Fevicol puns on deodorant advertising in this spot

The ad is Fevicol Ezee Spray's first TVC. We spoke to the brand team about the effort.

A bare-chested guy pouring deodorant bottles on him to impress the neighbourhood heart-throb is the stuff snooze-worthy ads are made of. But can the same be said when an unattractive middle-aged carpenter works his way up to the heart of a model simply by spraying Fevicol?

Pidilite's Fevicol has recently released a TVC for its Ezee Spray variant. For the uninitiated, Ezee Spray is a spray-on adhesive for pasting laminates. Interestingly, while the product has been present in the market for five years, the brand has released its first TVC only now.

Fevicol Ezee Spray releases its first TVC

Vivek Sharma, chief marketing officer, Pidilite Industries, says, "The objective behind releasing it now is that the product displays the various usages such as convenience of use, increased speed of pasting and reduced setting time to our end-users. This will result in faster completion of work. As Fevicol has done in the past, the Ezee Spray TVC communicates the technological superiority of the company in its own humorous way."

Vivek Sharma

Vivek Verma

Sharma tells us that the idea was to ensure brand and product recall. "For years Fevicol has been known for its innovative product profile and Ezee Spray is yet another testimony to this legacy. The main idea was to showcase the application of Ezee Spray in an eye-catching manner so it stays with consumers for the longest time."

The short, 30-second video has been crafted and conceptualised by the brand's agency on record, Ogilvy & Mather, India. We got in touch with Vivek Verma, senior vice-president at Ogilvy & Mather, India, to understand the toughest part of developing an ad film which not only takes care of the hygiene factor while disclosing crucial product details but it engages audiences and most importantly wraps it all up in less than half a minute. As it turns out, that significant element is not the storyboard or crisp dialogues, it is, in fact, casting. "It is always challenging to get the right cast for Fevicol," is how Verma puts it.

Speaking about how the idea was cracked Verma says, "It was cracked in a jamming session while discussing the brief and it was Piyush Pandey who cracked the idea." Pandey is the current executive chairman and creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, South Asia.

A few weeks ago, Fevicol released another ad for its 'Marine' variant and it was set in the backdrop of the Kerala backwaters. Unlike Fevicol Marine's ads or for that matter, all previous Fevicol ads which have a rustic texture, Ezee Spray's ad has an urban feel to it. We couldn't help but wonder if this shift has anything to do with a change in the target audience for this particular product?

Fevicol recently released a new ad for its product variant - Fevicol Marine

Sharma tells us, "The target group for all the products remains the same - the woodworker community. To make the product even better, we keep experimenting with ideas and are always open to trying out different approaches to our communication."

Verma supports Sharma's claim and shares, "The brief was very simple: We have Fevicol in a spray format; it's going to help the carpenters do their work faster."

The Verdict

Nilesh Vaidya

Ishrath Nawaz

Amyn Ghadiali

The ad hinges on the wordplay for 'ladki' and 'lakdi'; but does the brand get it right? Nilesh Vaidya, director, Workship Communications, is impressed. He says, "We've all played on these words, but someone finally managed to do something useful with the pun! This one will definitely be remembered. I enjoyed watching it!"

Ishrath Nawaz, executive creative director, Publicis India, disagrees and says, "Unfortunately, I think the narrative is a bit staid. The 'ladki-lakdi' joke seemed a bit forced. Having said that, it all depends on who this is targeting. Maybe it works for the audience it is meant for, albeit barely." Nawaz however, labels the ad as "quite different" when compared to other Fevicol ads.

The makers intended the ad to communicate the product features, but Nawaz believes that the ad is unable to move the needle much. "The ad seems to get lost in the whole play between different types of spray. Fevicol has almost always been about showing the efficacy of the product which is missing here and I have to take the voice-over's word for how good the product really is," adds Nawaz.

Vaidya takes note of the agency's casting efforts and says, "Excellent casting for the carpenter!" He further adds, "The TVC didn't have a very difficult job to do - it just had to say that Fevicol is available in a spray. And as you've come to expect from Fevicol advertising, it did so in an irreverent and unexpected way, poking fun at a category that everyone finds a little ridiculous."

Amyn Ghadiali, group director, brand communication, Gozoop, feels that the ad is "... sticky, funny and surely surprises viewers". He adds, "While this might be the first TVC for Ezee Spray, it is really impressive that they have retained the brand personality which is humour and exaggeration. The simple, easy to understand ads with humour that sticks (pun intended), are the most difficult to crack and craft. I think the ad does the job."