Made by Ogilvy and Good Morning Films, ‘Hothon Pe Bas’ made it to the ad after beating 12 songs.
Advertisment
This is the season of swaps. Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) chooses an action hero role, over his tried-and-tested romance hero persona, for his latest film ‘Pathaan’.
India’s lower-order batsmen and bowlers are increasingly playing the role designated to opening and top-order batsmen.
And, actor Tiger Shroff has swapped right to carbonated beverage Coca-Cola’s zero sugar variant Coke Zero, over rival Pepsi, which he endorsed until last year.
Dressed in a jacket resembling the beverage’s iconic red colour, Shroff is surprised to hear of Coke Zero. And, the moment he takes a sip, he’s lost in it and to late Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, as a remixed version of ‘Hothon Pe Bas’ plays in the background. The song and the visuals that follow, are arresting.
“When I thought of the film, I knew that there had to be a song in it from our film industry,” quips Afshan Hussain Shaikh, the ad’s director from Good Morning Films. This particular song, however, wasn’t the first choice.
There was another Mangeshkar song, but the rights to it were quite steep. The rights can “range anything between from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 90 lakh,” reveals Shaikh.
She calls her producers Doris George and Robin D’Cruz "her backbone" and they, along with her team, were able to find another track.
The team went to another record company, started researching tracks and “removed 10-12 songs, which lyrically worked with Shroff's feeling when he’s drinking Coke Zero.” Taste the feeling anyone?
Composer Ross Koopmans remixed ‘Hothon Pe Bas’ and when the team heard it, they realised it is the best from the lot.
The makers of the ad wanted to show Shroff not as an action star, but as a regular, everyday guy. In the ad, he is not shown as an actor on set or “filming an action scene. He is hanging out with friends, going out with his girlfriend…” Shroff, Shaikh says, had one request: a dance studio sequence.
The ad, like most beverage ads, has close-up shots of the bottle and Shaikh tells us that they kept one day after the shoot only for the bottle shots.
The ad was shot - from ideation to pack up in 10-12 days in November 2022.
Coke Zero is not the only zero-sugar carbonated beverage in the market. Coca-Cola’s rival PepsiCo released an India-specific ad for its zero sugar variant Pepsi Black, starring actress Jacqueline Fernandez last year.
The ad was a remake of Pepsi’s iconic 1992 gas station ad, featuring American supermodel Cindy Crawford.
Seeing Shroff in an ad from Coke, when he endorsed Pepsi until last year, may seem odd. But seeing endorsers switch over to rivals isn’t new.
In this case, “Coca-Cola wanted a brand ambassador and Shroff was a great fit,” says Sukesh Nayak, chief creative officer, Ogilvy. Nayak adds that they were keen to sign Shroff and when they heard he was available, they did just that.
In recent years, Salman Khan, a long-time endorser of Coca-Cola-owned Thums Up, switched to Pepsi. And SRK, who was Pepsi’s face, is now doing action stunts in Thums Up ads.
When asked if there are more Coke Zero ads starring Shroff, Nayak reveals that right now, they are simply taking this idea forward and working on an experience.
Credits:
Vocals by Lata Mangeshkar
Director: Afshan Hussain Shaikh
Executive Producer: Shashanka Chaturvedi, Robin D'Cruz, Vikram Kalra
Producer: Doris George
Cinematography: Mitesh Mirchandani
Art Director: Rachna Rastogi Sen & KK Muralidharan
Music: "Honthon Pe Bas" composed by Dilip Sen & Sameer Sen
Licensed from Tips Industries Ltd.
Reproduced by Ross Koopmans
Costume Stylist: Tanya Sharma
Editor: Tushar Shivan, Afshan Hussain Shaikh
Colorist: Ben Conkey
Sound Design: Deepangsu Roy
Online Artist: Dev Nayak
Agency: Ogilvy
Creatives:
CCO - Sukesh Nayak
Group Creative Directors - Archit Gadiyar & Vinit Sanghvi
/afaqs/media/agency_attachments/2024-10-10t065829449z-afaqs_640x480.png)
Follow Us/afaqs/media/post_attachments/d73a4296b4a712e58722e5a0e0b0b7c2725d7304c9b40d136d894f1605997cc5.jpg)
/afaqs/media/post_attachments/dfa37f54c591c7722928f7fdc8dfb779ab971611e2c3bf23e89facb8f8a7091a.jpg)