It is one of the most iconic ads of the 90s and Cadbury Chocolates has now come up with a recreated version with an amazing tweak. The new ad maintains its nostalgic abilities and, at the same time, feels like a fresh whiff of time. The 90s ad, titled kuch khaas hai, was from a time when the company’s customer base was limited to children, and Cadbury wanted to spread its wings in the adult age group as well.
In the ad, a girl is eagerly waiting for the final ball to be played at a cricket match. She is eating a Cadbury chocolate and as the batsman hits the ball out of the boundary, she cheerfully celebrates. She comes on the field, ducking the security, and dances with abandon.
The new ad replaces the male cricketer with a woman, and the celebratory dancer, who was a woman in the 90s version, with a man. The ad’s take on modern gender roles has drawn plaudits from all sections.
Sharing the ad on Twitter, Karthik Srinivasan, a renowned columnist, and an ex-Ogilvy employee, said, “Take a bow, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Ogilvy. A simple, obvious twist that was long overdue, and staring right at all of us all this while.”
The Cadbury ad caught Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s attention, and he couldn’t resist a retweet. In the caption, Ashwin said, “WOW! Well Played, Cadbury. So happy that my daughters will grow up watching this.”
The commercials, both old and new, represent a shift in times. “Back then the mood was optimism of flying, now it is about optimism of coming out,” Ogilvy’s Piyush Pandey, creator of the ad, told Moneycontrol. Pandey hints at the difference in the eras when the two ads were released. While the former was released at a time when the nation was optimistic of post-liberalisation growth, the latter celebrates a time when women players are bringing immense pride to the nation.
Anil Viswanathan, senior director of Mondelez India, which owns the Cadbury brand, explained how the new version of the ad germinated from a young creative at Ogilvy and instantly became a hit. Anil said the ad celebrated women achievers in sports and in life.
It was not just Ashwin who was impressed with the new version of the Cadbury ad. Writer and filmmaker Tahira Kashyap Khurrana also shared it and in the caption wrote, “Love this.”
Let’s take a look at some other interesting reactions.
We’re still riding the nostalgia train. What do you think of the ad?
