AD Agencies
Janmat’s ‘Commercial Break’ features Nirvik Singh in mellow gear
President South East Asia and Chairman, South Asia of Grey Worldwide, Nirvik Singh is captured in a mellow mood on ‘Commercial Break’, aired at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, 28 January on Janmant, India’s first 24 hour views channel. ‘Commercial Break’ focuses on the creative process, the highs and lows of the advertising world and the people who mould words and images to make us laugh, cry and think.
This half hourly show covers one leading Ad Agency every week. The discussion veers to the agency’s memorable works, awards won and ad creatives that made the grade or fell by the wayside. Shot on location, Commercial Break captures the human angle behind the women and men who lead advertising agencies in India.
Nirvik Singh, who has seen the giddy highs and abject lows of the business, reveals how Founder Ravi Gupta’s demise spelt disaster for Grey. The lean phase saw Grey give up on many clients. “We had to start from scratch,” says Singh.
Grey now has rebuilt its reputation and manages Proctor and Gamble, Incredible India for the Government of India, Ambuja Cement, Kinetic Velocity among many other clients. But when asked about the India Shining campaign, which turned out to spark the debacle for BJP, Nirvik Singh said, “Powerful advertising can make or break a client, and we learnt that from the India Shining campaign.” Grey’s inimitable Thums Up campaign, considered by many to be inspired advertising, has helped Thums Up to maintain its dominant status in the Indian cola market.
Commercial Break departs from the current industry norms of having a very formal or structured interview format. Instead it also introduces segments on old Indian commercials that have entered Indian marketing lore – for example the 40-year old Hamam ad campaign was recently showcased. There are segments on international ad campaigns, a Vox Pop for the common man to react on current campaigns and a section on the top three ads of the week.
Positioned as India’s first Views Channel, Janmat has brought a fresh breeze in the country’s TV viewing landscape. Janmat is a 24-hour current affairs channel targeted towards the discerning Indian audience. Through its innovative positioning and its interactive programming Janmat is breaking old stereotypes.
AD Agencies
The smell that told Mumbaikars which station was next
Tata AIA turns Mumbai’s Parle-G memory into a sharp, city-wise outdoor play
MUMBAI: When a biscuit factory became Mumbai’s unofficial station announcement. Long before smartphone maps and automated announcements, commuters on Mumbai’s Western line relied on their noses. As trains rolled into Vile Parle, compartments filled with the warm, sweet smell of baking biscuits from the Parle-G factory. It was a cue to gather bags, wake dozing children and shuffle towards the door.
Now that memory has been pressed into service by Tata AIA Life Insurance as part of its 25-year anniversary outdoor campaign — a city-by-city salute to the lived moments that shape urban life.
One hoarding, mounted close to the old factory site, reads: “We have been protecting Mumbaikars since Vile Parle smelled of freshly made biscuits.” Spare. Local. Loaded.
The broader campaign, rolled out across major metros, leans hard into contextual storytelling. In Kolkata, it nods to trams. In Pune, to Magarpatta’s transformation. In Bengaluru, to a time before IT parks. In Chennai, to OMR before it led to tech corridors. Each line anchors the brand’s longevity to a shared civic memory.
The Mumbai execution is the most evocative. For decades, the Parle-G factory was more than a production unit. It was a sensory landmark. Residents nearby set their clocks by the factory horn. Office-goers marked their commute by the waft of glucose and flour. When the plant shut, the city lost more than jobs. It lost a rhythm.
By placing the hoarding beside the former factory, the insurer collapses distance between copy and context. The site does half the storytelling. The rest comes from commuters who remember opening steel tiffins packed with Parle-G, or jolting awake as the train slowed.
It is a neat piece of brand positioning. Rather than trumpet balance sheets or policy counts, Tata AIA borrows emotional equity from the city itself. Twenty-five years becomes less a milestone and more a presence — steady, local, embedded.
Outdoor advertising is often a blunt instrument. This one is anything but. It whispers. It remembers. And in doing so, it sells trust without sounding like it is selling at all.
The scent may have faded. The memory has not.
