CASE OF COLOUR
Madhur Tari snapped to attention as he read the commentary to Alkalac's case study in Businessworld. "Oh my God!" he gasped. The analyst, Adip Puri, director at Saatchi & Saatchi, had hit the nail on the head! How fundamental, how rudimentary, how oh-so-true. Puri's words had awakened a sleeping giant within him. He wrote: "Who should decide whether or not Amitabh Bachchan (AB) is perfect for Alkalac Paints? Not him (Madhur), not Mr. Divakar and not even Vineeta. The people who should decide are the consumers."
"Whoa!" shouted Madhur as he slapped his forehead and went, 'heck heck heck'. "How right! Why did I get pulled into a pointless debate with the MD, Vishwas Divakar on AB or Sunil Shetty? Puri is saying what we need to be doing. We have pulled the paint over our eyes; we have not even considered that our product is being sold like commodity to the dealer who does not care whether the consumer wants pink or mauve." Suddenly Madhur felt the old energy surging. Here was his magnificent opportunity to smack Colour Pitch on the old conference table - the same table which had run the gauntlet over A. Bachchan, H. Roshan, and for some odd reason, Lady Zinta. "Colour Pitch, here I come!" sang Madhur. Unknown and unseen by his usually conservative colleagues, he shook his hips, put his hands over his head and howled, "Basanti, main aa raha hoon!" with a flourish.
Two months ago, when Divakar had triggered the discussion on which celebrity should endorse Alkalac Paints, Madhur had been swept off his feet by the very controversy of the debate. It had all happened in such an impromptu way that he had not even sat down to question its context. Now Divakar's words came back to him: "What would it take for our brands to become hero brands?" I ...