IPL 2012 B(r)andwagon – creatively boring

IPL is considered the hottest property for advertisers in India. Apart from the World cup that is. Last year’s IPL started within a week of India’s World Cup triumph and it was obvious that corporate India did not have the deep pockets to spend on IPL. Cricket fatigue was a concern this year along with India’s not too well a tour to Australia and the subsequent Asia Cup.

The aspect that has been disappointing though is the ads on display during this IPL. It seems the best ad was the IPL ad by Set Max created by Ogivly. The number of advertisers has not gone down but the quality of ads certainly has gone down. Most disappointing have been the Vodafone ads. Not a single ad has been entertaining. It certainly does not have any recall value. Idea ads with Abhishek Bachchan too have been really boring. Ranbir Kapoor’s act as an old-fashioned restaurateur too isn’t quite entertaining or worth remembering. The series of Reliance’s ads featuring Anushka Sharma & Rannvijay are not new.

Considering the onset of the summer, you find the cola ads everywhere but the thing of note is that there is no campaign by Coca Cola featuring their flagship product. Rather you see Sprite ads. On the other hand, the ‘change the game’ Pepsi ad featuring the football heavyweights Kaka, Messi & Drogba with IPL heavyweights MS Dhoni & lightweights Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina & Harbhajan Singh is really average to say the least. The Thumbs Up ad featuring Southern superstar Mahesh Babu is the only saving grace. ‘Aaj kuch toofani karte hai’ is a nice tagline. Katrina kaif’s Slice ad is decent but not wonderful. Similar is the case with Anushka Sharma’s Canon powershot ad.

All in all, a very dull season for advertising enthusiasts like me.