Industry raises a toast to the success of 'Happydent Palace' commercial

Creative stalwarts share their views on the huge honour of the 'Happydent Palace' commercial by Prasoon Joshi and his team finding a place in 'The Gunn Report's 20 Best Commercials of the 21^st Century So Far'

Aanchal kohli | Mumbai | December 3, 2015

Click on the image to watch the TVC by McCann Worldgroup Mumbai ranked among 20 best TVCs of 21st century so far.

BestMediaInfo.com was the only one to report yesterday that Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific and CEO and Chief Creative Officer McCann Worldgroup India, and his team of Anirban Sen and Ram Madhvani had made the entire Indian ad world proud with the 'Happydent Palace' campaign being the only Indian campaign to figure in 'The Gunn Report's 20 Best Commercials of the 21^st Century So Far'. It's a huge honour and a proud moment for the Indian advertising industry. Today, BestMediaInfo.com caught up with industry veterans to get their response to this achievement. Read on…

Josy Paul

Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India

Awesome achievement! Recognition like this comes once in a century! Am sure the guys at McCann and Equinox are currently lighting up the streets in Mumbai and Delhi with their wide grins and Happydent White teeth. What's fantastic is that the film shares the spotlight with legendary milestone campaigns like Budweiser “Wassup”, Cadbury Dairy Milk “Gorilla”, Guinness "noitulove", Honda “Cog”, John West Salmon “Bear”, Metro Trains “Dumb Ways to Die” and the more recent Volvo Trucks “Epic Split”. Many of these are Grand Prix winners at Cannes.

I remember when I first saw the film almost a decade ago, I was amazed by the imagination and scale of production, the detailing and craft, and the perfect creation of an ancient world that lives in our heads – of autocratic maharajas and willing subjects. The cast of characters all carefully chosen to fit a master plan of dutiful service as the people please their king with dazzling tooth-light. The choice of lyrics and the background chant "Tera dil roshan, tera man roshan" enhances the urgent rush as the world arranges itself to the feed the king on time. It's a dramatic film for a low involvement product like gum. The images are sharp, memorable, almost psychedelic…giving your eyes something to chew on.

Prathap Suthan

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner/Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle

This is stunning news! This is probably the best recognition anyone or any brand can ever aspire to get. Imagine being recognised as one of the 20 commercials of the 21st century! It's a dream. Personally, this is special for me because Anirban Sen who led the team that created this commercial is a friend, colleague and neighbour. I have always had the highest regard for him and his work, and it's a delight that today he leads creative at Bang In The Middle. I am also happy that this underlines the role of Ram Madhvani, India's finest director. I have been someone who gained from his craft since the early 90s. I must also congratulate Prasoon for throwing his weight behind this commercial, and ensuring that this was done. I remember that he had to put considerable pressure both on the client and the system to find the extra money to execute this, without which this wouldn't have happened. I am sure he must be smiling wider than ever. It's a great moment for our industry, and our land's creative and technical prowess.

Pantosh Padhi

Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder, Taproot India

As an Indian I'm happy to see our presence in the global list, but I would have been happier if there were some other Indian TVCs that not only reflected great craft but a big idea as well, 'Happydent' is one of the best crafted TVCs the country has produced, but I wouldn't agree if I was told that's the best idea of the nation. We still need to fix or work hard on crafting our ideas as we are way too far behind from the global standard. Only by celebrating craft can we keep getting better. I would have picked one of these: The Times of India's 'Nakka Mukka', some of the previous work which Enterprise/Prasoon Pandey did for TOI, Mumbai Mirror, or Fevicol.”

Nima DT Namchu

Nima Namchu, Chief Creative Officer, Havas Worldwide

This is a fine example of a simple but strong idea taken to another level by flawless execution. The visualisation was fresh and the music just right. I was in the agency when Prasoon, Ram and Anirban were working on the film and know for sure it was not something they arrived at overnight – a lot of detailing in terms of music, art direction and nuances had gone into making the film. Last but not the least, Sameer Suneja deserves special mention – great work like this doesn't happen without a client who expects nothing less.

Sanjay Tripathy

Sanjay Tripathy, Senior Executive Vice President, HDFC Life

The Happydent commercial was one of the more memorable commercials made in India in the last decade. While most remembered for its creativity, it was one of the few marriages of product proposition and creativity where both emerged winners. In doing so it has managed to create a recall value that has lasted almost a decade. The storyline was linear with nothing complicated about it, and the humour, while based on exaggeration and suspended logic, was not in your face, but built up, keeping audiences engaged till the final revelation. The advertisement of such a functional product could have been dry and drab, but the seamless integration of humour helped it to cut across the clutter and stand out.

Ashish Khazanchi

Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous

I think it is a proud moment as this advertisement showcased India at the international level. This commercial became popular abroad as it had that innovative and entertaining element. It not only made India proud but worked really well for the brand as well. It feels great to see such amazing work. I have been a part of the advertising industry for quite some time and when this campaign came out, I heard people talking about creating our 'happydent' moment which means creating something close to this commercial.

Lloyd Mathias

Lloyd Mathias, Marketing Director, Consumer PCs, Asia Pacific & Japan, HP Inc.

I think this commercial is outrageously funny and uniquely brings out the old adage of a million-watt smile. Fabulous way to bring out Happydent's teeth-whitening properties. I also doff my hat to the client – for accepting this radical approach.”

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

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