First Pan Vilas commercial positions itself on “Shauq”

Pan Vilas, a premium pan masala offering from Godfrey Phillips India, made its entry into the category with a 60-second commercial featuring actors Manoj Bajpai and Jameel Khan. Shot at The Pataudi Palace, located 70 kms from Delhi, the story revolves around an extremely particular nawab who likes things just so: like getting his newspaper ironed so there isn’t any crease on it, using German binoculars to spot beautiful women, getting Queen Victoria’s bicycle to ride around on, and choosing Pan Vilas for his pan masala.

According to Ajay Gahlaut, group creative director, the positioning of “shauq” was waiting to be owned and had a seamless fit with the product and the category. Manoj Bajpai was selected for the role since he’d played something similar in his movies like Zubeida. “The shoot itself took four days, and this was in peak summer, so it was really hot,” he said. “These poor chaps were wearing bandgallas and had to keep changing outfits.” The language of the voiceover too was polished to make it suit the idea of the film. “It’s more Hindustani than Hindi, with some Urdu thrown in – the idea was to lend some ‘Lucknowi nazaakat’ without making it incomprehensible,” he explained.

The ten-second versions of the films are not direct edits from the 60-seconder. Gahlaut elaborated, “It’s something we’ve learnt that instead of just making regular short edits, we could shoot an extra sequence or change the voiceover, so the consumer gets to watch something fresh and engages with the commercial better.”

Nita Kapoor, president, marketing and corporate affairs, Godfrey Phillips India said, “The challenge was to discover a consumer insight that allows the product the right context of premiumness and quality which is essential in the Indian pan masala category that is highly fragmented. For me personally, it was going back to my advertising days where we would work with creative teams insisting they focus on the creative idea that delivers the 'high' and meets brand objectives.”

WATCH THE TVC

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi
Group Creative Director: Ajay Gahlaut
Creative Director, Copywriter: Mayur Hola
Creative Director: Gaurav Nautiyal
Director: Vinil Mathew
Production House: Footcandles
Music: Amar Mangrulkar
Client Services Director: Jigisha Chawla
Account Director: Shefali Arora