle disappear. He shouts "Aabra ka dabra" and the cloth is dropped on floor only to find that a structure of castle is still standing behind him. Everyone is perplexed and confused when he went to touch the wall and realized that its just the paint. Though the idea is indeed striking and different but when you have to verbally announce everything and tell that they are trying to show a particular thing then the whole creativity goes in vain. No idea is great if it has to be explained and is not self explanatory. If a gentleman needs to announce that the person is a famous magician, if a lady has to tell that he is gonna make castle disappear and if another lady needs to explain in the end that its just the paint then the idea is not executed. If the actions in itself would have explained what is happening in that huge set up then that would have really been a great idea with even better execution. The USP of paint is its long life and thats certainly conveyed in the ad but i am not sure if anyone observes the ad completely in first view. It is able to take attention only when it is seen more than once or twice. 

The ad is though conceptually very strong but is not convincing enough. Moreover when magician is shown worried that his magic trick has failed and later he wipes the sweat over his forehead, it gives a negative vibe. Also, the audience today is learned and educated, they know what magic is all about and understand the truth behind it so showing them a magician doing this trick, it is worth thinking that what worth it shows of the product. Asian Paints holds a benchmark when they came with ad having "Sunil Babu". That ad is still remembered for its simplicity and for a subtle humor it carried. They always had superb ideas and concepts but may be in rush of giving higher claims they are taking themselves for granted and missing on execution.

Magicians is surely not the target market segment.