The Grasim man will now make women conscious

Till recently, the Grasim man has been making women feel jealous, but now the brand has moved to the next stage. It’s making women conscious about their own looks.

While other commercials in this category take a hard-selling approach, wherein men try to look good to impress women, Grasim commercials – conceived by O&M – have always taken into account the woman’s point of view, constantly portraying her as jealous and insecure, envious of the fact that her male counterpart always looks better than her.

The latest TVC has added a twist to the tale: The woman is now desperately trying to keep up with her Grasim man.

As S Krishnamoorthy, president, textile division, Grasim Industries, says, “Instead of portraying destructive jealousy, we decided to use a constructive approach by making her take up the challenge of looking as good as her Grasim man.”

Piyush Pandey, chairman, O&M, India, says, “When someone around you gets attention for the way he looks, you can envy him and brood about it as was the case in Grasim’s previous commercials. Or you can spruce up your own appearance as shown in the latest Grasim advert.”

He adds. “Although the new TVC takes the brand a step further, it continues to be part of the same family of expressions.”

The commercial opens on the shot of a young woman parading in front of a mirror, trying on several outfits. Her husband calls out from outside the room, asking her if she is ready. She calls back, “Five minutes!”

All this time, there is a playful song in the background: ‘Aankhen jo milayega to chand bhi sharmayega, aise gul khilaye aaj hum, Tum bhi sar jhukaoge, dekhte rah jaoge, humko na samajhna jaanu kam (Even the moon will be mesmerised with my looks today, You will also accept that I am no less than you).’

The next frame shows the woman waxing her arms, plucking her eyebrows, curling her hair, working out on an exercycle (in a desperate attempt to fit into tight trousers) and frantically applying the trendiest make-up.

Finally, after tossing several outfits aside, she settles on an enticing black dress with a matching hand-bag. In the next shot, she confidently opens the door of her room, sure in the knowledge that she is dressed to kill. But in a surprising twist, she grows pale when she sees what awaits her in the front hall.

The next shot focuses on her husband in the front hall, who is putting on his stylish suit. He buttons himself up smartly and looks at her, every bit the handsome Grasim man. He asks her, “Shall we…?” In reply, she shuts her room door, saying something no one would expect, “Give me 45 more minutes?”

The man is shown shaking his head knowingly. The male voiceover then goes on to conclude, “Grasim suitings: the power of fashion.”

Pandey claims, “I’m sure this communication will touch a chord with the viewers. A woman would behave similarly in real life.”

Interestingly, this is also the first time that a Grasim ad has tried out a background track instead of dialogues. Krishnamoorthy of Grasim Industries says, “We felt that the connection with our TG would be much more if we used a soundtrack in place of dialogues.”

N Ramesh, group creative director, O&M, feels that the new commercial puts the pressure on women. He says, “The earlier creatives presented the pangs of jealousy that women underwent when their men in Grasim were appreciated by other women. This commercial is based on the concept that the Grasim men look so stunning that their women feel the pressure to compete with them.”

© 2005 agencyfaqs!