What's your take on: Heineken 'The City'

(‘What’s Your Take On’ is a weekly feature, where we ask adland for their take on campaigns from across the globe. We trust you’ll enjoy the read; should you wish to give us your opinion on a commercial, mail us onmukta.lad@web18.inand we’ll holler the moment we have an ad for you!)

Heineken’s latest commercial, ‘The City’ is up for review at Firstbiz this week. Watch the commercial below:

We spoke to copywriters and asked them what they thought of it. Read what Shalini Avadhani, copywriter, Lowe Mumbai; Suyash Barve, creative supervisor, JWT Mumbai and Varun Khullar, creative controller, Ogilvy & Mather thought about the latest from Heineken.

What did you think about the ad? Yay or nay?

Shalini: Yay! It’s a two-minute film that kept me interested all through.

Suyash: Massive nay! Same old stuff really, insert peppy track, add exotic locale, minus ugly people, multiply by ridiculous budget. Oh and ensure the beer is incidental because our legal team won’t let us show that fun times are a direct result of drinking beer. God forbid.

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Varun: Yaynay! Basically, this ad compelled me to invent a word to describe my mixed feelings towards it. Heineken has spoiled us with some stellar ads in the past but this one fails to match the standards set by its predecessors. It’s good in parts though, especially when they show beer.

[caption id=“attachment_84885” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Suyash, top left; Shalini, bottom left; Varun, right[/caption]

What about it appealed to you the most?

Shalini: The ‘anything-could-happen-tonight’ mood of the ad. I also like that the beer comes in very naturally in the film. The music’s groovy.

My favourite part has to be how he plays the piano along with the old man with the fractured hand. Beer turns us all into natural poets and musicians, doesn’t it!

Suyash: Crazy stuff happening after a few beers is such a life truth. I wish I had a nickel for every time I got wasted and then went on to win a horse race (I’d have 17 nickels in case you’re wondering).

Varun: The fact that there is beer in it. Also, the cinematography is absolutely top notch, providing a peek into the surreal world where a city has more neon lights than a psychedelic rave party. Makes me want to live in a city where everyone plays wingman to you and strangers greet you with a cold pint. Oh and did I mention that there was beer in it?

What did you like least about the ad?

Shalini: I didn’t quite get why the dolphin-door place was part of the film. There was no clue there and I thought it was redundant.

Suyash: THAT MOUSTACHE WAS STUPID! STUPID!

Varun: The part where the woman of his dreams agrees to have a beer with him despite him losing all the cards in her shiny little metal case. The romantic idea of this ad is as far from reality as Rahul Gandhi making sense.

If you had to backtrack, what would you say the insight for the ad was?

Shalini: There’s this magic potion that makes people charming and wittier, strangers approachable, and you an unstoppable stud. By the way, this has to go outtomorrowmorning.

Suyash: “We have some cash. We would like you, the agency, to spend said cash."

Varun: If you are looking for a woman you want to be with, but have lost all her cards in the process, make sure you are considerably drunk when you eventually meet her.And then fly away into the sky sitting inside a massive trolley with the said lady.

If you had to make an around finding a mysterious stranger, what product would it be for and what would the ad be like?

Shalini: Probably for a sports channel/sports bar.

Two guys get into a bar fight. They’re asked to keep it down because the football match on the big screen is just about to begin. They take their sweater/jacket off. Their jerseys underneath turn out to be the same. Their team scores. There’s chest bump and a fresh start.

Suyash: A young man suffering from chronic boredom spends every waking hour following the last active user on foursquare. Eventually he finds her, they fall in love, she realizes the error of her ways and gives up her Mayorship of Evergreen Housing Society. Fade to black. Branding appears:

Foursquare - Stalking made simpler.

Varun: Film opens on a man holding a picture of a girl he is looking for. He goes everywhere with that photograph inquiring about the girl, hoping to find her one day.

While his search for this mysterious woman is on, he meets another girl.
He takes her hand and guides her through the city to a small clinic. Both enter the clinic nervously.

Cut to, the two of them stepping out of the clinic door. The guy is the same but the girl with him now looks exactly like the girl in the picture.

Camera pans up to reveal the back-lit board on the clinic which reads:

“Dr. Khurana. Plastic Surgeon”

Super: If you can’t find them, we can make them.