'Life partner'

A lot of the advertising greats will tell you that the first rule about doing an ad is not to do it. What they mean is, do not dash off an ad as soon as you are asked to do it. Resist the temptation. Instead, acquire every bit of information and trivia about the product or service that you are about to advertise. Toss all the facts and information in your mind, sift through it, and then do the most important thing. Link actual experiences from your life to the information you have gathered. If you can do that successfully, more often then not, you will have something beautiful to show.

Life is indeed the most creative partner for any meaningful piece of communication. The ensuing story is true.

A creative director friend was recently stuck in a huge traffic jam on one of those crazy Mumbai monsoon days. Gazing out of his cab, he realized he was right opposite a little boy bathing from a broken bucket on the side of a footpath. He bathed unabashedly, splashing water, taking his time, oblivious to the passers-by. Bath over, he ran dripping wet across to his father who was selling knick-knacks on the footpath. There was a rotting wooden box next to his father. The boy rummaged through it and came up with a tattered towel with which he vigorously dried himself. He dived into the box again, this time coming up with a pair of old navy-blue shorts, two sizes too large.

The boy next came up with a very faded blue checked shirt. His tiny brother who was stark naked and who until then was just lolling around next to the father, suddenly sprang up. He went searching about behind some more old boxes and found a pair of plastic sandals which he proudly put in front of his brother’s feet.

And then, a most amazing thing occurred.

The boy delved once again into his broken box and came up with a heavily mended plastic satchel, from which peeped some brown-paper covered books. As he slung it over his shoulder, my friend suddenly realized that this sweet dark urchin, whom he had silently criticized for messing up the street, was actually getting ready for school right there on the footpath. The boy grabbed a quick lunch of fried sev from a soggy newspaper, hugged his mother who was reading a prayer-book while sitting on a charpoy near by, fooled around a bit with his kid brother and joyfully ran off to school from his open-air ‘home’.

My friend, who is in the process of creating a TV commercial for home loans, has changed the script completely. From doing an ad that is full of attractive interest rates, he is now just showing the joy of being home. Even if that home happens to be the most simple, stark place. Life is indeed the most creative partner.

(The author is the National Creative Director at Dentsu Marcom)