When friendship is the basis of your brand story

Every year on the first Sunday of August, the air is filled with classic Bollywood songs that extol the bonds of friendship. After all, friends are the only family that you can choose and sometimes play a more important role in a person’s life than their family. 

Usually, Friendship Day is marked by special campaigns that celebrate this special connection. However, there have been several moving portrayals of friendships in Indian advertisements that have not been dependent on an occasion. For some brands, there entire brand story is based on friendships. 

Just like the Bollywood songs like, “Ye Dosti” and “Tere Jaisa Yaar Kahan”, there are several memorable jingles and taglines from ad campaigns that have stood the test of time. Let’s take a walk down the memory lane to recall some of the ad films that would make your eyes moist and miss your friends even if you celebrated Friendship Day with them this weekend. 

Google: The Reunion 

The 2013 campaign of Google was about how technology can enable friends torn apart by tragic historical events to reunite. It featured two friends who were separated due to the partition of India but never forgot each other through the decades. Their grandchildren take help of the technology to get the two men to meet each other. The ad not just touched hearts of people in both the countries, but also encouraged the two nations to give the opportunity shown in the ad to real-life victims of the partition by easing travel restrictions. 

Airtel: Har Ek Friend Zaruri Hota Hai and Jo Tera Hai, Wo Mera Hai 

In 2011, when India’s telecom sector was still in a nascent phase, the challenge was to increase the userbase of mobile phones in the country. Airtel told the youngsters they could be better connected with their friends through their services, giving them a whole lot of situations in which friends using the same network provider as them could help. This effort of theirs to encourage more youngsters to use mobile phone services and internet to stay connected gave way to two very memorable campaigns. 

KFC: Friendship Bucket

When they launched shareable Friendship Bucket in 2016, the campaign was required to convey the close bond between two people who eat from the same dish. This was aptly communicated through the two friends, one of whom has hearing impairment. Despite not being able to have a “conversation”, the former friend is happy to spend time with the latter over going to a movie with other friends. 

Bagpiper Soda: …Jab Mil Baithenge Teen Yaar 

The brand is remembered by its much recalled tagline, “Khoob Milega Rang Jab Mil Baithenge Teen Yaar, Aap, Main Aur Bagpiper”. In the unbridled time of the 80’s and 90’s, the brand campaigns had featured Dharmendra, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar. Ajay Devgn then took over as the ambassador with the ad films then being modified to align with his on-screen image. (PS: Take note of the ‘villain’ in this ad who is a much respected actor today).  

McDowell’s Soda: Number One Yaari and Yaaron Wali Baat

McDowell’s previous tagline “Number One Yaari” is among the first whose jingle people would remember when asked about campaigns revolving around friendships. Lately, though, the brand has switched “Yaaron Wali Baat” with a new brand ambassador in the form of Kartik aryan who featured in their campaign released earlier this year. The older jingle was a special one, though, which was used in many memorable ad films that captured the essence of true friendship. One of the many ads with the classic tagline was one that featured former Indian cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 

All of these ad films must have left you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. Going through the social media comments below them, it seems like even today people would rather watch ads like these without skipping. Let’s hope more brands pick up on this sentiment to create more such campaigns that genuinely showcase the deep emotional bonds of all kinds, not just on occasions but as a part of their brand story.