The laughter brigade has a new adage

If you are a frequent on YouTube, chances are you may have stumbled upon a video featuring stand-up comics Abish Mathew and Aditi Mittal performing a rap inside a car that is being driven by Anu Malik. On the surface it appears to be just another example of the million antics comedians are famous for these days. Except that it's not. The three-and-a-half minute clip is actually an advertisement for Tata Fusion Tea. The idea has been conceptualised by Edelman, an ad agency that makes use of Abish and Aditi’s craft to sell the product. This is not the first time, comedians have stepped into the world of advertising. Famous comedy collective AIB — comprising key members Tanmay Bhat, Rohan Joshi, Gursimran Khamba and Ashish Shakhya — launched their ad wing a couple of months ago, called Vigyapanti. During the launch, Tanmay had reportedly stated that AIB would be generating ads for start-ups and try to bring them under the spotlight. Comedian-turned actor Vir Das too has a similar wing under his brand Weirdass Comedy that creates long-form advertisements for not-so-mainstream brands such as international calling app, Reb-tel.

Creep Qawwali, Vigyapanti’s first campaign for a dating app, Truly Madly has over 1.4 million hits since it was launched in October. The different flavour, which was popularly received, appeared to be a subtle caveat for mainstream advertising agencies, to up the ante. A senior copywriter and a former employee of Grey Worldwide says, “In our agency, we are not allowed to go all quirky, there are certain restrictions. But Vigyapanti doesn’t have any such inhibitions and they seem to have stirred the pot.” There is a certain amount of anxiety among advertising professionals about comedians stealing their thunder. But is there a real reason to worry Amer Jaleel, the mastermind behind the famous Tata Tea Jaago Re campaign says, “It’s good that there are new inputs coming into the industry. The content is refreshing. But I don’t think that opens up space for any insecurity. The advertising world has been through a lot of changes in the past, the most phenomenal being television. Once the format changed, a lot of new talent cropped up in the ad agencies, and many adapted to the change and will continue to do so.”

A comedian’s contribution to a brand is starkly different from an ad person’s contribution, points out Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of Truly Madly that employed Vigyapanti. “We don’t look at AIB as an advertising agency, we look at them as content developers for us. Contract is our advertising agency. Advertising is about communication; it’s about working with a brand and the various aspects of the brand. It’s a far deeper engagement. AIB obviously does stellar work and we’re planning another film with them too. So, from our perspective, they do films even though they might be positioning themselves as an agency. Fact is they are a brand in themselves and therefore anything they do gets the initial eyeballs and if it’s great content, it goes viral, which is what happened in our case.”

Arunabh Kumar, founder of another renowned comedy collective, The Viral Fever, sees the new trend as a “great move”. Speaking of AIB in particular, he says, “They are best suited for a certain kind of content. I hope they enjoy advertising. Their first video did very well. The dynamics of business and marketing should enable them to genuinely enjoy the kind of work they are doing.” He doesn’t think this kind of work would affect mainstream advertising. “Because these MNC’S are large in number and they have established themselves over decades. But there will indeed be a clear demarcation in the kind of content that we will see,” Arunabh adds. Talking about his own company, he says, “We do a lot of work with brands and we have done several long-form ads for various clients.”

Ultimately, it all boils down to created engaging content, says ace comedian Sorabh Pant, who thinks these could also be instances in isolation for comedians. “If you see, the film award shows in India are now different than what they used to because the content is now being written and generated by comedians. But are they are revolutionising the business No, I wouldn’t say that. The short-form of television advertising is pretty settled in its own space, it’s the long-form that will benefit from the comedians and their content,” says Sorabh, founder of East India Comedy. Anuvab Pal however doesn’t see this as a short-lived trend. “I think comedians are cleverer writers, so they can add things to standard copywriting. Mainly comedy. And comedy isn’t just about how you make people laugh. It’s about how you think differently about things and ads are all about different thinking. So yes, I can see many more comedy collective creating ad agencies. And I don’t see that as a threat.”

There is a need for all kinds of communication, especially with attention spans getting shorter by the minute, says Amer. “And advertising is much deeper than making content. The core of advertising is strategic thinking, understanding people and what is apt for the brand. In ad agencies we understand the brand very well. We need to know the voices, the tonality and subtlety behind every brand. I’m sure that consumer for all formats exist and in the future it is a challenge for both sides. For us, to adapt to the newer platforms will be the biggest challenge, whereas for the new guys, the challenge will be to understand the core of advertising. But definitely there will be some freshness,” concludes the chief creative officer at Mullen Lintas.

Inputs by Aarti Bhanushali