MY BEST CAMPAIGN

Brand

HIMANI FAST RELIEF

CREDITS
Company: Emami
Campaign: Dard mein bhee kuch baat hai
Agency: Publicis Ambience
Copy: Anil Bhardwaj
Director: Prahlad Kakkar

ANIL BHARDWAJ
FOUNDER, BASECAMP INDIA

An ad works best when

viewers see it as their story

the batsman, sprains his elbow cut to

the product window, now pain has gone he
completes the action and clean bowls the batsman! Tagline: Dard mitaye chutki mein.
This only made me want to run in the opposite
direction.

Why it is my best campaign

Problems and challenges

I consider Emamis Dard mein bhee kuch baat

hai as my best work so far. Its timeless, and a
refreshing idea in the category. The campaign
became an instant hit and continued to stay on
air for more than five years.
At that time, Emami had 10 of Bollywoods
top stars signed on with the brand which was
a firm believer in the endorsement ad concept. Working on this account got me branded as the celebrity writer in Ambience
because even as just a copy supervisor, I had
written and shot ad films with Shah Rukh
Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Amitabh Bachchan,
Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Govinda and

Madhuri Dixit, to name some. I began disliking working with celebrities, as these would
just be endorsement TVCs that would never
add to my show-reel. This particular campaign
changed all that.

Brief to the agency

Well, the brief was as simple, or as complex, as
Amitabh ke saath TVC karna hai (We want a
TVC with Amitabh). The whole agency
was excited. Stories of ABs hard work, struggle,
pain, and his accident during the shoot of
Coolie, had clouded the brief. We were
also shown earlier films of Fast Relief to get
direction. One had a bowler about to bowl to

This brand had been very small, and dependent on before-after problem-solving 10-15 second films. Second, the competition was way
ahead. Dard mitaye chutki mein was the core
of this brand, given that the research told us
that people in pain looked for quick relief.
Imagine the pressure to repeat history stating
all of the above.

Routes considered
Various situations were thought of where the
need for relief is of utmost importance, but
they were all just situations. A cricket game. A
movie shoot. A stunt scene.

The route chosen and why

recited the copy. In the next 30

Ambience had a terrace,
minutes, the three of us wrote
which had a bamboo bush. We
the TVC. We shot it the week
used to call it bodhi vriksha or
after.
an ideation adda by day and a
We couldnt make
All through this, the
bar by night for us creative
Amitabh Bachchan
client worried that the film
folks. Frustrated with trying to
sell a balm like a
would be a hit, but no one
write situations, one night I sat
street peddler
would remember the prodthere thinking about Amitabh
uct benefit. Prahlad then
instead of Fast Relief. I thought
came up with the brilliant
of Harivanshrai Bachchans
idea of a product window as an integral
Madhushala, Amitabhs educational backpart of the film. When we finished editing
ground, his theatre days, the Kolkata connecthe film, we ended it with a new positioning
tion, and realised that he is not just a superstar.
line, which said taaki dard, dard na rahe.
He is also the son of one of Indias greatest
In retrospect, Emami really trusted us
poets. We couldnt make this man sell a balm
with this innovative and bold positioning. In
like a street peddler. I then began thinking of
no time, the brand recall was at its highest.
how he would look at pain? As a planner, or a
The last I heard was that it had grown fivefold
businessman, or a copywriter? No. He would
in two years. We shot many more films on
surely see pain differently. He would probathis same brand thereafter, but none aired
bly see it as Dard mein bhee kuch baat hai.
beyond a month or two before they got back
I went home quite late that night. I returned
to this very film.
early the next morning to check if the poet
Will it work today?
under the influence of the terrace madhushaAdvertising works best when viewers see it as
la still made sense in broad daylight. And it did.
their story and not as the story of a brand. The
I walked into my then NCD Pushpinder Singhs
film reflects this simple insight. As soon as
office and recited my piece. He immediately
the lyrics are that of a product rather that a
called a few seniors to hear me recite it again.
song full of soul, it will work even when off air.
Unanimously, this was the campaign.
It worked back then and it still works as prodOutcome
ucts or features become obsolete but not the
human connect.
I went to Bachchans home Jalsa with adman
Prahlad Kakkar, who was the director of this
As told to Rohit Nautiyal
film. But instead of presenting the film, I just