Chanced on a real smart television advertisement a day back… A young guy walks onto a tennis court, presumably for practice. As he glances across the court, he sees a small kid with a racquet in his hand across the net. This guy is a bit surprised, not to mention amused. Nevertheless, he serves the ball to the kid. The kid retaliates with a force that the guy is unable to match and he loses the point. Now this chap is even more surprised. Another serve, same result. Now the guy gets desperate. He serves again, the kid responds, the guy smashes the ball, the kid answers accordingly…. the kid basically makes the young guy run all around the court. Finally, the young chap smashes the ball and the kid is unable to return the shot. At this point, the young guy exults in his victory and collapses on the ground in sheer relief.
At the same instant, a car draws up outside the court and a voice calls out,”Buddy, are you ready?”. The kid calls out,’Yes!’ and runs out of the court. As the windows roll down, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf exchange proud smiles.
A voice-over says something about great genes making all the difference.
Well, the product advertised was GenWorth, financial services from the GE Group.
Now that, I felt, was some kind of an anti-climax. The product, somehow, didn’t justify the ad.
shri says:
The product, somehow, didn’t justify the ad.
I tend to agree. From the way you have described this ad, I really like it.
June 23, 2004 — 6:54 am
Lakshmi says:
You must see it yourself… It’s real smart.
June 23, 2004 — 6:54 am
shri says:
I would love to, but I don’t live in the US.
June 23, 2004 — 6:58 am
Lakshmi says:
Sigh, I know that….
June 23, 2004 — 6:59 am
shri says:
Sigh, I know that….
Missing home? *hugs*
June 23, 2004 — 7:00 am
Lakshmi says:
🙂 Thanks!
June 23, 2004 — 7:02 am
arunshanbhag says:
Funny ad and you are right, very anticlimactic.
Sorry, we don’t watch TV!
June 23, 2004 — 8:18 am
Lakshmi says:
Why not, Arun?
June 23, 2004 — 11:08 am
arunshanbhag says:
Here is the short version.
Time is short and I would rather: read, go running, work in the yard, write, shoot pics, try my hand at cooking, clean (keep wifey happy), keep wifey happy, call and talk to family, listen to music, play with ipod, listen to wifey complain, eat, take a nap, go biking, hiking, running, walking, eat, take a nap, …
so where does that leave any time for sitting in front of the ‘idiot box’? I watch 30 minutes of “Maclaughlin Group” on PBS friday nights and have even missed that last three weeks in a row. 🙁
No cable either. We do rent DVDs and watch movies.
BTW, not being judgemental, just my choice.
June 23, 2004 — 1:07 pm
arunshanbhag says:
Great! Soon after answering your question, I went to the Health Club, got on the elliptical. There in front of me on the TV I saw a little kid playing tennis. THAT WAS THE AD LOCKS WAS TALKING ABOUT! There it was. So yes, i saw it and it was cute. Sorry, since Gym TV sound is always on mute, didn’t actually hear the dialogue.
BTW< your description was apt.
🙂
June 23, 2004 — 6:47 pm
Lakshmi says:
Well, Genworth belonging to the GE family.. that’s where the ‘good genes’ part makes sense, I guess…
June 23, 2004 — 11:06 am
hariputtar says:
i guess the *pedigree* is what they are trying to encash.
an interesting blog on branding: http://brand.blogs.com/
btw, how is ur GMAT prep going on ? do u read *The Economist* – it may be worth the investment / online subscription. have u figured out a presentation-scheme for essays (fact/layout dynamics) ? [ i myself have entertained vague ambitions of getting an MBA at times – it does not make financial sense as of now … leaving the job/income + spending for a large b-school + taking chance on improbable switch of job-sector (post-mba).]
June 24, 2004 — 11:11 pm
vasanth says:
is there a desktop version of the song ? wud love to see it in India !
no relation to the product but some surprise in the climax !!
June 23, 2004 — 11:22 am
Lakshmi says:
Not sure of that, Vasanth… Maybe you can search online.
June 23, 2004 — 11:24 am