Sudarshan Narayanan’s Post

On the back of the recently proposed (now paused) Karnataka bill mandating reservations for locals in the private sector, the ensuing criticism, and the criticism of the criticism, here comes a heartwarming new ad for WhatsApp made by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin. In fact, the film itself has a mild whiff of his film, Rocket Singh! Ikbir, the young Sardar chef, who comes to Bengaluru to join a hotel, is shown to be lost, initially, because he is unable to relate to the cultural milieu, but his mother's words inspire him to use food as a route to win over his colleagues. Food is a universal language by itself, and his effort to make a local cuisine (Bisi Bele Bath) helps bridge the first step. But he doesn't stop with food. He makes an effort to learn and speak Kannada too. So, while he may not be fluent in Kannada, or familiar with the local culture, he makes an earnest effort to explore, understand, and appreciate them (including celebrating Ugadi), instead of assuming that the local population needs to learn a language that he is comfortable with (Hindi, as a bridge) and that he can continue to ignore/overlook the local culture. In his line of work, the local culture manifests in the form of food, thankfully. The locals are not shown to be intolerant. They bond among themselves, but they also make an attempt to get Ikbir to feel welcome (asking the chat group to keep the conversation in English) once they understand that he is making an honest effort to adapt. The human story in this ad is truly wonderful. Where I felt it fell short is its link with WhatsApp. Except 'Verified Business' (the 'Spoken Kannada' business handle), the other features don't seem to be explored adequately. Shwetha's WhatsApp message comes with added context ('Block', 'Add', 'Not a contact. No common groups') but the story has no context to explore them. Ditto with the 2-step authentication or end-to-end encryption that are shown when Ikbir opens his voice messages or does a video-call with his mother. Most users take these for granted, so unless these are explored further, their presence in the script seem perfunctory. #advertising #marketing #creative

On the back of the recently proposed (now paused) Karnataka bill mandating reservations for locals in the private sector, the ensuing criticism, and the criticism of the criticism, here comes a heartwarming new ad for WhatsApp made by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin. In fact, the film itself has a mild whiff of his film, Rocket Singh! Ikbir, the young Sardar chef, who comes to Bengaluru to join a hotel, is shown to be lost, initially, because he is unable to relate to the cultural milieu, but his mother's words inspire him to use food as a route to win over his colleagues. Food is a universal language by itself, and his effort to make a local cuisine (Bisi Bele Bath) helps bridge the first step. But he doesn't stop with food. He makes an effort to learn and speak Kannada too. So, while he may not be fluent in Kannada, or familiar with the local culture, he makes an earnest effort to explore, understand, and appreciate them (including celebrating Ugadi), instead of assuming that the local population needs to learn a language that he is comfortable with (Hindi, as a bridge) and that he can continue to ignore/overlook the local culture. In his line of work, the local culture manifests in the form of food, thankfully. The locals are not shown to be intolerant. They bond among themselves, but they also make an attempt to get Ikbir to feel welcome (asking the chat group to keep the conversation in English) once they understand that he is making an honest effort to adapt. The human story in this ad is truly wonderful. Where I felt it fell short is its link with WhatsApp. Except 'Verified Business' (the 'Spoken Kannada' business handle), the other features don't seem to be explored adequately. Shwetha's WhatsApp message comes with added context ('Block', 'Add', 'Not a contact. No common groups') but the story has no context to explore them. Ditto with the 2-step authentication or end-to-end encryption that are shown when Ikbir opens his voice messages or does a video-call with his mother. Most users take these for granted, so unless these are explored further, their presence in the script seem perfunctory. #advertising #marketing #creative

On the back of the recently proposed (now paused) Karnataka bill mandating reservations for locals in the private sector, the ensuing criticism, and the criticism of the criticism, here comes a heartwarming new ad for WhatsApp made by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin. In fact, the film itself has a mild whiff of his film, Rocket Singh! Ikbir, the young Sardar chef, who comes to Bengaluru to join a hotel, is shown to be lost, initially, because he is unable to relate to the cultural milieu, but his mother's words inspire him to use food as a route to win over his colleagues. Food is a universal language by itself, and his effort to make a local cuisine (Bisi Bele Bath) helps bridge the first step. But he doesn't stop with food. He makes an effort to learn and speak Kannada too. So, while he may not be fluent in Kannada, or familiar with the local culture, he makes an earnest effort to explore, understand, and appreciate them (including celebrating Ugadi), instead of assuming that the local population needs to learn a language that he is comfortable with (Hindi, as a bridge) and that he can continue to ignore/overlook the local culture. In his line of work, the local culture manifests in the form of food, thankfully. The locals are not shown to be intolerant. They bond among themselves, but they also make an attempt to get Ikbir to feel welcome (asking the chat group to keep the conversation in English) once they understand that he is making an honest effort to adapt. The human story in this ad is truly wonderful. Where I felt it fell short is its link with WhatsApp. Except 'Verified Business' (the 'Spoken Kannada' business handle), the other features don't seem to be explored adequately. Shwetha's WhatsApp message comes with added context ('Block', 'Add', 'Not a contact. No common groups') but the story has no context to explore them. Ditto with the 2-step authentication or end-to-end encryption that are shown when Ikbir opens his voice messages or does a video-call with his mother. Most users take these for granted, so unless these are explored further, their presence in the script seem perfunctory. #advertising #marketing #creative

On the back of the recently proposed (now paused) Karnataka bill mandating reservations for locals in the private sector, the ensuing criticism, and the criticism of the criticism, here comes a heartwarming new ad for WhatsApp made by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin. In fact, the film itself has a mild whiff of his film, Rocket Singh! Ikbir, the young Sardar chef, who comes to Bengaluru to join a hotel, is shown to be lost, initially, because he is unable to relate to the cultural milieu, but his mother's words inspire him to use food as a route to win over his colleagues. Food is a universal language by itself, and his effort to make a local cuisine (Bisi Bele Bath) helps bridge the first step. But he doesn't stop with food. He makes an effort to learn and speak Kannada too. So, while he may not be fluent in Kannada, or familiar with the local culture, he makes an earnest effort to explore, understand, and appreciate them (including celebrating Ugadi), instead of assuming that the local population needs to learn a language that he is comfortable with (Hindi, as a bridge) and that he can continue to ignore/overlook the local culture. In his line of work, the local culture manifests in the form of food, thankfully. The locals are not shown to be intolerant. They bond among themselves, but they also make an attempt to get Ikbir to feel welcome (asking the chat group to keep the conversation in English) once they understand that he is making an honest effort to adapt. The human story in this ad is truly wonderful. Where I felt it fell short is its link with WhatsApp. Except 'Verified Business' (the 'Spoken Kannada' business handle), the other features don't seem to be explored adequately. Shwetha's WhatsApp message comes with added context ('Block', 'Add', 'Not a contact. No common groups') but the story has no context to explore them. Ditto with the 2-step authentication or end-to-end encryption that are shown when Ikbir opens his voice messages or does a video-call with his mother. Most users take these for granted, so unless these are explored further, their presence in the script seem perfunctory. #advertising #marketing #creative