Summer : TVC's scream Mango in style!

Come summer and you don't even need to peak out of your windows to confirm the humidity and bright sunshine. Just switch on your TV sets and Voila! Every summer drink out there is trying to woo you into sipping theirs over the others. What has really stood out is the battle of the two mango drink giants - Slice & Mazaa.

Slice extended its Aamsutra campaign with the enticing Katrina Kaif into the exotic locales of Thailand. Conceptualised by JWT with the humming soothing background score from Slumdog Millionaire, this TVC is a treat to watch. Glossy, inviting and keeps you hooked till the end. An innocently beguile Katrina playing around with a green mango, with the voice over 'Sabr karo, kyonki sabr ka phal meetha hota hai'. Its almost like she's tempting you into the beauty of what mango tastes like, almost like a mini love-making with it, reminiscent of her antiques with the Slice bottle in the very first campaign of Aamsutra. Well, do we really need a seductress to tell us that? We love our mangoes anyways! All accolades for execution of the concept, but its not really making me want to go grab Slice, I'll probably go and buy a 'peti' of mangoes from the local anna and devour the ripe fruit after my 'sabr'.

A week or so later we catch Mazaa going slow-mo with mango mania. This is a little surprising since they have never really presented their mango drink in a fantasy, dreamy manner. A fresh look into the daily life of 'bhaaga daudi', Mazaa asks you to 'tham jaa, iss pal ka fun toh lele yaara, aam se banja khaas.' Lovely original jingle, I wish to find out who sung it though. Witty use of 'aam se khaas' too, which I think is quite easy to miss out on the first hear. But you definitely cannot miss the ease with which they try to make this aam aadmi feel khaas (played convincingly with wonder eyes by model Mohit Malhotra) with a lazyboy chair falling in the middle of the street, a seemingly 80's band with saxophone and violins urging the man to sip his drink and a pretty dame fanning him. Surely gives us the message of relishing the drink while we feel pampered - wish the TVC's wouldnt raise the expectations this high! But its close to a realistic feel - its about the moments we gather while sipping Mazaa. If I just go by the ad values without considering the actual tastes of each, I think I'd be more convinced to pick Mazaa. Luckily this campaign is a refreshing change from their prior light-hearted funny series with Satish Shah's 'bina guthli walaa aam' and more recently 'Mazaa laao, aam ki pyaas bhujao' with Ranvir Shorey. Quite forgettable and not so summer drink driven anyways.

Amidst all this, I am wondering what is keeping Frooti is inconspicuous? It was one of our top faves in the 90's - the little tetra packs to be drunk with straws were such a hit and so was the 'Mango Frooti, fresh and juicy' campaign. Now it has gone on this fun filled 'Why grow up?' route which is definitely not commercially driven but a seeming attempt to keep Frooti in its child-adolescent state forever. The commercials for that matter surely don't seem to grow up.