Mktg - Mother of all ideas,Celeb's mother in Ad

You freeze in on a celebrity for endorsement but he or she is the face of countless other brands in the circuit .

You want to use the celeb but still create differentiation and rouse enough viewer interest. How do you manoeuvre out of this conundrum? If you are a savvy advertiser or agency, the answer lies in using the ‘Mere Paas Maa Hai’ factor. Simply tweak the script in a way that mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands or wives of the celebs get to make an appearance in the commercial alongside the celeb.

The best part is that the familial strategy has been a tried-and-tested one. Kapil Dev’s mother spoke about her son’s achievements for a Pepsi ad just after the bowler overtook Sir Richard Hadlee to become the highest wicket taker in test cricket (432), while world chess champion Viswanathan Anand’s mother made an appearance in a commercial for Horlicks. Hema Malini appeared with her two daughters for mosquito repellent brand Casper - the latter were kids then and not recognised faces on television .

Geet Sethi and wife appeared in a print ad for Wills Made for Each Other and celebrated chef Sanjeev Kapoor and his better half put their acting skills to good effect for a Surf Excel commercial. Kapil Dev, his wife Romi and their daughter have appeared in a commercial for Save The Girl Child programme , currently showing on Doordarshan . P&G’s recent campaign ‘Ariel Real Champions Program’ features mothers of cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan and wife of Dinesh Karthik.

In many ways, the inclusion of relatives brings in a dose of realism in the commercial and gives scores of curious viewers a sneak peek into the other side of the celebrity. R Balakrishnan (Balki), chairman & CCO of Lowe India, says both clients and endorsers have become more open to the prospect of using the ‘relative factor’ . “It can be fun if done in the right spirit,” he says.

Anuja Chauhan, executive creative director, JWT, however, believes all the celebs these days are overused and so using relatives is a sort of desperate attempt by companies to make their ads stand out from the rest. She says relatives should not be used unless there’s a social message or a bigger cause as it intrudes into the privacy of these celebs. “If it’s a campaign like pulse polio or a literacy drive, family members will help drive home the message more effectively,” she says.

“But an ad for a diamond ring which features a celeb’s wife is a strict no-no .”
In the case of Ariel, roping in the women who were an intrinsic part of the cricketers’ lives seemed like a perfect fit for the campaign . “These women are just like the typical Ariel woman who knows her mind and is the pillar of strength for the men in her life,” says Shormistha Mukherjee, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency which has worked on the campaign.

But sometimes it’s the greed factor and not creative thinking that could be the real reason for roping in relatives. “A star might be keen on promoting his family. The thinking is ‘If I’m earning so many crores let my family earn some as well,’” says Manish Bhatt, vice president & executive creative director, Contract , labelling the phenomenon as “largehearted narcissism” . At other times, it’s the filmmaker or the advertiser who might want to flatter the endorser. “The filmmaker might harbour ambitions of making a feature film some day and wants to get into the good books of the star.” Bhatt recalls an incident when a client wanted to feature Sunil Shetty and his wife Mana in a commercial. “Mana was clearly a force-fit and we made it clear that only Sunil could be used.”

Generally, it’s either the agency or the client that takes a call on whether relatives should be brought on board. But it may often happen that the relative is too petrified of the camera or his or her acting skills are just too abysmal which, in turn, lends a fake air to the whole affair. So, the final go ahead for including them might actually come from the person shooting the commercial . Mukherjee says Zaheer’s mother was quite sceptical about how she would look on television before the shoot and a wee-bit nervous, just like anyone who faces the camera for the first time would be. But she overcame her apprehensions. “She faced the camera like a pro and was better than Zaheer himself,” Mukherjee says.

Abhijit Avasthi, executive creative director , South Asia, O&M , says bringing in a relative of the celeb can provide an interesting flavour provided their relationship is brought alive in a genuine manner and the audience connects with it. “The impact of using celebs is always dependent on how well you use them. But the idea must dictate the need for bringing in the relative.” Mukherjee says the P&G TVCs have come out well because of the genuine off-screen chemistry shared between Yuvraj, Zaheer and their mothers.

“The bonding and camaraderie they shared was quite visible on the sets, even when the camera was not rolling. Otherwise, the whole thing probably would have looked weird.”

However, using the ‘relative factor’ mindlessly has its pitfalls. Bhatt warns about the danger of using it as a package deal or trivialising the concept like in the case of ‘Sehwag Ki Maa’ for Reliance Mobile , which depicted a picture of Sehwag’s mother on the cricketer’s mobile phone. “You can use humour in the ad but the ad itself should not end up becoming a joke.”