Clear Premium Water recently rolled out a nationwide campaign, “Pani ho to Clear”, raising a prominent concern of the packaged water industry– ”duplicate packaged water”. The ad’s premise sounds interesting, the story evolves with a key industry insight, but does the ad land correctly? Let’s find out.
In a candid conversation with Gujpreneur, Mitul Shah, Founder & CCO of Calculated Chaos, shared his thoughts on the recent Clear Pani advertisement with Hrithik Roshan.
“I am a bit torn”, said Mitul, “Because strategically, it makes sense. If Clear genuinely has a problem with duplicate bottled water in the market, then the thought is absolutely valid. In packaged water, the bottle can be copied. The label can be copied. The colour palette can be copied. Even the general “premium, pure, fresh, mountain, mist” language can be copied.“But the trust cannot.”
The strategy only gets you so far. The more interesting question was whether Hrithik Roshan was the right vessel for it. Here, Mitul had no hesitation. “So using Hrithik Roshan as the metaphor for ‘asli ka koi replacement nahi hota’ is actually quite smart. Hrithik is one of those people who is annoyingly hard to imitate. You can get the hair. You can get the jawline if your ancestors were particularly generous. You can wear the black T-shirt. You can attempt the dance move and immediately discover several bones you didn’t know existed.
But you’re still not Hrithik.”
“So yes, strategically, the ad is sitting in the right room.”
But strategy is just the brief. The real test was what the creative team did with it. And this is where Mitul’s tone shifted.“The issue is that creatively, it doesn’t do much once it gets there. The whole fake shoot, fake actor, director’s point of view, behind-the-scenes chaos format has been done to death. Then buried. Then dug up again by a junior writer on a Tuesday because the deadline was at 6 pm and the client wanted “something fun but premium.
Because it is a very convenient structure. Too convenient. It gives you drama without earning it. It gives you comedy without really writing it. It gives you a reveal without much surprise. It’s the creative equivalent of ordering khichdi when you said you were going to cook something experimental.”
So where does that leave the ad? Mitul’s verdict was straightforward.
Does the ad work? Yes.
Does Hrithik help? Absolutely.
Does the line land? Mostly.
Mitul didn’t end with a score. He ended with something more uncomfortable. A question the industry probably doesn’t ask itself enough: “Will people notice it, share it, discuss it, remember it? I’m not so sure.”
“That’s the problem. Today, an ad cannot just be strategically correct. That is the bare minimum. That’s brushing your teeth before a meeting. Necessary, yes. Applause-worthy, no.”
“The best ads take a smart strategy and make it feel inevitable, fresh, and slightly dangerous. This one takes a key industry insight and gives it a familiar costume. It’s not a bad ad. That would be unfair. It’s clean, clear, and professionally made. Everyone involved knows what they’re doing. But it doesn’t sparkle. It doesn’t have that “damn, I wish I had thought of that” quality. Because chances are, this TVC will disappear from public memory as quickly as a cold bottle of water on a hot afternoon.”
“It makes the point and quietly exits the room. Which, for a bottled water ad in May, is almost poetic.”
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