Bournvita goes beyond dazzling to inspire

by Swapan Seth

Greatness walks.

That is the exercise wished upon it by destiny.

Brilliance climbs.

That is its birthmark.

Earlier on in the year, Bournvita dazzled us all with its outrageously outstanding commercial.

As the year comes to an end, it masterfully close-bracketed its communication with a commercial that, to me, is insanely impactful and inspirational.

These are troubled times. We have very very little to inspire us.

Everything in our lives is recourse. Discourse left us in disgust.

Advertising is no different from the lives it is a part of.

It rarely educates. Delight, it very often does. But inspire? Counsel?

Not very often.

The earlier " Race" commercial, in my estimation, was a milestone in communication. It carefully installed the concept of parenting into the throne of mentoring. That was genius. It also presented the single-mother. The one who brings up her son against all odds.

More from Brands

The one who believed that her son would truly win if he beat her. And not if she let him win.

On the face of it, semantics. Under the skin of it, a worldview that echoed with ambition.

It was sheer greatness.

I was in Jaipur the day I saw it.

I promptly made the voice over of the commercial my ringtone.

It has been that way. Until 3.30pm last evening.

That's when Ryan Mendonca sent me a tweet with a link to the new commercial.

The tune was familiar. Nice, I thought.

Oh, so the son is now a boxer is he? Nice, again.

And then the voice over kicked off.

" Hum apni tayaari behter logo ke saath karengey." : the pickaxe dug into the snow.

" Yeh aadat humey ehsaas dilati rahegi ki hum kitne kaabil hai." Mountainous, absolutely mountainous.

In the 54thsecond, her identity as single-mother-entrepreneur was established. Another magical moment in consumer architecture.

And then, in the 60thsecond, the boxer's headgear comes off and we see a girl child.

" Kyonki zindagi mein muqabla kabhi baraabri ka nahi hoga" Brilliant.

I posted the commercial on my Facebook page.

And someone who I respect very very much commented, " I like the earlier insight more."

I thought she had missed the point.

This was not a different insight at all.

This was the same insight aspiring to climb to a higher peak.

This was that old Sherpa called brilliance.

Of course, brilliance has its own curse.

Its observers demand constant betterment from it.

Which I am quite certain it will deliver.

Of course, what I am particularly chuffed up about is my new ringtone.

Ogilvy, Cadbury: take a day-long bow.