Forbes India – Storyboard18-Throwback: How Pan Parag Was Positioned As A Social Product

The Pan Parag advertisement featuring Shammi Kapoor 

Going beyond describing the attributes of products, some ad campaigns try to include a social connect—a social message that echoes contemporary social or even environmental concerns. Consider the Pan Parag story.

Conception of the advertisement

The Pan Parag commercial, which aired in the 80s and 90s, is unquestionably a classic—featuring Ashok Kumar and Shammi Kapoor. This advertisement brought together two of Hindi cinema’s most renowned stars for the first and last time.

Everest had been the advertising agency for the brand for many years. He wanted a change in the advertising strategy for his brand Pan Parag.

He had a gem of an idea. He had also wanted the brand to be associated with the anti-dowry issue. The brief reached Sulekha Bajpai, who had recently joined Everest. She was briefed and asked to write a script for an advertising film.

Sulekha had seen the problems about dowry at close quarters among relatives and friends.

She had made a promise to herself that she would do everything she could to discourage people from doing it. It seemed perhaps too coincidental that the brief came her way. She was able to put together a script quickly which was approved by Kothari.

Understanding the social context

Fortuitously, Shammi Kapoor became synonymous with the brand. Once on his arrival from Hong Kong, along with his brother Raj Kapoor, there was a huge crowd waiting to catch a glimpse. The moment they saw Shammi, they screamed Pan Parag, much to the dismay of Raj, who was incensed. Not only that, the crowd started humming the jingle.

Raj rebuked Shammi saying, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? With all the years of contribution to the film industry including Junglee, Teesri Manzil, Professor and Dil Deke Dekho, is that finished? People will remember you by Pan Parag?”

Not just an ad 

Such ads are able to go beyond mere advertising to being almost an instrument of social change, while also building the business.

Subodh Tagare is an Associate Professor at IMT Nagpur, where he teaches courses on marketing. Prior to IMT, Subodh was the marketing director at American Power Conversion/ Schneider Electric for South Asia.

S Vejay Anand consults with organisations on business strategy and marketing. He has also been an entrepreneur in the food and pet care spaces. Earlier he was president at Coffee Day and COO at USPL.