In a time of 10-second ads, Asian Paints revives a 48-second classic

The story goes that in 2002, Ogilvy’s Piyush Pandey called Asian Paints’ leaders K.B.S. Anand and Amit Syngle and said, “Drop everything you are doing and come straight to my office.”

They arrived within the hour. Pandey met them and read out a piece he had written on a notepad in one go, without changing a word or punctuation. After hearing what he’d written, all of them had teared up.

They were the lines everyone would go on to hear in the Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai advert from the paints major. The advert not only built the brand in this millennium but also holds a place in the hall of Indian advertising’s most popular commercials.

In his memoir Pandeymonium, Pandey reveals this story, and that it was the Asian Paints marketing team and Madhukar Sabnavis, the agency’s former vice chairman and director of client relations, who came to him with a new insight: the focus of the consumer is on pride in their house, and paint is merely an expression of that. This helped Pandey pen the iconic advert.

Twenty-two years later, Amit Syngle, now CEO and MD, is bringing back the ad as it was, to a world where television is no longer the most popular mode of content consumption and people’s attention spans are dipping to alarming levels.

This decision comes a month before Diwali, a festival where brands’ advertising spends skyrocket, and, more importantly, people repaint their homes. Today, Asian Paints competes against not just industry incumbents such as Nerolac, Berger, and Dulux, but also deep-pocketed newcomers like JSW Paints and Birla Opus.

Mordor Intelligence projects that the Indian paints and coatings market will grow from Rs 79,000 crore (USD 9.56 billion) in 2024 to USD 1.2 lakh crore (USD 15 billion) by 2029. 

When asked why he chose to bring back the ad, Syngle was clear: “The ad is ageless and came when we started our foray into homes. The emotion about a home reflecting your personality is relevant even today. This feeling is what encouraged us to bring back the ad.”

To put things into perspective, Facebook was still two years away from its launch when Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai first played on television screens.

Today, digital eclipses other mediums when it comes to brands’ ad spending. GroupM said in February 2024 that it expected ad spend in India to reach ₹1.5 lakh crore this year, with digital contributing 57% of all ad spends.

Perhaps a fresh ad for the new world?

Piyush Pandey, chief advisor of Ogilvy, disagrees. “We are operating in a scenario where we know we’ve got something that will last. We don't want something that goes viral for two days and doesn’t leave an impact on you. It's very simple: we’ve got a classic,” he retorts.

"I recorded my voice inside a walk-in closet": Piyush Pandey, on new Asian Paints ad

“Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai” made a brief comeback in 2020 during the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, where it reimagined the relationship people shared with their homes. Like in 2002, Ogilvy’s Pandey lent his voice to the ad. Only this time, he recorded the lines inside a walk-in closet from his Goa home.

Asian Paints is considering using strong properties to air the ad. “It could be Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC); it could be the T20 Women's World Cup; for the next two to three months, we will use all forms of media,” remarks Syngle.

But what about people’s declining attention spans? The ad is 48 seconds long, and today folks struggle to mindfully watch a five- or 10-second video.

“People who are talking about seven seconds were launched in this country by using a two-and-a-half-minute film,” quips Pandey, dismissing the notion of seconds in its entirety.

(L-R, Piyush Pandey, Amit Syngle)

When yours truly mentioned the forthcoming talk of one-second videos, Pandey was not impressed. “I adore their mathematics. It becomes a trend when I see something that has succeeded.” But isn’t Pandey worried people will not consume his voice and lines with all their attention? “I am not worried. I am confident that I will not have to run it 50,000 times if it is here once.”

Talk about measuring the ad’s effectiveness, and Syngle goes beyond the usual metrics. “You can dissect and trisect, but I think for us, what simply works is what connects.”

“There is no measurement of such things. If it touches you, it touches you,” adds Pandey.