2. Client: Reliance Portfolio Management Brief: To yap on about how Reliance Portfolio Management is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Targeted at: The corporate fat cat. Y’know, that guy with so many zeroes in his bank-balance that the word ‘googol’ threatens to move out from the realm of impossibility to that of reality. And that’s not all about our guy. Y’see, he’s also a golfing nut. So, we have a guy who has power lunches at the golf clubhouse. A guy who cheats on his 4th wife but doesn’t cheat in his golf scorecard. A guy who disdainfully discusses the impending divorce & alimony over the cellphone, while being carted from the 9th hole to the 10th one in his eco-unfriendly buggy. A guy who obsesses about birdies, eagles and albatrosses more than an ornithologist does. What does such a man desire from Reliance Portfolio Management? Well, many more zeroes in his bank balance, so that he can discuss the divorce & alimony with the next wife, with greater disdain than ever before. So that he can stop using 1000-rupee notes to light up Havana cigars & use the notes as ass-wipe instead. Where the ad appeared: In a diary handed out by a la-di-da golf club to its members. The golf club is in Mumbai, I think. Now, here’s the bummer. The first 2 ads that you’ll see are the ones I preferred. Though very much liked by the client, they forced me to write a dumbed-down version too. Their reason: The first two could very well be not understood by the golfers. WTF? You can’t be serious, to quote John McEnroe. In the end, the 3rd one, that is, the tame version saw the light of the day. On the topic of golf, seen the funny movie ‘Caddyshack’?
3. What is a mulligan? Say, you mess up a shot & the golf ball lands up in the rough or woods or the water hazard. If it’s a casual & friendly golf round, you’re allowed to play the shot all over again, without incurring any penalty. This is called taking a mulligan.
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6. Client: Child Relief & You (CRY). Well, not a client in the strictest sense, it’s pro bono work. Happened to bump into this CRY guy at a shopping mall. He was collecting signatures for a petition to the government to take more action against child labor. We got talking, & I thought I could contribute something to their cause. Brief: To help CRY raise awareness & sensitivity among the public on issue of child labor, in the lead-up to anti-child labor day*. Where it appeared: I’ve no idea, honest. After I emailed the flyers, I think they might have emailed it to others and/or printed the flyers & distributed them in their awareness/protest events. *Though I manage to fend off the demon called ‘Hyphen’ most of the times, this is one time I came a cropper. ‘Anti-child-labor day’ seems awkward, even if it may be right. If you do know how to use hyphens in cases like these, do let me know.
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10. Client: Jetlite Brief: To let flyers know about Jetlite’s various services offered. Where the ads appeared: In Jetlite’s in-flight magazine.
11. Suggested the visual too. Couldn’t get the photo in one go. There weren’t enough vowels around. Had to do one-half at a time!
13. Had suggested a visual where the ubiquitous red pay-phone has its slot taped / blocked. But not many got it, had to go with this plain Jane.
14. Client: If my memory serves me right, the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. Or some suchlike body. Brief: To tell the world out there that India is the place to be when it comes to anything related with diamonds. Target at: People in the gems & jewellery business. Where it appeared: In a gems & jewellery trade magazine abroad. Which country or magazine, I don’t remember. (I guess I’m a potential candidate for Alzheimer’s, eh?)
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17. Client: Steinmetz Diamonds Brief: An international brochure that talks about the history of Steinmetz, the most famous of its diamonds, its association with blue-riband events, and exudes class while doing so. Targeted at: The people whose idea of private space is to buy an island. Note: In this slideshow, the text in the images is a tad too small to be read clearly. So I’ve stored the jpegs in a separate folder too.
