Saturday, May 5, 2007

AIG ad

Of late, this ad is my personal favourite.

It opens with a boy helping an old lady carry her groceries back home. The lady then generously(?) offers the child a Rupee. The child then hitches a ride with an ‘uncle’ to his dad’s office. You see a shot of the small kid, lost in the long passages of the office. He takes a peek through the glass to see his dad in a meeting.

He taps on the window to get his dad’s attention. Dad excuses himself from the meeting….worried…. And asks why are you here? The kid gently opens his palm to reveal a shiny one rupee coin! And he adds, meri pehli ‘shalary’ (salary!).

And the ad ends with a voice over “ We appreciate the value of your money”.



(Not exactly a good version; there's a time lag in the audio and video. This is all I could come up with on You Tube!)
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Now, what do I like most in this ad?
The kid !!!
It’s a smart strategy. Kids are loved by everyone. And this one’s cute and adorable ; especially when he says “shalary” !! Also the metaphor of the Kid (us) who approaches the Dad (AIG Insurance) with his hard-earned money. And here, the agency ‘appreciates’ the value of ‘our money’... interesting...
Because if you consider a pun on the word ‘appreciate’, it could mean ‘to value or regard highly’ AND ‘to increase in value’. Smart move!

In short, a great ad!

Rating- ****

4 comments:

Margaret (Ritty) said...

well put!! i love this ad!

Vinitha Valsalan Rakesh said...

Thank you !
Glad that someone else likes this ad as well :)

Vinitha Valsalan Rakesh said...

Well, the customary search on YouTube gave no results !
I don't know where to get the video from.
Thanks for dropping by.

Nithin Muchikkal said...

U r right... Its really great