Brand Baaja

This is not the first advertisement to receive musical accompaniment from an indie band or musician. The Mahindra Xylo Happy Legs commercial,featuring glamour photographer Atul Kasbekar and a bevy of models,has Monica Dogra— one half of electro-duo Shaa’ir + Func — singing the catchy melody. Earlier,a Flying Machine campaign had featured Delhi-based Hindi rock band,Faridkot’s lead singer IP Singh doing a startlingly authentic Tamil rap,while Delhi-based Supastars SQS appears in an ad for the clothing brand,Mufti. Could these be indications of a new trend — are advertising gurus discovering the musical talent that the Indian independent music scene offers?

“It’s possible,” says Arun Iyer,of advertising firm Lowe Lintas,which made the Flying Machine campaign,“Nowadays,being Indian in every way,whether it is your sound or look,is considered very trendy. Hence the tagline for the campaign was ‘I Am Sexy When I’m Me’. It’s not really so surprising,then,that somebody like IP Singh,a genuine homegrown talent,is used for these ads.” But he cautions against getting too celebratory of this trend. “It won’t be a trend for sometime. At the moment,it’s just a reflection of how we’re thinking.”

Rajesh Ramaswamy,who created that commercial,is even more cautious. “We got hold of IP Singh because we were looking for quirky characters who can form an instant connection with consumers,” he explains,“he plays a guy who turns out to be completely different from what you initially think of him and that became the talking point of the ad.” That Singh is a part of the country’s budding independent music scene may just have been a coincidence. “Advertisers are always looking for that special,stand-out quality and if the indie music scene has what they’re looking for then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be used more regularly,” he says.

It may not yet be a trend,but the musicians themselves are looking forward for it to become one. Anup Kutty of Menwhopause narrates how they scored the Chevrolet commercial. “It was being directed by photographer Bharat Sikka who had enjoyed our music. He got in touch with us with a proposal to give music to the ad,and we jumped for it.”

For the bands,it could open a new avenue. “At the moment,only a niche crowd listens to indie music but scoring music for something as widely-seen as a commercial will definitely get people to notice us as well. If they like the music in the ad,who’s to say that they may not one day want to listen to our other music,” says Kutty.