It's different!

Whether for a campaign or real life, success and focus go hand in hand.

What I've liked
It's still crazy after all these years! It all began in the eighties with Karamchand's Pankaj Kapoor, Javed Jaffery and a brand new sauce called Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilli Sauce, if I remember right. The initial years saw the brand firing many rounds of rib-tickling comedy along with some memorable lines and spoofs "" like "Lily, don't be silly" and the evergreen "Saara sheher mujhe LOIN ke naam se jaanta hai" "" which quite efficiently placed Maggi in a niche of its own against a long term player, Kissan's ketchup. And the brand did get away quite cleverly by offering no apparent reasoning for their baseline: "It's different!" Just the sheer delivery of the line in a comical context was enough "" no questions asked. It's nice to see the campaign back after a break, even if it has one player less, and by the looks of the current TVC, it definitely is by no means short on humour. Only a dyed-in-the-wool comedian like Javed Jaffery can make the audience giggle with a look, a smile or even some completely nonsensical line or gesture. And he sure is resplendent as a long-term convict with his secret stash of Maggi sauce. Long-run campaigns are always difficult to sustain and unless you have the grit and the determination of a marathoner, you are sure to collapse by the wayside, as has been the case of many brilliant campaigns in the past. They all begin well, but 20 years on most of them are relegated to advertising archives, which really is a sad thing. Maggi sauce, I hope, will serve as inspiration that it is possible to infuse the same theme with life even after two decades.

What I've learned
Look back and you lose!
I started my career with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) when I was barely 29. Netting a government job as this was considered the acme of achievement. Despite it, I couldn't see myself as a content, unknown cog in the wheel. I wanted to be successful and a "somebody". My journey began in Ahmedabad on a bitterly cold November morning in 1968. I found my way to Calico Mills where I was engulfed in a wave of Gujarati of which I couldn't understand a word. My first day was cold, lonely, and miserable and all my plans of becoming successful receded into the distance. But it was a long journey from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad so I decided to give it a week, but I still didn't feel any different. So I sent a telegram to my ex-boss but got no response. Not giving up, I called him up and he coldly informed me that I couldn't go back. As I put the phone down, it dawned on me that I had, indeed, burnt all my bridges and there was no going back. Ever.

That was when I knew I had to make this decision of mine work, come what may. I really did not have a choice. Turning back to my past had only made me weak, fearful and hesitant of my present and the future. When you know there's no going back, that's when you focus, take the reins of your life and force it to take the direction of your dream. That's when you really understand the story about Arjun and the eye of the fish. Everything around you blanks out except for your goal. It's like having blinkers on or tunnel vision, if you may. As for me, I know that intensity of focus was the only way I could have rounded up a team and built not only any advertising agency like Mudra from scratch but also an institution like MICA. If it seems like extraordinary luck that a government employee evolved into the chairman of one of India's largest advertising agencies, let me assure you that other than luck and god's grace, dedicated focus is the only secret for success.

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