The Dabolkar sense of humour 

Bharat Dabolkar is the most sought after scriptwriter-director in the English theatre, the advertising guru behind the historic 'Amul' campaign and the humour behind the most famous 'Bottoms Up' series, which broke all records to become the longest running play in the history of English theatre in India. Today, his very name is a crowd puller.

Mumbaibest gets a taste of the famous Dabolkar sense of humour at a seminar on advertising, where he had everyone nearly fall off their chairs in laughter.

To me 'Humour is life'

I believe in keeping humour alive in every aspect of my life - whether in my plays, in advertising or even in my interaction with people. But, humour has also got me into many embarassing moments.

In the interlude of the play that I directed, 'Bottoms Up,' I had arranged for smaller skits and jokes to be performed by various groups. One group performed a skit of a mother taking her daughter to the zoo. The mother asked her daughter, "Are you enjoying your visit to the zoo my dear?", and the daughter said, "Yes." Then the mother asked the daughter again, "Any questions for Mummy?" Then the daughter asked, "Tell me Mummy how do lions make love?" The embarassed mother said, "I don't know darling, all your father's friends are Rotarians." Unfortunately, that day the function and the show was sponsored by the Lions Club of Vile Parle.

There should be 'Humour in advertising'

If you ask anyone five television advertisements that they remember, at least three of them will be humour based. Advertisements with great images flashing are forgotten, but humour is always remembered. In the international arena, humour is the latest mantra. Humour is cheap and creative too. The disadvantage is, people could feel that a humourous advertisement is a joke with a product attached. Also, there is a possibility that people remember the joke, but forget the product. So, to counter this problem humour has to come from the product itself.

Earlier, advertisements were meant just to inform, now they have to entertain. This new concept is called 'infotainment.' Now, the entertainment component has become larger, with 80 per cent entertainment and 20% information. The idea is to get the customer interested enough to come to the shop and buy the product. When we made ads for LIC, the idea was not to sell policies through the Ad campaign, the idea was to get them to call an agent.

One of the humourous Ads I remember is of a watch manufacturer, who used the word late, punning on the word - 'The perfect gift for your late husband.' It was most effective. Another one was that of a hair cutting salon, which read 'Avoid the coming recession.' A photograph of Albert Einstein was part of a poster at a hair cutting salon which read, 'A bad haircut can make anyone look bad.'

Another example is that of the advertisement of Chivas Regal as made by advertising legend, Bill Burnmark. Whisky ads were always very fancy with beautiful settings, women in beautiful gowns and fancy cars. Instead, he used humour to sell the black and white Ad on whisky. In the visual, Burnmark showed two identical half empty bottles with the words - 'This bottle is half empty and the other bottle is half full. If it happens to be your bottle of Chivas Regal, which has reached the half-way mark you would probably feel that it is half empty. If you are visiting a friend, you can relax thinking it is still half full.' This was a simple humourous statement. As long as he was handling the Ad campaign, Chivas Regal remained the No 1 whisky brand in the world.

From information to infotainment

The principle of informative advertising worked well in the past. Years ago, if you wanted to buy shampoo, there was one brand available in the market. It was more a functional product. That was all there was to shampoo advertising. You don't get ordinary shampoos anymore. You have specialised shampoos: for ordinary hair, dry hair, dry hair with dry dandruff, extra dry hair, extra oily hair and limp hair. You are often standing in a shop wondering whether you have ordinary dry hair or extra oily hair with dandruff. Shampoos are made out to be so full of good things in advertisements - shampoos with the natural goodness of fruits, Vitamins, lime, lemon, egg, flowers, henna and even energy. I feel that today's shampoos are so healthy, that you are far better off drinking them than putting them on your head.

On the business of advertising

I would like to tell you a joke on the business of advertising. 'A son asked his father, "Daddy, tell me what is the advertising business?" The father replied, "Beta, when you switch on the television and Aunty appears on the screen and says - You buy this soap, buy this shampoo. That is called advertising." The son then asks, "Daddy what is business?" The father says "Think of our family as a business. I go out and earn the money, so I am the capital. Your mother manages the money so she is the management. Sakubhai, the servant is the labour. You have a share in the happiness of this family, so you are a shareholder and your baby brother is the future of this business." That night, the boy awoke to the cries of his little brother who needed a nappy change. His mother was fast asleep and refused to be woken up. His father was in Sakubhai's room, not to be disturbed. The son confused thought to himself,"Business is a very funny thing; the management is fast asleep, the shareholder is sitting and twiddling his thumbs, and the future stinks, because the capital is exploiting labour."

Giving your product the advantage

When you have products that are similar in nature how can you sell a product successfully? First you require a product advantage, which means that your product has to be technologically superior to other products in the market. Secondly, you need a marketing advantage - better pricing, more dealers and better packaging. Thirdly, you need an advertising advantage, which means that your advertising has to give it that added value, so that people perceive it as a better product. A mega advertising campaign will get the product an advertising advantage, as will getting the product endorsed by a celebrity. The disadvantage is that many times people remember the celebrity and forget the product.

Marketing has to be emotional

Advertising has to create a visual scandal, because nobody buys a newspaper or watches television only for advertisements. It cannot be cut and dried or clinical, because marketing works on emotions. It has to reach out to some part of your heart, making you aware of the need for a product in a nice way.

I remember a hoarding for a resort in a place less traversed by people. While most advertisements for resorts show tranquil beaches and hill stations, this one stood apart. Playing on emotions it read, 'After you get married, kiss your wife in places she has never been kissed before.'

In New York, a pizza place called Godfather's Pizza put up a recruitment Ad for delivery boys which said - 'Satisfy hungry women on a nightly basis.' As a Godfather Pizza delivery boy you will meet a lot of hungry men and women, who will be happy to pay you for dinner. By spending minimum money, they got maximum mileage with a simple message. That is what advertising is all about.

Amul and me

I did the Amul Butter campaign for 15 years. I made fun of every possible politician and every possible bigwig in the country. As long as we have Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jayalalitha, there is no dearth of humour. Even politicians have a sense of humour.

The credit for the Amul Butter campaign does not go to me or anyone who is handling the acount now, but to Dr Verghese Kurein. The man had absolute faith in the advertising agency. I never even had to show him what I was doing. At the end of each year I would go to him with an album and say 'Dr Kurien this is what I did for you last year.' Dr Kurein always said, "When I go to a doctor I don't tell what medicine to give me. When I go to an advertising agency why should I tell him what Ad to create for me?"

The beautiful thing about Amul is the timeliness. I remember the Wimbledon finals which happened on Sunday evening at 10.00 pm. By Monday morning at 8.00 am the Amul hoarding was up with the winner. We used to make hoardings with both the tennis players, get the artwork ready and just number the hoarding. After the finals, the hoarding guy would call up at about 10.30 pm and I would just tell him the right number to put up. When Srikant became the captain of the Indian cricket team then the Amul Butter Campaign said 'If Sri Kant, then who can!' Advertising always has to touch a cord.

By: Anupama Vinayak